True Blood is an
American television drama series created by
Alan Ball, based on the
Sookie Stackhouse book series by
Charlaine Harris. The show is broadcast on the
premium cable network HBO in the United States. It is produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment.
It premiered on
September 7,
2008. The show has been renewed for a second 12-episode
season.
details the co-existence of
vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small
Louisiana town. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (
Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a bar, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (
Stephen Moyer).
Production
Development
Series creator
Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel
HBO on
Six Feet Under, which ran for five seasons. In
October 2005, after
Six Feet Unders finale, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood
became the first project under the deal, after Ball read the first book in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse
series, Dead Until Dark
.
Ball was early for a dentist appointment one day when he was browsing through
Barnes and Noble and came across the book. Enjoying it, he continued reading the series and halfway through the third entry,
Club Dead, became interested in "bringing Harris' vision to television."
Ball then contacted Harris about adapting the material and both thought that television was the ideal medium for the series. Ball has said, "The scope of Charlaine's books really lent itself to a series more than just a movie …
I felt that condensing it into two hours would do it a disservice." Additionally, Harris had previously been approached by others about adapting the books as a film, but declined due to creative differences. She agreed to go work with Ball, however, because she "became convinced that he understood the agenda of the books … and that he would do
[1] justice."
The project's hour-long
pilot was ordered concurrently with the finalization of the aforementioned development deal and was written, directed and produced by Ball.
Cast members Paquin, Kwanten and Trammell were announced in
February 2007 and Moyer later on in April.
The pilot was shot in the early summer of 2007 and was officially ordered to series in
August, at which point Ball had already written several more episodes.
Production on the series began later that fall,
with
Brook Kerr, who portrayed Tara Thornton in the original pilot, being replaced by
Rutina Wesley. Two more episodes of the series had been filmed before the
2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike shut production of the 12-episode first season down until 2008.
Music
Gary Calamar, the music supervisor for the series, said he's working on a soundtrack for the show that is "swampy, bluesy and spooky" and that he plans to feature local Louisiana musicians.
[Five TV Shows To Enrich The Ears In '08 by Chuck Crisafulli, Billboard.com, January 02, 2008.]
Composer Nathan Barr writes the original score for the series which features cello, guitar, prepared piano and glass harmonica among other instruments, all of which he performs himself.
The main theme song is "Bad Things" by
country music artist
Jace Everett, from his 2005 self-titled debut.
.
Viral marketing campaign
The premiere of
True Blood has been prefaced with a
viral marketing/
ARG campaign, based at
BloodCopy.com. This has included setting up multiple websites,
encoding web address into unmarked envelopes mailed to high profile blog writers and others, and even performances by a "vampire" who is attempting to reach out to others of their kind, to discuss the recent creation of "TruBlood", a material apparently pivotal to the initial plot.
A MySpace account with the username "Blood"
has, as of June 19, uploaded two videos;
one entitled "Vampire Taste Test - Tru Blood vs Human",
and one called "BloodCopy Exclusive INTERVIEW WITH SAMSON THE VAMPIRE".
A
prequel comic was handed out to attendees of the 2008
Comic-Con. The comic centers around an old vampire named Lamar, who tells the reader about how TruBlood surfaced and was discussed between many vampires before going public. At one point, Lamar wonders if TruBlood is making the world safe for vampires or from them.
Several commercials featured on HBO and Facebook.com
aired prior to the series premiere, placing vampires in ads similar to those of beer and wine.
Thousands of DVDs of the first episode were handed out to attendees of Midnight Madness, a special screenings event of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
Blockbuster Video provided free rental of the first episode of True Blood several days before it was broadcast on HBO. The video had a faint promotional watermark throughout the episode.
Plot summary
Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. And while humans have supposedly been removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders and government officials around the world have chosen their sides, but in the small
Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.
Local waitress Sookie Stackhouse (
Anna Paquin), however, knows how it feels to be an outcast. "Cursed" with the ability to listen in on people's thoughts, she's also open-minded about the integration of vampires — particularly when it comes to Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old living up the road. But as Sookie is drawn into a series of mysteries surrounding Bill's arrival in Bon Temps, that tolerance will be put to the test.
[www.hbo.com]
Plot of first season revolves around the murders of young women in the town of Bon Temps. The likeliest suspect is Jason, the brother of Sookie, who has had sexual relations with several of the victims. At first Sookie herself wonders if her brother is guilty, but then thinks he is not, and at the urging of her grandmother, she begins to use her gift to try to solve the mystery. As Sookie attempts this, her grandmother is also murdered. Her boss, Sam acts suspiciously. Her brother has developed an addiction to V-juice(vampire blood) and Bill, her vampire love interest is also a possible suspect. As Sookie investigates the murder, she wavers between loving Bill the vampire, and her boss Sam. Then she finds out that Sam is a shapeshifter and can turn into a dog.
