I've been going on about HBO's True Blood for nearly two years now. (Yes, seriously, it's been that long since I first read the pilot script.)You read the advance review of the original pilot that I wrote in May... as well as my advance review of the revised pilot and second episode of True Blood written a little while later.
But, thanks to the magic of pay cable, you've now seen the premiere episode of True Blood for yourself, if you (A) subscribe to HBO and (B) tuned in last night for the first episode of the Southern Gothic vampire dramedy, based on the novels of Charlaine Harris, and written and executive produced by Alan Ball, creator of HBO's Six Feet Under.
You've listened (or read, anyway) to what I had to say about the series, so I'm curious to turn the stand over to you: What did you think of True Blood? What worked for you and what didn't? Do you agree with Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, who said that Ball "has never seen a comic-dramatic premise he can't flatten with leaden metaphors"? (Ouch.) And, most importantly, will you tune in for a second episode?
If there's one thing you can say about True Blood, it's that everybody has strong opinions about this series. So talk back here.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Gossip Girl (CW); High School Musical: Get in the Picture (ABC); Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
9 pm: Two and a Half Men/New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS); America's Toughest Jobs (NBC); One Tree Hill (CW); CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock (ABC; 9-11 pm); Prison Break (FOX)
10 pm: CSI: Miami (CBS); Dateline (NBC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: Gossip Girl.
If you haven't read my review of the first three episodes of Gossip Girl's sophomore season, shame on you. Season Two continues tonight with "Never Been Marcused," in which Blair is ecstatic to be dating a royal but Chuck isn't quite as pleased with this latest development in Blair's love life; Serena and Dan try to keep their newly rekindled romance a secret; Nate discovers that a secret affair has its downside.
10 pm: Weeds on Showtime.
On tonight's episode ("Till We Meet Again"), Nancy goes to the DEA when she has had enough with the tunnel; Celia attempts to make rehab work and tries to make amends with her family.
Comments
He stayed very true to the books and brought that world to life (Sookies house, Merlottes etc) pretty much how I pictured it. I thought the Sookie and Bill characters were quite well done and well acted.
It's supposed to be a comedy but the only things that made me laugh out loud were the scenes with Tara going off and when Sweetie, the cook, was trying to pick up the heavy customer "I like a big man" haha!
It wasn't horrible, it just didn't meet the high expectations one has for an Alan Ball/HBO series. I don't know, it was only the first episode, maybe it will get better once he's gotten thru the arduous task of introducing everything.
As I said I loved the books so much I will be watching no matter what!!
I did like the added scene between Sookie and her brother though.
Truthfully her brother's storyline is the one that will have me watching next week, I want to see how he gets out of killing someone on video.
So I'll tune in again and see if it gets better (as I believe you said it did)
When the premiere was over, my wife and I both said, "I'm not sure I care about these folks, enough to keep watching anyway." And I think that's the basic problem for me. The causes are numerous, as your review stated -- uneven tone, shrill and obnoxious personalities, etc. So far I don't really give a hoot about any of the characters. And if I don't, I'm not sure I'll keep watching.
Maybe the problem is that I haven't read any of the books. Maybe this is one of those shows/movies where one needs to already be a fan of the canon so that the overtly annoying stuff gets filtered by the world you had already created in your head. I don't know.
I was hugely disappointed. I loved Six Feet Under and I have enormous respect for Alan Ball. What struck me in the pilot was the odd dialogue, and Ball's dialogue has always been so spot-on realistic. I didn't feel that any of the characters were very real -- they seemed like caricatures -- and their conversations were on the whole even less so. Yeah, yeah, this is an otherworldly setup, but if it's at its core Louisiana in current time, then some of the people have to be having realistic conversations. I'm sitting here wracking my brain trying to think of one part of the premiere where I felt (any) people were conversing realistically.... and I can't come up with one.
And, in my defense ;-), the premise for the show was tailor made for my tastes. I'm not squeamish about watching graphic (het) sex, either, but, yes, in this case it was just oddly tossed in there, and it felt like it was done mostly for the squick factor. Which makes no sense to me - why squick your audience?
Kind of a big mess all of the way around - that's my reaction.
The moments wherever it mentioned how vampires in the world are viewed today I liked. For instance, in the beginning, when "Billy Bob" trucker guy turns out to be the vampire instead of the decked out guy working the counter. The fact that there IS True Blood so that places advertise if they have it or not. I like all that!
And I like psychic stuff, so I liked the way they overwhelmed Sookie with the thoughts. You could tell why it would be a burden instead of "cool" to have these abilities.
But there were obvious problems, too. Not liking Tara and LaFayette, some script and pacing things... I had problems. But I didn't scathingly hate it.
I'd like to see how this develops. And should probably stop rambling.
I like a sexy scene, and I'll turn the air blue on occasion myself, but this was one of those cases where you wonder if they are just doing this to distract you from all the other stuff that isn't working.
However, I did like the scenes with Bill and Sookie, liked the Gran, liked Sam, though he's not the Sam from the books. Sam in the books is more self-contained and not so puppy-eyed. Too much on Jason. We could have gotten the plot points without as much as they felt they needed to show.
I'll give it another few weeks, I guess and see if it gets better. I *want* to like it, but I really felt sort of completely grossed out by this epi and less than compelled -- and the opening images? What the heck? Loved the song, but will stay TiVo through those opening credits next time...