True Blood

[modage]

This show sucks.

[Stefen]

Are you serious or were you just being clever?

I haven't seen it, but I've read about it and it seems like something I'd enjoy.

[modage]

No, it's awful.  Like, John From Cincinnati awful.

[cinemanarchist]

I loved John From Cincinnati so now I'm even more excited about this! Plan on catching it OnDemand at some point this week.

[MacGuffin]

HBO's 'True Blood': Audiences don't bite

HBO just can't catch a break.

After engineering a massive, multimillion-dollar marketing campaign to promote "True Blood," the new vampire series from Alan Ball, Sunday's premiere drew just 1.44 million viewers.

That's bad news for the cable channel, which hasn't been able to launch a new one-hour drama to any kind of ratings fanfare in some time. Without one of its previous powerhouse lead-ins ("The Sopranos," "Sex and the City") its new shows have floundered.

David Milch's offbeat surf drama "John from Cincinnati" debuted to 3.4 million in June 2007 (albeit following the well-attended series finale of "The Sopranos"), while the sexually explicit drama "Tell Me You Love Me" suffered without a strong lead-in, premiering to 910,000 viewers in September 2007. 

Neither of those shows was as heavily marketed as "True Blood," and both were canceled after one season. (The low-budget "In Treatment," a half-hour, five-night-a-week therapy drama starring Gabriel Byrne, was renewed for a second season but delivered even more modest ratings than "Tell Me.")

The "True Blood" audience was lower than even the last new episode of HBO's "Big Love," which delivered 2.88 million in August 2007. And it pales overall when compared with the network's past drama premieres such as "Big Love" (4.56 million in March 2006), "Rome" (3.8 million in August 2005) and "Deadwood" (5.79 million in March 2004). On the positive tip, reviews for "True Blood" have ranged from lukewarm to enthusiastic. Times critic Mary McNamara was less of a fan, saying Ball zapped the fun out of the original Charlaine Harris' novels and turned it into a "heavy-handed political fable."

Ball, of "Six Feet Under" fame, tried to level expectations for the series last week, telling Time Out Chicago that he didn't feel the pressure to strike gold twice. "I do the best show I can, then I go home and I have a life. Ultimately, it's just television."

Meanwhile, 1.645 million tuned in afterward for the Season 5 premiere of "Entourage." Numbers improved upon "True Blood," but also rank as the series' smallest audience since July 2005. The premiere was down 29% from the fourth-season opener.

[cine]

i really like it.

[Fernando]

Yep, saw it yesterday and loved it and of course I had many vampire dreams, I'm already hooked!

[Kal]

I just saw this on demand... I never read the book or anything so I dont know what the hell is going on... and it didnt blow me away or anything. I will watch a couple more episodes to see if I get into it...

[bonanzataz]

I LOVE THIS SHOW!

[ElPandaRoyal]

Yes, this is indeed becoming a very good show, after a somewhat slow start. Allan really has the balls when it comes to make great TV.

[MacGuffin]

I'm three episodes in, catching up on my DVR... Please tell me this show gets better. It's not a good sign when the opening credit sequence is the best part. And I CAN'T STAND her angry Black friend and that storyline with her mom. If someone tells me she ends up a victim from a fanged one, I'll gladly continue watching.

[Fernando]

Keep watching, it gets better and crazier.

[ElPandaRoyal]

Yes. Keep watching. You'll know when you get to the episode when everything starts to become really good. I promise.

[ElPandaRoyal]

This also had a great season finale. As far as vampire/monsters/supernatural TV shows (considering Lost is neither of these, but something else completely), this is the show to watch. Great stuff in here, and some wonderful episodes.

[private witt]

I'm not a fan of the horror genre, so it's hard for me to tell what makes a film/series of this kind "good" in the eyes of the beholden.  But put up against anything else on HBO, this show has got to their worst in ten years.  Am I missing something?  Is this another one of those shows that I'm supposed to like because it's so bad on purpose?  Overlit, terribly acted, terrible dialog, shock for shock value.  It's another night time soap opera, but I honestly can't tell, is this how it's supposed to be?  Are horror fans looking for this kind of production value?