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ABC summer fare The Gate and Scoundrels, some thoughts

By April MacIntyre Jun 21, 2010, 14:46 GMT

Mitra Fame Pictures, Inc - Santa Monica, CA, USA - +1

Summer is here, which means the networks and premium cablers roll out more effervescent dramedies and comedy fare. 

ABC was up to bat last night presenting two new back-to-back efforts.

Based on a New Zealand smallscreen show, American remake "Scoundrels" was up first.

The setting: Palm Springs. The cast: The West family, headed by mom Virginia Madsen and dad David James Elliot and their four kids, two smart ones and two dolts. Gramps' Alzheimers is played for laughs; Chinese grandma kung fu fighting the cat burglar son, dad James Elliot's freakishly smooth complexion and toned and tanned arms (and overall smug demeanor) and the normally spot-on Madsen's floundering with bad writing made me regret the wasted hour.  They lost me when one daughter calls form the bathroom freaking out that grandad thinks she is his wife and ready to deliver a baby, and an unfortunate “butt-boy” line.

Following was the much ballyhooed "The Gates" which felt like "Jaws" meets "Witches of Eastwick" meets "Desperate Housewives."

The chief (Frank Grillo) told Monsters and Critics at the ABC press day to promote this show that he watched Roy Scheider's work in "Jaws" to get himself into character. It worked. 

Weak link for me was Rhona Mitra as Claire, and I don't know if it is too much Botox or feigned boredom at her supernatural suburban life, but she sucked the sex appeal right out of the vampire genre. Her husband Dylan (Luke Mably) then drove a stake through its heart.

Grillo arrives with his family to escape some negative career defining event in Chicago. They land inside a gated community with a kickass house way out of his normal pay grade. The townies have created a self-sustaining little hamlet behind 12 tons of iron that can support its own police force. Vampiric housewives make cookies and lasagna. The high school kids are team Jacob, and get hairy instead of sucking blood.

Unlike HBO's tongue-in-fang "True Blood",  peppered with hilarious throw-away lines winking at us while delivering highly improbable horror arcs, "The Gates" takes itself way too seriously. But between the two offerings, is more entertaining than the flaccid "Scoundrels."

Bottom line: Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva" is the best bet at the 9 PM hour on Sunday nights.