MOONLIGHT
2007-8
16 Episodes
Created by: Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson
Don’t go thinking we’ve lost our brains somewhere down the back of the sofa, oh no: we understand that Moonlight wasn’t that great. It was unoriginal, poorly plotted and predictable… but holy cow, did it start pulling its socks up towards the end of its ill-fated run, so much so that when the axe finally fell on vampire Mick St John (Alex O’Loughlin) a whole horde of fans kicked up a right royal fuss.
And they had a point: the show, which co-starred Sophia Myles and Veronica Mars bad boy Jason Dohring, really did have a bright future. Set in a neon-glared LA and focusing on O’Loughlin’s vampire private investigator, who teams up with Myles’s journalist to solve crimes and fall in love (but of course!), Moonlight tried its damnedest to spin an interesting mythology while at the same time turning up the romantic elements to almost-Twilight levels of angst. By its final few episodes it was even starting to succeed.
Its real weapon, however, was O’Loughlin, who brooded as ably as Angel ever did while also being able to turn on the twinkly Irish charm and fling his curly locks about. Whether he could have made a second season a must-see, we’ll never know, but it would have been nice to find out, wouldn’t it?
Go to the next one-season wonder: THE MIDDLEMAN
