True Blood

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Truebloodposter.jpg]
Fantastic poster on this. Also, as the poster notes, from the creator of Six Feet Under.

From wikipedia:

The show details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small Louisiana town, after Japanese-made synthetic blood ? "TruBlood" ? becomes available for purchase and follows Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a diner who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).

Now, first of all: I haven't read the books that the show is based on. And I've yet to see the first episode. So: who has seen it, how is it? HBO has such a solid track record, I'm expecting good things from the show.

 

I'm indifferent with the opener. It felt really disjointed and like it didn't know what it wanted to be. At some points it appeared to want to be more of a gonzo type show, with imagery and scenes merely meant to shock the audience, and at others it appeared to want to be some sort of introspective take on human culture. Anna Pacquin still can't act, and the rest of the cast was okay, except for the best friend who was too over the top with her role. I'll stick with it, but hopefully it finds itself as time goes by.

 

I have to say, the more I hear, the less interested I am.

Saw the books in the store last year. Read the description on the back and it sounded pretty lame. What I've read about the series doesn't sound like much of an improvement.

Saw a magazine in the store which had a fun way of explaining the show. 10% Alien Nation, 55% Buffy, 35% something else--I've forgotten. What was funny was that they had photos clipped from the existing shows to make a conglomerate image. Probablly some popular magazine, but I'm so pop-culture unconscious that it doesn't matter.

 

I'm in the same boat.

I look at this, and wonder why HBO couldn't have picked up the Dresden Files instead of Space, and done a "(relatively) true to the books" version of them.

 

saw both episodes not bad.

I love how the girls all seem to have bite marks.

 

A friend of mine pointed out "that someone in HBO's art department spent a long time getting that tongue to look as phallic as possible" and now I can't look at the poster without noticing.

 

So far I think the show's not too bad.
I've read a whole lot of Vampire books (I'm a sucker for Vamps ) but I haven't even heard of True Blood before. The books themselves don't even sound too interesting, considering that there are a whole lot of better Vampire books out there. Just going by the story, I mean.

The second episode was okay, I think. Although I'm having my problems with Anna Paquin. At times she seems like this spoiled little teenaged girl and it's annoying.

And the fact that all the girls have bitemarks? I mean, they are Vampires. I do believe the majority of the female population would be interested.

Jason is annoying the crap out of me, though. That boy is just plain stupid and honestly, I do not understand why Tara likes him so much. Tara's character is great -- she cracks me up.

Did anyone notice the picture hanging in Sukkie's bosses room? The one with the dog protecting the blond the little girl?
Throughout the episode there were two times a dog appeared barking when Sukkie was in a rather dangerous situation. Did anyone notice?

I don't think the tongue looks phallic. Looks like a tongue.
But now everytime I see the picture, I keep taking a longer look.

 

That reminds me of the scandal over the original Little Mermaid posters. Talk about delusions of prudishness. Disney fired the artist and made a big fuss about changing the posters and VHS covers after they discovered his "hidden secret".

Almost as obnoxious as they were in changing the lyrics to the first song when Aladin was released on VHS.

 

I WAY the books. If you like vampires (and werewolves a few books in), these are a must read.

The show... is ok. They seem to follow the book truly in one scene, then take liberties the next. After 3 episodes, I give it a 7/10. I'm not liking the Tara re-charactarization, and Bill is a little colder (emotionally, lol) here than in the books.

JF