Blood ties

[sqbr]

oliverm was telling distantcam and I about "BloodTies", a show they've been watching at fangirling. He said that it was about a detective with a vampire sidekick and was ok but not spectacular, but that he had been reliably informed the guy in it was hot.

This intrigued Cam more than me(*) but regardless we watched the first two episodes.

First thing I noticed: the detective was a woman. "Awesome" thinks I, "not often you get a strong female lead who's more about intelligently solving problems than looking good"
Second thing I noticed: Hmm, the vampire guy really is very pretty.

And then I realised what I was watching. To Cam it was just rather inconsistently and oddly written with more soap opera than your usual genre show.

But I have read Anne Bishop, and Tamora Pierce, and Anne Macaffery and, most importantly Laurell K. Hamilton. To me it made perfect sense for the absurdly pretty morally ambiguous graphic novelist noble blooded vampire to be immediately drawn to the main character despite her fiery nature and strong willed refusal to believe in the supernatural or listen to his advice, and for him to alternate between being touchy feely and staring into her eyes, and being aloof and otherwordly and dangerous. For her to affectionately flirt with her concerned but stolid (in an attractive, old fashioned sort of way) ex boyfriend the cop but push him away when he tried to connect. For the show to take a good five minutes in closeup on the vampires naked torso and otherwise spend an awfully long time on all the "Hot guy showing interest in the protagonist" moments and rather less on the, you know, plot.

For this is fantasy written by and for women. I've just never seen it on television before :) A lot less graphic sex than I'm used to in the genre though(**). Then again, I haven't seen the rest of the show...

Anyway, I was explaining this theory to Cam and he thought it made some sense but on the whole just thought the show was crap. And then I googled the station it's shown on. So, it looks like tv executives have finally realised that we female geeks exist and are deliberately trying to tap the market with stuff a little less girly than Charmed. I, personally, do not have a problem with this :)

EDIT: A link with some more info and a picture. See? Pretty. Also kinda young, but hey, the character isn't :)

That said, I actually don't like your typical women's-fantasy as personified by the show so far (I am at best an ex fan of the authors I listed). But more variety in tv sff means more likelyhood of them showing the sort of stuff I do like. (Let me have my dreams of Lois McMaster Bujold-like tv sff ok?)

And yes, after my gilmore girls comments I realise I may have entirely the wrong idea of the show.

(*)Because he has a higher tolerance for crappy tv sff, not because of the hot guy :D
(**)Not a complaint, just an observation.

Comments

[lizbyrd.livejournal.com]

It's actually based on a series of novels a little less trashy than Laurell K. Hamilton, by Tanya Huff. I'd read them, which is what made me interested in the show in the first place.

[alias_sqbr]

I was wondering what the books are like. I know enough not to judge them by the tv show :)

[tevriel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Blood Ties is very definitely aimed at a female audience.

I've only seen a few more episodes, but I can say that it does continue that way. It's still snarky (which is a big part of why I like it), Henry stays adorable even if the bond between him and Vicky gets less romace novel-y and more of a genuine mutual caring.

I like it, but it's very definitely still in that very Lifetime Network aimed-at-chicks category. (But Henry is very, very pretty.)

[alias_sqbr]

Oh, I enjoyed it too in a guilty sort of way. I just found it interesting that the genre has made the jump to tv, I wonder if we'll see movies like that in the future?

[alias_sqbr]

Oh: and are there flashbacks(*)? I'm a total sucker for a period flashback, it's one of the things I like about "Forever Knight", "Highlander" and "Angel".

(*)Brief glimpses of generic people in hoods doesn't count. I want dresses and frilly shirts!

[tevriel.livejournal.com]

There sort of is and sort of isn't, so far. There's a flashback that isn't generic people in hoods, and it's kind of nifty, even if I didn't like that episode at all at all, but there are no frilly shirts or those kinds of dresses.

[alias_sqbr]

Well that's no fun!

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Woah woah woah that guy is actually not hideously ugly. My whole belief system is shaken.

[alias_sqbr]

I know, it's bizarre!

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

I love Tanya Huff. Where is this show you talk of?

[alias_sqbr]

On Lifetime cable channel in America. The only way one can watch it here is through evil bad illegal downloading over the internet, which I of course do not condone (I watched it via my secret psychic powers)

[edible-hat.livejournal.com]

In a recent episode of the 3 Heroes podcast they read an email asking where the Australian and Austrian hosts download Heroes episodes from. The Austrian host said "We don't download them, we are precogs."

[ataxi.livejournal.com]

A Miles Vorkosigan series could be ok. Although, I must say, I find Miles' relatives in the Bujold books (Gregor and Laisa(sp?)) a bit hard to take.

I don't approve any more of a channel like Lifetime than I do of ESPN's coverage of the American Bassmaster Challenge (US pro fishing league). It's just ... boring to normalise gender roles to that extent.

[alias_sqbr]

At the same time I can't see anyone else showing a genre show so squarely aimed at the female id :)

[ataxi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well. I certainly never counted any of the Whedon shows, or Alias for example, as pro-female. Their "strong independent" female leads are always wearing tight fitting clothing and having constant emotional breakdowns over the male leads.

What would I like to see? Hmm, how about good sf TV? I know it's a shocking concept!

[alias_sqbr]

Ha, well, noone will show that. (or at least not for long)

[kadeton.livejournal.com]

That show sounds like Forever Knight for girls. :P

[alias_sqbr]

Pretty much. Though, at least so far, no angsty flashbacks to people in pretty period costumes, which is just odd. What girl doesn't love pretty people angsting in period costumes?

[nico-wolfwood.livejournal.com]

lol. I wonder what made them decide to adapt the Tanya Huff novels rather than any of the other romance-ish vampire stuff out there. (I got bored after blood trail.) I do hope the trend of sci-fi and fantasy novels being adapted will continue though. I second your call for Bujold but if we're talking vampire fiction I'd rather watch Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series than Buffy. (Yes I know I'm a heretic...)

[alias_sqbr]

Have you watched "Blood Ties"? I must say it made me think of you, what with the similarities to Anita Blake.

I am all in favour of sff books being adapted well...

[nico-wolfwood.livejournal.com]

No, unlike you, I have no psychic TV watching powers :P

[alias_sqbr]

Well...I could probably organise you some..uh..psychic disks and send them via the post magic. If you'd like :)

[nico-wolfwood.livejournal.com]

Cool! Maybe wait till the whole seasons done first tho.

[alias_sqbr]

It's a plan! A plan I will definitely have to be reminded about :)

[wolfhound.livejournal.com]

do you need the rest of them it certainly is aimed for the girls.... but I like it nonetheless

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. I'll see if I feel like watching the rest of the ones we have, first, but thanks for offering.

[wolfhound.livejournal.com]

sure I have dresden files too