Jun
22
True Blood – Getting Old Already
June 22, 2009 | 2 Comments
Last year when True Blood premiered on HBO I was cautiously optimistic about the show. I had not read any of the books and was completely unfamiliar with the author, the world, or anything about the series except, to quote virtually everyone I know who has read them “the sex gets more frequent and graphic as the books go on.” Lucky Sookie.
Last year I made a personal commitment to watch True Blood. Not having read the books and with no preconceived notions about anyone or anything, I found the show to be rather enjoyable. The vampires in the show were “rip-off traditional” (I mean that in the kindest way possible) but the characters were likable enough to keep watching. There was a lot of sex in the show, but I figured that was the doing of HBO. I didn’t think True Blood was as good as HBO’s Rome, but that is like comparing champagne to Mountain Dew. I can like both but honestly one is waaaay better.
This year though, and we are only into episode two mind you, I am bored already. Both episodes have been little more than Bill and Sookie breaking up and making up; Tara bitching, the bar owner moping, Erick lurking and Jason bumbling through whatever mess he is blissfully in the middle of.
And then it hit me, True Blood is nothing more than a soap opera meets Jerry Springer.
Now, admittedly, Springer is a guilty pleasure of mine. When my husband is not home and I think about it, and I do not have anything else to do at that moment, I will watch it. I was never into soaps, even though my mom was addicted to them for many years. I did watch and enjoy Dark Shadows, but that was when they ran on the Sci Fi channel when the Sci Fi channel was a baby. And before Barnabus was introduced as a character.
I mean, look at all the opportunities the show is not taking advantage of—when you have vampires as characters in your world, be it a movie, book, or TV show, would it kill anyone to actually peruse their character? I mean we know Bill is from the era of what is popularly called the Civil War, NOT what Bill himself would have called the event. I suppose that he is from that ere because it is as good as any and he has to have some sort of back story. But what about Eric? Folks who have read the books told me he was a Viking. Really? Wow, to me THAT is interesting. A little back story there would be good. And maybe if he acted as much like a Viking as they make Bill act like what Hollywood imagines a small farm owner from around the later part of the 1800s.
And didn’t Sookie have the powers of telekinesis in the first episode? Am I the only person who remembers that?
I realize that everything on TV cannot be made for my personal enjoyment alone. Will I keep watching True Blood? Well, seeking as how I am a vampirologist and the show is popular which means I will be asked my opinion of it, then the answer is a reluctant “yes,” but only for business purposes.
Comments
2 Comments so far
I appreciate your feelings and observations but I hope you’ll give True Blood a few more episodes before abandoning it. If they are staying true to the story arcs found in the books then the first couple of episodes in this season is groundwork for the crises of conscience that some of the characters are about to go through. Jason in particular is an idiot but not a mean to the bone sort of idiot. The really evil people who run the camp, the fairy who is messing with Sam, the deep problems of Andy Lafleur (the policeman), hypocritical politicians and so much more are coming up. Granted Sookie’s sex life could be considered Springeresque in it’s diversity and perversity but there is so much more..The Eric of the books stokes my estrogen levels as does Sam but if there is one thing missing from the show that is found in the books (and there is more than one thing missing)it would be the humor. Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer without humor. Ugh. Not that you can’t have serious episodes but humor is like salt in a recipe. You might not taste the salt but it brings the flavors together.
Yes, it is so old it has a crust.