Titans

I just finished watching the debut of this campy Aaron Spelling serial (Titans) and right away it had me hooked. Like another one of Spelling's best Melrose Place these characters glue you to your TV set. Spelling once again proves he knows how to mine merry melodrama from the gaudy traumas of the rich and beautiful, in Beverly Hills where there's to much gold and glamour to count. To start here's a rundown of the family the industrialist (Perry King) who is housed across the street from his proud ex-wife (Victoria Principal) then enter a steamy trophy bride (Yasmine Bleeth) who's hellbent on destroying not only daddy dearest but the entire family including her recent navy love (Casper Van Dien) King's hunk of a son. Wow! These plots and stories sound like fun! That's why Spelling is great he always keeps high drama present which leaves the viewer guessing as to what is going to happen next also the casting is great especially Victoria Principal who always is a pleasure to watch. I remember her classic days on Dallas it's great to see her in prime time again. Melrose Place veterans Perry King and Jack Wagner bring great stability to the show. Iit's always nice to have two great TV veterans around for one more time. And for former Baywatch babe Yasmine Bleeth need I say more except if looks could kill. Everyone should have a good time with this guilty pleasure which will have plenty of guilt to go around. Sure it remains to be seen if "Titans" will live up to the expectations of other Spelling hits such as Melrose Place or Dynasty, but I would be willing to bet it will. It's sure going to be fun.

What can I say? I've always been drawn to serialized dramas, whether they be daytime or primetime shows or movies (and some of these "dramas" are pretty corny and funny, too!). And who knows the trials and tribulations of glamorous soap people than Aaron Spelling? Already this might be a new guilty pleasure for me. A rivalry is brewing between Victoria Principal and Yasmine Bleeth's characters, and that looks like it will be fun. Many former daytime and primetime soap stars make up the cast, such as Bleeth, Josie Davis, Ingo Rademacher, Casper Van Dien, Perry King, Jason George and Jack Wagner.

I was not paying attention to what was on the TV while working on some emails. I turned around to see that "Titans" was 'coming up next on NBC'. Titans conveyed to me a sense of giants playing in the fields of mortal men.

As it turns out, the main characters were perfect archetypes of quasi-realistic mythical figuers that might exist. In other words, there was not one human character in the show. All were plastic (and badly molded) figures with a shallow attempt at inserting personality.

Given the writer, and the cast, this was not a surprise. The main characters all rely on physical appearance, and their ability to pout and get angry. Throw in a little hard core sex, cheapen the filmography, and you have a nice little soft-porn to peddle to the masses.

I have to admit, I almost thought that this was going to be a satire due to the over-use of the extremely obvious. When the identified alcoholic female character sat by the window awaiting her boyfriend (who was ... married) there was a liquor cabinet within a few feet. The set up was so telegraphed that it was comical.

All in all, this show may survive if the brainless daytime-soap crowd manages to shake off their substance haze, and manage to stay tuned.

At first glance, Titans seems like just another one of Aaron Spelling's "guilty pleasures." However, after a few minutes of watching, this show obviously does not come up to par. The characters are dreadfully cliche and unoriginal. You have your gold-digging, trophy wife Heather Williams, (Yasmine Bleeth)and her hopelessly in love older husband Richard Williams, (Perry King). She also is bent on seducing her new husband's son(Casper Van Dien), whose baby she is also carrying. I also found the casting to be quite awful. Casper Van Dien shows hardly any emotion, and when he does, it is through a tightening of his mouth or tensing of his jaw. Yasmine Bleeth is too transparently evil and doesn't even have a bad girl, man-eater appeal. Most of these actors were obviously hired for their looks alone, except Spelling's alummni, such as Jack Wagner.

As the show progressed, I was so turned off by Van Dien and Bleeth, that I found myself rooting for Peter Williams (John Barrowman), Van Dien's cynical smart alec brother, who has a special soft spot for Samantha Sanchez, (Lourdes Benedicto).Unfortunately, she is hopelessly in love with Chandler. Why, I don't know. Barrowman shows much more of a range of emotions in one show than Van Dien has in the entire series run.

All in all, Titans disappoints.It definitely does not come up to any of Spelling's previous shows in quality, casting, or plots. Titans is not inventive or creative in the least. But if you need an hour of mindless entertainment where you don't need to use your brain, this is the show for you. I give it a 3 out of 10.

What's tv without a steamy Aaron Spelling production! That's right, the man that brought you "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills 90210" is getting back on top with TITANS. The new guilty pleasure that oozes with unlimited wealth and intoxicating beauty cooks up prime-time with rich people in complicated situations. Yasmine Bleeth leads an all-star cast as Heather Lane, the young and manipulative gold-digging new wife of Richard Williams (Perry King), the wealthy owner of a powerful international company. It just so happens that Richard's son Chandler (played by hunky Casper Van Dien) had a rompy relationship with his new step-mom two months earlier. Heather, dropping the bombshell that she's pregnant with Chandler's child DURING her wedding, goes head-to-head with Richard's ex-wife Gwen (played by former Dallas babe Victoria Principal) who lives right across the street. Jennie (Elizabeth Bogush), a recovering alcoholic and Laurie (Josie Davis), the owner of dance club Pulse, share sibling rivalry when David (General Hospital's Ingo Rademacher) arrives on the scene to romance the sisters. Business son Peter (John Barrowman) has eyes for the family secretary Samantha (Lourdes Benedicto), who has eyes for only Chandler. The troubled family gets even more complicated when Uncle Jack (Jack Wagner of "Melrose Place") takes over the family empire after brother Richard dies before episode 6 and kicks up a relationship with sister-in-law Gwen.

Secret pasts, sibling rivalry, steamy sex, battling the bottle, and untimely death is flooding TITANS. Just think... all that and only 6 episodes have been shot so far. Forget the dying "Millionaire" rage and sink your teeth into TITANS!