‘True Blood’ Updates
HBO has announced a May 12 DVD release for the first season of True Blood, the acclaimed series based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels. The five-disc set will retail for $59.99 with no extras announced.
True Blood chronicles the backwoods Louisiana town of Bon Temps…where vampires have emerged from the coffin, and no longer need humans for their fix. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) works as a waitress at the rural bar Merlotte’s. Though outwardly a typical young woman, she keeps a dangerous secret: she has the ability to hear the thoughts of others.
Sookie’s situation is further complicated when the bar gets its first vampire patron – 173-year old Bill Compton (Steven Moye) — and the two outsiders are immediately drawn to each other.
Adapted from Charlaine Harris’ The Southern Vampire Mysteries by creator and executive producer Alan Ball the series proved to be a growing phenomenon, just the sort of thing HBO has needed.
Meantime, production on the second season is already underway with a summer return being eyed, confirmed in part by the May release of the DVD set. Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello wrote this week, “Not only is there fresh Blood on the way, there’s also fresh… um, blood. The vamp hit is on the hunt for a new series regular to play Sarah, the pleasure-seeking missus of Steve Newlin, the Fellowship of the Sun’s big kahuna. New semi-regulars are also being sought for six-episode arcs as Daphne, Merlotte’s new waitress (and Sam’s likely new love interest), and Luke, a burly twentysomething who’s as dedicated to religion as Jason is to sex.”
Michelle Forbes (Battlestar Galactica), has been upped to series regular.
Finally, Mr. Skin named Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield) top nude actress on television for 2008 given her character Amy’s frequent naked moments.
My wife and daughter (who remember the books better than i) confirmed my suspicions that *none* of this stuff is from the books, or even in character, despite the person who, on the comment on another story, explained pityingly to me just how excruciatingly faithful it was, and how i must not know anything about writing…Examples of Wrongness: "Steve Newlin, the Fellowship of the Sun's big kahuna" has never appeared or (so far as we can recall) even been alluded to in the books, and, therefore of course, neither has his wife.Luke doesn't seem to be a character from the books.And "Daphne, Merlotte's new waitress (and Sam's likely new love interest)," is definitely from the books, where Sam appears to have a crush on Sookie that she is either not noticing or is politely ignoring…And, even if the episodes adapted the books much more closely than they do, the tone of the series is just plain wrong (though i suspect, from that comment's word choice and general tone, that the commentor is one of the large number of enthusiasic fangrrls (or maybe fanboyz) who is totally style-deaf.
And (step) Daughter Helen agrees with me that the still at the head of this aricle, given the show's general nasty-litte-kid sleaziness, looks rather as if she's serving up the new businessman's lunch special at Merlotte's.