More TV

Once again, my procrastination almost made this post pointless, but since I was watching Frasier and saw the promo, I decided to jump up and post this before it got much later:

This Sunday is the premiere of Lifetime's new series, Blood Ties, involving vampires. The promo spots actually look pretty good, though I'm sure it's going to be far more Anne Rice-ish than, say, Bram Stoker-ish. No matter to me, as I was never a big vampire fan either way. Rice's Interview with a Vampire was a thinly-veiled allegory for the gay lifestyle - a fact that is as undeniable as it is sure to incite rage in many fans - and Dracula, while at times incredible and certainly a masterwork of prose, was just plain boring. And not just because it was epistolary, either. Still, the vampire medium has most often been used by the literary world for erotic material, which is quite odd because the legends upon which they are based are far from erotic in nature. The actual vampires from legend were nasty, ugly, decrepit beasts.

You can catch a sneak peek on iTunes.

The other thing to mention with the boob-tube is the new season of South Park, which premieres tomorrow night! South Park is consistently the funniest thing on TV and has been pretty much since its debut. While individual episodes are hit or miss, the overall series is exemplary in its quality and overall ingenuity, and it continues to push the boundaries of both good taste and comedic brilliance. Parker and Stone have a long history of great work and I want to make particular mention of Parker's songwriting ability, which is unmatched in modern entertainment. Nothing proves that better than their seminal Troma flick, Cannibal: The Musical - one of my very favorites and one of their best - and, of course, the South Park movie itself, which received an Oscar nom for best song.