True Blood

[SwordoftheMorning]

[quote name='Ser Scot A Ellison' post='1509729' date='Sep 8 2008, 12.36']Ken,



If they are trying to make an analogy between vampires and homosexuals and their perception in society that's just not going to work. Homosexuals aren't killing people. Vampires, presumably, are. I understand suspension of disbelief, but if you are making a political statement with your story, that's just not going to work if you ignore the fact that the Vampires who are attempting to assimilate were killing people before they had their "True Blood."[/quote]


As I said Scot, the silliness of this show and it's plot point make asking such a question a complete waste of time. It's simply not deep enough to begin to deal with anything that realistic.

Now, what about the "vampire drainers". I wasn't watching that closely, cause the silliness of the thing just didn't warrant it, but humans that can trap a vampire using skinny silver chains and drain all the blood out of them to sell on some really weird black market /controlled substance drug dealing kick ? Bwahahahahaahhaahhaahhahaahahah!

The whole "I'm NOT physic but I can read your mind" trick of the lil girlie hero (which btw, didn't help her hear the two vamp drainers coming and save her from a serious asswhipping) is pretty freaking ridiculous too. I haven't seen anything remotely close to this concept since I read the "Shadowrun" novels. I'm waiting for a ogre or two and some trolls to reveal themselves. Along with the aforementioned werewolves, and of course, we gotta have elves. LMAO

If it wasn't SO freaking silly, the stereotypical Black girl/best friend and the gay Black cook/highway road worker (please ... it just cant be explained, any more than the doo rag & denim skirt combo dude was walking about in public in.) would be offensive. With this show, they are simply ..... stupid.

[Ken Stone]

[quote name='Zadok' post='1509724' date='Sep 8 2008, 12.34']I'm not talking about goth or romance novel stuff, I'm not into that either. But even so there is a ton of stuff in the recent pop culture memory just from interview with the vampire or buffy. I think they've got to contend with that stuff. I mean I'm not sure what you could do with vampires that's "new" but the way this show is going about it it just feels like an inferior rehash of previous efforts.[/quote]

I've never watched Buffy and it's been a long time since I've seen Interview, so I really don't know. My only impression so far is that this show started out infinitely more watchable and accessible then the majority of HBO shows. I have a feeling that is because it lacks the depth of the other shows. It doesn't have "classic" stamped on it but it does seem entertaining so far.

[Ken Stone]

[quote name='SwordoftheMorning' post='1509795' date='Sep 8 2008, 13.05']Now, what about the "vampire drainers". I wasn't watching that closely, cause the silliness of the thing just didn't warrant it, but humans that can trap a vampire using skinny silver chains and drain all the blood out of them to sell on some really weird black market /controlled substance drug dealing kick ? Bwahahahahaahhaahhaahhahaahahah![/quote]

As far as Vampire Mythology the "vampire drainers" isn't a silly concept at all. A vampire uses the blood the drink for their super vampire powers. If humans drink the vampires blood they can get a little bit of the power temporarily. It is also highly addictive.

*ETA - All my Vampire Mythology comes from the game Vampire: The Masquarde, so I really don't know how much of it is accurate. I'm not really fond of the game but I have friends who are so I've played it a few times.

[TerraPrime]

Re: the show

I think it was a reasonable start. I am not wow'd by it, but I'll watch the next 3 to 4 episodes to see where it's going. My biggest criticism is on the best-friend side-kick who, so far, has just been annoyingly stereotypical. The second complaint is that the main vampire guy is too much of a "I'm emo goth brooding" vibe. Angel on Buffy already did that schtick.



Re: Ser Scot

[quote name='Ser Scot A Ellison' post='1509706' date='Sep 8 2008, 12.22']See my previous post, why would anyone simply forgive Vampires their past murders?[/quote]

I suspect that this is one angle that the show will explore later on, given the little political spiel we got through a TV talkshow shown during the episode.

[potsherds]

[quote name='TerraPrime' post='1509839' date='Sep 8 2008, 18.33']The second complaint is that the main vampire guy is too much of a "I'm emo goth brooding" vibe. Angel on Buffy already did that schtick.[/quote]
:ack: Good gods, I hope that that attitude doesn't last.

[Anubiel]

Pots,

The show is based on the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries by Charlaine Harris.

[Commodore]

If it's anything like the pilot leaked online, the descriptions here are accurate. Stupid, cliched, illogical, not up to HBO standards.

[hauberk]

[quote name='Ser Scot A Ellison' post='1509706' date='Sep 8 2008, 12.22']Ken,

See my previous post, why would anyone simply forgive Vampires their past murders?[/quote]

I thought that the Real Time with Bill Maher segment answered that. The vamp rep simply said "prove it." It's all myth legend and bogey-man tales until the first Vampire steps out of the shadows.

