Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Suck it!


I watched the series premiere of True Blood on HBO. And along with Showtime's Dexter, I will be sucking on this TV drug.

I cannot tell if it's good or not. But I'm certainly not bored. And I've come to believe that cable television is the only place where writers are getting the chance - and with big bucks - to take risks and defy genre. What is True Blood? Satire? Farce? Drama? Horror? I have no idea. And perhaps Alan Ball's attempt to mix all these various elements will backfire. But how cool!

Reviews have been extremely divided on this new show - and isn't that a good sign? I think so. It's managing to be experimental and still be marketed in a mainstream fashion. Why can't theatre do this?

Theatre is becoming the most conservative of art forms. How did this happen? Money certainly lures playwrights to Hollywood - but I'm beginning to think that television may also have a leg up on creativity. This upsets me.

Well...at least we have cable.

4 comments:

Patrick Wohlmut said...

Um... Is that woman having sex with a vampire? Who's about to eat her? That is strangely, strangely hot...

Mead said...

Fasten your seatbelts. The sexy Mr. Shiels in the photo is going to be a regular on the show. It's only beginning to get creepy!

One of my favorite characters is the sweetly doddering grandmother, who says, when she learns of her granddaughter's vampire friend: "Oh, do you think he remembers the War?" Meaning -- since the story is set in the South -- the CIVIL War.

I for one will be watching every Sunday.

MattyZ said...

Yes, Patrick - that is some rough Vampire/Human love going on - her hands are chained to the ceiling.

MattyZ said...

another fun episode tonight - SO TRASHY - I love it!