True Blood

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True Blood
File:Truebloodintertitle.png
True Blood title screen
GenreDrama
Created bySeries:
Alan Ball
Books:
Charlaine Harris
StarringAnna Paquin
Stephen Moyer
Ryan Kwanten
Sam Trammell
Rutina Wesley
Lois Smith
Opening theme"Bad Things"
by Jace Everett
ComposerNathan Barr
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes12 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerAlan Ball
Running timeapprox. 55 min.
(commercial-free)
Original release
NetworkHBO
Release2008-09-07

True Blood is an American television series based on the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris and adapted for television by Alan Ball. The series is produced by HBO in association with Ball's own production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment.[1] It premiered on September 7, 2008.

The show details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small Louisiana town, after Japanese-made synthetic blood – "TruBlood" – becomes available for purchase and follows Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a diner who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).[1][2]

Cast and characters

Development

Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran for five seasons. In October 2005, after Six Feet Under's finale, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball read the first book in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampires Mysteries series, Dead Until Dark.[6]

Ball was early for a dentist appointment one day when he was browsing through Barnes and Noble and came across the book. Enjoying it, he continued reading the series and halfway through the third entry, Club Dead, became interested in "bringing [Harris'] vision to television."[6][7] Ball then contacted Harris about adapting the material and both thought that television was the most ideal medium for the series. Ball has said, "The scope of Charlaine's books really lent itself to a series more than just a movie... [because I felt like condensing] it into two hours would do it a disservice." Additionally, Harris had previously been approached by others about adapting the books as a film, but declined due to creative differences. She agreed to go work with Ball, however, because she "became convinced that he understood the agenda of the books and... would do [them] justice."[7]

The project's hour-long pilot was ordered concurrently with the finalization of the aforementioned development deal and was written, directed and produced by Ball.[1][6] Cast members Paquin, Kwanten and Trammell were announced in February 2007 and Moyer later on in April.[3][4] The pilot was shot in the early summer of 2007 and was officially ordered to series in August, at which point Ball had already written several more episodes.[1] Production on the series began later that fall,[8] with Brooke Kerr, who portrayed Tara Thornton in the original pilot, being replaced by Rutina Wesley. Two more episodes of the series had been filmed before the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike shut production of the 12-episode first season down until 2008.

Gary Calamar, the music director for the series, said he's working on a soundtrack for the show that is "swampy, bluesy and spooky" and that he plans to feature local Louisiana musicians.[9] Calamar's work includes the sound for Dexter, Weeds and Entourage.

Reception

Critical response

Ratings - Season One

# Air Date Total Viewers
1 September 7, 2008 1.4 million

Viral Marketing Campaign

File:Truebloodposter.jpg
Promotional poster

The premiere of True Blood has been prefaced with a viral marketing/ARG campaign, based at BloodCopy.com. This has included setting up multiple websites[10][11][12], encoding web address into unmarked envelopes mailed to high profile blog writers and others, and even performances by a "vampire" who is attempting to reach out to others of their kind, to discuss the recent creation of "TruBlood", a material apparently pivotal to the initial plot.

A MySpace account with the username "Blood"[13] has, as of June 19, uploaded two videos[14]; one entitled "Vampire Taste Test - Tru Blood vs Human",[15]and one called "BloodCopy Exclusive INTERVIEW WITH SAMSON THE VAMPIRE". There is a wiki at trublood.wikidot.com which collates information on the campaign. On July 13th, the website True-Blood.tv indicated they would be making samples of Tru Blood available as part of a give-away contest.

A rough version of the pilot has been released/leaked online. It has been met with mixed reviews.[16][17]

A prequel comic was handed out to attendees of the 2008 Comic-Con. The comic centers around an old vampire named Lamar, who tells the reader about how TruBlood surfaced and was discussed between many vampires before going public. At one point, Lamar wonders if TruBlood is making the world safe for vampires or from them.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Schneider, Michael (2007-08-09). "HBO rolls with Ball's 'True Blood'". Daily Variety. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  2. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2007-08-10). "Ball bringing new 'Blood' to HBO". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  3. ^ a b c d Andreeva, Nellie (2007-02-26). "Paquin finds 'True' calling for Ball, HBO". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  4. ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (2007-04-07). "Moyer, HBO make 'Blood' pact". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  5. ^ "True Blood Recruits Skarsgard". SCI FI Wire. 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  6. ^ a b c "HBO Concludes Exclusive Two-Year Television Deal with Six Feet Under Creator Alan Ball" (Press release). Time Warner, of which HBO is a subsidiary. 2005-10-31. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  7. ^ a b "True Blood SDCC 2008 Pt 2". Youtube. 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  8. ^ Mitovitch, Matt Webb (2007-08-10). "True Blood Vampire Saga Tests Positive at HBO". TV Guide. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  9. ^ Five TV Shows To Enrich The Ears In '08 by Chuck Crisafulli, Billboard.com, January 02, 2008.
  10. ^ "BloodCopy". Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  11. ^ "RevenantOnes". Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  12. ^ "Chishio.jp". Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  13. ^ "MySpace.com - Blood - 28 - Male - SHREVEPORT, Louisiana - www.myspace.com/389839563". Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  14. ^ "MySpaceTV Videos: Blood Video Channel". Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  15. ^ MySpaceTV Videos: Vampire Taste Test - Tru Blood vs Human by Blood. Event occurs at 1:29. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  16. ^ http://wastelandculture.blogspot.com/2008/07/pilot-watch-part-one-bloody-mess.html Pilot Review
  17. ^ Fall TV Schedule News: True Blood - Roush Dispatch | TVGuide.com

External links

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