NBC’s ‘Dracula’ premiere review: Worthy of rising from the dead?

Dear vampire dramas, we get it: You are pretty much everywhere these days. It almost does not even matter where you turn, since you will be staring right into the face of yet another story about people who suck blood, and also the people who try to stop them from doing so.

“Dracula” on NBC only slightly continued that trend … mostly because this series could have been easily titled “Alexander Grayson, Who Sometimes Acts as Dracula.” It was a re-imagining of a classic tale, and one that we are still trying our best to wrap our head around.

Let’s start by talking just about what we did like: This was not your ordinary vampire story. There was a surprisingly low amount of violence within it all things considered, and it took being a vampire back to its basic roots where there was no super speed or glamouring or an urge to get naked all of the time. It was a different sort of explanation into just what this character could really be if you take away all of the generic “look, a vampire!” tricks that the major networks have played over the years. There is potential here, if this story about what is basically a battle over energy, comes to light. It’s more of a historical drama disguised as a vampire story to us, which could be interesting if it stays consistent.

The problem is that the marketing and the showrunning teams seem to be caught in two different worlds, almost like there are those unsure as to what this series is ultimately supposed to be. “Dracula” is probably at its worst when there is blood-sucking happening, and we try to find out a little bit more about the characters. Xaro from “Game of Thrones” (as he shall be forever known) was actually to us the most intriguing part of the full hour, and we’re not sure that is a good thing. We cannot bring ourselves yet to get fully attached to any of the female characters, and the “ladies of night” label to us just translates to mean “probably not going to last soon.” We also expected the pace here to be slightly more brisk for something called a “limited series.” There were times when the story felt rather bland.

For a show airing at 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night, we expected more bite from “Dracula” especially since it’s premiere is right before Halloween.” There is more hope if the storytelling continues to build in the right way, but the question here is if people are giving up such a valuable time of their night, are they really going to be that patient? Grade: C.

What did you think about tonight’s “Dracula” premiere? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and be sure to click here if you want to read more news related to the show.

Photo: NBC