TV: True Blood

[Munsu]

This is a new Vampire show on HBO starring Anna Paquin. It airs on Sundays, and yesterday was the first episode. For those of you that already watched the pre-air screener that came out a couple of months ago, this is a bit different. A couple of cast changes, and some added scenes and better editing.

Show is from the creator of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball. With all that said, the first episode was decent... but dissapointing to me. I was certainly expecting much better. But it's a bit understandable, since they're setting the series up. I've been hearing good things of the next couple of episodes, even from people that didn't enjoy the first episode. HBO + Vampires, how can they go wrong?

Here's the first episode:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1781548

Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, returns to HBO with a new series based on the novel series Southern Vampire by Charlaine Harris. The series follows Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid who finds comfort in the company of vampires since they have no brainwave activity for her to read. She and her brother Jason were raised by her grandmother after losing their parents in a flood and she tries to keep her telepathic ability a secret. Thanks largely in part to the creation of a Japanese-made synthetic blood called True Blood (where the series takes it name) vampires have made their existence known to the world. Sookie works at the bar 'Merlotte's' which is owned and operated by her boss Sam Merlotte who has a secret of his own.

http://www.tv.com/true-blood/show/74...esults;title;1
http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/

[Ryllharu]

I liked it.

The cast was very well rounded, and the supporting cast seems to be one of the stand-out things about the series. The vampire, Bill, is a bit stereotypical, Anne Rice kind of brooding vampire, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. With the direction they started the show (the hillbilly hunter guy being a vamp before the opening) and a few other normal-people vampires that were on television, having the lead being the kind one traditionally thinks of vampires isn't so bad. I loved the part where she laughed at his name being Bill and not something Cajun.

There was a LOT of foreshadowing though. There are quite a few things that I assume are supposed to be secrets revealed as the series goes, but they were pretty obvious. Notably the dog.

[Sapphire]

The picture drew me in.

But man I'm 6 minutes in and I'm loving it. The dark maybe even primal tone is just yum. Right now it's reminding me of Heroes a bit, but better. I hope I don' change my opinion, haven't seen much of the acting though it seems more on the badass scale than the 'TV-movie cheesy' scale.

I'm totally laughing at the accents.

[Paulyboy]

I saw it last night on HBO, lots of sex scenes. Especially that one where they are watching that vampire go all out on that one chick, Going rough and shit. Show is all cool, I expect more of some bad ass action scenes. And yes if you notice they are hillbilly like.

[Munsu]

Glad to see you people are liking it... I liked it myself, I simply had my expectations sky high. So that's where my comments are stemming from.

The sex scenes looked much better in the episode that aired... the Vampire sex scene was edited better because originally it looked very very wierd.

Looking forward for the next episode, here's a preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnBmbuZ-_MM

[Foomanchew24]

If you can't wait then you can can get episode two, but then your wait for episode three will be longer. Here ya go, you decide.
http://www.mininova.org/get/1778913

[Munsu]

I think media members and advertisers received about 4 or 5 episodes, so hopefully those will get leaked at some point.

I just watched episode 2, and this was more of what I was expecting from this series... good stuff. I have a ton of questions about Sookie though. I can't really tell if some of the things that are happening are being done by herself, if it's Bill doing them. They are always together when something supernatural occurs.

[Sapphire]

I agree with Ryl. Though Bill or whatever his name is is totally the stereotypical tall dark and handsome main character that fangirls all know and love, this is definately the first time I've seen this archetype mastered so wonderfully in a live action, let alone an American production!

*Downloads ep 2*

[Foomanchew24]

Overall pretty entertaining. I really like Bill the vampire and Sookie's friends reminds me of a young Wanda Sikes. Which ain't all bad. The fry cook seems interesting too. Most of the cast seems pretty solid. The only problem I am having is Sookie herself. Anna seems like she is 16, but perhaps this is what the creators were looking for. She seriously needs to get some braces and a boob job and color her hair back to dark brown. She looked more mature with dark hair. Other than that the show looks good, looking forward to the next episode and some more debauchery.

The fry cook hitting on the fat white hill billy was hilarious "I'll make you my Santa Clause." hahaha! I hope the humor continues.

[Assassin]

i can't believe im saying this, but at times the sexual overtones can be just too much. they take away from the show. and im not even talking about the sex scenes, but the more subtle stuff, like sooki's super sluty dress when the afternoon before bill comes over to their house. I just hope it stems from sexual frustration (and thus being related to the character development) and not just to win over male audiences.

