True Blood

True Blood is a new series on HBO, which I just saw for the first time several days ago. It's a vamp series, based on a book, but don't roll your eyes just yet -- this one is good. Yeah, I know, people liked Buffy and Angel and Charmed and all the other occultish series out there...but they sucked. Not the ideaof vampires and witches (and bears, oh my!) but rather the cheesed-up stories lines and questionable acting. So, if you're someone who actually does love this kind of story when the acting is good (you loved Gary Oldman in Dracula, right? and the Lost Boys? you know Keifer was sexy in that!) then you will love, love, LOVE the True Blood series. Watch the clip below and you'll see what I mean; someone finally went and made a vampire series for grown-ups.

A Little Background Info

True Blood takes place in podunk Louisiana (don't let that put you off) sometime in the future, when vampires have "mainstreamed" and are fighting for their civil rights. The Japanese have created some kind of synthetic blood for them and they no longer need to run around sucking blood from poor schleps who'd rather not die. Of course, that doesn't keep some people from wanting to offer themselves up for that sort of thing, cos, after all, what's a good vamp story without a few fetishes?

The town is really, really redneck -- and really, really Louisiana. If you have ever lived in the deep south for any amount of time, you will "know" some of these people. (Hopefully not in the biblical sense.) As far as I can tell, the main characters are Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Bill the Vampire (Stephen Moyer). Anna Paquin is a very good actress, and you'll probably recognize her from film. Stephen Moyer has, apparently, done a number of films that I've seen, but I didn't recognize him from them. That probably sounds like an insult, so let me clear that up right now:

Stephen Moyer is THE reason this series is worth watching.

My knickers were in quite a state by the end of the first episode. So much so, I watched the next 3 one right after the other, which meant I didn't get to bed until sunrise. And hey, with someone like that to dream about, who really cares?? This guy is sexy and just plain hypnotic in some of these scenes with Sookie -- he digs her, and she digs him, but that whole vampire thing rings a few alarms now and then. Will they ever get together?? God, I hope so, cos that's going to be one steamy scene that I would love to Tivo!

Support Characters Are Fab Too!

Sookie's G-Ma is a really fantastic character (and a brilliant actress), Sookie's best friend is amazingly "real" (such a nice change from the lame sidekick so many lead chicks seem to have) and while Sookie's brother annoyed me a great deal in the first 3 episodes, I warmed up to him by the 4th. The best supporting character, however, is Lafayette... watch it once and you'll know what I mean. There are others, of course, (Stellan Skargaard's son plays one of the vamps and if you've ever watched Newhart you'll recognize the sheriff) but I don't want to get too much into it.

Not For Kids

There is a great deal of nudity in this, lots of swearing and some gore, obviously, so you probably don't want the kids watching it. So far there hasn't been any nudity with Sookie and Bill the Vampire (he's not really called that, you know) and I've no idea if there will be. But if there is, like I said, that'll be a TIVO moment!

When Is It On?

Sundays at 9pm

Where can you watch it?

HBO airs it, and you can also watch the episodes on their website.