This page contains various reviews of the TV series "Kindred: the Embraced, in which Mark Frankel played the role of Julian Luna. Below you will find the reviews as they were written... (hopefully) ..... as with any review, some are positive and some are negative.... Either way, we hope that in providing this information, you might find that your interest is peaked and you will seek it out and decide for yourself. If you have already seen it, perhaps you'll be interested to see which reviewers, if any, agree with your assessment.....

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
April 3, 1996

Feudng Vampires By the Bay
JOHN CARMAN

This explains everything, from quarters-only parking meters to the loss of Will Clark.

As anyone who watched last night's debut of "Kindred: The Embraced'' on Fox now knows, San Francisco is in the clutches of vampires.

"Kindred'' doesn't make it simple, either, with a few stray vampires trolling the Wharf for tasty tourists. No, the city is run by five separate vampire clans -- feuding, jockeying for power and keeping "Kindred'' just about totally incomprehensible to the TV audience.

Julian (Mark Frankel) is the prince of vampires and head of the Ventrue clan. Lillie Langtry (Stacy Haiduk) used to be the famous actress but now she runs the artistic Torreador clan. Cash (Channon Roe) is from the hot- tempered Gangrel clan, whose members are bikers. Eddie (Brian Thompson) heads the thuggish Brujah clan and wants to unseat Julian. Daedalus (Jeff Kober) is head of the Nosferatu, who have bald heads and serious earlobes.

VAMPIRE POLITICS

Got all that? It was badly garbled last night, and not at all easy to figure out for San Francisco cop Frank
Kohanek (C. Thomas Howell), who got caught up in vampire politics.

Tonight, "Kindred'' settles into its springtime slot, at 9 o'clock on Channel 2, with a second episode that's easier to follow but no more dramatically satisfying.

Joining the cast, after missing out on last night's pilot, are Kelly Rutherford as Caitlin Byrne, an editor at the
newspaper owned by Julian -- possible motto: largest daily blood circulation in Northern California -- and  Brigid Walsh as Sasha, a nonvampire who falls for Cash but is forcibly initiated into the rival Brujah clan.

(Speaking of clans, Brigid is from the real-life Walsh clan of San Francisco, and her younger sister Kathleen, also an actress, appears opposite her tonight in the CBS movie "Summer of Fear.'')

You might expect "Kindred'' to be dark and spooky. It isn't. The series is from producer Aaron Spelling,  whose specialties fall more along the lines of hair color, makeup and fashion accessories.

Generally, the real mystery of a Spelling show isn't who's draining whose veins, but why people seem to  vanish at the age of 35 or so. Spelling used to hire older icons for "The Love Boat,'' but I think he finally got them all onboard and sank the ship.

"Kindred'' is an oddball effort to do another Spelling show, "Melrose Place,'' without so much bothersome
civility. Here, fangs are literally bared and the back-stabbing moves to face-to-fang encounters.

VAMPIRE RIVALRIES

Spelling dispenses with coffins and creaky hinges, creating instead a glossier milieu of good vampires (Julian is practically the soul of reason), bad vampires, hot and cold romances and Mafia-like clan rivalries, along with Spelling's usual quota of shallow characterizations and sodden writing.

 The show isn't especially bloody, considering what blood means to it. But it's not altogether antiseptic, either. At least we're spared the gushers of most modern vampire movies.

And when these vampires do get around to supping, they mainly feast on each other. That admittedly crimps the cuisine, but won't turn viewers against the more benign vampire clans.

`Kindred' a Drain Even for Diehard Vampire Buffs
John Youngren

In an apparent effort to help Aaron Spelling achieve what looks to be his goal of programming every hour on every network's schedule, Fox introduces the latest from the producer's schlock factory, ``Kindred: The Embraced,'' tonight.

The series, which premieres with a special 90-minute debut at 7 p.m. on KSTU-Channel 13, is set in modern-day San Francisco, where contemporary, sexy and sophisticated clans of vampires love, hate, betray and sometimes bewitch each other through -- and pardon these puns -- soulful glances, smoldering gazes and otherwise otherworldly methods. Right. If you're thinking Anne Rice (Interview With The Vampire) crossed with ``Melrose Place,'' you've pretty much got the idea.

