Product Description True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series)
Amazon.com Alan Ball’s True Blood series works well for television, as it has enough sensationalism to tantalize and enough story girth to make the viewer care about the characters. That one can finally invest emotion into monsters, including an undead Civil War victim, a transformer who can shapeshift into various animals, and a female mind reader, speaks volumes about America’s willingness to accept fantasy. Of course, television has always produced good fantasy shows (I Dream of Jeannie), but True Blood’s Southern Goth brand of fun horror is more macabre and more perverse, not to mention gorier, than most shows of its kind to date. Adapted from Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels, True Blood thrills because of its equal blend in each episode of erotica, humor, tragedy, mystery, and fantasy.
Set in a rural, swampy Louisiana parrish, the show centers around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her clan, sweet grandmother Adele (Lois Smith) and air-headed brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Illicit love is spawned early on, when Sookie saves vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) from having his blood stolen in the parking lot of Merlotte’s diner, owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) who completes what will form a complex love triangle. As tensions between Sookie’s suitors loosen or tighten, many side plots, such as her African American best friend Tara’s (Rutina Wesley) struggle with an alcoholic, Bible-thumping mother and her brother’s dangerous crush on drug addicted hippie, Amy Burley (Lizzy Caplan), keep one wondering who will succeed in this podunk place. The main tension throughout, however, is a race war waged between vampires and humans. As murders of “fang bangers” occur (human girls who let vampires bite them) and dumb policeman Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) fails to find clues, one sees the metaphorical implications of vampirism and feels deeper resonance with what can be a downright trashy show. Gossip galore, especially about what kinds of babies interbreeding will produce, is rampant. One of the funniest characters is Tara’s flamboyant cousin, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), who deals drugs, works as a fry cook, and services the local white politicians, while making sure he’s always up in everyone’s business.
What makes True Blood smarter than pure soap opera is the parallels it draws between its monster mash and actual, familiar societal problems. Sookie and her friends watch the news, where Evangelicals bash vampires and prohibit mixed marriage, and everyone is addicted to V, a.k.a vampire blood, that effects like psychedelic heroin. Even its gore reflects a mix of serious and silly, as vampires explode into red, sticky goop. Though it may not be attempting to qualify for the best vampire footage ever shot, True Blood is as addictive as that substance the town’s youth obsesses over, which is a metaphor in itself. --Trinie Dalton
greatMarch 16, 2010 Aaronb090(Plainfield, IN) I got this within the time frame they said, the only little problem I had was one of the DVD's was loose in the box but it wasn't scratched or anything. So all in all I was very satisfied!
Didn't stay true to the Charlaine Harris books.March 12, 2010 Book Fair USA(Oklahoma) This is my very first review that I've ever felt compelled to write. If you love the Sookie Stackhouse series of books like I do, you probly will be disappointed in the Trueblood series for HBO on DVD. It's a bunch of B-movie actors putting on bad porno with a vampire theme. Whoever wrote this tv series must have not read the books, because the tv version DOES NOT stay true to the books that Charlaine Harris has written. Why on earth would the writers of the Trueblood series ever change anything when the books truly stand on their own. The producers of the Trueblood series would have had a real winner on their hands if they would have left it alone and kept it like Charlaine Harris wrote it. I mean the Twilight movie series stayed true to the books that were written for them and those movies are a HUGE success. I'm even going to write Charlaine Harris herself and ask her if she even got to put her approval on the Trueblood series. Because it truly sucks. They've managed to turn awesome books into a cheap daytime soap. And the acting couldn't be any worse if they tried. The writers of Trueblood added stuff that just really brings down the value of the books. WHY? WHY? WHY? True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series)
great funMarch 11, 2010 Stephen Gentry(NM United States) Campy, trashy vampire fun. Great cast, best looking group of vampires in recent memory. If you're looking for something profound, don't waste your time. If you're looking for a well filmed & creatively written vampire soap opera, you will be enetertained. Not holds barred eroticism/homoeroticism. Great fluff/escape material. Enjoy.
AWESOME!!!March 11, 2010 Alison M. Mahar Oh how I love True Blood... best way to get my fix while I wait for the new season!!!!!! Worth every penny! Soo different than the other vampire series out there!
TrashMarch 10, 2010 Mikki Pursel(Utah) 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
These shows are complete TRASH! I have enjoyed reading all the Sookie Stackhouse novels, so I got the entire first season thinking I would really enjoy it. I was disgusted with what I was given. Sorry, people...from start to, I'm guessing, finish these are completely revolting. I didn't make it past episode 4...I was too sick to my stomach.
