Dante's Cove

Starts off in 1840 with Ambrosius (William Gregory Lee) about to get married to an evil witch (Tracy Scoggins). But she catches him having sex with his butler and immediately puts a curse on him.

Cut to 2005--Young hunky Kevin (Gregory Michael) is in love with young hunky Toby (Charlie David). Toby takes a job in Dante's Cove and stays at Hotel Dante. Kevin joins him and meets the various inhabitants--gay Corey, bisexual Amber, straight Adam, straight Josh, lesbian Vanessa. Kevin starts hearing voices calling him from the basement and unwittingly follows them...

I only saw part one of this of here! TV On Demand. This is (basically) a supernatural soap opera full of nudity (mostly male) and simulated sex scenes. Heck, within the first 10 minutes there's a (fairly explicit) gay sex sequence! There are more later on mixed in with lesbian and straight sex...something for everyone. This is squarely aimed at gay male audiences though--there are plenty of hunky young guys here frequently out of their clothes.

This is pretty well-made but the sex scenes are the main reason for this. As for the acting---all of the actors were probably hired for their looks, bodies and comfort with doing nude scenes...not their acting ability. Some of the acting is pretty bad--Kevin, Vanessa, Adam and Josh are TERRIBLE. But Toby and Corey are pretty good. But let's face it--you're watching this for the nudity and sex. There's plenty of it and all the actors look great nude. This does have limits--the sex is (obviously) simulated and there's no frontals on the guys (except for one brief scene at the beginning).

So--for gay men this is a silly but fun and sexy soap. Others might not like it too much. I give it an 8.

I've read all the reviews and posts on the site, and it's quite an interesting mix of opinions.

To me, DANTE'S COVE is a cool and innovating show as I've never seen any single episode of the others TV-Series mentioned here as 'Buffy the vampire slayer - The OC's -or- Charmed'. I must say that generally, I'm not that much attracted by supernatural genre. It bores me a lot. But not for DANTE'S COVE. I retrieve what I've appreciated in 'Queer As Folk & Tales of the City' : a community spirit combined with mutual help, fun (and venomous tongues !).

I think the writing's just fine (even if the red-eyes thing is far too much !) and for sure some of the actors really CAN act (as Tracy Scoggins, Thea Gill & Charlie David for firsts). I find in this show what I search on TV - well for this kind of stuff : something entertaining, eyes-candy and refreshing. (My on-screen-witchcraft knowledge mostly is limited to Elvira's, I guess !) so I like what I see on the 13 episodes of this Series (I include the 'Unaired Pilot'). And Goash, Charlie David is a Hunk ! I hope so much that one day we'll get the chance to see the Fourth Season : I know I'll go back to this Cove with a delighted (and non-guilty) pleasure again...

I loved Queer As folk because the characters were complex: it was not simply about gay characters but about flesh and blood people. Besides, all the actors were excellent. But Dante's Cove is so ridiculous and funny, though not voluntarily...

The Gothic background is a caricature, with witches having red, glaring eyes when they curse their victims, and people turning into dust all of a sudden. Harry Potter sounds like Kierkegaard compared to that rubbish of hidden manuscripts, pentagrams and undead people... The acting is below awful, so much so that I couldn't help laughing most of the time. And the sex scenes so conventional, the men looking all more or less alike. A real waste of time! (and money if you have been unfortunate enough to buy this series)

When I saw the first season, I posted a review and commented on the bad acting and sub-par writing. But, I really enjoyed the show anyway. I'm glad I stuck with it, because it's gotten better. A LOT better.

It has all the basic elements I like - Gothic plot line, romance, and skin on screen. The writing, acting, and directing have come a long way since Season 1 - in fact, I would have to say Season 3 is by far the strongest yet. The writing is tighter, the performances turned in by series veterans have improved enormously (Charlie David in particular is giving substantially-improved performances) and the show is just plain FUN! Gothic Horror is a genre I love, and Dante's Cove delivers that. Especially in Season 1 (the show moved shooting locations to Hawai'i starting Season 2) there are great locations with old architecture and some spooky native locales. The cast is hot, the sex is getting hotter by the season, and the plot lines are engaging - covering all the territory from "jealous boyfriend" to "jilted fiancée" to "mind-controlling warlock" as time rolls on in the show. There is humor (both intended and not, I think), drama, and by Season 3 the camp atmosphere feels more intended than accidental and the show has finally hit its stride.

One ding - every season the show appears to move. Between Season 1 and 2, shooting moved to Hawai'i (O'ahu, to be exact) so some established locations either just changed (The Hotel Dante) or "closed for renovations" (the Historical Society building.) Between Seasons 2 and 3 we've moved locales again! For reasons I won't get into here, we're not spending any more time at the hotel. The feel of the locales has moved from Gothic to Paradise Beach - while Hawai'i is gorgeous, it's a bit sunny and fun for the feel I got from the first season. Personally, I find the constant venue changes jarring, and hope we'll get to see some of the same locations for Season 4 when it arrives, or perhaps return for a bit to some older ones.

In any event, I love this show. For those who haven't figured this out yet, it does feature full-frontal nudity (male) and lots of sex - gay, lesbian, and IIRC a straight scene or two. The show (with the sole exception of the opening five minutes of Season 1) doesn't show full-frontal with erection, which occasionally looks strange given what's supposed to be going on, and which seems strange given where it went in the show's opening five minutes of Season 1. A couple of the actors are obviously not planning on full-frontal, and occasionally contort to avoid it, while extras are frequently (and occasionally pointlessly) nude, and soft even when horn-dogging someone. Perhaps more creative set staging or action blocking could help them cover up without looking so odd doing it, or maybe they'll decide one day that full-frontal in a gay soap is not career-ending. While I'm not looking for pornography here, a touch more realism would help with "suspension of disbelief" quite a bit.

All in all, if you like horror, and like gay themes, give "Dante's Cove" a try. Try to watch at least two seasons, and I really recommend going for the third - it's the strongest yet, and starts to deliver on the promise of the premise that we've been waiting for from the beginning.

God, how I love this programme.

They say that if you put a thousand monkeys in a room with a thousand typewriters then in a thousand years they will write the works of Shakespeare.

Some years ago a group of producers put one monkey in a room with an etch-a-sketch and the result was: Dante's Cove.

It's genius. A parallel world where concepts that we accept as normal just do not exist. Like "acting". And "shirts".

But goodness me, what a wonderful place to live. An entire island populated by beautiful, young, sexy people. And Tracy Scoggins.

It's a place where someone called Reichen Lehmkuhl (who apparently won a reality TV show and dated Lance Bass) must atone for his sins by submitting to living his life under a sheen of baby oil.

It's where we marvel at the "performance" of Charlie David - possibly the most wooden actor who ever lived. (Let me put it this way - that chiselled torso isn't so much the result of Gold's Gym as it is a carpenter's workshop. No really, you can see the other actors batting away the splinters.)

In short, a masterpiece. I wouldn't miss an episode.