HBO will take those tepid reviews to the bank ... the blood bank ... as it renews "True Blood" for season 2
Despite the reluctance of critics like me to embrace the latest creation, "True Blood," from "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball (above, with Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer), HBO isn't wasting any time giving it a second-season renewal. (See release below) But it's not the only division of Time Warner willing to settle for less than the best. Did you see that item yesterday that TNT was renewing "Raising the Bar"? The worst new drama of the fall season?? With that crazy judge and her bisexual boy toy?
Those critics who even bothered giving "Raising the Bar" a review ranged from unmoved to hostile. "Bochco has made the most cutting-edge drama--of 1994," wrote Mo Ryan. "It's not just familiar, but lazy," agreed Alan Sepinwall.
At least "True Blood" shows room for improvement instead of being a lost cause. As I observed two weeks ago in my review, the show sometimes seems not to be about vampires at all but about our fear of outsiders. Specifically,
Alan Ball wants to tell the story of gay America and its endless struggle with ignorant, buffoonish, mostly Christian America through a parable. Actually, vampires are sort of a hybrid pariah in "True Blood," absorbing libels about both homosexuals and African-Americans. They are suspected in area killings; they are living a deviant lifestyle; they make for unusual sex partners, they attract a subculture of kids looking for kicks, called "fangbangers," and so on. ...
Though in some ways he has one of defter touches for mass entertainment of anyone working for HBO, when he gets on the subject of the gays he seems to lose all perspective. This was a problem on his last show, too, and now, in his humorless depiction of the general public as indistinguishable from Fred Phelps and his nutball sect -- we briefly see a roadside sign that reads, "GOD HATES FANGS" -- Ball completely misreads the ever-evolving mindset of middle America.
Previously on TV Barn: I reviewed "True Blood" and a much stronger HBO series, "Generation Kill." Long before "Raising the Bar," Steven Bochco made history his cop show "Hill Street Blues," which on its 25th anniversary I called "the funniest police show ever made."
HBO RENEWS TRUE BLOOD, NEW SERIES FROM "SIX FEET UNDER"
CREATOR ALAN BALL, FOR SECOND SEASON,
WITH PRODUCTION TO BEGIN EARLY NEXT YEAR
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17, 2008 - HBO has renewed the new drama series TRUE BLOOD for a second season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, Programming Group and West Coast Operations. Created by Alan Ball, the series will begin production of new episodes early next year in Los Angeles, with debut set for summer 2009.
"We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced TRUE BLOOD," noted Lombardo. "Alan Ball has done it again - made an addictive series that is unlike any other."
"I am thrilled to be able to continue to work with such a talented group of writers, cast and crew to explore the characters and world created by Charlaine Harris in her novels," Ball said. "It really is a joy to go to work every day and I couldn't be happier to be back home at HBO."
The Sept. 7 debut episode is proving to be a hit with HBO audiences, attracting more than four million viewers to date, while the debut of the second episode on Sept. 14 posted an unprecedented 24% gain in viewers over the first week's debut.
Critics across the country in Detroit, Baltimore, Denver and Orlando have proclaimed TRUE BLOOD one of the best new shows on TV. USA Today called it "wildly imaginative," with "one of the best ensembles of the new series," while the Washington Post found it "audacious, outrageous and playfully grisly." TV Guide hailed the show as "graphically sexy and scary, and often wildly funny," and "a broadly entertaining, deliciously twisted slice of modern Southern Gothic."
Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, TRUE BLOOD takes place in the not-too-distant future, when vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans for their fix. Set in a backwoods Louisiana town, the show follows the romance between waitress Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), who can read minds, and 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy(R)-winning HBO series "Six Feet Under") created and executive produced the show, as well as wrote and directed episodes of the series, which is based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.
The cast also includes Ryan Kwanten as Sookie's brother Jason, Rutina Wesley as her best friend Tara Thornton, Sam Trammell as Sookie's good-hearted boss Sam Merlotte and Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette Reynolds, a cook at Merlotte's
Season one credits: TRUE BLOOD is created by and executive produced by Alan Ball; based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris; co-executive producer, Brian Buckner; supervising producer, Nancy Oliver; produced by Carol Dunn Trussell; producer, Alexander Woo; co-producer, Raelle Tucker.
Season one directors: Alan Ball, John Dahl, Nick Gomez, Anthony M. Hemingway, Michael Lehmann, Daniel Minahan, Nancy Oliver, Marcos Siego, Scott Winant. Season one writers: Alan Ball, Brian Buckner, Chris Offutt, Nancy Oliver, Raelle Tucker, Alexander Woo.
