n show, Scoundrels, which has already been capably flogged on this here blog). (According to the ratings for both shows, I'm not alone here.)Anyway, based on the title for this blog (for those of you who work in my office) you probably thought this post was going to be about Brett and Tara. In all honestly, that would likely have been more entertaining and a good deal more original.
The Gates is ABC's belated answer to the supernatural craze. It centers around a ritzy, suburban, super-secretive gated community that's home to a pair of vampires, several dozen werewolves, assorted witches, some Stepford Wives, and various Republicans. Oh-the-horror, indeed! The pilot was nothing to write home about (and I actually watched it a couple of days ago, so bear with me here), but it was basically well-constructed, no where near as campy or cheesy as expected, and set up a premise and a universe adequately. Unfortunately, it all felt way too familiar. ABC arrived at this monster mash a few years too late and every inch of this show felt woefully derivative, unsurprising, and thoroughly overdone.
That said, and as stated previously, I didn't hate it. The pilot started off in cheeseland, but ultimately found some edge as it settled into its own concept. The real problem, methinks, is that they settled in a little too entirely and way too quickly. I guess the suits were afraid that people wouldn't be sucked immediately if they didn't go whole hog instantly, but for me, that was a wrong step. The reason shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries work so well for me is that they give a little and hold back a lot. Granted, they have the luxury of time in a way that I don't think has been afforded to The Gates, but ultimately, I think that's going to be The Gates downfall. It's a little strange to even describe, given the absolutely break-neck pace at which TB and VD tell stories (heh, tuberculosis and venereal disease, anyone?), but for some reason it just felt like The Gates threw everything, the kitchen sink, and a whole basket of standard supernatural conceits at the viewer without much of a plan to build on them. After only the pilot, I wasn't chomping
at the bit for more and didn't get the sense of mystery or suspense that I was hoping for.The show is built around the new family in town, which was ushered into the gates in order to gain a new police chief. Once again, in the wonderful world of "I swear I've seen this before, oh, wait, I have" the audience is met with an unassuming, unsuspecting suburban family that moves onto Haunted Hill, essentially. You see, they'll act as the audience's window into this new world. Isn't that clever? Fortunately, things got a bit more interesting as we meet the vampires down the street and the werewolves that apparently run the high school (and which all ride dirt bikes--I know I'm shaking in my boots, how 'bout you?). The woman playing Mrs. Vampire is a truly terrible actress, which is a shame, because the vamps were really the highlight of the pilot. The relationship between her and a her husband was far and away the most intriguing aspect of the show (mostly because the bloke playing Mr. Vampire does a hell of a good job--I say "bloke" because
they're British, of course). Much to the shows credit, the rules for vampires at least sort of appear to be conventional. Although, sometimes they seem to be fine going out in the sun and sometimes they get burned. I guess she forgot to put on her SPF 17,000 or something... At any rate, the wife is less-than-engaging, but her husband struck me as well-rounded, menacing, and unlike most aspects of this show, truly interesting. Quite frankly, he's the primary reason I'll be giving this show a second week.The werewolves somehow round out the teen angle for the show as the new police chief's son gets all sorts of mixed up with that particular supernatural element (there are oh-so-many too choose from!) You know, it's your standard boy meets girl, girl is dating a werewolf, werewolf gets jealous and tries to kill boy. I'd like to believe that was actually being facetious there, but to put it mildly, that genuinely isn't that far fetched. At all. Again, ABC, you arrived at this party way too late for any of this to seem fresh or original. That said, the pilot did a pretty decent job of establishing the son and the werewolves in a way that has me mildly interested.
As far as formulas go, the supernatural show has a lot more wiggle room than, say, your standard legal show or medical drama, so I'm trying to be generous here.Oh, and there are witches. They're really more like the Real Housewives of The Gates so far, but don't worry they've joined the party as well (and they brought tea!) (Okay, that tea reference will only even kind of make sense if you actually watched the pilot, and even then, I don't expect and non-professional TV watchers to have made note of it, so feel free to ignore that.)
At the end of the day, this kind of setup always allows for a million different avenues for the writers to walk down, but so far, The Gates has taken the conventional route. The writers should have recognized the atmosphere they were entering and done everything in their power to avoid standard conventions. I realize that with the glut of material out there at the moment, it wouldn't be easy to reinvent this particular wheel, but they really should have tried harder. Even the elements of this pilot that were genuinely engaging were undercut by the sense of familiarity. This is a show I've seen before, so unless the next few episodes blaze a new path, I'm pretty sure my vampire dance card is currently filled. They set up a few characters that I kind of care about, and have created a world with limitless possibilities, but I'm not dying to see what happens next. Indeed, the big "cliffhanger" at the end involved finding the body of... the old police chief? I, uh, guess that's spine-tingling? I wasn't even totally sure that was who they found, but there was some really dramatic music, so I guess that's important... I have a sinking feeling this guy (whom no one even kind of cares about) will form the basis for the season
1 story arc, which does not bolster my confidence in the show...It wasn't a great pilot by any stretch, but it had just enough theoretical potential that I'm giving it another week. Who knows, The Vampire Diaries started off even slower than this an eventually became one of my favorite shows. I don't think that will happen here, but I'm keeping an open mind. I think the real difference is that VD and True Blood have prolific source materials to draw from (although VD has diverged from them in awesome ways) and super-strong creative teams running them. I don't even know who is the showrunner for The Gates, but it's apparently no one of note. So far, I'm underwhelmed, and in a summer with a ridiculous amount of TV to watch, I'm pretty sure this one will only get another episode to win me over. Maybe two. Here's hoping I'm wrong, but I think this sucker is going to fade pretty quickly as the world at large is probably as vamped out as I am.
Pilot Grade: C
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