NBC’s Midnight, Texas lacks the bite of True Blood

Fans visiting Midnight, Texas were hoping to find the same sex and violence as True Blood’s Bon Temps. But the new supernatural drama doesn’t draw you in.

Midnight, Texas may be another supernatural drama from Charlaine Harris, but it just doesn’t have the same bite as True Blood.

Midnight is a small Texas town that just so happens to be a safe haven for a bunch of supernatural misfits. It sits on top of some sort of mystical energy that draws in all these supernatural beings (think Sunnydale’s Hellmouth). It sounds like a good premise, right? A bunch of vampires, werewolves, an angel, and more all living together could be sexy, dangerous, and campy all at once. Unfortunately, your stay in Midnight will be a lot less exciting than your time in Bon Temps.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo is our way into Midnight. With money problems and a nefarious man named Hightower on his trail, Manfred moves to Midnight after his dead grandmother Zelda suggests it.

Once in Midnight, we see the town’s version of Merlotte’s where Manfred’s love interest Creek works. We’re also introduced to her fellow Midnighters: human, pawnshop owner, and landlord Bobo, Fiji the witch, the talking cat Mr. Snuggly, the human assassin Olivia, a vampire with special powers named Lemuel, Joe the angel, Reverend Emilio who’s some kind of were-animal, and more.

The supernatural creatures and few humans all live in harmony together in Midnight. That is until Bobo’s fiancée Aubrey washes up dead. Now Midnight and its residents are at risk of facing exposure, which will threaten the members of this quiet little town’s way of life. So they have to find out what really happened to Aubrey, especially when the police end up possibly wrongfully arresting Bobo. They also have been contending with a biker gang.

Luckily, Manfred can communicate with Aubrey’s ghost (though she has water in her mouth). This leads to more problems, though, when other ghosts come in and a glowing red light starts to come out of Manfred’s basement. Yes. It’s a lot.

I was hoping for the sex, violence, and campiness of True Blood. But Midnight, Texas just feels like a watered-down version of the HBO hit. And the premiere just didn’t hold my attention. Honestly, I was bored.

And there was way too much exposition. Instead of unraveling the mystery over time, many of the minor characters and numerous subplots were just thrown out there.

The characters, meanwhile, weren’t engaging enough for me to care about. I know I should be rooting for Manfred and the Midnighters, but they just weren’t complex or compelling. Manfred, Creek, and the gang pale in comparison to Sookie, Eric, and Bill.

Then there was the actual production of the show. Some of the special effects were just unbelievable. And I sometimes found myself laughing when I shouldn’t have been.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with being campy, over-the-top, and a little silly. It would be great if Midnight, Texas embraced its craziness. But it doesn’t. It takes itself too seriously.

And it doesn’t set itself apart from the many other successful supernatural shows out there in any major way.

Next: Can Charlaine Harris' Midnight, Texas be NBC's True Blood?

Midnight, Texas has a compelling premise: a group of persecuted people found a place they can call home. And the show’s not terrible. It’s just not good either. And at the end of the day, it’s no True Blood. And that’s what fans were coming for, wasn’t it? What did you think of the premiere? Do you think the show will pick up steam as the season goes on?