SpikeTV Announces "Blade" Adaptation

SciFi Channel is reporting that SpikeTV has officially announced it is adapting the "Blade" movie franchise for television, beginning with a two-hour original drama that marks the network's first foray into scripted entertainment. Produced by New Line Television, "Blade" premieres on Spike TV in June.

Pancho Mansfield, executive vice president of original programming at SpikeTV, said in a statement, ""Blade is perfectly suited for Spike TV and its male viewers. The new "Blade" promises to capture what men want to see: thrilling action and effects combined with an intelligent and highly creative story."

Male viewers, huh? What, women don't like action and a good story - especially in a vampire tale? I beg to differ. Admittedly, though, I never watch the Oxygen network because they don't play sci-fi or horror flicks - unless it's a lame ghost story about two lovers tragically separated by circumstance. Talk about gross. I guess I'm not the typical demographic. Fine by me.

David S. Goyer - who wrote the screenplays for the "Blade" trilogy - serves as executive producer and co-wrote the script with popular comic-book author Geoff Johns. Peter O'Fallon ("Las Vegas") directs. The two-hour telefilm is likely a pilot for an eventual series.

Kirk "Sticky" Jones ("Over There") will star as the title character, a half-human/half-vampire warrior. Wesley Snipes played the character in the movies. The cast also includes Jill Wagner, Neil Jackson, Nelson Lee and Jessica Gower.

We'll just see if the story can stretch out over the length of a series. By "Blade Trinity" the story was getting a little stale. --Shannon Nolley

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