"True Blood" is a bloody bore

I absolutely bloody love it so far.  The business with the impromptu vampire orgy in the last episode was a bit, well, odd, but I love it anyway.  The story and layers and layers (and layers) of allegory have me hooked; I love the Southern Gothic aesthetic: it's like another character.  I even love the Jason sex scenes and his fear of vampires/(race/gender/queers)/loss of his masculinity despite the fact that if I have to see him naked one more time I might gauge my own eyes out.  

So yeah, the overall arcs have been slow to develop but we're starting to get into the who's killing fangbangers stuff now I think, and we've got Sam and his maybe werewolf side to get into.  

I haven't read the books either so I have no idea what's coming but the folks over at TWoP seem rather excited by someone named Eric who turns up next week... 

www.myspace.com/stopstartstall - acousticy music type stuff.

"Every person in the world has a purpose for being here—a calling".

I want to love True Blood. I really do. I want to see dark, misunderstood creatures of the night that look great in black and have a sexual magnetism that no man or woman can resist

That sounds to me like you want True Blood to be like any other show about vampires. It's not. And that is exactly why I am enjoying it so much.

It might not be uber sexy, and I am not sure about the Southern thing either, but it sure is different than most other shows about vampires.

I like the premise of vampires living among us with rights just like human beings, and I especially like that Sookie gal.

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-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

I blog, therefore, I am

I watched the episode last night and loved it. Ball may be taking his time to develop story lines, but it is not in a bad way for me as he is spending the rest of the time building characters.

Seems like a catch-22 to me, if you jump right into the storylines people complain that the characters are lacking and vice versa...

Deborina, I couldn’t agree with you more! The show itself is doing a great job taking an old subject and putting a new spin on it. However, I wish they’d cut out the 45 minutes of soft-core porn and focus more on the actual story line. I swear to God if I see that Jason guy’s butt one more time, I’m going to shoot myself in the head.

"I hate people, they hate me. So doesn't that classify as a healthy, functioning relationship?"

I'm in love with True Blood right now.

Alright, Bill is boring me to tears with that 'smoldering look' and I could do without Jason all together (not just his sex scenes) but I love the setting, I love Sookie (sp?) and so far I love the portrayal of vampires.

Besides 'coming out of the coffin' is bound to become a classic! 

Who you gonna be if you can't be yourself,
you can't get it from t.v., you can't force it on
anybody else.-- Ani Difranco

I am still waiting to see what else they will include in the story line(s). 

It seems I am always disappointed in the "movie" when I have read the book. 

There is SO MUCH being left out of this show.

Has anyone else read the books?

We shall see.....

True blood is freakin' awesome! I love that show!

I've read the 1st book in the series--the one the 1st season was based on--and I hated it.

It started out so promising--I really liked Sookie--but I lost all my respect for her in the scene where she is grossed out by seeing two men kiss at a private party. (Later she complains about being forced to witness "sex acts" in the plural, but that kiss doesn't belong in the same category as the straight sex she is made to watch in the same scene.)

I also couldn't stand the oversexed evil black female vampire (that must be her in the 2nd picture above). She's an obvious example of the Sapphire stereotype, which does a lot of real damage to black women--and never got enough character development to be more than a cartoon. Worse, the only other black woman in the book is a tough overburdened cop (also a stereotype) whose role in the story is small enough you could miss it if you blinked.

That was the point in the book where I noticed that all the characters who were of color or gay were either a) stereotypes, b) evil murderers, c) bit parts, d) killed violently, or e) all of the above. There's actually a scene in one chapter that revolves around a subplot crime (not the main mystery), and I thought, "The only person of color in the room is going to be the culprit." And I was right.

Also, why do all the gay men in the book wear eye makeup? At first I thought this was a quirky character detail--but then it kept showing up!  I got the feeling that the author thought this was how you tell if a man is gay--check for mascara.

The fact that the solutions to the main mystery, and the subsidiary mystery, and the crime subplot I mentioned above were obvious didn't bother me as much. I'll read a predictable book if I care about the characters--but I can't get into a story with cardboard characters or one where I feel like the author is using fiction to promote her own icky views of groups she's not part of (and I and people I love am). Maybe the later books got better, but I won't be reading them.

So I'm not surprised that the TV show is disappointing some people--IMHO there wasn't much to work with. I really don't understand why a gay director would want to make a TV series out of those books, and I'm kind of surprised no one on AfterElton is discussing the potential pitfalls. The plotline about the bitter gay man who goes around deliberately killing vampires with Sino-AIDS alone seems to push the story into "I Heart Homophobia" territory.

It's perfectly possible for a show like this to be better than its source material--you need to expand it to fill out a whole season, for one thing, and I was glad to hear that Lafayette, the black gay cook (who wears eyeshadow to his day job as a short-order cook in a bar), who got to do nothing in the book, was going to be more developed. (Also, you could cast a good actor as Bill; in the book, he bored the bejeezus out of me.)

But I disliked the books so much I won't be watching.

I realize "the book was better" is a cliche, but damnit, the books are better!

