Now, I should first mention that I have never, nor do I now, care for Anna Paquin. She irritates me. It's for this reason that I kept my distance from True Blood for as long as I did. After being told about how amazing it is by many, many trusted sources, I gave it a whirl.
My first thought was that this show is extremely campy. The vampires are ridiculous stereotypes of themselves, and I found myself laughing the same way I laughed in the theater (loudly and inappropriately) when I saw Twilight. Can't vampires have a sense of humor? I mean, they've been around for thousands of years in some cases - can you imagine how much that would allow your sense of humor to develop? How you'd be able to find the humor in everything? Jeez vampires, lighten up.
The show format is, at least in season one, fairly boring. There aren't enough setting changes, and it makes for some uncomfortable, anxious viewing. The most interesting thing about this show is the town where it takes place - Bon Temps, Louisiana - a little town in the Deep South where everybody's in everybody's business. Instead of seeing the town, we see the inside of the bar where our main character, Sookie Stackhouse and her friends work and play. It's too much time spent in the bar.
The real gem within this show are the supporting characters, who are far more colorful than our main character (Anna Paquin's Sookie Stackhouse), or her blood-drinking love interest (and now real life husband) Stephen Moyer's Vampire Bill Compton. The characters that stand out are Best Friend Tara (the beautiful Rutina Wesley), her gay drug dealing cousin Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), and even Iraq war veteran Terry, played by Todd Lowe of Gilmore Girls fame. Probably my least favorite character on Gilmore Girls, he shines here as a lovable nut case that I can't help but root for.
My favorite by far, however, is the character of Sam Merlotte (played by the adorably scruffy Sam Trammell) - local bar owner and shape-shifter. He is the most complex character of the series, and the number one reason I've stuck with this show and will continue to do so.
Overall, the show is addicting, but it isn't because of the vampires. Give us more supporting character time, more townies, more Deep South freak show.
There's more where that came from.
-Meljo
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