Alan Ball goes from morticians to vampires in his next project for HBO. The small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana has some new citizenry. They’ve stepped of the darkness with the invention of a synthetic blood. The vampires are now amongst us and not everyone is happy about it.
In the small town of Bon Temps, vampires have come out of the coffin. A Japanese scientist invented a synthetic blood and the creatures of the night are now just another minority group. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a waitress in the town and also knows how it is to be “different.”
She’s has the unreliable ability read peoples minds. When Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) comes to town it shouldn’t raise hackles, but he’s a 173 year old vampire and Sookie finds herself attracted to him. Her brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten), her boss Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), her best friend Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), and cook Layfayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis) don’t look kindly on Sookie’s attraction to Bill.
Only her grandmother Adele (Lois Smith) seems to approve of Bill. However, some murders start to occur in town and this flummoxes the local law enforcement, Detective Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) and Sheriff Bud Dearborne (William Sanderson). Soon law enforcement suspicion falls on the vampires, but then it looks like Jason might be involved. When one of the victims is someone close to Sookie she also begins to investigate who the mysterious killer is.
Show creator Alan Ball has dealt with the dead in the past, just not of the supernatural variety. He created the show Six Feet Under for HBO and took to adapting Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mystery novels for HBO as well. I’ve heard good things about the books but am too busy writing reviews to actually read anymore so I’ve not had a chance to pick one up.
This interesting show might actually make me do that though, like another network’s Dexter might make me pick those books up too. The vampires of True Blood are substitutes for just about any minority group in the show and can be adapted to cover those issues without actually spelling them out. The show is also set in the South so there’s not a lot of tolerance for those bloodsucking creatures of the night.
Anna Paquin is superb in the role and won a Golden Globe for her performance. The show was nominated for best television series in the drama category, but didn’t win the award. True Blood feels a little more real than the sparkly, teen angst vampires of Twilight.
The show does feature generous amounts of blood and nudity so it’s obviously made for adults as well. True Blood is just as addicting as synthetic blood and you’ll be thirsting for season two.
True Blood is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.78:1). Special features include six audio commentaries with the cast and crew, including executive producer and creator Alan Ball, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. Each episode also offers an advanced viewing mode on all the episodes.
This mode pops up trivia, maps, fake Tru Blood commercials, and an assortment of fun. The problem may be that you have to watch them via this mode and they’re not accessible any other way.
True Blood looks fang-tastic [inset rimshot here] in high definition and it’s a show that is fresh and addicting. You’ll want to sing your fangs into it and be salivating for season two. There are some very nice special features, but you might have to watch the entire episode to see them all. Since the show is so good you won’t mind though.
True Blood: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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