That's not to say that ``Kindred'' -- which settles into its new time slot with another new episode Wednesday at 8 p.m. on KSTU -- doesn't take itself or its characters seriously. Indeed, the major problem with the show -- created by John Leekley, based on a book by Mark Rein-Hagen -- may be that it takes itself a bit too seriously, as the owner's manual of expository material sent to critics previewing the show may best attest: A ``Kindred,'' you see, is a being (in this series, ``vampire'' is a naughty word) who was once human, but has been ``Embraced'' by another Kindred. They appear human, but they are not. ``Embracing'' is the process by which a human becomes a Kindred (drinking the human's blood is the most common means). The Kindred are conveniently gifted with various supernatural powers, including shape-shifting, flight, animal senses and, of course, longevity.

At the center of the five clans of Kindred in various states of unrest for tonight's premiere is police detective Frank Kohanek, played by actor C. Thomas Howell (who seems doped-up and far out of it here). He strikes an uneasy truce with the Prince of the Kindred, Julian Luna (played with elegance by the silky Mark Frankel, who promises peace among the broods.

In tonight's pilot, Howell's character becomes romantically involved with a -- horrors! -- Kindred woman (played by Kate Vernon) who was once Julian's lover. ``I knew we'd get along when you ordered your steak very rare,'' Howell tells his new vampire girlfriend at one point, and with an entirely straight face. Later, he tells her, ``You gave me your heart . . . I'm keeping it,'' apparently unaware of how literally possible that transaction may be.

Of course, this tortured romance leads to all kinds of trouble for all parties concerned: Howell's girlfriend will eventually change into a wolf dog -- didn't you just know it? -- though she tells him, ``I am not a beast. I was once a woman.'' Characters spontaneously combust; a young woman smooches a corpse in its coffin; a killer Kindred forces a medical examiner to slice his own veins open (easier drinking his blood that way, you understand) and Julian morphs into his dead wife's grave, ``to lay with her'' for a while (of course!).

Stylishly photographed and poetically -- if melodramatically -- written, ``Kindred: The Embraced'' tries its best to succeed in its mission to be contemporary, sexy and sophisticated. It comes off more effectively, however, as uproariously stupid, unyieldingly boring and unwittingly hilarious. While I have no doubt that this is the kind of show that will develop something of a, uh, clan following, forgive me if I haven't been embraced. I give this a D.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
May 8, 1996

Page D1

Sexy Vampires Seek `Kindred' Viewers
Make-out scenes and cool clothes target MTV crowd

SYLVIA RUBIN

Television criminals are no longer your run-of-the-mill creeps. At least not on Fox. There's Jim Profit, the evil hero of the new show "Profit.'' He was raised in a cardboard box and has a darn good reason for being a
murderer. The villains of the "X-Files'' come from who-knows-what galaxy, possessing powers that defy explanation. And then there is the cast of "Kindred: The Embraced,'' TV's best- dressed group of vampire gangsters, who spend each week turning their hot-white eyes at unsuspecting humans.

With Aaron Spelling ("Melrose Place'' and "90210'') in charge of production, you can expect a great-looking cast, slick scenery and lots of sex. You might also expect good ratings.   But the show, which airs at 9 p.m.           Wednesdays on Channel 2, is looking anemic at the moment, and fighting to make it to the fall lineup. It was 79th out of 102 prime time programs in the Nielsen ratings for the week ending April 28. ("Profit'' fared worse     at 86; "X-Files'' came in at 39).

Vampires are not new to TV (remember Nick Knight of "Forever Knight'' and Barnabus Collins of "Dark Shadows''?), but never have there been so many on one program. Their mission in San Francisco is to control it all, from the unions to the cabarets. If this sounds as though it is based on the "Godfather'' saga, that's because it is.

John Leekley, the show's creator and executive producer, has invented a new vampire mythology with so many characters, even the cast had to resort to crib sheets at first. "We carried around these "Kindred''  bibles for the first couple of weeks, because we were all lost -- it was like learning how to speak Spanish,'' says cast member C.  Thomas Howell, who plays detective Frank Kohanek, the vampire-chasing cop.  An actor with a good job at the moment, he is optimistic that the show will stay alive.  "I know that people will catch on eventually,'' he says.

