WHY WE (HEART) VAMPIRES
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is a warning, not a recommendation. I’ve been a TV critic so long that I remember when it was natural, and easy, to fan the flames of outrage whenever a local newscast would spend part of its time doing a feature story obviously tied to one of its prime-time offerings. That practice has become so accepted, nobody even blinks any more, not even TV critics. But tonight’s prime-time network special, presented under the auspices and corporate flag of NBC News, is called Why We (Heart) Vampires, and is a direct, blatant tie-in to its newest drama series, Dracula – which conveniently follows two hours later, at 10 p.m. ET. This sort of shameless, manipulative cross-promotion is Why I (Hate) Network TV, at least when it pulls garbage like this. Even under the flimsy excuse of putting the appeal of vampires in a context of both historical fact (as pictured, Vlad the Impaler!) and popular culture (the Twilight movies!), this kind of tacky tie-in special is a Vlad idea. Oh, and by the way: NBC’s Dracula, the series, is awful.