Tonight FX kicks off the first 10-episode season of its new comedy What We Do in the Shadows. The series is based on the 2014 New Zealand horror/comedy film of the same name, written by Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok). The series takes a documentary-style format, with cameras constantly following the daily “lives” of a group of vampires in Staten Island who have been cohabiting with one another for hundreds of years. Nandor The Relentless (Kayvan Novak) is the self-appointed leader of the group. He got his “Relentless” nickname as a warrior during the Ottoman Empire, where no one was safe from his torture. Now he just tortures his housemates with his endless lists of rules and procedures. Laszlo (Matt Berry, The IT Crowd) is a bit of a dandy. He was the handsomest man in his leprosy-riddled village in Britain when he was turned by temptress Nadja (Natasia Demetriou, Stath Lets Flats). The couple moved to America over a hundred years ago with the task of complete domination of the New World, but they quickly lost sight of this goal.
Living with the vampires is human Guillermo (Harvey Guillén, The Magicians), Nandor’s familiar. He has been Nandor’s unappreciated servant for the past ten years, and yearns for his master to finally turn him into a full-fledged vampire. But Nador is too wrapped up in his himself to notice. Basement-dweller Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch, The Office) refers to himself an “energy vampire”. He is a day-walker who works in a cubicle farm, and sucks the energy out of others who are forced to listen to his constant, banal stories. And finally, there’s community college student Jenna (Beanie Feldstein, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising), a LARPer who is lured to the home in an effort to feed visiting dark lord/leader, Baron Afanas, who has come to check on the vampires’ progress towards taking over America.
What We Do in the Shadows is a bizarre and quirky show that folks are either going to love, or absolutely hate. The good news is that you should be able to figure which side you are on extremely quickly. I really enjoyed the original, and the series does an excellent job of recapturing the same overall look & feel and comedic timing. However, it changes up some of the characters, bringing in some women, which I think helps balance things out more nicely. The writing is fast-paced and smart, finding a lot of humor in site gags, word play, and awkward/witty banter. It garners tremendous laughs even as the vampire go about the most mundane of daily activities. These characters are so much fun and the actors play off of one another perfectly. I found myself constantly laughing out loud throughout tonight’s premiere, and I can’t wait to watch more of this show.
In tonight’s episode, “Pilot”, the vampires try to plan a lavish blood feast in honor of a visit by their ancient master from the Old Country.
Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Whiskey Cavalier, Riverdale, Jane The Virgin, Schitt’s Creek, The Magicians, and Happy!.
For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including the season premiere of Happy!, and new episodes of Whiskey Cavalier, Chicago Med and Drop the Mic, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 3/27/19 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.
