SyFy (TV) Corner: Being Human (2010)
Over the holidays I received a beautiful promo/reviewer package in the mail from the folks over at SyFy promoting their new series BEING HUMAN, premiering this coming Monday, January 17 at 9pm ET/PT. Besides containing DVD screeners of the first 3 episodes, the package also has a really impressive scrapbook-like feel to it as it introduced me to each of the main characters in the series. BEING HUMAN has been adapted from the hugely popular British TV show of the same name and plot for an American audience. I’ve never seen the original British version so I couldn’t tell you if it keeps the same storyline or not. But I think there might be something here. There’s a few areas that need to be improved upon, but overall I think this series has potential.
The first episode, “There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 1” is exactly what a good pilot should be. We’re introduced to the three main characters Aidan (Sam Witwer), who’s a vampire; Josh (Sam Huntington), who’s a werewolf; and Sally (Meaghan Rath), who’s a ghost. Aidan and Josh both work in a hospital and know about each other’s unique condition. Aidan is what you might call a “recovered active vampire” in that he doesn’t stalk and hunt down victims. Instead he gets his blood from the hospital’s blood bank. He and Josh are already friends as the show begins and they are both fighting to try and fit into society. They finally decide to move in together in their efforts to be as human as possible. In their new 2-story brown stone they meet Sally, a ghost, who used to live there with her fiancee until she fell down the stairs and died. Sally’s fiancee Danny (Gianpaolo Vanuta) still owns the brown stone, and there are innuendos about Sally’s death being a little suspicious (at least it feels so to me).
And you thought YOU had a bad sleepwalking problem!!
The pilot, as mentioned above, does a great job setting up the characters as well as introducing a bunch of subplots that will carry on throughout the series’ run. The biggest subplot concerns Aidan: As the episode opens Aidan, it seems, has fallen off the wagon. He goes out with a girl, Rebecca (Sarah Allen), and during sex he looses control and feeds on her like a tick on a dog’s ass. So he calls his old buddy (and I do mean OLD buddy) Bishop (Mark Pellegrino) to help him. Aidan was turned by Bishop over 200 years ago and they used to go hunting together, and recently Bishop has missed the “good old days” and wants to bring Aidan back to his violent ways. There are also a lot of hints that Bishop has been recruiting a lot of new vampires for some big event in the near future. But Aidan, who’s actually repentant about his violent past, stays true to Josh in trying to fit in with humanity. We get a really good balance as we’re introduced to the characters and are given a lot of subplots that are most definitely setting up future episodes.
(l-r) Sally, Josh, & Aidan trying to figure out how to be human and fit in.
The actors playing Aidan and Josh are terrific. Aidan plays the brooding, melancholic vampire nicely without ever becoming the whiny, annoying TWILIGHT-esque vampire. and Josh plays his role as a neurotic, OCD werewolf perfectly. He does a really good job in portraying a cursed man. He also has most of the shows comic relief and has good timing to pull off the funny scenes while at the same time never letting us forget he’s also a cursed man. And then there’s Sally. Compared to the actors playing Aidan and Josh, Sally really sticks out as not being that strong an actress. As soon as she’s introduced, you’re immediately aware that you’re watching a TV show. She pulls you out of the moment as you become aware that she’s acting in a role (and not doing a very good job at it). I assumed this was her first acting gig, but she actually has a string of TV movies and shows under her belt (including the SyFy movie 10.5: APOCALYPSE). I think Rath needs to get some more experience outside the TV realm to help her grow as an actress. She plays the “bubbly, energetic girl” part well enough, but there’s also the part of her hat is struggling to come to terms with being a ghost trapped in this world, cursed in being able to see her fiancee but unable to interact with him. Unfortunately Rath just doesn’t have the depth to pull this side of her character off.
It's always awkward running into your one night stand ... especially when you fed on her and left her for dead!!
Adam Kane (who directed a handful of episodes of HEROES) directed the first 2 episodes and does a good job. The writing, especially the dialogue, could have been tighter in spots but overall I think BEING HUMAN is off to a good start. I watched the first three episodes with my wife and even she made the comment, “This could be so good if they just did something with the dialogue.” I agree with her (and no; not because I have to). The dialogue often went for being cutesy and tried its best to be clever instead of being “natural”. I mean we are dealing with three supernatural beings after all … let the dialogue get dark at times!!
But if anything gave me hope about the direction of BEING HUMAN, it was the third episode, “Some Thing to Watch Over Me.” In it the guys bring in an older ghost to essentially teach Sally how to be a ghost, but the main story is about Aidan. A cop, who’s now in his 40’s, recognizes Aidan from his childhood. It seems Aidan killed the cop’s dad when the cop was 10 years old and now he’s obsessed with proving that Aidan is the same man. What I really liked about this episode is that is ends on a dark and depressing note. It’s nice to know the writers aren’t afraid to explore such territory.
