Kindred: The Embraced

OK, maybe C. Thomas Howell is a little melodramatic, but this series was a good and (generally) well-acted modern vampire tale. I wasn't watching television, I guess, when it originally aired. But I rented it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it so much that I bought it on DVD a short time ago. The set has two DVDs and is in 5.1--pretty stripped down in terms of extras (i.e., there aren't any). Still, it's worth a look. Mark Frankel and Patrick Bauchau are excellent in their roles.

I have to agree with the first comment posted; that the pilot was weak and the rest of the shows were excellent. Nobody gives a damn how close it was to the game...and quite frankly, I find it offensive that someone will get all self righteous about it...but that's not why I'm posting. Great show. The story was very consuming and kept your attention. Much is to be said for that these days as a lot of shows don't keep your attention any longer than a few airings. I have to say that (unfortunately), the best shows are usually the ones that get cancelled: Kindred, Earth2, S:AAB, to name a few. The general public isn't ready to devote regular hours to a little continuity. They are more apt to tune in for the occasional 30 minutes of overused situational B.S. Anyway, great show, I sure wish there was a way to see more.

I must admit, I love vampire movies, vampire television shows, vampire books. This was no exception. This production, based on a game, was much better than I expected. Though it produced some of the most overblown television dialogue to date, it also produced intense, shocking images. It was certainly one of the most powerful television episodes I've ever seen.

If you can catch reruns of it on the tube some night, lucky you.

This show could've been cool if they would've stayed closer to the true World of Darkness atmosphere. Vampire: the Masquerade (which is what this is based on) is one of the darkest, most well thought out worlds on paper. FOX destroyed it! They basically said: Lets make Melrose Place, but with fangs! We'll offer Mark Rein*Hagan a lot of money to sign off on it and it will be really cool! Well, it wasn't. It could've been the next X-Files if they really would've done their homework. But...they didn't. So now we have another cheesy, half baked show about Vampires. I'm glad they cancelled it. Maybe they realized that they were ruining something really good.

This was a wonderful series, full of interesting and charismatic actors. I've followed Patrick Bauchau, for example, ever since, especially as Sydney in The Pretender. The really sad thing is that the star, Mark Frankel,who played Julian Luna, was killed in a motorcycle accident the summer after the series wrapped, leaving a wife and two small children. Don't know if the show had any chance of continuing, but obviously that was the end of that -- and a promising career and life. Too bad there aren't real vampires, so he could have survived beyond the tragedy!

As I understand it, some of those who had played the game on which it was based were unhappy with the show -- they felt it didn't really do justice to its complexity or follow its rules. Never having played the game, I had no such reservations. I thought the show was well-written and excitingly paced, and would recommend the set to anyone interested in this genre.