Public Service Announcement No.15: True Blood
I was telling a friend of mine a couple of days ago that season 1 of HBO mega-hit, True Blood, was finally coming to British tv this week and she asked me what it was about.
“It’s loosely based on a series of novels called The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries,” I said. So she asked me what the novels were about. “They’re about a waitress,” I said. And she looked at me encouragingly to carry on, so I did. “She gets a job in a bar,” I said. “And she meets this guy”, I said. My friend continued to look interested. So I took a deep breath and said “And he’s, um, he’s a vampire.”
At which point my friend put her fingers in her ears and started to practice her scales. I tried to persuade her (while prying said fingers out of said ears) that this was different from my usual romantic vampire tosh and just because I had watched/read a few vampire things recently, didn’t mean I was obsessed with them. She couldn’t have looked any more sceptical if I’d said I was married to one.
So I explained that this was a dark, violent and explicit tv series from Alan “Six Feet Under” Ball and it was huge in the US. I explained – as she “La la la”d over my voice - that in this show, the vampires live openly amongst the humans as a mistrusted minority and the trailers I’d seen made it look a bit like My Name is Earl with lots of additional sex and teeth. I went so far as to say I actually thought Jed might end up liking it more than me as a result, and he doesn’t like the be-fanged as a general rule. My friend, however – possibly because she knows me too well - remained unconvinced.
Maybe I should have told her that season 1 is the biggest-selling TV DVD of 2009 in the US so far, that season 2 is pulling in stellar ratings for HBO, or that no less august a publication than Monday’s New York Times contains a feature on the show’s success. Maybe I should have mentioned that it’s so popular because (apparently) “Women love the storytelling and the romance, and men love the sex and the violence.” But I don’t think it would have mattered, to be honest. My friend thinks I’m going to watch it because it’s a romantic vampire story, and I (and a sizeable chunk of the world’s population) can’t get enough of romantic vampire stories at the moment. There may be something in that. In the words of Alan Ball, “It is sort of vampire time.” For UK viewers, that would be 10pm this Friday night on FX.
Got around to reading Twilight. Hopefully Sookie isn’t as angsty, analytical and annoying as Bella.
I LOVE this series of books – (yet another example CJ of how you and I have eerily similar TV viewing habits).
The books are gothic, interesting, deep and funny. And infinitely better than the Twilight series, which I think are absolute drivel (if you want good teeny bopper vampire stories read LJ Smith’s series The Vampire Diaries – which is being made into a TV show this fall).
The TV show is more hard core, more trailer trash and more graphic. If you can get past the violence and the sex, the show is witty, smart, well acted, romantic and quite interesting. I would give it a 4.5/5.
I also have several favorite characters that are lovingly portrayed in the show: Eric, Sookie and Sam being three of my favorites. Less interesting is Tara. The secondary characters in this show tend to shine as well, leading to an ensemble cast that’s just sparkling and fun to watch.
The first episode is a bit violent, but I would recommend sticking with it. Right around episode 4 the show starts to pick up steam and never looks back. It’s not a sudden change like Dollhouse, but it’s there, and it’s good.
We’re on season 2 here, and it’s even better than season 1.
Oh – and if you haven’t read the books, pick them up. They (in my opinion) are even better than the show.
Aha! Talking of eerie….I’ve just recently managed to get the first of the novels, Kay (it was out of print here for a while, no doubt so they could produce the tv series tie-in edition) and it’s sitting in my bedroom looking at me tantalisingly so am looking forward to reading it once I’m done with “Sorrrows of An American”. If I start it before then, I’ll be glued to it so am witholding it from myself meantime
The Vampire Diaries has been on my radar for a wee while as well – will give it a shot too now you’ve recommended it. I love teen romance, I love vampire romance – mix the two and hey presto! I’m hoping one of our cable channels will pick up the show next year but I suppose it depends how it does in the US.
In a 30 Rock-season-2-style fashion, all I had to do was ask, apparently – ITV2 have acquired the rights to The Vampire Diaries and it’ll be on British screens next year. The show looks absolutely terrible but in a really great way. Hurrah!
According to various sources, including this , ITV2 and Warner Bros start selling the first ten episodes of The Vampire Diaries on iTunes tonight. They won’t start airing them on UK tv till February. According to Warner Bros, “This highly innovative approach to releasing ‘The Vampire Diaries’ gives us and ITV2 the chance to maximise excitement ahead of its UK premiere in February, and provides consumers with a high-quality legal alternative to pirated versions.”
You know what’s another “high-quality legal alternative to pirated versions”, dude? Frigging put it on tv now.