The entertainment industry knows that you just can't go wrong with a TV series or movie about vampires. The same holds true for mobsters.

Mix them up, and you have a potential winner. That's the premise of the new Web series "Vampire Mob," a comedy about a mobbed-up vampire family.

It stars John Colella ("CSI: NY," "The West Wing") and Reamy Hall ("General Hospital") as the vampire husband and wife team.

Mr. Colella's character, Don, finds that the nocturnal hours of being a hit man combine well with his thirst for blood. He can bump someone off for his bosses and collect his "groceries" at the same time.

The series even manages to work in a lot of mother-in-law jokes. Don's domestic problems intensify when his wife, Annie, turns her mother into a vampire. Now she's moving in with them "for eternity."

"Vampire Mob" is the creation of writer and director Joe Wilson. The writing is sharp and the jokes are not predictable. In one conversation, Don and Annie are talking about the foods they miss -- "meatballs ... and garlic" as they swill blood from their full wine glasses.

The characters aren't the only things about "Vampire Mob" that will remind viewers of "The Sopranos." Adult language and frequent F-bombs give it the "Unsuitable for ages 17 and under" rating.

Episodes are being released on a "view ransom" basis. After 5,000 views, the next episode is posted. Four are online so far, and hopefully the hits will tip the 5,000 scale soon because this well-done Web series will leave viewers wanting more.

www.vampiremob.com

Wouldn't you think that after all of Facebook's user privacy issues, the social networking giant might have offered its new Facebook Places geolocation feature as an option, and not yet another thing that users have to figure out how to opt out of?

Places, like services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, lets its users "check in" at different locations and let their friend network know where they are. Unlike those services, which one signs up for, Places just follows along with all your other Facebook baggage.

It's only an issue for some Facebook users: To use it, you need a smartphone. It's currently only available for the iPhone, but Android and BlackBerry versions are coming soon.

Places can be great for those Facebookers who already like to post where they're going and what they're doing. But for those who want a little more control over who knows their whereabouts, there is a fairly easy way out.

In the privacy setting, there's a heading for "Things I Share." Go to the "Places I Check Into." It can be set to be visible "only to friends," or only to the user.

Friends also can tag the people who are with them, and those people's locations will be posted through their feeds. Users are notified when they're tagged and can un-tag themselves. But if you just want to do away with the feature, go to the "Things Others Share" section and disable the "Friends Can Check Me In" settings.

Facebook has a video on how to change their Places privacy settings (www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=697692691093).

For more Cybertainment, check out the Cybertainment blog at post-gazette.com.

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