As a huge fan of Six Feet Under, there was no way I was going to miss creator Alan Ball’s return to TV (and specifically, HBO) with last night’s premiere of True Blood. (Read Ken Tucker’s official EW review of the show here; for the record, he gives it a C.) And that "God Hates Fangs" billboard in the opening credits gave me hope that the show might be able to mix a little of that patented SFU-style humor into the vampires-among-us plotline (taken from Charlaine Harris’s series of novels). Alas, however, while the pilot episode did a decent job of holding my attention — and while I’ll definitely tune in again next week to see if the show improves — True Blood succeeded only intermittently in providing biting laughs while still going for the dramatic jugular.
(I now take a brief pause to apologize for my overzealous vampire jokes. I totally suck.)
On the plus side, Anna Paquin (pictured, left), looking like a Vargas Waitress in her tight white t-shirt, clingy black short-shorts, and magnificent ponytail, succeeded in making Sookie Stackhouse a thing of wide-eyed sass. I chuckled heartily when she batted down her Grandmother’s request to ask her new vampire acquaintance to give a presentation about his Civil War experiences by explaining: "I think he might have a hard time showing up to the public library at noon on a Thursday." I also liked her bitchin’ use of a tire chain to take down that unsuspecting goon who attacked her would-be paramour.
But other parts of the hour played more like a broad CBS sitcom,especially when Sookie got into a shouting match with lovestruckemployer Sam and best pal Tara (a hammy Rutina Wesley), whilesimultaneously reading their minds. Part of the problem is theabundance of stock characters, a jarring and disappointing change fromSFU‘s rich band of eccentrics. There’s the slacker best friend whodelights in refusing to take her job seriously (how Reaper!). There’sthe kindly grandma who serves buttery meals with a side of batty.There’s the stoic, pale blood-sucker (Stephen Moyer, pictured, right) who, despite having apparentlylived through the disco era, the Reagan years, and the fabulous ’90s,still utters groaners like, "May I call on you sometime?" Come on!
Still, that brief footage of a vampire-sex video was genuinely chilling. And while I saw the episode’s climactic (and vicious) assault coming from the minute Sookie shooed away Sam and insisted she’d wait in the darkened parking lot by herself, the end result was still deeply upsetting.
What did you all think of the True Blood premiere? Will you be back for a second helping? And should Ryan Kwanten (as Sookie’s buff brother Jason) get some kind of special award for most gratuitous exposing of the male torso* in a single hour of television?
*Non-Dancing With the Stars Division
I was definitely underwhelmed by this first episode. However, I am waiting with baited breath for the introduction of Alexander Skarsgard’s (http://www.stellanonline.com/alexander5x.jpg vampire character. I am pretty sure that it will be worth the wait.
I never watched other vampire shows/ movies so I guess I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into this other than my expectation for great writing since I loved SFU. So I was a little disappointed but I too will stick around to see if things improve. I though Anna Paquin was great and didn’t over do it with the southern accent but I don’t think they made it very clear what her appeal was to the vampire guy, other than that she didn’t have to listen to his thoughts.
I’ve read a few of the Sookie Stackhouse books, and I was a huge SFU fan, so I had great hopes for the show initially, but the wave of mediocre to bad reviews kind of hurt my anticipation. I can’t say I was disappointed in this, as I had heard so many negative things that I was expecting the worst, and it’s not the worst. It’s not the best either, and dragged at points. I do have high hopes for future episodes, and hopefully some of the humor from the books will come across in the show.
I am “underwhelmed” by most television shows these days(with the exception of Bones and 30 Rock), but True Blood picqued my interest enough to make me hold out for another week. It was surely more satisfying that watching the embarassingly boring VMAs, and for that I am thankful.
I think there is a typo in the headline.
I think that I’m going to give this show a few weeks…. as of right now, I’m a bit neutral. I think that Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are wonderful, which make me interested in finding out what happens to them. The rest of the characters definitely seem a bit flat. I’d definitely like the show to succeed as I’ve always loved the better vampire story lines.
Side note: given the overabundance of vampires right now, maybe a more interesting book to TV adaption, would have been Anne Rice’s the Witching Hour series. Oh well
I don’t get why this got such bad reviews. I guess it’s just time for everyone to bash Alan Ball. This show was about ten times more interesting then the shallow junk EW usually slobbers over.
Loved Stephen Moyer in it. And Anna P. is phenom. Hope this does it for both of them. (The woman who plays her friend=pretty fab too). I just wish it wasn’t about blood. I hate blood!
Every pilot has its issues, even great ones like Pushing Daisies. So for a pilot I thought it was decent. I agree that the Bill/Sookie scenes were the best. I think that once we have some time to flesh out the rest of the characters it’ll be even better.
I never watched Six Feet Under so, I didn’t have any expectations vis a vis Alan Ball. I’m just a vampire geek. So I’ll be watching next week to see where AB plans on taking these vamps and their would be dinner!
I’m intrigued enough to keep watching. I really hope HBO gives Ball enough episodes to iron out the kinks. Once he gets the tone balanced properly, I think it might take off. Love the soundtrack, too.
I liked it. I might watch the whole season. I also really liked the returned of Entourage.
I LOVED it! My husband did as well. I have already set up my DVR to record the series!
I too was prepared to be disappointed after seeing the middling reviews, and I was anything but. I loved it so much I watched it twice. The whole new dynamic between humans/vampires should make for some interesting stuff (haven’t read the books). The atmosphere/setting seemed ever so slightly parallel-universe, which worked for me. It was good to see Ball is not shying away from the unnerving. Also, since apparently Sookie is something more than human, I’m guessing there’s more to Grandma than meets the eye. And of course, the fiery intensity of Sookie/Bill is delicious like I haven’t seen on TV, EVER. Some of the totally over the top characters need to tone it down some, and the greater outside world/world of Bon Temps need to gel better, but overall, I’m hooked solid through the jaw.
Can we please get the actors on this show a dialect coach?
I thoroughly enjoyed myself when watching this show. I thought it was dark yet funny and showed great potential as a solid ensemble show. I absolutely adore Anna Paquin as well. Cant wait until the next episode!