2013 was not a good year for NBC when it came to certain of their freshman class.
Take the revival of Ironside. Not only was the iconic detective rebooted as an African-American (Blair Underwood), but the star was also a producer. The series didn't even make it to Thanksgiving.
Then, there is Dracula. It was billed as a reimagining of Bram Stoker's classic novel, which has been adapted into a movie time and again over the last several decades, mostly at Universal, which co-produced this version as well. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (ex-The Tudors) not only had the title role, but, like Underwood, was also a producer. As it turned out, that was again, not a good thing.
This version has Dracula posing as an American businessman, Alexander Grayson, offering new ideas for the British people, but in secret, he's seeking revenge on the Order of the Dragon, a secret society, which, in turn, is stalking him. The series lasted 10 episodes, and was not renewed.
Following is a trailer:
I tried to watch the first episode On Demand one night, and couldn't get through it without a series of facepalms and head-shaking. Why would Dracula have some secret society chasing him? Why is he being presented as an anti-hero? The answer lies in the simple fact that NBC was looking to get a piece of the youth demographic that CW has tapped into with The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off, The Originals, both of which represent the Twilight generation of vampire fans. Coupling Dracula with Grimm was meant to be a stroke of genius, but viewers weren't buying into a gentleman vampire with a secret identity and an enemy foreign to the source material.
Rating: D.
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