#3 Forever Knight (1989 / 1992 - 1996)

A quick note on the dates on the titles of this post, there was an amusingly bad TV movie by the same name that aired in '89, it's a sort of prequelly standalone thingy, the pilot for the show basically goes over the same events. However, the actual show first aired in '92 through to '96 hence the weird dates.

Season 1 cast

Anyway I digress, this show is one of the very few that I own but can barely stand to watch even a single episode of. It has not aged well. Unlike the immortal vampires it stars nothing about this show has survived age well at all. Ironically some of the more interesting story lines are in the series novelizations.

The basic premise is that Nicholas Knight (IIRC he sometimes goes by Nick Chevalier, Chevalier is French for knight) was a French Knight about 800 years ago, a crusader. He met a beautiful lady vampire - Jeanette - and her sire the conniving Lucien La Croix (French for 'The Cross' ha ha subtle guys) turned him. They lived happily for awhile and then Nick rediscovered his morality and decided to find a cure so he can become human again. He joins the Toronto P.D. with the assistance of Natalie Lambert a coroner that signs off on his medical tests etc. Meanwhile Jeanette and La Croix lurk on the sidelines waiting for him to come to his senses.

Season 2 cast

The premise isn't bad and the acting in general is decent barring a few unpleasant occasions. The problem is that the show was so hip and awesome for its time that it only works in its time. Further some of the lines are just...ugh. Another weakness was the nearly complete re-shuffle of main characters every season. The only real regulars are Nick and Natalie, even Nick's partner changes in the third season. Basically, take the supreme awkwardness that was early 90s fashions and turn it into a vampire show and you've got Forever Knight. Great on paper, probably worthy of a reboot (though for my money Moonlight was the best modern follow up to this show) but super hard to watch nowadays.

The third season has some interesting plot twists and shifts the main focus a little bit to feature more of Nick's new partner and her relationship with another vampire named Vashon. She never realizes Nick's true nature which is annoying and weird considering she's boning a vamp and ought to recognize the signs. The third season also has an interesting arc about an AIDs cure that poisons vampires part of the arc introduces a lower class of vampire that feeds on rodents and such. 

Season 3 cast

I'm not sure how/why it was canceled. I remember watching it on, I think, USA and after an ep one evening instead of the voice over saying, stay tuned for scenes from next week's episode, it said, stay tuned for scenes from the series finale. And bam it was over a week later. I suspect ratings were dropping and old Nick was actually kinda showing his age (pretty awkward for an immortal vamp in a show all of three years running).  All in all if you catch it on TV late one night you'll probably get a kick out of it but it's more suited to an MST3K style mock fest with friends than serious viewing, which is kinda sad in a nostalgic sorta way.

 Availability:

Netflix - Disc only, billed as three parts of a 'trilogy' the original TV movie is also available.

Hulu - First two seasons only

Amazon -  Yes, clickable pics below