The Gates

Vampires have always had one thing in common, from their darkest days in Romania, to the Meyers chronicles of today: They are what we fear the most--us dead. You can coat them with glitter, you can make a soap opera out of them; but in the end they are us dead. That has to be the main conflict of the story. What makes the Vampire really interesting, to me, is not the Vampire themselves; but the living humans who are forced to deal with the consequences of the living dead among them. A story line, is just a story line after all: 'A police office and his family move into a gated community where many are denizens of the supernatural world'.What the writers do with plot and conflict will make the difference of whether this show is worth the investment of your time. Here Nick, a police officer --with a past-- is conflicted to begin with. Underneith the professional exterior he is driven to make up for sins of his past. It doesn't take long before he is confronted with the fact that he murdered a suspect in cold blood, and due to this, he is forced to make an allegiance with darkness. This, so far, is the main storyline.

There are werewolves teens (for the tween crowd) and there are other fringe supernatural characters (R.H. Macy's always said you must diversify if you are going to succeed at selling anything over a long period of time) even a succubus (perhaps she can eventually find a nice incubus, settle down, and buy a house in "The Gates"). They will, no doubt, be forced to jump the shark eventually, but for now it is great fun.

It is a beautiful cast and I have yet to see an unattractive person walking the streets of "The Gates". It is the Melrose Place of the supernatural. We carry a lot of baggage with us about Vampires and their kin the Werewolves. I like The Hammer Films of the 1950-1970's. I like the Werewolves of "The Howling" or even "American Werewolf in London" best. The egocentric evil of the Vampire or the Jekyll and Hyde conflict of the Werewolf is my genre home, but it is alright to leave the safety of your home and visit someone else's imagination for a spell. In the end, "The Gates" is summer fun and has something for every generation. A distraction from the heat of this summer. I plan to enjoy it for what it is.....

Watching the pilot as I type. First impressions are good. Mysterious gated community. Security...seclusion...vampires.

Has decent character development and conflicts to make you want to watch the next episode and the next and the next. As long as it doesn't turn into a "monster of the week" series, I predict it will have long term success. And it doesn't hurt that it features beautiful women who aren't too overtly sexual.

It reminds you of the Best Stephen King novels and movies.

I find it intriguing even though to supernatural is overt. There seems to be a lot of potential for real dramatic development.

The "big bads" haven't even been revealed (or more than thinly eluded to) and I'm already hooked!!!

The Gates is a great adult soap style series like Desperate Housewives with a twist. If you like supernatural story lines and upscale settings in today's world then this is a great place to spend and hour enjoying a little mystery. Definitely a keeper. Too many peoples expect a big bang on the first few episodes instead of giving characters time to grow and develop relationships within the story. I can see potential for all the characters to grow and give lots of entertainment to all the fans of this genre of show. What is considered original these days? How can any show be condemned as unoriginal when television is bombarded with spin off crime dramas. I think this show has a lot of originality and hopefully will stay around for more seasons to come.

Yesterday when I got home I saw an announcement about "The Gates". I had no idea of what it was and waited for the show to start with an open mind. As it started I wasn't really sure I was going to like because of all that vampire fever that's going around. The show just went on that one road that I really like and really surprised me with all the variety of content in just that place. I got hooked to it in the first episode and only saw 4 of them until now. I just hope that this show isn't cancelled because when I really like a show they usually go on the one road... dead end! I just think that people nowadays just watch things with already made role models in their heads and so when something is really good, but not their way, they just say it's like this and like that and appoint to all the stuff they can to put the series down. I don't think people should be like this because mainstream is already full of crap. Just give the different stuff a chance, we may be all equal but our tastes are not that way.

I've watched all current seasons of Moonlight, Blood Ties, True Blood, Vampire Diaries & Being Human. If you are a fan of any of these shows you will most likely enjoy 'The Gates'. The first episode sets up the story (which seems a little dull) but progresses quickly as episodes two and three roll along. Hang in there and you might be pleasantly surprised. Viewers who appreciate the 'in your face', slick blood and sexually driven 'True Blood' type of stories may be a bit disappointed here. The tone of this show in comparisons is very light. It focuses more on drama then on suspense, thrills and horror. I'll give you a spoiler free summary of the show if you have not yet watched it. It's a story of an enclosed community (surround by a gate ...surprise!) of super natural beings hiding their real identities from those who are human. Normal stuff (drama) of everyday human life takes place. Work, school, stress, love, hate and romance. The town sheriff (human) helps unravel the story as unexpected events require investigations. Through this slow process the secret identities of the characters are revealed to the viewer. There's much room for development so the possibilities are endless. I hope the writers can take it to the next level.