True Blood

An odd show. I had to make myself watch the first few episodes then I got into it and enjoyed it for several seasons watch the series in it's entirety and it is worth a binge tv watch for good entertainment

Set in modern times, vampires roam the earth and are humans mortal enemies. However, a substitute has been found for human blood, a substitute that vampires can consume with the same effect as human blood. This is True Blood. Now humans and vampires can coexist in harmony, and even form relationships. But there will always be rogue elements on both sides ready to exploit the uneasy truce.

Superb, for the first few seasons. Original, uncompromising and highly engaging. Great character depth, clever, intriguing plots, interesting relationships and good performances. For 5 seasons this was fantastic.

However, the producers didn't know when to quit. The writing was already starting to feel a bit jaded, with retreads of previous plots and characters and, especially, different life-forms being introduced just to give the illusion of originality. The final two seasons were mediocre, at best.

The final season, Season 7, was particularly bad. No originality and the writers and actors seemed to be just going through the motions. Watching became a chore, something I had to do so I could finish the series rather than watching because I enjoyed it. Season 7 may well be the worst final season in the history of TV, especially when compared with what came before.

True Blood is an extremely entertaining supernatural thriller that has a little of everything. It has comedy, action, drama, love, sex, etc., etc. It really is a classic! It's the best of the vampire genre and has more shocking, intense and exciting moments in one season than most shows have in their entire run. It takes the vampire genre into a totally new and fresh direction. It's just a flat out fun show that will take you into it's world and keep you entertained throughout the entire series. It knows what kind of show it is and doesn't try to be anything it's not. Some seasons toward the end weren't quite as good but still worth watching and really entertaining!

Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a waitress at Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell)'s bar and grill in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She is secretly a telepath. Two years before the start of the show, vampires reveal themselves to the world after a new blood substitute True Blood had been invented. Sookie falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Her best friend is Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley). Some of her other friends over the years include the gay cook Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis) and fellow waitress Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preston). Her parents are dead and her brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten) is a womanizing fool. Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) is the town's sheriff. Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) is the Sheriff of Area 5 for the Vampire Authority and the owner of a vampire bar called Fangtasia. His progeny and second-in-command is Pam De Beaufort (Kristin Bauer).

This started as one of the best vampire shows around and there are lots of them these days. It creates a terrific world of vampires and humans. It's sexy and even sexual. It has its campy side. It's gory but not scary. It's a lot of fun. Each season, the show adds in a new supernatural aspect. However, each reveal reaps a diminishing return. There is an overall decline in the show but it never gets too bad. By the last few seasons, it is mostly a matter of staying with the show for the characters. One falls in love with them. Nevertheless, it is still one of the better vampire shows.

I write this review as a "want to be writer". Not someone with any real skill or credibility. However when you want to become a writer as a youth it is usually driven from the art of actually writing. Dialogue, action and character development. This show is very well written, Alan ball clearly is gifted. Not just skill but talent. I think this show was only good for 5 seasons and they should have left it at that. Shows make the mistake of going on, not just because they can. Because the audience ask for it, I remember Vince Gilligan saying he could have had more seasons of breaking bad, but chose not to. I didn't understand at the time but I do now. This show is not meant to go on and on, it's a story. It was meant to end at the right time. This could easily have gotten 10 stars from me if they made this show 5 seaons.