I think these 3 have what it takes to make a really compelling & fun series!!
Overall I think BEING HUMAN has a lot of promise. Besides some of the supporting cast members and the actress playing Sally, the acting is strong, and the writers have demonstrated they aren’t afraid to explore darker themes. Given time I think BEING HUMAN will hit it’s stride and become a really compelling TV series. I’m gonna be tuning in every Monday night to see where it goes!! Check out the pilot this upcoming Monday night, January 17 at 9pm ET/PT.
My Summary:
Director: Adam Kane (first 2 episodes)
Plot: 3.5 out of 5 (for first 3 episodes
Gore: 0 out of 10 skulls
Zombie Mayhem: 0 out of 5 brains (for now; I bet we’ll see a zombie or 2 in the future)
Reviewed by Scott Shoyer
Horror Movies, Horror News, Horror Reviews | AnythingHorror.com 
Considering SyFy’s track record with a) bad movies and b) canceling series which turn out to be good, I really would have preferred to see the BBC show and not an American remake. Oh… yeah… that’s another pet peeve- American remakes of anything. On SyFy they’ve been billing this show as a “SyFy original,” but it’s not… it was originally British. So there’s that too.
Am I mistaken or does the vampire have an Edward thing going on too? I mean, does he sparkle? Because he has the same grayish skin tone in that first picture as I’ve seen with Meyer’s horrific contribution to the genre.
I haven’r seen the show, and those are my reasons, but number one is that even if I do get into it, SyFy will pull it. So I’ll just wait for the reruns… and hope they option to show the BBC show at some point.
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I’m with ya, Candace, on wanting to see the original BBC BEING HUMAN. SyFy really does have a horrible track record of pulling shows that are really interesting and fun.
I know that Aidan looks “sparkly”, but he isn’t anything like a TWILIGHT vampire (at least I don’t think he is in relation to my VERY limited exposure to TWILIGHT). The actor is actually very good and plays the role well … he’s repentant about his violent past but not whiney!!!
I’m really surprised that SyFy shows like HAVEN and WAREHOUSE 13 are still on the air. I watched about 4 episodes of HAVEN before completely loosing interest. WAREHOUSE 13 I watched the entire 1st season and again lost interest. I didn’t like where the story was going in both series. But the subplots they are setting up in BEING HUMAN have potential. Time will tell.
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Thanks for the review! I was worried that the show would be too much about the gimick, not enough about the characters and their interactions. I’ll be tuning in to see the pilot, though.
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Based on the pilot eps, Jess, it really seems as though the writers are putting in the effort to explore the characters and not just trying to exploit a gimmick. I hope they follow through … right now there’s nothing on TV that I watch regularly … I could use something!!
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The BBC original is awesome! I have watched it via my cable company’s on demand service and it is very well done. If the SyFy channel comes even close they will have a legit hit. I’m looking forward to viewing it.
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Somehow I’ve gotta find the BBC series …. but even moreso I need to find the TIME to watch it!! LOL
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I am extremely nervous and excited about tonights premiere. The BBC version’s first series (season) was an amazing start, though I felt like it lost it’s way in series 2. I was at first extremely disinterested in seeing a re-imagining of the series for a North American audience, especially without Aidan Turner to drool over, but I realized this is a second chance for me to see the three continue to try and “be human”, which is where the BBC series lost out.
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Good insight into the original BBC series Rebecca!! Did you catch the premier last night? What did you think?
That’s the main thing I worry about … that the writers are going to forget about the notion of te 3 main characters trying to “be human” and fit into the world. We’ll see.
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I did catch it last night and I was honestly underwhelmed. It wasn’t bad, if I had never seen the BBC version I probably would have enjoyed it more. The BBC actors really created their characters and they fit together so well you could forget you were watching a show. The Syfy version just felt a little forced and thrown together. I am going to give it another episode to see if they got everything down pat. I don’t want to rip something to pieces without actually giving it a chance to get better.
Then again, maybe I am just thrown off by the vampire mind powers, I don’t think BBC went there. And the underground rows of girls there for blood (and presumably sex). And the ghost annoys me. Ok, ok no more; I said I would give it a chance.
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BBC version is outstanding and the SyFy version premier I found to be very average at best. They are two very different series based on what I observed.
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That’s interesting Bill. One day I’ll have to sit down and watch a few eps from the original BBC series.
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There is a song on the first episode part (1) I would like to know the artist and if the song is available to the public , I didn’t find the title but the lyrics went ” where did my body go body go body go , oh have you seen my ghost seen my ghost seen my ghost …”
Plus the second part (2) last song of the episode ” Do you recall what made me fall , did I have a sweater on …”
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My best advice to you Eric is to record the shows that have the songs you like in them and then look at the end of the credits when they roll the soundtrack. That or you could use the Shazam app and capture and track down what the songs are.
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