It's very interesting, to me, to read the negative reviews of the show, taken in the context of the network airing it billing it as a cross between Dark Shadows and Queer As Folk (with Buffy thrown in). I say that because I'm one of the few people who absolutely loathed Queer As Folk. Friends raved about it, and I finally got to see it, Season One and a bit more at least, on DVD, and I found the stories predictable and trite, the acting amateurish and the writing uninspired. I heard it got better as seasons went on, but I never went beyond what I saw, so maybe I'm not being totally fair in my negative criticism of it.
One of my best friends, same age as me, and I have gotten into huge battles. He considers QAF to be pure art, one of the best shows ever on TV, while he simply can't stomach DS. I, on the other hand, naturally worship the ground DS was made on (and its flaws are what also made it so good), and my views of QAF are now known. I just sent him an e-mail asking him if he ever heard of Dante's Cove, telling him that it seems to be a Queer as Dark Folk Shadows. I told him we should rent the DVD's and both short-circuit while watching them.
Gerard