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Moonlight

 (Series -- CBS, Fri. Sept. 28, 9 P.M.)

By BRIAN LOWRY

Alex O’Loughlin stars as a vampire cop who protects the living in CBS’ supernatural procedural ‘Moonlight.’

Filmed in Los Angeles by Silver Pictures Television in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers, Ron Koslow, Rod Holcomb, Gerard Bocaccio, Joel Silver; co-executive producers, Trevor Munson, Gabrielle Stanton, Harry Werksman; producer, Paul Kurta; director, Holcomb; writers, Koslow, Munson;
 
Mick St. John - Alex O'Loughlin
Beth Turner - Sophia Myles
Josef Konstantin - Jason Dohring
Coraline - Shannyn Sossamon
 

Twenty years ago, Ron Koslow mixed romance with a fantasy-derived leading man, and the result was a memorable Friday-night CBS drama, "Beauty and the Beast." This time, he's backed by feature producer Joel Silver and paired with co-creator Trevor Munson on "Moonlight," about a vampire private eye and a Lois Lane-type web reporter. Unfortunately, the series makes scant use of its undead hero's abilities, while burdening him with a clunky Raymond Chandler-style narration that mercifully subsides slightly in the second hour. Even so, creatively speaking, it's hardly love at first bite.

Thematically similar to the long-since-buried series "Forever Knight," "Moonlight introduces Mick St. John (Australian thesp Alex O'Loughlin), who was transformed into a vampire 60 years ago by his ex-wife. (Ask divorced people and you'll quickly discover this experience isn't all that unusual.)

In the opening moments, Koslow and Munson rather awkwardly affect a talkshow format to help explain the program's peculiar rules, like the fact that while daylight is bad for Mick, neither that nor wooden stakes are instantly fatal.

Unlike most blood-sucking loners, the pre-credit interview with this vampire also reveals a shadowy web of vampires residing in and around Los Angeles, such as Mick's 400-year-old pal Josef (Jason Dohring), a mogul who lacks Mick's do-gooder impulses and fears exposure to the wider world.

The story really kicks in, however, once Mick espies the lovely Beth (Sophia Myles, seen not long ago, ironically, in a "Masterpiece Theater" version of "Dracula"), a plucky gal reporter to whom he appears oddly familiar. Their across-the-decades bond, however, doesn't compensate for how pedestrian the initial story is -- playing like a conventional detective show, with Mick showcasing his otherworldly powers (strong, and very, very fast) only during a passable action sequence in the final act.

The second hour advances the Mick-Beth plot while still hewing closely to a procedural format, failing to exploit the series premise -- especially given the lengthy tradition of cinematic vampire lore.

The accent-free O'Loughlin brings a hunky quality to Mick, added to the torment of his loneliness, internally musing with Beast-like melancholy, "Sixty years is a long time to deny yourself the touch of another." Still, in the early going, he's more Mannix than Lestat, and other than a physical resemblance to Kate Winslet, Myles' damsel is a poor construct, owing both to the character's cliched nature and a rather uninspired performance.

If "Moonlight" is supposed to reflect CBS' migration away from safe and conventional fare, it's at best a training-wheels step in that direction. Seemingly designed to dovetail with "Ghost Whisperer's" fantastic elements, stripped to its core, the series does little more than serve up another moldy procedural with a splash of crimson, one which might finally prove that the easiest way to kill a vampire is with apathy.

Camera, Marvin Rush; editor, Tod Feuerman; music, John Frizzell; production designer, Alfred Sole; casting, Barbara Fiorentino, Jessie Disla. Running time: 60 MIN.