May 8, 1996 Wednesday

Pg. 3

The soap opera about vampires living in modern-day San Francisco ends its spring tryout at 9 tonight.

Reportedly, Fox is seriously considering bringing it back next season for the 9 p.m. Monday slot.

Tonight’s finale has head vampire Julian (Mark Frankel) taking his human lover Caitlin (Kelly Rutherford) to a cabin in Napa Valley, where he plans to reveal his blood-lust secret. But they are ambushed by hitmen from a rival vampire gang. Meanwhile, human cop Frank Kohanek (C. Thomas Howell) suspects his partner (Erik King) is a vampire.

If that description confuses you, you’ve not been watching this sexy steamer about a secret society called “The Kindred” and how they operate undercover – and under covers when it comes to sex.

The 1990s finds vampires organized into high-rolling clans. The Brujah are thugs like Al Capone’s boys. Gangrels are streetwise hot- heads who travel in motorcycle gangs. The Nosferatu are evil-looking underground dwellers.

Trying to keep the Kindred in line is Julian, a sort of retro Rudolph Valentino. He’s played by London-born Frankel, last seen in the James Bond-like series “Fortune Hunter” in 1994.

Also, Julian maintains a tightrope-walking truce with vampire-stalking homicide Detective Kohanek, who’s hip to the Kindred game.

These bloodsuckers are caught up in various love stories and power struggles much like the characters on “Melrose Place.”

But they can get a little kinky. For example, in need of comfort in one recent episode, Julian spent the night with his dear departed wife, first crawling onto, then seeping into, her grave.

The show is reminiscent of “Dark Shadows” but with a younger, pop-culture, Fox-audience touch.