Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Being Human Episode 1: There Goes the Neighborhood


The key to making this show successful for viewers is approaching the premiere as if you had never seen an original episode at all, as if the amazing and awesome BBC version just doesn't exist. At least that's how I did it and I really felt that the show worked. I'm tuning in next week... so long as it doesn't play against Castle.

My initial impressions were this:

*The casting was spot-on, especially for Josh, the tormented werewolf character. He does the lost puppy look very well, and he has a nice emotional range. He made me laugh too (walking down the street in a polyester dress, or mopping the floor in his new place). Sally (ghost) also scored an A and I look forward to her smart-ass wit. I predict that she will be my favorite. Aidan (vampire) started out so-so for me, mostly because he didn't have the sexiness that I was looking for, but I liked him more towards the end of the episode. He hit it with the brooding attitude and I liked his vibe so I'm just hoping he adds a dash of sexy next week. The potential is definitely there.

*Good special effects. This is something that I was worried about because SyFy can easily jump into the realm of cheestastic CGI or worse, the Halloween mask-like costumes and corn syrup blood. The transformation scene was cool and so was all the bloody stuff. The fangs were also decent.

Best Lines (that I can remember off the top of my head):

*Are you trying to scare us with Bon Jovi? -Aidan to Sally

*At least I don't masturbate to NOVA! - Sally to Josh

SyFy has loads of Being Human stuff up at their website, including a cool blog, videos, character bios and more. So stop by and visit. I'll be back next week with a brief episode 2 recap.

Did you tune in to the premiere? What did you think? Let's compare notes!

6 comments:

Jen D. @ Not Now...I'm Reading! said...

I'll hold out until the second episode review to see if I'll give this one a try.

Melissa Walker said...

Hurray! Another new show to chat about with the Bite Clubbers!

I liked it. I have only seen the last season of the BBC version, so I went into this series as you did: don't compare.

I do have to disagree with you on two points though. Sally the Ghost is not a very good actress for me. I should have cared more about her plight and didn't, at all. Second, Aiden and the vampire scenes were smokin' hot. I was really happy all of that blood sucking was done for adults and not tamed waaaaay down for TV.

It's not a gush-worthy show yet, but it has definite potential. Even the hubs liked it!

Anonymous said...

Hey Melissa! I was hoping you'd stop by and chat today.

You didn't like Sally? I thought she made a good first impression and that her story would be doled out over time so that we, the audience, would car ea little more about her each week. And she did have some funny lines.

Now the scenes with Aidan were quite good and he definitely has the brooding, dark look down, but he just didn't rock my world when the fangs came out (at first). I'm glad that his vampy scenes weren't tamed down and towards the end of the episode I did think, hmm, this guy is quite the good looking vampire. I just needed a bit more time.

I'd rate this episode a solid B. And honestly, I feel sort of bad that all the BBC fans are so hostile about it. I thought the remake aspects were good and that the producers did a decent job of making the show appealing to the American audience. Boston is a good city for the show, lots of old buildings and history, plus the benefit of being gritty and diverse.

Michele Hauf said...

Sounds like the show was much better than one would expect from a SyFy show? I just finished the 1st season of the BBC version and have already downloaded the 2nd season. I'm sure it'll be a while before I can see the SyFy one, because I don't get that channel.

I don't think anyone can top Mitchell. Funny how the new one is called Aidan (same as actor who plays Mitchell). I wonder how the Brits feel about the new series?

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

I throughly enjoyed it. And hopefully as it's a SyFy series it will be around for awhile.

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Vickie said...

I was startled at how much I liked the episode last night. I highly expected to dislike it intensely. The one character I was most impressed with was Aidan. I thought I'd have the most difficult time comparing the two vampire versions.
I liked all of the actors chosen for each character.
My DH liked the show, too. He sat down and watched it with me. He likened it to Supernatural with the good characters, storyline, premise and humor. He asked me to DVR the show so he won't miss any episodes. Another fan....