# New NBC show Dracula
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 28, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402 "2013-10-28T00:13:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/1 "2013-10-28T00:13:55Z")
Here is the [Metacritic link](http://www.metacritic.com/tv/dracula) - 14 positive, 12 mixed, 6 negative.
> [@](#):
>
> [ul]
> [li] Summary: This 10-episode take on Bram Stoker’s classic novel is set in Victorian-era London, where Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) forms an unlikely alliance with Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann) to take down a shady criminal organization called the Order of the Dragon. [/li][li]Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Horror[/li][/ul]
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/2 "2013-10-28T00:43:53Z")
19th century vampire with 20/21st century haircut…
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/3 "2013-10-28T00:59:18Z")
Anachronisms ahoy. But it was decent fun.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/4 "2013-10-28T01:35:28Z")
I dig Rhys Meyers, so I’ll give the next episode a shot, but thought the premier was a little slow.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/5 "2013-10-28T01:58:51Z")
Wanted to like it, but just couldn’t get into it.
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/6 "2013-10-28T02:11:49Z")
I’ll try one, maybe two more, but the first one didn’t grab me.
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/7 "2013-10-28T02:46:28Z")
Wait, there was a plot? I was too busy looking at Jonathan Rhys Meyers. _drool_
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/8 "2013-10-28T03:05:21Z")
I have to admit that I’m a fan of the crusading vampire genre. I think the first vamp show I ever saw was Forever Knight, which gives you some idea of just how low I’m willing to go for anything falls under the rubric of sci-fi/fantasy. Not that the show didn’t have its moments but the constant grating angst even got to me after a while. And then there was the series finale and episodes leading up to it which I’d prefer to forget.
But back on topic. The pairing with Van Helsing seems like quite a departure, although I have to admit that I’m not sufficiently familiar with vamp lore to fully appreciate just how much. I would imagine that his sacrificing some poor slob to resurrect Vlad must do some injustice to traditional portrayals though.
I was also intrigued by the flashbacks to Vlad’s lover and apparently current incarnation in the person of Mina Murray(?). I’m interested to see how that plays out. Is this going to be some form of reincarnation, which I’m betting against personally. Was she somehow rescued from being burned at the stake and turned, but then why would she have no memory of the event?
However as to the latter, I’m not ruling that out since a quick search on the order of the dragon reveals this summary, in part, from [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Dragon).
> [@](#):
>
> The Order flourished during the first half of the 15th century, primarily in [Germany](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th-century_Germany) and [Italy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th-century_Italy). After Sigismund’s death in 1437, its importance declined in [Western Europe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe), but after the [Fall of Constantinople](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople) of 1453, it continued to play a role in [Hungary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hungary) including [Croatia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hungary), [Bosnia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Bosnia), [Bulgaria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria), [Serbia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Despotate) and [Romania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Romania), which bore the brunt of the [Ottoman incursions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_wars_in_Europe).
> [Vlad Țepeș](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler), the figure who inspired [Dracula](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Dracula), was a member of the Order, as well as his father, [Vlad II Dracul](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_II_Dracul).
So while Vlad seems to have been a member of the Order, it seems that they are nonetheless mortal enemies. So is this the writers taking liberties with history or is there some deeper “truth” they intend to reveal.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/9 "2013-10-28T07:21:00Z")
Dracula as liberal crusader / Victorian Jobs, intent upon bringing the latest in technological marvels to the masses…for free…thereby foiling the greatest tool Satan’s Minions have ever wielded: Capitalism.
Well…okay! Let’s go for it!
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/10 "2013-10-28T07:23:29Z")
Not capitalism. Greed is good. Oil is evil.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/11 "2013-10-28T07:40:29Z")
> [@deltasigma](#):
>
> Not capitalism. Greed is good. Oil is evil.
Then why free?
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/12 "2013-10-28T07:51:52Z")
Yeah, that wasn’t clear. My first impulse is to say that you’d still need to generate the electricity the only difference is the distribution mechanism. But then I guess you have to think back to where he was talking about the compass and saying it was the same principle as the geomagnetic force as the one that moved the compass needle. Or at least I think that’s what he said. So in short, I really have no idea.
edit: I imagine there will be a fair amount of hand waving but if I remember some of the history around Edison, he was pretty ruthless regarding competitors so hopefully we’ll hear more about that conflict.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/13 "2013-10-28T11:47:22Z")
Liked it. Needs more tits and less abs.
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/14 "2013-10-28T14:10:08Z")
> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Then why free?
Free was to destroy the ‘order of the dragon’ financially -
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/15 "2013-10-28T18:37:22Z")
I thought it was very boring but I will probably give it one more shot.
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/16 "2013-10-28T19:01:40Z")
Since shows I like tend to get canceled (yeah, no accounting for taste, bite me) I decided to see what the rating were like and found this from the [Hollywood Reporter](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-dracula-makes-solid-651024).
> [@](#):
>
> NBC unveiled its new Friday block last night with the return of _Grimm_ and the launch of _Dracula_ at 10 p.m. Fast National returns give the freshman series a 1.8 rating with adults 18-49 and 5.3 million viewers. The network’s first scripted push into the hour in some time, it won the hour in the demo and held 100 percent of its lead-in. _Grimm_ (1.8 adults) was up two-tenths from last fall’s Friday return (1.6 adults). _Dateline_ (1.3 adults) started the night, even from last week’s two-hour episode, giving NBC a winning 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 for the night and 5.8 million viewers.
I’ve never watched Grimm but that looks interesting so I’ll have to check that out. Anyway, I guess this was designed expressly to complement that series without being a spinoff.
The thing is, I have no idea what the ratings mean and I was wondering if someone could explain what things like 1.8 and 1.6 mean. I did find this on Nielsen ratings from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings#Ratings.2Fshare_and_total_viewers)
> [@](#):
>
> Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 9.2/15 during its broadcast, meaning that on average 9.2 percent of all television-equipped households were tuned in to that program at any given moment, while 15 percent of households watching TV were tuned into that program during this time slot. The difference between rating and share is that a rating reflects the percentage of the total population of televisions tuned to a particular program while share reflects the percentage of televisions actually in use.[[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings#cite_note-3)
So I’m guessing that 1.8 in the quote above means 1.8% of the 5.3M viewers in the cited demo. Does that sound right, because that doesn’t strike me as being all that positive.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/17 "2013-10-28T19:08:59Z")
> [@simster](#):
>
> Free was to destroy the ‘order of the dragon’ financially -
Then I stick with my first interpretation…
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### Author:  [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/18 "2013-10-28T19:50:09Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#):
>
> Wait, there was a plot? I was too busy looking at Jonathan Rhys Meyers. _drool_
He is the reason I tuned it. I liked it, but I found his american accent a little “off”. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it bugged me.
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/19 "2013-10-28T19:50:26Z")
> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Then I stick with my first interpretation…
well, his goal is to bring down the order of dragon - who are apparently ‘big oil’ - this particular invention is ‘free’ because it will do just that (stated by the dragons at the event even) - the rest of his goals are capitalistic or unstated.
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### Author:  [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nbc-show-dracula/672402/20 "2013-10-28T20:14:54Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#):
>
> He is the reason I tuned it. I liked it, but I found his american accent a little “off”. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it bugged me.
I’ve noticed that w/ a lot with UK actors trying to play Americans. They seem to go for Midwestern accents that are solidly in fly-over country like Nebraska or Oklahoma and always overdo it. I think it’s the vowel sounds, especially how ‘a’ is pronounced.
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