Thursday, July 2, 2009

I'm a True Blood fan.

If network T.V. wants to know why it's losing audience, they need look no further than True Blood, which has been even better this year than last year so far.

It's got sex and violence and all around ickiness. But also very sophisticated story telling. It is in no way formulaic. There are twists and turns and surprises every week.

It doesn't make the concept of vampirism romantic. It's very viscerally done. Blood and juices all over the place. No simping teenagers here. There are some very morally complex issues being played out.

The characters are portrayed going down some very doubtful paths. But the writers keep giving them little moments of insight where they realize they're going wrong, and almost -- almost but not quite -- pull back. Very skillful writing.

The new young vampire girl is a great character. The actress is terrific. The little look she gives when she realizes that her "master" isn't home and the way she sashays into the tavern and the way she jumps all over her new, equally innocent love interest (a fellow who has been in the background since the beginning of last year avoiding all temptation until he takes one look at her....) was a hoot.

True Blood has become my 'event' show; the show I never miss.

2 comments:

dkgoodman said...

Any single episode of True Blood is five times better than the Twilight movie, but I think you need to learn the characters before an episode affects you like that.

Duncan McGeary said...

That seems to be common denominator for great shows like Buffy, Battlestar Galactica and True Blood.

You have to invest a little.

But they're also good enough from the beginning that it isn't hard to do.