New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris knows how to write an engaging story. Her descriptive novels about vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures are entertaining page-turners that keep readers coming back for more. They also make for great television, as her Sookie Stackhouse Series became the basis for HBO's hit show, True Blood. This week both Harris and NBC hope to strike gold once again with her latest trilogy, Midnight, Texas.
Manfred Bernardo (Francois Arnaud; The Borgias) is psychic. He can communicate with the dead and earns a living talking to wealthy clients' dearly departed. He also talks to his dead grandmother, Xylda (Joanne Camp; Gold) who told him to go and hide out in Midnight, Texas. However, Midnight isn't your average town. It's a hotbed for supernatural beings where the "veil" between the human and spirit worlds runs very thin.
When Manfred arrives in Midnight he meets an eclectic group consisting of an ancient vampire, Lemuel (Peter Mensah; Sleepy Hollow), and his human, assassin girlfriend, Olivia (Arielle Kebbel; Ballers), human Waitress Creek (Sarah Ramos; Parenthood), Witch Fiji (Parisa Fitz-Henley; Luke Cage), The Rev (Yul Vazquez; Bloodline) who isn't who he appears to be, Fallen Angel Joe Strong (Jason Lewis; Brothers and Sisters) and Bobo (Dylan Bruce; American Gothic), another human. They live together as harmonious neighbors but seem much more like one big, unusual family. As Manfred joins their ranks and is accepted by the group they work together to keep the tenuous balance between worlds in check.
The show is engaging and mildly humorous (can we talk about the talking cat?) with some supernatural adventures mixed in. It has a terrific cast and some good scripts and the special effects are well enough done so as not to come off as completely cheesy. I was hooked within the first five minutes and was ready to binge-watch as many episodes as I could (if I had only had the time).
Midnight, Texas is about to become my new guilty pleasure, which should be yours too!
The series premiere is Monday, July 24, 2017, at 10 pm on NBC.
Tags: nbc, midnight texas, allison rose, vampires
