I spent this morning cleaning my coffee maker, but I probably should have spent it researching drug treatment centers instead, because after my mini-marathon of Dracula: the Series on Friday, I also finally managed to catch an episode of the new vampire detective show Moonlight which is brought to you, in part, by Ron Koslow who was also involved in one of my favorite 1980’s television shows, Beauty and the Beast.

Friends who managed to see the pilot of Moonlight told me that it was very much an Angel ripoff. I disagree. If anything, it traces more of its roots back to Forever Knight than Angel ever did, and that’s fine, because what makes Joss Whedon’s work stand out is that it is so fresh and difference. It also has more than a passing resemblance to Blood Ties which returns this week.

In any case, Moonlight features Australian actor Alex O’Loughlin as vampire private investigator Mick St. John, who is relatively young in vampire terms, as he was still mortal as recently as 1950. He’s got a torch for a blonde reporter, who is apparently in a stable relationship with someone in the district attorney’s office, so there’s they typical vampire-mortal attraction dance going on, and of course, they fight crime.

It seems like a show still finding its feet, and I’ve read that there were major casting changes at the last minute, and that David Greenwalt who was involved in the show’s creation, walked away from it over the summer, so I’m hoping it will last long enough to have a chance of growing beyond it’s very earnest first couple episodes, and maybe offer a little bit more grit.

My verdict: Worth catching, but don’t cancel plans for it.