Paging all fellow junkies of True Blood

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I just discovered the HBO series True Blood. I consider it the best HBO series since the Sopranos, which is praise I do not give lightly. Just as we had a thread about the Sopranos I think True Blood merits a dedicated thread to talk about it.

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with it, True Blood is about an uncomfortable co-existence between humans and vampires around the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. It’s outrageously funny, sexy, and gory. To give you a sense of the flavor without too many spoilers, here is a summary of the main themes in the show’s vampire world.

Vampires as a discriminated minority: The plot begin a few years after Vampires started “coming out of the coffin” to assert their status within American society. One thread that keeps popping up in the background is the Vampire Rights Amendments (VRA), legalizing marriages between vampires and humans. Vermont passes the amendment sometime in season one, but as one character observes, “Louisiana is not Vermont.” In Louisiana, supporters of the VRA are derided as liberal crackpots and just generally face an uphill battle.
Vampires as a lifestyle: The Vampires’ “coming out of the closet” has divided the Vampire community into two factions: The faction of “mainstreamers” downplay the differences between humans and vampires and focus on demanding equal rights. Opposing them is a subculture of in-your-face, outrageous, hard core, criminal Vampires. Derided by humans as fangers, they surround themselves with human hangers-on, most of them teenage Goths who want to have sex with vampires -- see point 5. (In mainstream human cultures, they are known as fang bangers. Fangers despise humans and refer to them by the derogatory word breathers. (Unlike Vampires, humans have to breathe.)
Fundamentalist Christianity in the South: Predictably, vampires are facing prejudice and hatred from some of the humans they live among. Just as predictably, hostilities are fueled by fundamentalist evangelical activists. The opening sequence of each episodes shows a sequence of scenes from the Bon Temps area, including a church displaying the slogan God Hates Fangs, and a black and white movie, perhaps from the 50s, showing a child in KKK attire. There is a group of grown-up clansmen in the background. Although there are no vampires in that picture, it is plausible to assume that the Klansmen are all about to lynch some Vampires.
Drugs: In the world of True Blood, vampire blood is a potent hallucinogenic drug. Consequently, Vampires are not just threatened by Christian fundamentalists. Equally dangerous are drug dealers stalking vampires, draining them of their blood, and re-selling to junkies at astronomic prices on the black market.
Sex, sex, sex Vampires are abnormally good sex partners. The whole series is drenched with sexual energy, culminating in a cornucopia of explicit sex scenes. The whole series is adults-only to an extreme.
Violence: As in every vampire show: True Blood also features all the gratuitous, gory violence your heart desires. There’s human-killings, vampire-stakings, vampire burnings in the sun -- the works.

I love this show!

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no cable, but i do have the books in my audible wishlist

a friend of tai chi's wrote a series of vampire detective novels that were made into a tv series called blood ties, haven't seen that series either but the books were quite enjoyable

Blood Ties

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You can watch it on alluc. o r g , or steam it on . hulu? I think?

Love that show.
But I wait until close to the end of the season to start watching it because that lets me have a few hours at a time of true blood instead of 40 minutes or so.
Im greedy

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@shewolfnm,

Have you seen the first season, shewolf?

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@Thomas,

Good grief.

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@Thomas,

oh yes.
I am current up to what is beginning now.
I have not watched any of the new ones..

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@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

I love this show!

I love it too Smile

I wonder who abducted Godrick and how they did it? Can't wait to see each new episode.

Here's the other thread which was started on True Blood last season.

HBO has produced several series which I've enjoyed a lot. The first one was Deadwood, then John from Cincinnatti and now True Blood. I also love the ShowTime series Dexter (you can pick it up on iTunes).

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@djjd62,

Netflix has both the True Blood series and Blood Ties. True Blood is different from the books, but still good.

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

Netflix has both the True Blood series and Blood Ties. True Blood is different from the books, but still good.

I read the first book in the series, and I actually like the HBO series much better.

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

I think the books are aimed at women. They sort of fall into the category of
Chick Lit. The HBO series is more balanced in terms of gender interest.

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@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

I think the books are aimed at women. They sort of fall into the category of Chick Lit. The HBO series is more balanced in terms of gender interest.

You might be right. If so, I think HBO has achieved a good balance.

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@dlowan,

No pressure or anything, but I just ordered it.

It better be good.

Confused

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

The HBO series is more balanced in terms of gender interest.

On a slight tangent, this whole issue of "gender interest" seems to be much more pronounced in American TV than it was back in Germany. When I mention that I like Sex and the City, a surprisingly high percentage of Americans asks if I'm gay. Evidently, typical heterosexual American men don't care about the other half's messed-up relationships and sex life. Neither do they appreciate funny and intelligent dialogue.

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@dlowan,

I don't give money back guarantees when I expect to pay up. Nevertheless, the pressure is on. Hell has no fury like bunny scorned by a boring TV series.

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@Thomas,

PS: Somehow I didn't see your "good grief" comment, Deb. Glad you meant it in a good way.

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Thomas you piqued my interest so I'm going to try to rent it the first series this weekend. Will let you know what I think.

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@rosborne979,

I have my doubts whether Godrick actually was abducted. After all, nobody saw anyone abduct him. He just vanished. And if, as Eric says, he was a very powerful vampire, could have been king, and wasn't interested, he must be a bit of a slacker in public office. Maybe he just took off by himself because something interested him more than his sheriff job. The question then becomes, what?

One question about last week's episode: In the very last cut, you see a woman, marching through the hotel corridor towards the camera, listening to Bill and Sookie having sex, evidently furious. Was that the vampire who made Bill a vampire back in the Civil War, as shown in a flashback near the end of last season? I think so, but I'm not sure.

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@FreeDuck,

Good!

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@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

5. Sex, sex, sex Vampires are abnormally good sex partners. The whole series is drenched with sexual energy, culminating in a cornucopia of explicit sex scenes. The whole series is adults-only to an extreme.

Why isn't this number 1?

1 Reply

@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

Green Witch wrote:
The HBO series is more balanced in terms of gender interest.

On a slight tangent, this whole issue of "gender interest" seems to be much more pronounced in American TV than it was back in Germany. When I mention that I like Sex and the City, a surprisingly high percentage of Americans asks if I'm gay. Evidently, typical heterosexual American men don't care about the other half's messed-up relationships and sex life. Neither do they appreciate funny and intelligent dialogue.

well, yeah but we did have the funny and intelligent dialogue of "father knows best"

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