I'm more a fan of the books than the show, but I have to admit the casting is excellent. When I first saw promo pictures, I knew they nailed Eric in particular, and Bill and Sam are pretty good too. Anna Paquin as Sookie isn't who I pictured, but given her work in the X-Men movies I knew she'd be a good choice. In the books, Tara is not depicted as African-American, but she's also not central to the series. It works to change characters sometimes to bring a different spin to the TV version. Although, Tara is pretty annoying.
Sookie Stackhouse (don'tcha love that name?) is a blue collar working gal serving drinks at bar in fictional Bon Temps, Lousiana. She can read people's thoughts, an ability she views as a flaw, which hinders her from living a normal life. One night at the bar she's drawn to a man's peaceful presence, and she finds she doesn't need to block his thoughts -- she can't read them at all. Turns out, Bill Campbell is a vampire, and all his thoughts are blocked to her. Vampires just staged a coming out throughout the nation in attempts to mainstream into society. Soon, Sookie's relationship with Bill integrates her further into the vampire world, including their intricate political ruling system. The ruling vampires want to use Sookie's ability to their own advantage, but good 'ole Vampire Bill tries to protect her.
The name True Blood refers to the synthetic blood drink manufactured for vampires. The show's first season makes a lot of allusions to vampire hostility in comparison to racial and sexual discrimination in our world. A sign in the intro reads "God Hates Fangs," so you can see right away, not everyone is glad vampires are alive/undead and here to stay.
Why You Should Watch: While the show takes a lot of liberties from the books, it's fun to see familiar characters spring to life. Because it's HBO, expect a lot (A LOT) of bare skin, risque plots, and pretty graphic violence. Season 2 veers away from the books quite a bit and I kind of lost interest. If you aren't squeamish this series is a fun ride.
Factoid: Author Charlaine Harris said as she brainstormed writing the series, she contemplated giving Sookie a fake leg! Instead, her "disability" ended up as mind reading.
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I've never seen the show, but I know that Arlene Fowler is plaid by Carrie Preston, who is Michael EMerson's wife who played Ben Linus on Lost. So there's my random and complicated connection to the show :)
ReplyDeleteSarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
I can never decide if I love this show or hate this show but I keep watching it so maybe it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeletePlus, Eric's always nice to look at.
I've only read the first Sookie Stackhouse novel.
Why I watch: ERIC! LOL.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmmmmmm... Alexander Skarsgard.
ReplyDelete@Sarah - I did not know about Arlene and Ben! (as if the two characters themselves were together -haha).
ReplyDelete@M.J. I also have a love-hate with True Blood. It's a great cast though, just not so fond of where the story veers sometimes.
I agree with the rest of you - Eric is pretty awesome.
Yet another cool series I haven't read or watched...you are giving me so many ideas!
ReplyDeleteLove the books AND the television show, which as you point out, are vastly DIFFERENT. You really never know, even having read the books, what might happen. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI thought season 2 wasn't so hot either and I thought the end was kid of dumb honestly, but season 3 brought it back around! You should give it another try!