A werewolf and a vampire move into a haunted house … No, it's not the setup for a lame joke, it's the premise for a surprisingly good British TV series. That premise is coming stateside for a remake.
The American version of "Being Human" starts on SyFy at 9 p.m. Monday. It's set in Boston, and though the characters have different names, they're essentially the same as their British counterparts.
Aidan (Sam Witwer) is a suave vampire haunted by the violence of his past and determined to be a better person. His best friend Josh (Sam Huntington) is a neurotic werewolf whose plans for his life went awry when he got bitten and started turning furry and brutal once a month.
They work together at a hospital and decide to share a house, only to find out that it's haunted by Sally (Meaghan Rath), a young woman who died there and who only these two can see because of their supernatural abilities.
Story elements in the first few episodes are taken from various points in the British version of the show rather than being a straightforward remake of the original. That's for the best, as it will keep viewers who are fans of the British version on their toes.
I showed the first two episodes of the American version to several diehard fans of the British "Human." Their complaints were few and far between, and mostly involved Sally, who is a bit more shrill than her British counterpart but grew on them.
If the American remake makes you curious about the original, the first two seasons are on DVD and Blu-ray from BBC Home Video, with plenty of behind-the-scenes extras.
* * * * *If you enjoy the comedy of Ricky Gervais, the host of tonight's Golden Globes awards ceremony, he has two shows on cable worth checking out. "The Ricky Gervais Show" just started its second season on HBO. And starting at 9:30 p.m. Saturday on the Science Channel, "An Idiot Abroad" is a playful travelogue series in which Gervais' long-suffering sidekick Karl Pilkington visits each of the Seven Wonders of the World, goaded along by Gervais.
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For material that's about 50 years old, "The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show," which ran from 1959 to 1964, holds up amazingly well. It's a fast-paced, fun satire filled with groan-inducing puns, wacky characters and self-deprecating humor. The first three seasons came to DVD yearly from 2003 to 2005, and after a lengthy hiatus, the fourth season came out in 2010. All five seasons are available now in a boxed set cheekily titled "100% Complete Bull." The hefty 18-DVD set is packaged with a companion booklet.
Fans who have the first four seasons and only need that fifth season will need to wait until March 29, when the fifth-season boxed set is to be released.
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New on DVD this week: "Dark Skies: The Complete Declassified Series": Eric Close stars in this conspiracy-minded 1990s drama set in the 1960s. It's about two people who find out that the Earth is being secretly invaded by aliens. Extras include a look at what the second season would have held if the show hadn't been canceled.
"Justified: The Complete First Season:" FX's gritty drama casts Timothy Olyphant, one of the stars of HBO's excellent Western "Deadwood," as a modern-day gunfighter. The character, trigger-happy Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens, was created by novelist Elmore Leonard. It's available on DVD or Blu-ray. It includes plenty of extras, among them commentary tracks, features and a music video. The second season starts Feb. 2.
"Dallas: The Complete 14th and Final Season:" The long-running, primetime soap sputters to an end with this DVD set.
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