If you’re reading this, someone you know watches a crime show on CBS. You might not be aware that person watches the show, but numbers don’t lie. Shows like NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds, FBI, SWAT, Blue Bloods, and others have been a gold mine for the network and now its latest one is getting a little more bloody.
Deadline reports that CBS’s latest addition to its wild collection of procedural crime shows is Van Helsing. Yes, everyone’s favorite vampire hunter is coming to CBS. This version, however, will be “a contemporary take on the monster hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, who uses his uniquely inquisitive mind working alongside his ex, relentless FBI special agent Mina Harker, to solve New York City’s most harrowing cases.”
Do those “harrowing cases” involve vampires and other monsters? They damn well better! Otherwise, why the heck make a Van Helsing show? Syfy had pretty solid success with the property from 2016 to 2021, after all. And who can forget the 2004 Hugh Jackman movie with Kate Beckinsale—besides everyone, forever and always?
However, this version, which apparently landed at CBS after a “hotly contested auction,” has a proven pedigree. It’s executive produced by Rob Doherty, who took a similar approach to Sherlock Holmes with CBS’s Elementary, and will be written by Jonathan Lee, who wrote a new Netflix and BBC series called Lockerbie starring Colin Firth.
I’ve never found any CBS crime show to be particularly interesting but each one finds a slightly new twist on a proven formula. It certainly seems the network thinks Van Helsing, and all the lore that comes with the character, could be that once again. Do you agree?
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