This may seem a bit premature but I feel HBO'S True Blood has the potential to become a modern day Rocky Horror of sorts.

I have lived in the micro world of Rocky Horror (see other Hub) I am aware first hand of how captivating it can be. It is a world like no other. It is a place to be yourself or a place to be someone else. A place to hide, a place to live, a place that becomes alive when the rest of the world sleeps. A entity unto itself.

With obvious horror movie overtones Rocky Horror displays threads of many classic movies: Frankenstein, King Kong, The Mummy and of course Vampires.

For decades people have come out to indulge in this "nighttime" world. They even refer to themselves as "creatures of the night" coined directly out of the film. There are multiple allusions to the Vamp world starting with the movie's main black cape wearing character Frank along with a brother and sister (Riff Raff and Magenta) partaking in the ritualistic neck biting.

Frank who is played by British actor, Tim Curry is unbelievably captivating in this role. He has an unexplainable magnetism that both men and women alike have been drawn to for decade upon decade. This unexplainable attraction seems to bury itself into the very core of people. Once you have Frank in your blood he never leaves. Ask any Rocky goer.

True Blood is a new HBO show, from the creator of Six Feet Under, that airs Sunday nights at 9:00 pm. This is taken from a series of books written by Charlaine Harris. There is a new twist on the somewhat overdone southern vampire story (no insult to the great Anne Rice). This time the Japanese have invented something called True Blood. This is a synthetic form of human blood which is designed to keep Vampires satisfied and able to resist the urge to feast on human blood allowing them to enter human society.

The Vampires are "out of the coffin" and in the real world mulling about with humans in a rural Louisiana town. The poor Vampires are suffering from many of the same injustices that we have today: discrimination, bigotry, and just plain old trying to fit in. It is a very real pictorial of what goes on in society today.

Much like Rocky Horror True Blood has characters that just don't fit in. This is often a draw for audiences both TV and movie going. Everyone wants to know they are not alone. Many of the intriguing scenes are at night when the Vampires come out to play while others are resting peacefully. Again we see a micro world to enter after dark.

Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin, is a telepathic bar waitress. Her talents are considered to be like the plague in her little town of Bon Temps. Everyone thinks Sookie is just plain old nuts. She can't date anyone because she hears all their perverted thoughts. She lost her parents years ago and really only has her short lived grandmother, best friend Tara and brother Jason an over sexed ex-jock.

Then one day her boring little life changes when her Bar gets its first Vampire, played by British actor Stephen Moyer. He enters giving off a similar unexplained feeling of magnetism that Tim Curry had when the elevator door opened and brought him into our view for the first time. The Vampire Bill sways with a feel of insecure confidence into the bar with a failed attempt to order True Blood. The bar doesn't have any. Not afraid and truly excited Sookie learns she can't read his thoughts. That has never happened to her before. What a seductive relief. Later Vampire Bill finds she can not be "glamoured" into a Vampire induced trance (like all humans) which is seductively intriguing to him. The attraction begins.

There is an unexplainable allure that Rocky Horror has had on people. It can not truly be described. Even with my vast experience I can not put it into words the very feeling one gets from Rocky Horror and especially Frank. I feel that True Blood may have a similar and unexplained seductive effect on its watchers (especially women).

As you get to know the Vampire Bill you see him as a victim to his Vampire "condition". Our sympathy is with him as he tries to "mainstream" into the community. He is the nice guy vampire who is trying hard to hold onto his former humanity. His innate Vampire ways rear their head every once and a while which juxtaposed against his nice guy demeanor and unbelievable sex appeal is almost too much to handle. His mysterious qualities draw us into to his plight for the "normal". We start to get lost in his world. We rally for Sookie as she yearns to feel "normal" in her world. We watch her enter a unknown taboo world of Vampires who might actually understand her better than her those in her own world.

Our attraction builds week after week along with the attraction of Vampire Bill and Sookie. It is a fantasy world where you can be something way different than your really are.

There are plenty of characters for everyone to relate to from the wise-cracking Tara (daughter of a booze lost mother), Lafayette her gay and over the top funny cousin, to Jason (Sookie's cute jock brother), to Sam the nice guy yet mysterious bar owner. There are several other interesting characters that are sure to make for interesting story-lines in the future including a group of rogue Vampires -one being Eric a 1,000 year old Vampire (Lestat like), a possibly demon possessed woman and ever present dog sure to be a big story.

There are many things these two pieces of work have in common. Two British actors that seem to have a highly unusual effect and appeal. They both have great one liners that seem to have staying power, they both allow the viewer to get lost in a micro world. They both give way to the "forbidden" while making the viewer think it is OK to be part of it. They both offer a home for the misfit.

Make no mistake I am not saying that an HBO TV series is to be compared exactly to a film which is a true enigma. Quite frankly Rocky Horror is a phenomenon . What I am saying is that both of these works have an unexplainable allure to the forbidden world which draws you into the dark of night. They both have unusually captivating leading men who you can't take your eyes off of and probably can't stop thinking about. They both lend them self to setting up a micro world to play in.

In the 1970s Rocky crowds started gathering in efforts to bond over their love of the film. Thirty years later I can see True Blood fans gathering each Sunday night after waiting with baited breath all week to see what happens next. How about True Blood parties that go on until dawn with full costumes. Fans knowing every line and being drawn so deeply to certain characters that they feel they are their very counterparts. We shall see......