It isn't necessary for True Blood to mimic the books to be good TV, but does the series have to be so boring? Wake up Alan Ball, Southern Vampire Gothic can be funny, raunchy, scary, trashy and interesting too. There is a whole world of modern vampire fiction out there where women who like sex don't automatically have to die or be beaten to a pulp. And another thing, the vampires' fangs are too close together. Go ahead and call me petty, but they look like rabid rabbits instead of bloodsucking ex-humans. Vampire fangs are extended canine teeth, not incisors.

I was SO EXCITED about True Blood, both because I'm a fan of Alan Ball but also after watching everything that HBO was showing to promote the show it looked like something I would love.

Then after the first episode I was less than impressed, and I watched the following week more because I wanted to like it than because I actually liked it. I have not watched last nights episode yet but I will tonight. It's not that it's too slow to get into plot, or that the characters have southern accents or that it's too sexy or not sexy enough.

It's just not that good. That's just my opinion, so don't get angry those of you who love it!

I will continue watching because I do think it will get better and I want to like it. 

I didn't really like the first few episodes of Entourage either so . . . . 

So far, I'm hanging in there with this show. I loved the pilot and liked the second episode as well, although during the third episode I found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit. I actually like the dark tone of the show, I don't at all mind the southern accents/setting, I even like Jason! I'm not bothered by the sex, no matter how 'in my face' it is.

So, what is it that I'm hating about this show? I think the vampire characters are way overacted! It's just too much. They're trying too hard to be all 'vampirey'. Bill is a bore. I have nothing against his looks or accent or anything like that, it's just that his character is so flat and one-dimensional, moreso than any other character on the show I think. I know we're just into the third episode and I will keep watching because I think the show has potential (a lot of shows take a while to get going), but I'm waiting for things to heat up...and to be kept waiting is not a good thing unless the payoff is worth it. So, I'm just hoping that it will eventually be worth it!

Haven't read the books, and though I was planning on picking up the first one in the series sometime in the near future, I think that based on some of the reviews above I might hold off on reading it for now.

- PKiddo

First of all, I love Kiwi Paquin as Sookie.  Ok, she is not tan enough, but she is adorable and owns the role.  This is not really an ensemble show like Buffy, it is all about Sookie.

The show is not particularly scary.  You know that Sookie is going to be ok.  You don't really care about anyone else.

The show is not especially sexy.  Oh, the sex is there, but to be laughed at.  Aren't people complete idiots?  Especially straight people.

So why watch?  Because it is funny as hell at times, in a naughty way.  Gland driven, brainless Jason and Dawn are a hoot.  If anyone should sue this show for defamation, it is white heterosexuals.   

I'm not a huge fan of vampire stories but I have to say I'm really enjoying True Blood.  I love the way Allen Ball tells the story so you can see any minority group being treated the way the vampires are being treated.  The way the show starts with the church sign that says "God Hates Fangs" .... read "God Hates Fags" and just about every dialogue where the characters are bashing vampires ... how vampires have gotten "special rights"...... the dialogue could be gays or Mexicans or any other group that gets piled on by "Christians".  For me, it's kinda' how Big Love showed the viewers gay people wern't the only one's who lived in the closet....polygomist do too. 

Also, I've not read the books and I can't really predict what is going to happen next in the show which is always a plus in today's TV environment.  As for the southern accents if the actors talked like someone did from backwoods Louisiana we would need subtitles to follow the show.   (which I have used on "The Wire") All-in-all it's a great show but I'm not sure if it will get much steam from viewers because of the subject matter.

I am also dissapointed with the show. I expected more from Ball - perhaps that was wrong - whenever you have too high expectations you risk being dissapointed. 

The first episode was ok - the tension and attraction between the main characters were built just in a right way but then I got bored with second episode and even more with the third one...no actual chemistry among all the other characters, no plot (I mean you usually get to know the characters through somekind of conflict and their desire and not with some clueless sitting, lying on the couches and ocassional f...)... all seems so forced and terrribly unconvincing to me. 

I am going to watch one more episode and if it doesn't get better I won't continue wasting my time. There are other better series. 

Personally this show seems like a breath of fresh air.  It's not a typical portrayal of Vampires.  I like the idea of them finally being open in society.

I especially liked that Tara and Sam are "friends with benefits". Too funny.

At some points I wondered where the story was going but I'm willing to continue watching and see where it ends up.

I just bought the first book, can't wait to see what that's like also!

It's 'Interview With a Vampire' not Buffy or Blade.  I like it. I think it's pretty damned good. Though they do need to chill with all the sex, sex, sex.

OPEN YOUR MIND!! You'll like it too.

-Nathiest
the devil is in the details

I feel bad for not having read the series before watching the dvd but I love the show. It's my favorite show now. I don't watch much tv but it's basically the only one i plan to watch from now on. (That and the news lol) I love vampire stories and i like the new angle this show has towards both worlds. I bought the first season dvd and can't stop watching it. I can't wait for season 2. I just wish i had HBO.

I love the retractable fangs! It's hilarious!