HBO: True Blood

[BadZoe]

I think this show could be better written. There is just something about it that makes me only interested in Tara and Lafayette. I'm also thinking that they are depending solely on the soft core porn to bring in viewers. Other shows such as Weeds, The Soprano's, Dexter and others, have very graphic sex but it is not so predictable that one can say 30 minutes into it, the plot and talking is about to stop, because they need to get to the random screwing.

[EricMontreal22]

Zoe did you watch this last ep? My friend who complained the show was too sex obsessed has completely changed his mind--it felt like a turning point episode and was one of the best hour sof tv I've seen all year--really moving, but also surprising and scary and a great ending (this show has the best cliffhangars of anything going).

I have a feeling that the Uncle was a molester or something--maybe it's just how creepy he looks. Like he did something to Sookie.

[BadZoe]

I have seen all the episodes and wasn't moved by the last episode. I could have been with better character development for Suckie and Bill.

[EricMontreal22]

AH goitta disagree--I dunno what development we needed from Sookie in particular that we haven't seen yet. Considering the book's writing of the couple is basically a Harlequin romance novel I think the show's done a good job of fleshing them out (and the others even more)

[Juliajms]

See, that's the problem. It's basically fluff. I think they could have taken the book's concept and made it something deeper. The stakes just aren't high enough for me. It's a decent enough concept for a series of fluffy murder mystery books, but it's just not quite good enough for HBO. I'll continue to watch, but I just think this show should be bigger somehow. I thought we might be getting somewhere when it looked like vamps had killed that TV preacher or whatever he was in that first episode. I was hoping for some sort of deeper vampire conspiracy that Bill and Sookie would try to stop over several seasons.

[EricMontreal22]

I disagree--I think they have done just that--although I admit it's the side characters who have been made much stronget from the book. The romance of Bill and Sookie is meant to be in stark contrast and I kinda love how over the top romantic it is--her running to him in slow motion in the gothic flowing white dress and havign sex by candlelight contrasted with both the sad sex of Tara and Sam and of course Jason's... I also personally like how it focuses so strongly on such a sense of a small community--fantasy lately ahs gotten so global (Heroes being the major culprit) and I hate the coincidences this needs--people bumping into each other in countries--it's more interesting and fresh for me anyway, to focus purely on the politics and relationships in a small town and what it does there. (The BlodCopy webseires and other viral marketing campaigns of course already focus on the world events of True Blood anyway--the DVD sure will have lotsa hours of extras if they include all that)

[BadZoe]

I liked the last episode quite a bit and feel for once they might be finding a voice. I also wonder if all the sex is to make it really easy to edit the show for Network TV viewing ala Dexter on CBS.

[EricMontreal22]

The books are as sexual as the series--so it's faithful in that respect, but I think there'd be a lot mor ethan just that to edit out for TV. I still suspect the rumours that HBO wanted more sexual shows to compete with the other cable networks could be true (Alan Ball has also said--a few years back when he first announced the show--that he wanted this to be, unlike SFUnder, just a fun genre show unafraid to have elements of camp, violence and sex for their own sake).

HAHA I was kinda mixed on this episode! Funny how we have different reactions. I thought the episode was a bit... disjointed maybe? Not sure--though it had, yet again, a *great* cliffhanger and a lot of great stuff. I'm not sure what to make of Tara's mom's exorcism--I did love how it's left pretty ambiguous. I also liked Sookie's reaction to sex (although would she be THAT happy so soon after her grandma's still unsolved murder?) I'm mixed on the revelation about her uncle--I guess from the funeral episode already that he had molested her, but it almost seems a cliche to have the creepy, old, now confined to a wheelchair, uncle be a molestor. But I like the fact that Bill went after him, something I suspect won't please Sookie as much as maybe he wants it to. Oh and Stephen Moyer has almost NO bum I realized.

[JackPeyton]

i am back to hating sookie and her vampire lover.

like i dispise them. first and formost because they are so boring and the actors lack any kind of chem at all.

however the rest of the show? LOVE it!

[EricMontreal22]

I think that's partof the point--how completely diff they are from the rest of the show. It's a ying/yang but I ddisagree that they don't have chemistry

[JackPeyton]

Its like watching a disney chanel original movie cut into an episode of 6 feet under.

it doesnt flow. it doesnt mesh. its not ying and yang.

[EricMontreal22]

Totally disagree--for me they're what the whole story is hinged on them and people's reaction ot them and their relationship. I think how it plays is brilliant. It's funny though as I know one other person who agrees with you, and several who feel the opposite--they ONLY like their story. But I love that contrast--liek end of a week back's ep when we had the over the top almost mocking romanticism of their love making contrasted with the dirtier comfort sex of Sam and Tara and then the desperate, high, sad [!@#$%^&*] of Jason and whoever...

[BadZoe]

Jack Peyton, I think you have hit the nail on the head with what this show is missing, the Chemistry. I'd also like to add a lack of Passion which makes a show like this, a show that could be like Champagne, very flat!!

[Actor87]

It's funny to me, very funny. I overheard someone talking about this show just now and they said the show is set in North LA, but some of the characters have cajun dialects and even the city has a name from French descent.

In reality, since I'm from North Louisiana, I find humor in the show's lack of accuracy. There is no cajun dialect here; people from out of town usually mistake the normal Northern Louisianan's dialect for someone from Texas (which, for the most part, Texans speak very properly, despite popular belief). Also, the cities in North LA (such as Marion, Farmerville, Monroe, Bastrop, etc.) have no French-connected names.

TPTB should have definitely done more research.

[BadZoe]

I have to say that finally the sex is more in place with the storyline and the characters and not just used for titillation. But ewww at the sex with Dirty Billy. The entire time and afterwards I just can't help but think that leaves a woman vulnerable to all kinds of nasty infections, and just not the usual ones people are at risk of catching.