[EHK for Darwin]

[quote name='hauberk' post='1509977' date='Sep 8 2008, 14.43']I thought that the Real Time with Bill Maher segment answered that. The vamp rep simply said "prove it." It's all myth legend and bogey-man tales until the first Vampire steps out of the shadows.[/quote]

Except they did drink blood as their only sustenance up until two years ago. They are superhuman and presumably quite capable of killing with minimal effort. And there probably weren't enough willing groupies at that point to feed the lot of them. Prove it? Prove what? Its pretty damned easy to infer that they'd been preying on mankind for years. The real Bill Maher wouldn't have let a bullshit answer like that. There'd be a sarcastic remark followed by a 'Come on!!' at the very least.

[SwordoftheMorning]

[quote name='hauberk' post='1509977' date='Sep 8 2008, 14.43']I thought that the Real Time with Bill Maher segment answered that. The vamp rep simply said "prove it." It's all myth legend and bogey-man tales until the first Vampire steps out of the shadows.[/quote]


And that is going to immediately satisfy 3 plus millienia of culturally bred legend, fear and terror ? I have to agree with EHK, hunting them down wholesale with executions in the town square would be the norm, not the exception, even in the good ole USA.

But, this show isn't trying to seriously answer those questions. or any questions for that matter. Its setting itself up to be violence porn with a dab of actual sex tossed in just to keep things really salacious. lol

BUT, I'mma keep watching. Tits, sex, blood, knifefights..... HBO hasn't had this much silly fun going on since they stuck the Cryptkeeper back in his hole.

LOL

[Blaine]

[quote name='Commodore' post='1509950' date='Sep 8 2008, 14.25']If it's anything like the pilot leaked online, the descriptions here are accurate. Stupid, cliched, illogical, not up to HBO standards.[/quote]
I totally agree. But I DVR'd last night, so I'll give it another shot - mainly to see if and how they fixed it up. What I saw didn't seem all that fixable, mainly because the tone was just off. I don't really like Alan Ball when he's trying to be preachy and funny at the same time. Also, for a guy who's core strength is telling stories about realistic families, the pilot really lacked anything realistic - which is a problem when you're trying to sell this unrealistic concept.

The version I saw was just really, really broad. Storytelling anvils falling on your head repeatedly, etc.

[Brude]

The sooner they get away from the minority allegory the better, I think it fails from the outset. I suppose they are trying to make a statement about the "<insert convenient minory here> are parasites on society" type of bias that is so sadly an eternal struggle in human societies, but it seems a problem here because unlike minorities in real life, well, vampires ARE parasites on humanity. They literally suck our blood and murder us, like so many others have wrongly been accused of through out history. Where are they going with that? Is there a point to this or is it just a cute and overly-obvious gimmick? So far it feels like nothing more than a gimmick, but I'll give it a chance to try and make its point - if there is one.

That being said, I was generally entertained by the show, though only slightly and I do I feel I've seen a lot of this before, only handled much better and even with more depth, better writing and more humor in Buffy. A new comedy vampire show/movie/etc. will need to do something really special to work for me because Buffy covered a LOT of ground in those 7 seasons (some better than others). Add Angel to that, not to mention the countless other vampire shows and characters out there (Cassidey in Preacher also comes to mind), and it's going to have to find something really new to keep me watching, I think.

Edit: eh, looks like some others in the thread already had similar reactions to my own. Great minds...

[Mexal]

I just finished the first episode. It was ok. I was moderately entertained but only after I realized how ridiculous the show is.

That being said, I hope a vampire sucks the blood out of the best friend. She was annoying as fuck. I wanted every scene with her in it to end almost immediately. I think any entertainment I felt towards the show slowly disintegrated the more time she was on the screen.

[hauberk]

[quote name='EHK for Obama' post='1509981' date='Sep 8 2008, 14.48']Except they did drink blood as their only sustenance up until two years ago. They are superhuman and presumably quite capable of killing with minimal effort. And there probably weren't enough willing groupies at that point to feed the lot of them. Prove it? Prove what? Its pretty damned easy to infer that they'd been preying on mankind for years. The real Bill Maher wouldn't have let a bullshit answer like that. There'd be a sarcastic remark followed by a 'Come on!!' at the very least.[/quote]

No disagreement, aside from the fact that my take on the scene was that she was a representative of, gods help me for this, an ADL. However, Scott seemed to be using his legal approach. From that standpoint, I don't think that one can justify stereotyping all vampires anymore than one can justify stereotyping all of any group (the easiest one that comes to mind, Godwin's Law be damned, is post WWII Germans and Nazis). Did some vampires feed exclusively on humans with complete disregard for their prey living or dying? Certainly. Did all? Less Likely. Did this specific one? Really hard to prove.

However, I was the target audience for the free preview weekend and will not be subscibing in order to watch more of this show.

[Dirk Llama]

[quote name='EHK for Obama' post='1509657' date='Sep 8 2008, 12.53']In either case, the show still has the potential to be interesting, though I can't say that any character has earned that label yet. But overall it'd have a much better shot if it didn't try so hard to be relevant. If there's a social message to be had, let it flow from the story you're trying to tell, don't convolute the world and story to push the message you're trying to peddle.[/quote]

This is pretty much exactly how I feel about the show. It's incredibly broad right now, to the point where many people are completely turned off. None of these characters are as immediately engaging/well performed as those on [i]Six Feet Under[/i]. Still, given that I liked that show so much, I'm totally willing to give Ball the chance to tell a story. I expect the first few episodes to be pretty heavy handed with the metaphor, but one would hope that Ball will settle down and just tell a story. That's all I expect from this show.