"Whenever you come in and try something new, when you flex a little, it's frightening.  We're still throwing a few jabs. Our show is for the MTV generation. The Matlock group isn't going to be the ones digging our show.''           So to speak.   Leekley elaborates on the psychological motivation for his cast of characters.

"In our show, the Kindred live their lives with their ids and passions set free,'' he says. That would explain the frequent make-out scenes.  The vampires also freely express themselves in their wardrobes.

Instead of capes and fright makeup, they wear haute couture. No coffins. No bats, though they can turn into wolves if they want to.

They look and act human, and feed on blood only occasionally to enhance their supernatural powers. They can be out in daylight for short periods of time. They sleep in real beds and eat real food.

"The whole idea of vampires sleeping in dirt, screaming at the sight of garlic and talking in funny accents has become so cartoony,''  Leekley says.

Think of gangland New York in the 1930s and you may understand what Leekley is trying to do. "The five clans are very much like the five families of New York, with each pursuing its own field of power and warring with one
another.'' Each has a strange name, but a familiar Mafia-like purpose.

One clan controls gambling, the docks and prostitution. Another runs the music, film and nightclub industry; another controls the gangs on the streets and one clan is made up of aristocrats. "They are the old-money clan.
They control business, politics and society.  The last clan, the Nosferatu, live underground, they don't interact with humans, but they are the most sophisticated, the most intelligent and the most feared. I see them as the
consigliere of all the families.''

San Francisco is the only city in America, according to Leekley, where five clans of vampires could exist. "This show could never be set in L.A., because L.A. is not really a place; it's a state of mind,'' he says, "but San
Francisco is the most elegant, most evocative, most sophisticated city in America.''

Also the foggiest. During shootings here for the pilot episode, the cast -- particularly the women, who were wearing skimpy cocktail dresses -- practically froze while shooting scenes at the Golden Gate Bridge. "We had
to stop shooting a couple of times because everyone was so cold,'' Leekley says.

Actress Brigid Walsh plays Sasha, the newest member of the Brujah clan, the Mafia-like family that controls gambling and prostitution in the city. Walsh, who grew up in San Francisco, plays a wild, tempestuous               vampirette who is in love with a vampire from a rival clan. "After playing white trash, hookers, angels, I've never played anything with as much range,'' she says. "I can be wild and free, much wilder and freer than I really
am. I get to wear leather pants, ride a motorcycle, do things I would never do in real life.''

What isn't that much fun, she admits, is the taste of the fake blood in her mouth. "It's really thick and sweet, but not sweet enough. I couldn't brush it away.''
 
 

SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
April 2, 1996

Blood-loving `Kindred' is one silly fang-dango
JOHN FREEMAN

(Page E-5 )
TV REVIEW

Kindred: The Embraced
It's too easy to say that "Kindred: The Embraced" bites.

But that's the bloody truth.

This glossy, gory new series from Fox deals with -- brace yourself -- bloodsucking vampires that otherwise look and behave like everyday folks who live in San Francisco.

Not only is "Kindred: The Embraced" the strangest concept for a TV series this side of "Tales From the Crypt," but the show's name is decipherable only to vampire freaks. (And you know who you are.)

So a quick lesson in vampirology: A "Kindred" is a human-appearing creature who's no longer human. He or she has been "embraced" (bitten) by a vampire.  Together, these creatures belong to an ancient race that dates back to, well, as long as normal humans have been around.

"Kindred: The Embraced," which previews tonight with a 90-minute episode, tries to be spooky but comes off as merely silly, laughable from start to finish. In addition to heavy sexual innuendo, it serves up a dialogue of
blood innuendo, as when one male "Kindred" says to a lovely would-be female victim: "I knew we were gonna get along when you ordered your steak very, very rare."

Kindreds suck out their victims' blood and replace it with Kindred blood, which then heightens their sexuality and gets 'em really charged up. But despite the frequent transfer of blood and loads of sexually charged scenes, AIDS does not seem to be a factor.

Aaron Spelling's imprint as executive producer is apparent with the soap-trashy plot line (though it's not easy to follow) and the impossibly beautiful cast, led by C. Thomas Howell and Kelly Rutherford.

Don't embrace "Kindred: The Embraced." It's a bloody mess.

