ABC's the Gates

The Gates is a new show on ABC that began as a summer filler while most other shows are on summer break. The Gates begins with a new police chief moving to an exclusive gated community creatively called The Gates. He has skeletons in his closet, a wife and two kids. It quickly becomes apparent that supernatural beings live in The gates, things like vampires and werewolves, that live like they're normal humans inside this "safe" community.

The storyline in The Gates is similar to any other drama, even close to being a soap opera in some scenarios. Some of the stories involve regular things, like an overzealous homemaker taking over the school bake sale, and some are supernatural based, like vampires killing people or werewolves being caught in their wolf forms. The Gates is set in a gated small town, although the police station clearly has state-of-the-art high-cost technology that looks like it should belong to the FBI. The police are expected to give residents of The Gates the utmost privacy, which is where a lot of the tension between Chief Monohan and other characters comes from.

Most of the actors on The Gates aren't terribly recognizable. The police chief, Nick Monohan is played by Frank Grillo, who Prison break fans might recognize. His wife is played by Marisol Nichols, who has a part in "24" back in 2007. The vampire couple is headed by actor Luke Mably, a British actor some might recognize from 2004's The Prince and Me, and Rhona Mitra, another Brit who has been in several popular TV shows, including Nip/Tuck.

The Gates is a blend of several genres, crime, drama, and supernatural. It also deals with two age groups, high school and adult, which allows it to appeal to various audiences. The Twilight crowd will love the teenage werewolves, while adults will enjoy the drama with a lick of cops. The time slot clearly aims for adults, Sundays at 10 PM on ABC.

If you're looking for a show with deep concepts, original ideas, and fresh writing, then this might not be the best show for you, but if you want something fun to occupy your Sunday nights before you head back to the work week, or something to watch in your free time on Hulu (it airs the last 5 episodes that have aired on ABC), then The Gates is enough to amuse you for 40 minutes at a time.