24 September 1996: While driving his motorcycle in Chiswick, west London, actor Mark Frankel narrowly dodges an oncoming car and instead runs into a nearby hedge. Frankel suffers minor cuts and bruises, and a sprained wrist, but is otherwise okay. The story receives minimal media attention, and only a brief mention in People Magazine.
Frankel’s television career is in limbo; his recent project, Kindred: The Embraced, has been canceled by Fox due to low ratings. However, the show, based on a roleplaying game called Vampire: The Masquerade, has gradually grown a small cult following, and piqued the interest of Showtime, which is in negotiations to purchase the now-defunct property and bring it to premium cable. Frankel’s accident nearly puts the kibosh on the deal, as he portrays the critical character of Julian Luna, a powerful vampire and fan favorite. Frankel’s portrayal of Luna has drawn the praise of critics, something Kindred desperately needs. His costar, C. Thomas Howell, has not met with similar praise, and is regarded as a weaker member of the cast. Fortunately for Showtime and Kindred, Frankel makes a full recovery from his injuries. The show is purchased by Showtime with the expectation that new episodes will begin airing in the spring of 1997.
Showtime’s management announces that, in an unprecedented move, it intends to run a four-hour block of science-fiction shows on Sunday nights, directly counterprogramming Fox’s smash hit The X-Files. With The Outer Limits at seven, Poltergeist: The Legacy at eight, in the summer the forthcoming Stargate SG-1 at nine, and Kindred at ten, Showtime hopes to finally put together a combination that can take on The X-Files for the increasingly influential geek demographic.
Meanwhile, Aaron Spelling’s production company Spelling Television has been searching for a young actress to play opposite Thomas Calabro, playing Dr. Michael Mancini on their soapy hit Melrose Place. The new character, Megan Lewis, is intended to replace Dr. Kimberly Shaw, portrayed by Marcia Cross, who is being written out. Spelling and his production crew had their eye on up-and-comer Kelly Rutherford to portray Lewis, but Rutherford’s renewed commitment to portray reporter Caitlin Byrne on Kindred means she has to bow out of the role. Spelling and company decide to recruit Jeri Ryan, an actress who had previously appeared as a minor character, Valerie Madison, in Melrose’s prior season.
Howell is not as lucky as Rutherford. The first of the new episodes of Kindred appears in early March, a day before the WB’s new vampire drama, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in it Howell’s character Frank Kohanek is brutally murdered, not by a vampire, but by new character Tobias Black, played by relative newcomer Nathan Fillion. Written off the show, Howell turns back to film.
Kindred draws strong ratings for a show on premium cable. Freed from many of the restrictions of broadcast, the writers embark on increasingly complex and sophisticated plots, utilizing Showtime’s ability to address adult themes to explore the tragedy of being a vampire. Although never a smash hit, the show develops a cult following, and receives praise from mainstream critics, particularly after season four.
The critical success of Kindred, and the mainstream success of its direct competitor Buffy, causes Marvel Comics to step up production on its vampire action movie Blade, starring Wesley Snipes. Marvel is using Blade as a test case; other Marvel ventures--such as Howard the Duck, Captain America, The Punisher, and The Fantastic Four--have all been dismal failures. The company hopes that by disguising a superhero movie as a vampire flick, they can avoid the curse that seems to have befallen all their superhero properties. With the sudden surge in interest in bloodsuckers, Marvel wants to strike while the iron is hot. Blade, originally intended for a Summer 1998 release, is moved up to Christmas 1997. Although director Stephen Norrington protests, Marvel management is adamant: wait too long, and the public may be burned out on vampires. Blade needs to be made now. To placate the irate Norrington and his screenwriter David Goyer, Marvel Films’s head Avi Arad meets with them personally to assure them they have Marvel’s full backing and that no costs will be spared in making Blade; Marvel is publically committed to the movie’s success. This is less reassuring than one might imagine in light of Marvel’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Frankel’s television career is in limbo; his recent project, Kindred: The Embraced, has been canceled by Fox due to low ratings. However, the show, based on a roleplaying game called Vampire: The Masquerade, has gradually grown a small cult following, and piqued the interest of Showtime, which is in negotiations to purchase the now-defunct property and bring it to premium cable. Frankel’s accident nearly puts the kibosh on the deal, as he portrays the critical character of Julian Luna, a powerful vampire and fan favorite. Frankel’s portrayal of Luna has drawn the praise of critics, something Kindred desperately needs. His costar, C. Thomas Howell, has not met with similar praise, and is regarded as a weaker member of the cast. Fortunately for Showtime and Kindred, Frankel makes a full recovery from his injuries. The show is purchased by Showtime with the expectation that new episodes will begin airing in the spring of 1997.
Showtime’s management announces that, in an unprecedented move, it intends to run a four-hour block of science-fiction shows on Sunday nights, directly counterprogramming Fox’s smash hit The X-Files. With The Outer Limits at seven, Poltergeist: The Legacy at eight, in the summer the forthcoming Stargate SG-1 at nine, and Kindred at ten, Showtime hopes to finally put together a combination that can take on The X-Files for the increasingly influential geek demographic.
Meanwhile, Aaron Spelling’s production company Spelling Television has been searching for a young actress to play opposite Thomas Calabro, playing Dr. Michael Mancini on their soapy hit Melrose Place. The new character, Megan Lewis, is intended to replace Dr. Kimberly Shaw, portrayed by Marcia Cross, who is being written out. Spelling and his production crew had their eye on up-and-comer Kelly Rutherford to portray Lewis, but Rutherford’s renewed commitment to portray reporter Caitlin Byrne on Kindred means she has to bow out of the role. Spelling and company decide to recruit Jeri Ryan, an actress who had previously appeared as a minor character, Valerie Madison, in Melrose’s prior season.
Howell is not as lucky as Rutherford. The first of the new episodes of Kindred appears in early March, a day before the WB’s new vampire drama, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in it Howell’s character Frank Kohanek is brutally murdered, not by a vampire, but by new character Tobias Black, played by relative newcomer Nathan Fillion. Written off the show, Howell turns back to film.
Kindred draws strong ratings for a show on premium cable. Freed from many of the restrictions of broadcast, the writers embark on increasingly complex and sophisticated plots, utilizing Showtime’s ability to address adult themes to explore the tragedy of being a vampire. Although never a smash hit, the show develops a cult following, and receives praise from mainstream critics, particularly after season four.
The critical success of Kindred, and the mainstream success of its direct competitor Buffy, causes Marvel Comics to step up production on its vampire action movie Blade, starring Wesley Snipes. Marvel is using Blade as a test case; other Marvel ventures--such as Howard the Duck, Captain America, The Punisher, and The Fantastic Four--have all been dismal failures. The company hopes that by disguising a superhero movie as a vampire flick, they can avoid the curse that seems to have befallen all their superhero properties. With the sudden surge in interest in bloodsuckers, Marvel wants to strike while the iron is hot. Blade, originally intended for a Summer 1998 release, is moved up to Christmas 1997. Although director Stephen Norrington protests, Marvel management is adamant: wait too long, and the public may be burned out on vampires. Blade needs to be made now. To placate the irate Norrington and his screenwriter David Goyer, Marvel Films’s head Avi Arad meets with them personally to assure them they have Marvel’s full backing and that no costs will be spared in making Blade; Marvel is publically committed to the movie’s success. This is less reassuring than one might imagine in light of Marvel’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In fact, allow me to be the first to log an official request for Star Trek: Excelsior (without Bermaga, of course) instead of Enterprise.