I finally got around to watching True Blood this past weekend. Here is the wikipedia brief for those that have never heard of it: True Blood details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small Louisiana town. Bon Temps literally translates as "good times" in French. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a bar, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). It is based off of a series of books by Charlaine Harris, none of which I have read, so I have no idea how accurate/similar the series is to the novels.
I watched the entire first season (12 episodes) this weekend. I had the second season ready to go (I tend to devour media quickly), but I doubt I will be watching the second season anytime soon. I didn't hate the show. It wasn't bad really, it just wasn't good either. Actually, that is not quite right. It was both, and that was what made it annoying. It would couple something good with something not so good. "Like, hey, here is your favorite foods fixed just the way you want them. Eat all you want and when you are done we have your favorite desserts too! But we are out of chairs so you have to sit on this smelly, fat guys lap...while he giggles."
What do I mean? Let's take the Stackhouses: We have Sookie Stackhouse, she is a telepath played by Anna Paquin. Aside from the name, totally awesome. Oh but she plays an overly emotional idiot, and those cool mind reading powers are just a plot device to make her more moody. Not so awesome. Ok, so her brother Jason, attractive, employed, has a close group of friends, and has an incredibly active sex life. But he is an idiot. He is actually such a huge idiot that he makes Sookie look smart by comparison, which is impressive. Also, almost all the girls he sleeps with die within hours, and they are all killed by the guy he considers his closest friend. Finally, lets look at the grandmother. She was a strong woman, high in moral fiber, and very supportive the stupid children she raised. She is slaughtered by the killer, ending one of the better characters in the series.
For me, this constant good/bad sandwich made it hard to care for the main characters. Not caring for the characters, I didn't really care what happened to them either. Still, I could see why people love this show. The acting, for the most part, is fairly descent, lots of variety in casting, Stephen Root is in there for a couple of episodes.
