Who would have ever imagined that a tiny indie film from 2014 would eventually become the best comedy series on TV? Certainly not Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi who wrote and directed the film.
The series follows the same mockumentary format as the film, following the daily events in the undead lives of a house full of vampires. The vampires live on Staten Island and encounter all sorts of human problems while filling their hundreds of undead years with mundane details. If Seinfeld was a show about nothing, this is a show about undead nothing.
The show one ups the film in every way imaginable without using the original cast except during a few short cameos. The production value of the series is better, the writing is tighter, and the cast really gels as if they’d been together for centuries honing their comedy chops. The biggest surprise to everyone, though, is the house familiar, Guillermo.
Guillermo has become the hub around which many of the events of the series revolve. He’s our human eyes and ears as well as a surprisingly capable warrior in his own right. I won’t say more than that to avoid spoilers, but Harvey Guillén really stands out on a show filled to the brim with noteworthy performances, including brilliant IT Crowd alumnus, Matt Berry.
If you haven’t seen the FX series, now’s the time. Get yourself a human alcohol beer and settle in for a fun ride. Do yourself a favor and start at the beginning of season one. While not exactly serialized, each episode does build upon the events that preceded it, so you really don’t want to meet regular human bartender, Jackie Daytona, until you're supposed to. Let’s go Bucks!