More Vampires? Really?

I have watched the first two episodes of ABC's new series The Gates and it is not as bad as I thought it would be.  It is basically Desperate Housewives with monsters.  The real question is why ABC went this route at all.  Talk about coming to the party late!  Currently, we already have True Blood on HBO, Being Human on BBC America, and Vampire Diaries on CW, not to mention Twilight in the theaters.  And while I will not speak for the quality of the film, all three television series have merit and variety - the Deep South (True Blood), high school (Vampire Diaries), and British society (Being Human).  And what is interesting is that all of these shows also have another common theme, this being werewolves and witches.  I did not know all the creatures needed to travel in packs, but this seems to go all the way back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the friendly werewolf played by Seth Green.  In Being Human the vampire and werewolf are so comfortable with one another that they share a flat.

And what does this say about America (and Britain by extension) and our need for bloodthirsty entertainment?  Well, first of all I think it is just plain fun, and it is not so new.  Just think of Angel, Blood Ties, and Moonlight, and you will see this vampire pile-up is pretty common.  However, something else may lie beneath the surface.  The New York Times may have been onto something last year when the paper noted the following:

The vampire’s attraction is “all about the titillation of imagining the monsters we could be if we just let ourselves go,” suggested Rick Owens, a fashion bellwether whose goth-tinged collections sometimes evoke the undead. “We’re all fascinated with corruption, the more glamorous the better” and, he added, with the idea of “devouring, consuming, possessing someone we desire.” 

I think it may be even more basic then that.  Americans have always liked heroes - especially super heroes - and all of these shows have "good" vampires who protect innocent women or society at large from other big, bad monsters.  It is the same old tale with new wrappings.  If these creatures were simply feasting with no love interest and no real point would we care?  No more than watching a lion at the zoo, which is interesting for about 3 minutes.  So sit back, enjoy the show, and know you are part of a long line of viewers looking for a good story where our hero vanquishes the "real" evil out there.