‘Midnight, Texas’ is promising
The talking cat, the levitating police car and the house infested with angry ghosts set “Midnight, Texas” apart from other small TV towns.
But the NBC series, debuting at 10 p.m. Monday, will inevitably be compared to HBO’s “True Blood.” Both are based on novel series by Charlaine Harris, and both programs celebrate characters who are willing to fly their freak flag.
In Bon Temps, La., on “True Blood,” they could fly the flag provocatively, thanks to premium cable. That series was blessed with a heroine, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who kept the series compelling through seven up-and-down seasons.
In broadcasting, “Midnight, Texas” can’t out-swagger Sookie, but the series uses special effects with chilling efficiency. The hero is Manfred (François Arnaud), a psychic, and the series quickly
establishes he’s effective at conjuring spirits. His dead grandma pops in to direct him to Midnight when he needs to disappear.
Manfred meets supernatural figures and understanding humans who have bonded in the haven for outcasts. The Midnighters strive to live quietly, but they fascinate with qualities from hellish to heavenly.
Fiji (Parisa Fitz-Henley) is a brave witch whose talking cat has a Southern accent. Lemuel (Peter Mensah, the standout in an uneven cast) is a magnetic vampire with his own ideas about justice. Joe (Jason Lewis of “Sex and the City”) is an angel who looks like a rock star. The Rev. Emilio Sheehan (Yul Vazquez) is a mysterious, low-key figure with special-effects pizazz.
The other townfolk include Bobo (Dylan Bruce), a pawn-shop owner with a fierce style; Olivia (Arielle Kebbel), an assassin with a lot of secrets and more guns; and Creek (Sarah Ramos), a waitress smitten with Manfred.
Manfred’s gifts include drawing the dead to him in unexpected places, gleaning information from them and putting himself in their place — a useful skill in a murder investigation.
When furious spirits make his home unlivable, Manfred wonders why he has landed in town. Why to make freak-flag-flying friends, of course.
“Midnight’s weird, but it’s home,” a character tells him. It’s a good slogan, and maybe a good series in its own offbeat way.