[Crazydog7]

It was no Rome or Six Feet Under but it didn't suck either.

Do all HBO shows have to have a gay character? Is that some kind of a requirement?

[Dirk Llama]

[quote name='Brudewollen' post='1510167' date='Sep 8 2008, 17.39']The sooner they get away from the minority allegory the better, I think it fails from the outset. I suppose they are trying to make a statement about the "<insert convenient minory here> are parasites on society" type of bias that is so sadly an eternal struggle in human societies, but it seems a problem here because unlike minorities in real life, well, vampires ARE parasites on humanity. They literally suck our blood and murder us, like so many others have wrongly been accused of through out history. Where are they going with that? Is there a point to this or is it just a cute and overly-obvious gimmick? So far it feels like nothing more than a gimmick, but I'll give it a chance to try and make its point - if there is one.[/quote]

It's odd, I was checking out Tim Goodman's recent articles and he/other critics noted over the summer that Ball was insistent that he's not directly going for/pushing the metaphor. Here's the quote:

"[b]Alan Ball, creator of "Six Feet Under," on whether his new vampire series, "True Blood," can be seen as a metaphor for gay people in society because the vampires in the show are trying to fit into society:[/b] "Well, that was certainly in the books. All of that is in the books. I really don't look at the vampires as a metaphor for gays in a very specific way. I mean, for me, part of the joy of this whole series is that it's about vampires, and so we don't have to be that serious about it. However, they totally work as a metaphor for gays, for people of color, in previous times in America, for anybody who is misunderstood and feared and hated for being different. I think, because of the cultural climate that we exist in today, it seems like, oh, well, they are a metaphor for gays because gay marriage and gay rights and that kind of thing. But I think it's a bigger metaphor, and at the same time, it's also not a metaphor at all. It's vampires."

[url="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/09/07/PKRN12JUTA.DTL"]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../PKRN12JUTA.DTL[/url]

To derive enjoyment from this show, one must view it as an escapist story about vampires trying to integrate into human society. That, to me, given what they've established in the pilot, has the potential to be a fun show. If you look at is a huge, creatively ambitious, medium moving show in the way of some of the previous HBO series, it's going to look like shit in comparison. Unfortunately, HBO has no shows like that right now and as such, the burden is on each successive series to be the next one. If the story/characters tighten up, as I would expect them to, I think this show can be a fine addition to the HBO stable of shows.

And, dude, Chris Bauer is on this show. I hope his character becomes more important (never read the books, but Ball said he's going to go off in another direction as the show progresses, so I'm not sure it matters) because he's a remarkable actor. I'd watch just for the chance to see him work. Seriously. I think he's one of the better actors working. It's sad that such small roles are the best he can get outside of [i]The Wire[/i]. Dude should be the lead on a show somewhere. Or, at least an important supporting character. He deserves better than the angry husband who kills his wife on some shitty procedural. Maybe he'll have that chance here, who knows?

[Brandon Stark]

I think if anything hurts the show - with the exception of the best friend character who I remember not being as annoyed with in the pilot - its going to be the difference in tone between it and HBO's past works. Its very hard to break out of the mindset that anything on HBO must be serious f*cking business since every other show they've done has either remained deadly-so, or been labeled an obvious comedy. This one seems to be going for a bit of a quirkier feel and audience, and I"m surprised they didn't shove it over to Showtime instead, where that sort of thing seems to play a little better.

[awesome possum]

I enjoyed this first episode. There were parts that annoyed me (how much of the episode was dedicated to Sookie and Bill staring dreamily/hungrily at each other?) but I think the premise and plots introduced have some potential.

Since it's Alan Ball, I'm going to try not to read too deeply into this or that and try to take the show at face value.

It's interesting the next episode is called, "The First Taste". Wonder if it means Sookie has to drink from Bill to survive the beating the Rattrees (sp?) give her?

[Mexal]

[quote name='Triskele' post='1511344' date='Sep 9 2008, 14.44']Watched this quite stoned the othe night and I rarely smoke anymore so it was a trip. I wasn't too impressed with the first episode but I will certainly give it a few more.

I don't know if my being a bit high was making me hypersensitive but I felt like Paquin struggled with her accent a bit which got on my nerves. Hopefully that was just me and this won't be a problem going forward.

OK, I missed something that must have been explained. The drainers obviously find value in vampire blood but I missed what that value is. Who do they sell it to? What is it for? Can humans benefit from drinking it? Is it to be sold to copmanies like the one that developed Tru Blood? Please clarify.[/quote]

It was because you're high. That makes you hypersensitive and hypercritical. At least it did for me when I used to smoke.

As for the drainers, if a human drinks blood, they feel "healthier." It's like a drug. It gives you some special effects but it keeps you wanting more.