True Blood (HBO series)

[ZantiMisfit]

Saw a thread for this in the "Rumors" subforum, but figured there should be a proper one now that episodes have started to air.

Anyone else give this a shot? The premise and previews probably wouldn't have grabbed me. But seeing this is from Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) I gave it a shot figuring there was more to this than it seemed.

Or maybe there wasn't. The idea of vampires incorporated openly into society after the development of a synthetic blood (TruBlood) that eliminates their need to feed on humans ... it's a decent one (I've seen similar ideas before - in movies like "Perfect Creature" and from authors like Kim Newman). There are some not-so-subtle comparisons to human equals rights struggles of race and sexual orientation. But big ideas seem mostly on the backburner (for now). Mostly we seem to getting a Buffy kind of story - but with white trash Southern characters and nudity.

Not a lot seemed to happen in this first episode. I know the characters have to be established and all, but usually a series tries to load something exciting up front to grab people. For an Alan Ball series, I was pretty surprised at how dull the characters were. Well, maybe the exception was Anna Paquin's Sookie who was cute. But then we also got to know the annoying/obnoxious best girlfriend, white trash brother and boss (who seemed to blurr together for me) ... and Bill the vampire. I guess he's supposed to be the smoldering love interest for Sookie, but he seemed as dull as his name. Angel he's not.

I'll give it a little more time before bailing. I like the setting (despite some poor attempts at Southern accents) and lead character, there are possibilities with the concept, and there were a few nicely done moments. But I'll be needing the pacing to pick up.

[LivingDeadGurl37]

il probly check it out. i like most hbo series, like big love, sopranos, 6 feet under. they have had some good sucess with series. so yeah ill be giving this new series a whirl

[Amazonagent]

I watched it last night and it was just ok. I wasn't blown away by it. There were some interesting things about it but I agree with what was said about the characters, they are just sorta there. They are kinda playing up on this things about how people are judging the vampires based on stereotypes and how it might not be fair meanwhile everyone on the show is the typical southern stereotype. I don't know if it's done on purpose but it's not clever. It's actually annoying. All the usual's are there, the really angry black chick, the stupid hick brother, the innocent chaste good girl who is attracted to the dangerous bad boy vamp, the slutty waitress...the list goes on and on.

This vampire, Bill, is a bit of a dullard (and he's not that good looking) and it's surprising he got taken in by that couple. You'd think he'd be more wary of humans especially if he's new to the town and doesn't know anyone. That didn't make any sense. And the boss that is in love with Suki is a wimp because while he was so concerned with Suki going out to help Bill all he did was stand in front of the bar. He didn't call out for her or go searching for her...wow he was really concerned for her!

I'll watch the next episode to see if it gets better but so far I wasn't that impressed. I think all the viral ad stuff that was shown prior to this premier was more interesting than this episode. I see some potential in the show but I'm surprised at how 'meh' I felt at the end of the show considering how immediately hooked I was with Ball's previous show Six Feet Under.

[zach]

I'd like to see this. I don't have cable at the moment, so it looks like I'll be resorting to the interwebs. I've heard more mixed to negative things than anything else, so I'm kind of cautious. Like other people have said though, I wanna see it just because of Alan Ball. Six Feet Under is one of my favorite shows ever and I would've killed for another season.

[Caustic Coffee]

Originally Posted by ZantiMisfit

Saw a thread for this in the "Rumors" subforum, but figured there should be a proper one now that episodes have started to air.

Anyone else give this a shot? The premise and previews probably wouldn't have grabbed me. But seeing this is from Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) I gave it a shot figuring there was more to this than it seemed.

Or maybe there wasn't. The idea of vampires incorporated openly into society after the development of a synthetic blood (TruBlood) that eliminates their need to feed on humans ... it's a decent one (I've seen similar ideas before - in movies like "Perfect Creature" and from authors like Kim Newman). There are some not-so-subtle comparisons to human equals rights struggles of race and sexual orientation. But big ideas seem mostly on the backburner (for now). Mostly we seem to getting a Buffy kind of story - but with white trash Southern characters and nudity.

Not a lot seemed to happen in this first episode. I know the characters have to be established at all, but usually a series tries to load something exciting up front to grab people. For an Alan Ball series, I was pretty surprised at how dull the characters were. Well, maybe the exception was Anna Paquin's Sookie who was cute. But then we also got to know the annoying/obnoxious best girlfriend, white trash brother and boss (who seemed to blurr together for me) ... and Bill the vampire. I guess he's supposed to be the smoldering love interest for Sookie, but he seemed as dull as his name. Angel he's not.

I'll give it a little more time before bailing. I like the setting (despite some poor attempts at Southern accents) and lead character, there are possibilities with the concept, and there were a few nicely done moments. But I'll be needing the pacing to pick up.

I have this on my DVR, since Football obviously trumps this, but this review doesn't sound too encouraging.

[BloodyAnneBoleyn]

SAw it last night and Not too terribly impressed

[TheLadyLigeia]

I pretty much agree with you Zanti. I do really want to like it because I love Alan Ball, but there wasn't really... much to like. Hopefully it'll get better in upcoming episodes.

My sister read the first book he series is based off of though and didn't like it so I never really had high hopes for it.

[WENN]

this show was just ok.it kept my attention for an entire hour so i guess thats good.i want to see it again but the angry black chick pisses me off.if you leave it up to tv all black women are either angry,fat and sassy or slutty.im a black women and im none of the above.well i do get slutty for my hubby after a bottle of wine on saturday nights but i digress .anyway il be watching next week but its not good enough for me to miss dexter which starts in 3 weeks

[hammer_fangirl]

I liked Six Feet Under, but I am not really interested in this series. Mostly because of the whole sympathetic vampire stereotype. Ever since Anne Rice reared her ugly head a lot of vampires in film and tv are portrayed as supernatural beings who are more human than monster. Don't even get me started on the fucktards who think they are vampires.

[disanti]

I wasn't SOLD on what I saw last night. It was 50/50 really. Some of it was realllllllllly bad and some of it was good. The dialogue get's pretty horrible but the preview of next week's episode seems promising. They didn't do a very good job of hooking me with the actual episode though.