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"Talamasca: The Secret Order" has so far shown little to none of the distinct atmosphere and narrative techniques that have earned Anne Rice her well deserved success. What we've mostly gotten so far is a lot of rambling, incoherent and disjointed "explanations" of what Talamasca is and does. Apparently the world is on the verge of being taken over by evil bloodsuckers and their sycophants, but you'd never know it by the pace of the action of the Talamaska crew. We get what feels like hours of characters trudging through the seediest streets of Manchester, England as they haphazardly look for "clues", and the result is a boring mess. Vampire sightings, especially those with Ms. Rice's flair for stylish and exotic/erotic dastardly deeds, are few and far between. No. This production of "Talamasca: The Secret Order" definitely should have remained a secret.

This is a full blown pip-pip, cheerio British production of a well known French whodunnit institution, "Maigret." The biggest mystery here, though, is why PBS would take this tact. They air "Patience," also a French crime series, but it has a very British cast who solves cases in York. Hmmmm. The cultural disconnect here is just palpable. The last time I had this much distraction and disbelief with casting was Keanu Reeves' mutilation of the British accent in "Dracula." He was a huge no way, no how. Sorry to say so is "Maigret."