Titans

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!

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.

Let's face it, if you're looking for intelligent, meaningful, enriching television - don't bother. However, if you miss Melrose Place and 90210, then this is your show. It's hard to feel sorry for these beautiful rich people, yet somehow I'm entranced to turn in each week, just like with Melrose and 90210.

If you want to watch this show, remove your thinking cap, sit back and enjoy. This show will not stimulate any of your brain cells, but you'll enjoy it none the less

I don't care what everyone else says I think it's a great show. I'm not the biggest fan of Ingo Rademacher and Casper Van Dien, but I think they're great actors. I have never missed a episode yet and I don't plan to either.

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.