BEING HUMAN Premieres Tonight on Syfy
2010 marked a big year for horror on television. With the continuing success of Dexter, the growing teen fanbase of The Vampire Diaries, the sex fueled True Blood, and the character-driven zombie series The Walking Dead, horror seemed to dominate the small screen. All of those series will be joined this year by a new and scary entry. Being Human debuts tonight at 9/8 c on Syfy. Read on to find out more details on this new show brought to us by our friends across the pond.
Being Human got its start in the UK. The pilot of the BBC original series, Being Human aired in 2008 to positive fan and critic response. The first series (or season if you live in America) was then green-lit for six episodes, which began airing in July 2009 on BBC America. Following three 20 somethings that are now living together, the show focuses more on the human aspect of their personalities even though all three suffer from some serious problems. Annie is a ghost who is now stuck in the confines of the apartment with which she died in. George is a survivor of a werewolf attack that has left him a hairy problem. Mitchell, a vampire who saved George from a vicious fang attack, now becomes friends with George. When the two of them move into a “vacant” apartment for rent, the supernatural friends are able to meet a new supernatural friend: The ghostly Annie.
The second season, which extended to eight episodes, premiered in January 2010. In this season, the trio are faced with a new problem when a pair of fundamentalist Christians set out to capture members of the supernatural world for experimentation. Season three will began airing at the end of this month and will continue with eight episodes. The first two seasons are now available on DVD and will set you back about $20 per season.
Syfy channel’s remake of the series looks to follow in the same steps as the original. Struggling to just get by in the world, the new show will star Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, and Sam Huntington. One of the aspects that made the BBC show such a success was the strong cast in the main roles. Never drifting too far into camp or too much into soap-opera material, the actors and story maintained an effective balance that made for interesting television. Hopefully the new show will be to maintain this effective balance as well.
To find out for yourself, catch Being Human as it premieres tonight at 9/8 c on Syfy.
Michael Haffner
Somewhere between growing up on a steady diet of Saturday morning trips to the local comic-book shop, collecting an unhealthy amount of action figures, and frequent viewings of Ray Harryhausen and Hammer Horror films, came forth a nerdy boy that was torn between journalism and the arts. In high school, Michael found himself writing a movie column for the school newspaper. Yet, he went on to get a BFA in Studio Art at Webster University. When not writing about films, you can still find him discussing classic horror, collecting action figures, and reading Batman. Clearly, not much has changed.