Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Friday, January 3, and Saturday, January 4. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Dracula (Netflix, Saturday, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): It’s 2020, and The Square’s Claes Bang is thirsty.
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of Dracula—a BBC production, premiering in the U.S. as a Netflix Original Series—stars Bang as the titular bloodsucker, the head of a formidable cast that includes Dolly Wells, Joanna Scanlan, John Heffernan, Morfydd Clark, and Gatiss himself, among others. To say that the Moffat-Gatiss partnership is a mixed bag would be an understatement. There are moments of brilliance in both Sherlock and the Moffat-Gatiss corners of the Doctor Who universe; there are major stumbles in both as well. So who knows where this is headed—but there’s a near-guarantee it won’t be boring. Alasdair Wilkins’s recaps will arrive daily through Monday..
Regular coverage
Wild cards
Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim, Saturday, 12 a.m. and 12:15 a.m.): Joe Pera takes us—the collective us—along on two very different outings this week. In the first installment, “Joe Pera Takes You To The Grocery Store.” In the second, “Joe Pera Goes To Dave Wojcek’s Bachelor Party With You.” Those are dissimilar things, but we’ll be goddamned if we’re going to miss either.
Anne With An E (Netflix, Friday, 3:01 a.m.): What we wouldn’t give for an episode called “Joe Pera Watches The Third And Final Season Of Netflix’s Amiable Canadian Drama Anne With An E With You.”
31 Comments
Dracula: The tale of a very Caucasian England trying to prevent a immigrant from moving in and practicing his own traditions. Some upset English people even go to the immigrants homeland to show their disgust at him.
*to be fair the traditions are murder and cannibalism and he does leave boxes of dirt everywhere.
One thing about the Dracula story is that he does fuck over a real estate agent( realtor) , and as someone who has had to deal with them in the past this pleases me greatly .( and having seen the first episode ,in this series he fucks him over in every sense of the world).
Also, the tradition of venereal disease. Which is what Dracula himself actually embodies. That’s the whole point. But a lot of people like idolising murderers, so they helpfully forget that.
well, to be fair to the mostly Neutral or Chaotic Neutral people of Transylvania, “Chaotic Evil” is just another way of saying “dickhead for fun and profit”, really, and then this guy is Chaotic Evil, royalty, and Undead, so he really doesn’t represent the norm of his homeland. Few non-Undead Transylvanians stalk and waylay innocents for their blood and thralls; they mostly get all that from the market like normal people do.
Of course there are different philosophies about how Subjects relate to their King; one fourth-dynasty Lich-Pharaoh* i met averred that it impinged upon the common folk of the Nile Valley to adjust their Alignments, or at least their demeanours, to that of his. Seeing as he was Lawful Evil and mad as a tarry hoopoe, i mean, of course he did.
* i, too, was surprised to find out that few Undead Pharaonic Overlords were in fact Mummies, and that most were Vampires or Liches 🌈🌟
I think I found my next DM.
Fridays and Saturdays! come to the Harmony Book Shop in Assi Ghat, Varanasi.
Definitely would if I could, my friend.
One thing I like to say about Claes Bang: You get plenty of Claes for your buck.
Very “Artie in the Sky” of you!
As a long-standing viewer of Moffat and Gatiss’s work, I’m perfectly aware that the truth is clearly the opposite of Allison’s assesment, which is that it is major brilliance with momentary stumbles, and then only occasionally. Anyone else who doesn’t live in a witless internet echo chamber is also aware of this. And having seen Alasdair Wilkins’s reviews of Doctor Who, I am happily confident of his ability to give Moffat appropriate credit, where and when it is due. The attempt to negatively pre-dispose people’s opinions beforehand because you’re not writing the reviews isn’t great, but I suppose it’s more out of insecurity then anything else. (Bye comments. I’m looking forward to Dracula.)
I’m hoping Dracula is as ridiculous and messy as Jekyll
It is. Exactly.
But with liberal homages to all the ghosts of Draculas past.
Lots of Hammer references, as you might expect from Mark Gatiss.
And a hilarious Inside No. 9 ref too. And look out for the bit where Dracula outs himself as a Crowded House fan.
That is what I needed to hear. Now I will watch. And if there is a Brides of Dracula reference, I will probably forgive everything wrong with it.
Brides? Thats nothing. If Dracula AD 1972 is referenced then I’ll be impressed.
All Draculas should reference 1972, as that’s the year we got both AD *and* Blacula!!!
What a year!
That is such good news. I love Jekyll and wish we got more.
Dracula:Fun and very silly and not even a little bit scary.
Ditch the corny one-liners and you’ve got yourself a brill four and a half hours of Vampiring.
Sister Agatha is the best thing in it by a country mile.
Really enjoying the adaptation, and the twist at the end of episode 2 was cool (though a little expected). Claes Band and Holly Wells are knocking it out of the park.2 out of 3 for me with the recent BBC adaptations, loved A Christmas Carol but hated War Of The Worlds.
Dolly Wells. Don’t google Holly Wells unless you want to be sad.
Having seen the first two episodes I can definitely say I’d recommend Dracula. Is it perfect? No. It definitely has that Moffet and Gatiss touch that you love or hate, sometimes both. At times it can be a little too winking and self referential. But where I give it credit, is they really do take the Dracula story in new directions, so that I really was left guessing where things would lead. And I’ll hand it to the creative team for coming up with one new real masterstroke, that I’m not sure I’ve seen before in a vampire story. This Dracula gains the insights and personality of his victim’s blood. He consumes not just their life, but their essence, gaining memories from his victim. Thus his personality is somewhat amorphous, which makes him fun and unpredictable, and also gives him an interesting new edge against his adversaries.
So Dracula is an antihero in this? That’s exactly what I wanted, much like Jekyll.
Oh, good question! I might proffer he’s more of an anti-villain. He’s evil and vile, but he’s so wickedly funny and approaches everything with such gusto and a real relish for the havoc he wreaks, that you can’t help but want to see him stick around.
That is excellent. I’m very on board now.
https://www.deviantart.com/clariecandy/art/Vampire-Kirby-105569976
Like iZombie then?
Sounds like iZombie.
Sister Agatha is a little… off. What are the odds she’s also a vampire?
I cannot watch anything Steven Moffat after Sherlock. It started out strong if flawed and turned into a complete self-referential fan-service shit show.
Just finished watching Dracula over here in the UK, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Purists will be upset (and I’ve already encountered one irate viewer) but it’s a dark, bloody and extremely blackly funny adaptation, which shows a lot of imagination and wit. Gatiss is a fan of horror films and is knowledgeable about their history, and that respect and understanding shines through (and his turn as Renfield is delicious). I think it lost its balance a bit in the third episode – no spoilers, here – but even if it wasn’t a satisfying conclusion, it was a bold and intelligent one.