CBS vampire sitcom 'Eternally Yours' reviewed as a lighter, 'Ghosts'-style comedy

Left · 2CBS's new vampire sitcom 'Eternally Yours' premieres on Thursday 8 October at 8:30 p.m. ET. 1 2 Left · 2Variety says it will also stream on Paramount+. The A.V. Club notes it takes the Thursday slot that 'Ghosts' will leave empty, since that show returns for season 6 only early next year apart from a pair of holiday specials. 2 1 Left · 2The show comes from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman (spelled 'Weisman' by Variety), who adapted the British series 'Ghosts' for CBS. Both reviews say the pair first pitched 'Eternally Yours' before 'Ghosts'; the A.V. Club puts that at 11 years ago, when it did not get past the pilot stage. 1 2

Left · 2Both reviews sum the show up as 'Ghosts' with vampires in place of ghosts. The A.V. Club calls it 'What if Ghosts, but vampires?'. Variety says it is not officially a spinoff but that 'functionally, that’s the pitch'. 1 2 Left · 2Ed Weeks and Allegra Edwards play Charles and Liz, a vampire and his human-turned-vampire wife whose roughly 500-year marriage has gone stale. Helen J. Shen plays their adopted vampire daughter Emma, and Jaren Lewison plays her human boyfriend Max, who learns the family secret. Parker Young plays Jesse, a fitness trainer who uses spray tan to show up in mirrors, and Rose Abdoo plays his human wife Phyllis, who is kept in the dark by repeated mind wipes. The couple have two teenage sons. 1 2 Left · 2The household lives in Seattle, where the overcast weather helps the vampires move about in daylight, according to the A.V. Club. Variety jokes that the characters admit 'Twilight' was right about the Pacific Northwest's year-round cloud cover. 1 2

Left · 2Both reviewers place the show against FX's 'What We Do in the Shadows', which ran six seasons. The A.V. Club says the crowded field of suburban-vampire comedy poses a 'Simpsons Already Did It' problem but that a 'lighter, brighter "network sitcom" sensibility' may set the new show apart. Variety makes a similar point, saying 'Shadows' was absurdist and handheld while 'Eternally Yours' is 'a broadcast comedy in its bones', with a 'How I Met Your Mother'-style voiceover from Max. 1 2 Left · 2Reviewers note weaknesses. The A.V. Club found the pilot 'terribly claustrophobic', with most scenes set in the Blythe house, and questioned why Max learns the secret so early. Variety noted inconsistent logic, such as British and American accents for characters described as Romanian, and said the show needs more time to find its own identity. 1 2 Left · 2Reviewers praised some jokes: the A.V. Club called Abdoo 'hilarious', and Variety liked a flashback to couples' therapy with Sigmund Freud and Charles's nihilism. Both had seen only one episode (Variety says 22 minutes), so neither could judge the series. The A.V. Club said the show 'shows promise' and that 'time will tell'. 1 2