I was lucky enough to see the first episode of HBO's new vampire based series, True Blood, about a month ago, and figured now would be the perfect time to share my opinions on the matter.
*Update- Having seen the episode again, this time in glorious HD on my widescreen, I have to say that I'm still excited about the show. One thing I didn't like was the recasting of Tara. The first Time I watched the premiere episode, Brook Kerr was the sassy black best friend of Sookie. I liked her. Now some girl named Rutina Wesley plays Tara, and shes not as good. Why they recast the role, I dont know. Maybe she will grow on me.
No spoilers, just a few plot points...
In a nutshell, True Blood tells the story of vampire/human relations in a small Louisiana town. Vampires have recently "Come out of the coffin" so to speak, due to the Japanese creation of a synthetic blood hits the market, enabling them to get their fix without murdering humans. Right off the bat you get the sense that this show speaks to the issue of racism, but in a way more fun manner.
The hot as all hell Anna Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, yeah her name is seriously Sookie, a telepathic waitress who meets and falls in love with her first vampire customer, Bill. I was expecting a better name than Bill for a member of the undead as well, but I guess Valdimir Von Suck would be overdoing it a bit.
The first episode was pretty good, as it is mostly a fairly common setup story for a pilot, and I'm curious to see where the show goes. I like the "Vampire drainers" angle, and it was creepy to see just how they went about (or tried to) drain the vamp of their blood.
Anna Paquin is good as always, exuding her impish innocence as she does so well. She's as cute as a button... The guy who plays Bill works well for me too, as I'm not sure if I trust him or not, even though I want to. I'm happy enough to see a decent weekly show on TV involving vampires that doesn't suck, and it makes it even better to have characters that you like right off the bat. My using the words "Suck" and "Bat" were in no way intended to be some lame vampire pun, although I may have just made them into one...
Anyways, the show has blood, sex, humor and plenty-o-drama, and it's creator is the guy behind Six Feet Under, which was a pretty good show too.
This may just be my new favorite show, at least until Dexter starts again. Or The Office. Also, The Shield and Sons of Anarchy have started, and I love them both...
Anyways, I'm excited to see more. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't get lame.
Ill give the first episode a B+