The conclusion is that Rene, a man who works with Jason, and frequents the bar at which Sookie waits tables, turns out to be the murderer. He has been killing women he suspects of sleeping with vampires, including his very own sister.
Sookie stumbles on to this information while being driven home by the murderer, and gives herself away. There is a chase during which Sam the shapeshifter attacks Rene in dog form, and Bill the vampire goes out into the daytime to try and save her even though he nearly burns to death. Both of these heroic efforts fail, and Sookie herself kills Rene with a shovel. She is very impressed by Bill's sacrifice and decides to date him.
The series ends with the arrival of a immature vampire named Jessica, whom Bill sired, coming to live with him against his wishes, and the discovery of a dead body. The body is found in the car of a local detective, and thus far only identified as an African-American with brightly painted toe nails. This body is likely, though not necessarily, that of short order cook, Lafayette.
In a totally separate, but concurring, storyline, Tara, Sookie's only friend, has a sexual encounter with Sam which leads to stronger feelings. Tara suffers from possible demon contamination and family trauma.
There is a brief encounter with the vampire hierarchy, including the sheriff of area five(which includes Bon Temps), Eric, and his second in command, Pam. In the last two episodes, a wealthy social worker, who travels with a pig, enters the story.
Cast and characters
Main characters
- Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress in a small-town restaurant.
- Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a vampire with whom Sookie falls in love.
- Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), the owner of the bar and restaurant called Merlotte's, where Sookie works. In the later episodes of the first season, it is revealed that he is a shapeshifter, often watching over Sookie in the form of a dog.
- Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), Sookie's brother, road crew supervisor for Bon Temps.
- Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), Sookie's best friend, bartender at Merlotte's (played by Brook Kerr in the unaired pilot).
- Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård), Sheriff of one of the five vampire districts, he is very powerful in the vampire community.
Supporting characters
- Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis), Sookie & Jason's co-worker and Tara's cousin. He deals in drugs and prostitution for extra income.
- Detective Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer), the detective investigating Jason Stackhouse.
- Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preston), a waitress working with Sookie.
- Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), a friend of Jason and Rene.
- Sheriff Bud Dearborne (William Sanderson), the town sheriff.
- Pam (Kristin Bauer), assistant to Eric and bouncer in his bar; "made" (turned into a vampire) by Eric.
- Maryann (Michelle Forbes), a wealthy "social worker."
- Lettie Mae Thornton (Adina Porter), Tara's mother.
- Terry Bellefleur (Todd Lowe), cousin of Detective Andy Bellefleur, Iraq war veteran, and bartender at Merlotte's.
- Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), a young girl "made" by Bill as a part of his punishment for murdering a fellow vampire.
Deceased characters
- Rene Lenier/Drew Marshall (Michael Raymond-James), Arlene's "Cajun" boyfriend who works on the road crew with Jason Stackhouse.
- Longshadow (Raoul Truillo), first bartender of Fangtasia
- Dawn Green (Lynn Collins), Sookie's co-worker and friend, Jason's girlfriend.
- Amy Burley (Lizzy Caplan), Jason Stackhouse's bohemian, drug addicted love interest.
- Adele Hale Stackhouse (Lois Smith), Sookie and Jason's grandmother, nicknamed "Gran".
- Eddie Gautier (Stephen Root), a vampire supplying V for Lafayette.
- Maudette Pickens (Danielle Sapia), a local woman of loose morals. She had videotaped an encounter with a bald and tattooed vampire.
Reception
The overall critical reception of
True Blood has been generally favorable, but initial impressions were mixed, ranging from overwhelmingly positive to very negative. Many critics have praised the show for its originality, storytelling and aesthetics; others have criticized it for being "muddled" and resorting to stereotypes in its characterizations.
True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as "Big Love" which premiered at 4.56 million, and "John from Cincinnati" which debuted at 3.4 million, according to "Show Tracker" of the LA Times. Considering the massive advertisement campaign HBO undertook to advertise the show, it has not thus far paid off in ratings. The season ending had an improved viewership of 2.4 million. It has been renewed for a second season, so it will have another chance to gain a wider following.
Nominations
True Blood has been nominated for an award for best new television series by the
Writers Guild of America.
["2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced" Retrieved on 2008-12-11.] Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on February 7, 2009, in Los Angeles.
True Blood has also been nominated for two
Golden Globe Awards by the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association: Best Television Series in the Drama category, and Best Performance By An Actress In a Television Series (Anna Paquin).
["HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION 2008 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS NOMINATIONS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008" Retrieved on 2008-12-11.] Winners will be announced at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 11, 2009, in Beverly Hills.
Awards
On December 14, 2008,
Anna Paquin and
Nelsan Ellis both won
Satellite Awards from the
International Press Academy for their roles in
True Blood: Paquin for Best Actress in a Series, Drama, and Ellis for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.
["2008 13th Annual SATELLITE™ Awards Nominees". Retrieved on 2008-12-15.]
DVD Release
According to HBO's official
| online shop, the DVD release of Season One is set for May 12th, 2009.
See also
