Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Creator: Based on original 
British series of same name by Toby Whithouse
Director: Adam Kane, Paolo Barzman, Charles Biname, Erik Canuel, Jeremiah S. Chechik, Jerry Ciccoritti
Writer: Toby Whithouse (format), Jeremy Carver, Anna Fricke
Cast: Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, Sam Huntington, Mark Pellegrino
Summary: Three twenty-somethings share a house and try to live a normal life despite being a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire.
Tagline: Being human is harder than it looks.
Runtime: Hour-long television series
SyFy’s Being Human is an American take on the acclaimed British series of the same name and believe me, when I first heard of this, I was wary about it since I am a huge fan of the original series. So I present to you a review in two parts: the first part compares SyFy’s Being Human to the BBC original and the second part looks at the show standing alone without context of the original series.
[Above: BBC original series on left, SyFy version on right]
Review Part One: SyFy’s Being Human Compared To The Original British Series
The premise of this version is pretty much the same as the original with a tweaking of some details. The show is set in Boston and a vampire, werewolf, and a ghost share a house and try to live normal lives despite their supernatural natures.
From the first episode, you can tell that this American version of the show has a distinctly American sense of humor. But as the show went on in subsequent episodes, I find that SyFy’s version is better at humor than it is at drama. This could prove problematic should it try to get serious with the plotlines.
[Above: Sam Witwer as pouty vamp, Aidan]
So far, character paths seem pretty parallel to the original except for notable setbacks in each of the characters. The casting is pretty spot-on with finding actors with similar looks to Aidan Turner (vampire Mitchell), Lenora Crichlow (ghost, Annie), and Russell Tovey (werewolf, George). Sam Witwer was made to be a handsome and pouty vampire, called Aidan (yes, named after Aidan Turner.) But Aidan, in sharp contrast to Mitchell, comes off like a misbehaving child in the context of vampire society, instead of a vampire who has made a choice to live within the human world. Meaghan Rath has a similar look to Annie but her ghost character, Sally, has a wholly different in personality. Sally is definitely not as charming and loveable as Annie and is quite frankly, just annoying. The writers have also set this ghost character back considerably. Sally can’t touch anything or really do any of the haunting that Annie did to scare away those previous tenants. Sam Huntington as the werewolf, Josh, is so cute in his neurotic awkwardness minus the patented Tovey-squeak that George sports when he’s nervous, but seems limited by the writers’ choice of equating his werewolf curse to a rage issue.
[Above: Sam Huntington as Josh “I’m a monster” werewolf]
All of the characters seem more or less one-dimensional at this point. The characters are remarkably emo and angsty in comparison to their Brit counterparts. I seriously don’t think that Mitchell, George, or Annie could take these Americans’ whinging! (Whinging – Brit term for whining) No sure how much more “I’m a monster. Boo-hoo! Woe is me!” I can even take.
Some of the set ups and dialogue are exactly in the same fashion as the original, including the use of a monologue overlaid in the opening scene to establish tone and character journey and they’ve kept iconic shots like Aidan’s awakening as a vampire and Sally’s death at the bottom of the stairs, but this version really feels dumbed down from the original concept of the show. The dialogue obtusely provides exposition at every turn and did I mention the whining? Viewers are intelligent enough to understand complex characters.
Perhaps in trying to establish the premise of the show and distinguish it from the original, this show has set itself up as a mere shadow of the British series. It was like they took the meaty and delicious original show and made it low-fat in a pretty box.
[Above: Sally and not-Gilbert]
I was just about offended by the Gilbert-wannabe episode, “Some Thing to Watch Over Me.” (Season One, Episode Three) This version for this part of Annie/Sally’s plotline had absolutely no emotional impact and barely furthered Sally as a character. They literally sucked the soul out of the Gilbert plotline and I want to have Gilbert-fun!
The American version of Being Human is forwarded by situational movement of the plot rather than character development in the driver’s seat. This is like a CW version of the show. No offense to the CW, as I am a fan of many of the network’s shows, but they’re not necessarily known for critically acclaimed scripted programming as they are for beautiful casts complicated by problems. That said, I’m surprised this came from Jeremy Carver who has episodes of Supernatural (a show which continues to be a compelling series) under his belt. SyFy’s Being Human is better as a comedic drama instead of the whole enchilada that the original version is.
[Above: Aidan and Bishop]
Having said all this, there is still some potential for this series:
- I will watch this show for Bishop, played by Mark Pellegrino. Bishop, as Aidan’s vampire mentor, is calm and presumably magnanimous and clearly has his own agenda going. He also seems to have more influence in this version over Aidan than Herrick had over Mitchell. I’m hoping they will take this in an interesting direction.
- Another departure from the original in terms of plot is the insertion of family drama for Josh. They’ve thrown in quite a bit of back story on Josh about the family he left behind that still isn’t explored much in the British version. I hope that there is more to come of this.
Review Part Two: SyFy’s Being Human as a Stand-Alone Series
If I look at SyFy’s Being Human without knowledge of the original series, I’d say that it’s an amusing premise with a keen sense of humor. It’s on trend with a sexy vampire and viewers will recognize Sam Huntington from his other work like Superman Returns. The dynamic between Aidan and Josh is just adorable. Sally, the whiny ghost, is still not attractive as a character, but maybe the evolution of her plotline in finding out why she died (if they’re still in keeping with the original plotline) will trigger some growth in personality.
[Above: Meaghan Rath as Sally, the whiny ghost]
The storylines are intriguing and playful with these three supernatural roommates trying to live normal lives in the human community. The vampire world looks more of an organized society in this series than other shows with vampire characters in the sense that these vamps appear to have a structured society and have an agenda. SyFy also has the budget to afford special effects that the Brit original could not so there is potential there as well.
The Final Word
I think the problem with this series is that it began as being too close to the original. If they have taken the vampire, werewolf and ghost living together with completely different storylines than the original, that may have been better for the show. For fans of the British series, they will forever be comparing it to the original and will be sorely disappointed with this American version.
I give SyFy’s Being Human Two out of Five Stars
Read more about Being Human here.
Why a First Three Episode Review? I believe that you need at least three episodes of a new show to tell if it’s worth watching or not. By three episodes, you should be able to understand the characters and their motivations, start to see the major plotlines unfold, and have a good gut feeling about the compatibility of what the show offers and what you look for in a show. I think this allows a viewer to be able to make an informed decision about whether or not to continue watching a new show. Thus, the Three Episode Review is designed to help you decide if a show is worth adding to your TV watching agenda.
