pixelly version of a true blood promo pic featuring eric, sookie, bill, and alcide

the show ran from 2008 to 20141. the book series was 13 books long. (I’d recommend reading the first 8, and pretending the rest don’t exist.)

the great things about this series

  • a sense of humor about paranormal everything
  • the main character is plucky and possessed of interesting power, but principally stands out among similar protagonists because she’s determined to do The Right Thing2
  • there’s a sort of working-class-ness to it – not just in the set-dressing, but in the way that so-and-so owes someone a favor, everybody’s in each other’s business…
  • sookie’s harem of admirers isn’t presented as a serial drama so much as the equivalent of bond girls: semi-relevant to the plot, mostly for the appreciation of the audience

things that are not great about this series

  • in the books, charlaine harris seems to have not really known what she wanted to do with eric’s characterization; that led to a lot of people being real upset over the trajectory of the last few books even outside of the relative shakiness of their plots
  • the actress who played tara was great, but there’s no way of looking at what the tv writers did to her character that doesn’t lead you to some pretty sad conclusions about race and media

the revamp

there might be a reboot in the works, though without the original showrunner.

I would hope:

  • they go a little easier on the sex scenes, and heavier on the mystery plots. the show had introduced more comedic side plots and a few dramatic ones, and with all the love lives of all those supporting characters, it got to be a little much. if they’re writing the mysteries from whole cloth without trying to follow book plots, they can balance things out better
  • we get some exploration of elsewhere in the country or world. I understand if they want to center on the louisiana flavor that’s so characteristic, but whereas charlene harris had their extracurricular excursion to dallas, it could be fun for them to go further afield
  • they keep all the class stuff in – the books had more than the series, and even more would be fun

  1. I haven’t seen all the seasons, but I’m working on it! current rewatch is in season 2. ↩

  2. you might think this would come off as annoying, but it’s tempered in the books by her inner monologue where you can see her struggle to maintain that niceness – and in the show, it’s just somehow carried off by anna paquin, who can make lines like “shame on you –what would gran say?” work. ↩