TV REVIEW

"Kindred: The Embraced"

A new series. Previews 8-9:30 tonight. Airs 9 p.m. tomorrow (its regular
time slot), XETV/Channel 6.

*

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
April 2, 1996

Love Vampires in The City
Bill Mann

Spelling sinks his teeth into new soap set in San Francisco

If you've ever felt the scripts on "Melrose Place" needed more teeth, has producer Aaron Spelling ever got  a new series for you.

Fox's "Kindred: The Embraced" premieres as a 90-minute movie Tuesday night at 9 on KTVU-Channel 2. Alas, this is the second awful TV series set in The City to premiere this week; Don Johnson's toll-taking cop show "Nash Bridges" debuted Friday. "Kindred: The Embraced" airs a second time Wednesday, in its regular 9 p.m. time spot, replacing another set-in S.F. series, "Party of Five." This new one might be called "Party of Jive."

Schlockmeister Spelling's last show set in San Francisco, you may recall, was the substandard "Hotel,"  starring distinguished eyebrow actor James Brolin and future infommercial star Connie "Mrs. Tesh" Selecca as managers of a Fairmont-like establishment.

This time it's stylish, oversexed vampires roaming the streets and salons of The City.   None of those unwieldy Transylvanian accents here, vows series creator John Leekley, adding, "All that gothic, Victorian stuff is gone."

No, Spelling and his crack creative team are always looking for fresh new settings in which vulgarity and
tackiness can flourish. "Kindred" has these . . . and so much more!

Tuesday's premiere opens with one of the ubiquitous S.F. vampires - they date back to Gold Rush daysbut have somehow managed to escape the attention of the SFPD - having a stake driven through his heart on a rooftop. The poor guy bursts into flames as a helicopter shot pans up to a San Francisco backdrop.  Now THAT'S creativity!

One diligent S.F. cop, Det. Frank Kohanek (C. Thomas Howell, of "The Hitcher" ), is getting mighty suspicious of all these strange, century-old goings-on. Stakes through hearts . . . murder victims drained of blood . . . guys with Lugosi-like 'dos. Hmm.

Mark Frankel ( "Sisters" ) looms over the five San Francisco vampire "clans" as overlord. He's a slippery - looking guy named Julian Luna (as in moon) who lives up in Pacific Heights and weekends in the Napa Valley in order to visit (actually, lie atop) vampire relatives' graves.

Since you wouldn't want to miss the gripping particulars of one of the most contrived series in recent TVhistory, here's a primer:

A "Kindred" is someone who was once human (think Phil Gramm), but has been "Embraced" by another Kindred (a cool-looking S.F. vampire). And "embracing" here means a Kindred removes the human's blood, replacing it with Kindred blood. (Blood-exchange as an entertainment element in a series set in SanFrancisco goes a bit beyond bad taste.)

But there's an upside. Even if you do receive one of these involuntary, Keith Richards-like blood replacements, you get to join one of several cool vampire clans. There's a Kennedy-like blueblood - pardon the expression - clan; a mobster clan; a young, hip clan, etc.

And these clans have one thing in common: When a human is "Embraced" by one of the clans, says Fox's press handout, "they become part of a world of heightened expression, color and sexuality. . . . their ids are set free."

In other words, all this vampire stuff is included basically so Spelling can show lots of hardbodies having steamy TV sex. These kids can't help climbing in the sack every few minutes. It's in their blood!

And just in case you aren't straight on who's a Kindred and who's not, just check out the glowing contact lenses. If a character begins to look like an extra from "Village of the Damned" and starts humming "You're So Vein," better watch out!

In one scene Tuesday set in an elegant S.F. restaurant, a smartly dressed blonde excuses herself to go to the powder room. Her blue eyes start to glow. That lady nearby touching up her mascara is in big trouble.  This elegant Kindred returns to her dinner - raw steak, of course - and her silver Dior number is sullied by a speck of blood. Her dinner companion, Det. Kohanek, doesn't notice. He just wants to end up in the sack  with this vampire vamp. And - quelle surprise! - he does.

It's hard to say if "Kindred: The Embraced" is sillier than it is vulgar and tasteless. No matter. Considering its vampire premise and dimbulb writing, Spelling may well have another hit on his hands.