True Blood - True Blood Appreciation #1: Based on the books by Charlaine Harris, soon on HBO!

***Andie*** · 02-16-2008, 12:55 PM

Welcome to the 1st True Blood Appreciation thread

Director: Alan Ball
Writers:

Alan Ball
Brian Buckner

Genre: Drama / Fantasy

Cast

Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse
Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton
Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse
Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte

The show is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.

dukesmom · 02-17-2008, 11:42 PM

I've read the first 2 books have an enjoyed them well enough. Since I don't have HBO, though, I won't be able to watch the series until it is out on DVD.

dukesmom · 03-06-2008, 09:51 AM

New casting news:Alexander Skarsgard joins HBO vampire romance - Yahoo! News

**Guinevere** · 03-06-2008, 09:06 PM

I think i might check this out, when does it premiere?

dukesmom · 03-07-2008, 02:40 PM

From what I've read it will air this Fall - no specific date is mentioned.

***Andie*** · 03-18-2008, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukesmom (View Post)

New casting news:Alexander Skarsgard joins HBO vampire romance - Yahoo! News

Thanks for the news! I was wondering you'd be playing Eric. The name doesn't ring a bell, I'll have to look him up on imdb.

Hi Jen

Welcome to the thread

It was supposed to air in March but I guess it'll be probably fall until HBO will release it

**Guinevere** · 03-25-2008, 02:29 AM

Damn, i guess Fall it is.
I'm a sucker for Vampire things

***Andie*** · 04-07-2008, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Now, with Strauss and Albrecht gone, it is the Plepler-Lombardo show. Among a slate of upcoming shows, one they're pinning their hopes on is True Blood, a one-hour drama about vampires in Louisiana (which they greenlighted after seeing a pilot that was approved by Albrecht shortly before his departure).

True Blood, set to air in September, has one thing going for it. Its creator is Alan Ball, the man behind Six Feet Under. Ball got the idea for the show after discovering novelist Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries series in an airport bookstore. True Blood, now shooting in Los Angeles and Shreveport, La., centers on modern-day vampires who live openly in society because they can feed off new synthetic blood. Anna Paquin, who played the daughter in the film The Piano, stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress mind reader smitten with a vampire.

Plepler and Lombardo were ecstatic to work with Ball again. And they're careful to keep Albrecht's light touch. "Alan certainly doesn't need a lot of handling," says Lombardo. "It's his pen, not ours, thank God." While HBO asked Ball to recast one actor, it has requested minimal script changes. "They allow you to focus on the work," he says.

True Blood is undeniably a risk. A show about vampires could have a limited audience, however brilliantly realized. But Plepler echoes the Albrecht mantra: True Blood, he says, haslarger themes that will resonate with a mass audience. "We see the vampires as a window into the disenfranchised in America," says Plepler. With Six Feet Under, he adds, Ball examined how death is treated in the U.S.—and he'll deliver Big Themes with True Blood, too. If the show is a hit, maybe HBO will bury The Sopranos, once and for all.

Read the whole article here

MarieJena · 04-17-2008, 08:47 PM

I cannot wait to see this. I am sure it will be awesome. Six Feet Under was such a good show and anything related to vampires is always awesome!

***Andie*** · 05-02-2008, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarieJena (View Post)

I cannot wait to see this. I am sure it will be awesome. Six Feet Under was such a good show and anything related to vampires is always awesome!

Welcome to the thread! I am really looking forward to it too

Btw Charlaine's new book in the Sookie series is going to be released on May 7th

AlexEvans · 05-04-2008, 01:45 PM

I am looking forward to this.

Anyone know when/if it will be shown in Canada?

MarieJena · 05-06-2008, 09:30 AM

The debut date for "True Blood" is Sept. 7! Mark your calendars now!

dukesmom · 05-11-2008, 09:23 PM

Does HBO make their shows available online? If not I'll have to wait for the DVDs.

***Andie*** · 06-18-2008, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukesmom (View Post)

Does HBO make their shows available online? If not I'll have to wait for the DVDs.

Sadly I have no clue.

But I am really looking forward to the show

***Nad*** · 06-18-2008, 09:34 AM

I just stumbled over this article:

Quote:

Tuned In Journal: HBO preps 'True Blood;' author visits Pittsburgh
Monday, May 12, 2008
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The eighth book in author Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire" series, "From Dead to Worse" ($24.95, Ace), is now in stores chronicling further adventures of telepathic, Bon Temps, La., barmaid Sookie Stackhouse.

Harris will be in town to sign copies Saturday at 10 a.m. at Mystery Lovers Bookshop, 514 Allegheny River Blvd., in Oakmont.

And coming in the fall, specifically Sept. 7, Harris told me, is the premiere of "True Blood," the new HBO series based on the Sookie novels. I asked Harris about the future of her work on TV.

Rob: What was your first reaction when you heard someone wanted to make the Southern Vampire series into a TV show?
Charlaine Harris: Well, it wasn't the first offer. I'd had others. I'd had a movie option before and when that was about to expire, I had three more choices waiting on the table. The idea wasn't new to me, but when I found out it was Alan Ball, I was very excited.

Rob: Ball created "Six Feet Under" and wrote the film "American Beauty." Were you a fan of those?
CH: Oh, yes.

Rob: What did you think of the casting for the TV series, which stars Anna Paquin as Sookie, Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse and Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte.
CH: Well, some of them I had not heard of before and some of them I was a little surprised, but I thought Alan Ball is an expert at casting. If he thinks they can do it, then they can do it.

Rob: Have you seen the pilot?
CH: Not yet. I'm going to pretty soon, I hope. They're actually filming the eighth episode now. I visisted the set last week.

Rob: What was that like?
CH: It was wonderful. I got to meet a lot of the production people and I got to see how the location area was organized a little bit and got to see Alan again, which is always pleasant because he is the nicest guy. And I got to meet a few of the actors. It was a great day. I filmed an interview with HBO for the "Making of" feature they run before their shows.

Rob: Were you on the set in Los Angeles?
CH: No, they were shooting on location in Lake Bistineau, La.

Rob: Do you have a sense if they'll follow the story you've plotted in the books or if they'll do what "Dexter" did and use the characters but take the story in a different direction?
CH: It's my feeling that they're going to follow the story fairly closely but, of course, the books are in the first person so they're going to have to expand the other characters and invent new things for them to do to fill up the hour.

Rob: If they do follow the books, how much will be covered by the show's first season?
CH: I believe the first book is the first season.

Rob: Did they ask for your input on the scripts?
CH: No, that's not my area of expertise. Alan doesn't tell me how to write my books and I don't tell him how to write scripts.

Rob: When you're in town, will you be reading from your latest book?
CH: Usually I don't do a reading from the book because I hate to do that. I will if people really want me to, but I usually do a question and answer session before a signing.

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