I also hate the black girl. atleast at times....occasionally she'll be likeable but then she opens her mouth and i wanna smack her with a baseball bat.

On the topic of episode 2, the last scene with the vamps look odd....like they were all trying too hard. The girl was fine, but then the 2 dudes show up, and its like "hey look at me, im a stereotypical over the top bad vampire from Blade"

[Munsu]

i can't believe im saying this, but at times the sexual overtones can be just too much. they take away from the show. and im not even talking about the sex scenes, but the more subtle stuff, like sooki's super sluty dress when the afternoon before bill comes over to their house. I just hope it stems from sexual frustration (and thus being related to the character development) and not just to win over male audiences.

I also hate the black girl. atleast at times....occasionally she'll be likeable but then she opens her mouth and i wanna smack her with a baseball bat.

On the topic of episode 2, the last scene with the vamps look odd....like they were all trying too hard. The girl was fine, but then the 2 dudes show up, and its like "hey look at me, im a stereotypical over the top bad vampire from Blade"

I agree with you to a point, but I think you're over thinking it a bit with Sookie and her dress. For one, the sexual portion of the first episode seemed out of place for me, and in part played into me not thinking much of the series at first. I thought the second episode had a better balance. At the least, the sex scenes had a better progression to them.

I didn't pay much mind to the way Sookie dressed when she went out in the afternoon mainly because she didn't look that good in that dress. You also have to consider that they might want to give a bit of the white trash vibe to these characters. Also, you have to consider that she drank vamp blood, so she might've been feeling a little naughty at the moment.

As for the black chick, I preffered the first casting choice... that chick that was in the first episode preair. I hated the new chick in the first episode, particularly in her first scene of the series. But I think she was much better and likable in the second episode. I think she might grow on me with time.

I think the two vamps at the end are just fine, especially the one who rolled his eyes... he looks quite nasty. He was the vamp that had that freakish sex scene in the first episode. So I'm looking forward for him to do some creepy scenes.

http://www.trubeverage.com/

Third episode preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMe8EVU2iU

[itadakimasu]

switched my showtime to hbo today and watched the first 2 eps .... I like it!

haven't looked at the schedule yet to see what days it shows but i'm going to keep watching...

[Munsu]

Two episodes in and HBO already picked it up for a second season:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...ery=true+blood

And here's a small interview with Alan Ball:
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-en...Alan/800046947

[Munsu]

Just watched episode 3, and this has been my favorite episode so far.

Assassin, I think you were on to something when you made comments about Sookie's sexual frustration, it's quite evident in this episode. I also thought that the 3 new vampires were awesome, the two male ones were quite different than what I expected personality wise.

Ryllharu, what were your suspicions of the dog? I've always felt that there might be some connection to Sam, which was confirmed with his barking during his sleep, but the dog we've seen in particular doesn't seem any different than any other dog. But, it's quite curious to see him around "spying" on Sookie, etc.

I thought Tara was quite good in this episode, her mother is quite fucked up. And what can we say about Jason... the "Fuck of Death". Whe he imagined the vamp with the shaved head while having sex, I wonder if it was simply due to the video he had seen on episode one, or if he was the vamp that sucked blood from the chick and then somehow making his image appear to Jason because of that or some wierd shit like that.

The next episode preview and a "coming up this season" promo provided by HBO show some really cool stuff to look forward to.

[Foomanchew24]

After episode two I thought somehow that Sam was the dog spying on Sookie, now I think that Sam is a ware wolf who can talk to his dog? I dunno sounds good to me. Definitely the best episode so far. I was thinking we may not get introduced to very many vampires which would have sucked. (no pun intended) But things are getting interesting for sure.

[Jessper]

With how open about the stuff with Sam they are being it is hard to say. The writers obviously wanted us to think so in the first 2 episodes, then they have the twist in the 3rd episode on that.

In my opinion they are trying to throw us off and make us think he is a werewolf.

[Sapphire]

Little did I know that this series is based off of books by a woman named Charlaine Harris! And I've heard of her too. Well, I just spoiled myself a tad bit by reading the Wikipedia article and I'm not sure if I regret it or not, but I'm still looking forward to the next episode!

[itadakimasu]

I'd not considered anything about sam being a werewolf... i just thought he wanted to smell the dead girl.

LOL @ the interrogation scene... that was pretty funny

[Foomanchew24]

Without Sookies brother this show wouldn't be half as entertaining as it is. He better not ever get killed off, comic genius oozes from his stupidity.

[oyabun]

Love the show! the first episode is kinda slow and draggy. But after a few episodes, it gets good.