TV: Blade: The Series - Some Bite, Lots of Skin

If you are like Cody and enjoy reality shows then you have Treasure Hunters, The Real World vs. Road Rules and yet another stupid challenge, there is My Fair Brady and now My Fair Brady: We're Getting Married, about the has been middle child of that annoying show we all know and love, the Brady Bunch. Why anyone would care about this middle-aged guy and the stupid hot model he is about to marry is anyone's guess but if I had a choice between that crap and Blade? -- I'm sticking with Mr. Sticky Fingaz.

Blade: The Series is in the similar vein as the three Blade films except that Blade is now played by Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones. You might remember him as one of the lead rappers from the group Onyx, from the early 90's. This series started out with all the normal clichés regarding vampires, Blade hunts them down with Spock like efficiency. The Vamps have their different houses just like in the films. I'm not that impressed with the basic plot about Vampires trying to find cures for their aversion to garlic, sunlight and stakes, nor in the humorless, emotionless almost boring Blade. But after watching the second episode yesterday I find myself more intrigued with the main villain of the story Marcus Van Sciver (Neil Jackson) and the beautiful Krista (Jill Wagner) who has infiltrated the Vampire house of Cthon at Blade’s request. This angle is a little different from most vampire driven stories; it actually could be similar to the film Interview With a Vampire. It explores the vampire lifestyle beyond the monster status. The angle here which is also interesting is that Van Sciver, in his public life, is a humanitarian and is attempting to save the city of Detroit. They kind of push the Vampires as mafia a little bit more, this guy is like a British Tony Soprano. The series was written by Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Infinite Crisis) and David Goyer who wrote all of the Blade films and directed the last one. He also wrote Batman Begins. Geoff Johns, by trade, is a comics writer getting a chance to write for TV, and for all of you comic geeks out there I'm gonna drop a little knowledge on you. Johns borrowed the name Van Sciver from a close friend and one of the more popular artists at DC comics, Ethan Van Sciver. Take a look at the reviews, most are unkind, but I believe there is a nugget or two of value in this new series. Its fun, the women are hot and you get to see a new kind of illegal street drug called ash, which if you hadn't already guessed, is the remains of fallen vampires that humans snort to have temporary vampire like powers.

So if you are like me and don't think much of Reality shows then check out Blade: the Series on Spike TV at 10pm on Wednesday night. If you can't catch it on Wednesday they replay the last episode on Friday night at 11:00pm.