True Blood

I have a new TV obsession. As if I needed yet another show to get totally into and anticipate every week. There is a slight problem (or bonus depending on how you look at it) with this one though. It’s an HBO show, which is a channel we don’t get.

I initially decided to give this show a shot because I remembered an interview I heard with its creator and writer (Alan Ball) on NPR, who also created and wrote Six Feet Under which I was able to grab snippets of here and there and always loved. Plus the interview with him stuck with me because he was just so cool. So now that the entire first season of his new show, True Blood, is out on DVD, I decided to give it a try. I needed some brain candy and I have a love for all things vampire, so why not, right?

I truly was not expecting anything other than amusement. Perhaps some clever writing, because it’s Alan Ball. But not anything that would really grip me. And I was wrong, wrong, wrong. I love it! It is easily the best thing I’ve seen Anna Pacquin do since The Piano. Her character is strong and willful, which stands in such sharp contrast to so many of the roles she’s played of late. The ancillary characters are probably the best so far; they are funny, clever and so completely full of the broadest spectrum of life. And there is some shock value (at least to my suburban living, out of practice eyes) in the truly explicit sex scenes. Holy cow…My mom is coming into town for our birthdays (hers is tomorrow and mine is Monday, yeah you can count on a “growing up with a birthday the day after your mother’s” post in the VERY near future) and this will NOT be a show that I watch with her. Holy uncomfortable scenario Batman…

Anyway, I’m far from a TV critic, I just thought I’d share some thoughts on a new distraction that I’ve found. It’s good stuff, you should check it out if you have some free time you’d like to devote to brain candy.