True Blood

True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. The show is broadcast on the premium cable network HBO in the United States. It is produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment. It premiered on September 7, 2008.

The show's second 12-episode season premiered on June 14, 2009. On July 30, 2009, HBO confirmed that a third season of True Blood will be released in the summer of 2010. Alan Ball has said that he plans to start shooting the third season before Christmas 2009.

True Blood details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps (meaning "good time" in french), a fictional small northern Louisiana town. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a bar, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).

The first season received critical acclaim and won several awards, including one Golden Globe.

Production

Development history

Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran 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 became acquainted with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery books. One day, while early for a dentist appointment, Ball was browsing through Barnes and Noble and came across Dead Until Dark, the first installment in Harris' series. Enjoying it, he read the following entries and became interested in "bringing Harris' vision to television." However, Harris had two other adaptation options for the books when Ball approached her. He said she chose to work with him, though, because "[Ball] really ‘got’ me. That’s how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books.”

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. 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. Production on the series began later that fall, with Brook 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 down production of the 12-episode first season until 2008. That September, after only the first two episodes of the series had aired, HBO placed an order for a second season of twelve episodes of the show, with production scheduled to commence in January 2009 for a summer premiere.

Opening title sequence

True Blood's title sequence was created by Digital Kitchen, a production studio that was also responsible for creating the title sequence of Six Feet Under. The sequence, which is primarily composed of portrayals of the show's deep South setting, is played to "Bad Things" by Jace Everett.

Digital Kitchen wished to explore themes of redemption and forgiveness in the opening title sequence.

Conceptually, Digital Kitchen elected to construct the sequence around the idea of "the whore in the house of prayer" by intermingling contradictory images of sex, violence and religion and displaying them from the point of view of "a supernatural, predatory creature observing human beings from the shadows ..." Digital Kitchen also wished to explore ideas of redemption and forgiveness, and thus arranged for the sequence to progress from morning to night and to culminate in a baptism.

Most of the footage used in the sequence was filmed on location by Digital Kitchen. Crew members took a four-day trip to Louisiana to film and also shot at a Chicago church and on a stage and in a bar in Seattle. Additionally, several Digital Kitchen crew members made cameo appearances in the sequence.

In editing the opening, Digital Kitchen wanted to express how "religious fanaticism" and "sexual energy" could corrupt humans and make them animalistic. Accordingly, several frames of some shots were cut to give movements a jittery feel, while other shots were simply played back very slowly. Individual frames were also splattered with drops of blood. The sequence's transitions were constructed differently, though; they were made with a Polaroid transfer technique. The last frame of one shot and the first frame of another were taken as a single Polaroid photo, which was then divided between emulsion and backing. The emulsion was then filmed being further separated by chemicals and those shots of this separation were placed back into the final edit.

Eight different typefaces, inspired by Southern road signage, were also created manually by Camm Rowland for cast and crew credits, as well as the show's title card.

Music

Gary Calamar, the music supervisor for the series, said that his goal for the soundtrack to the show is to create something "swampy, bluesy and spooky" and to feature local Louisiana musicians. Composer Nathan Barr writes the original score for the series which features cello, guitar, prepared piano and glass harmonica among other instruments, all of which he performs himself.

Elektra/Atlantic Records released a True Blood soundtrack on May 19, 2009, the same day as the release of the DVD and Blu-Ray of the first season. Nathan Barr's original score for True Blood will be released on CD in August 2009.

Both Nathan Barr and Jace Everett won 2009 awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated in the BMI Cable Awards category for, respectively, True Blood's original score and theme song.

Viral marketing campaign

Promotional poster

The premiere of True Blood was prefaced with a viral marketing/alternate reality game (ARG) campaign, based at BloodCopy.com. This included setting up multiple websites, encoding web address into unmarked envelopes mailed to high profile blog writers and others, and even performances by a "vampire" who attempted to reach out to others of their kind, to discuss the recent creation of "Tru Blood", a fictional beverage which is featured in the show.

A MySpace account with the user name "Blood" had, as of June 19, uploaded two videos; one entitled "Vampire Taste Test - Tru Blood vs Human", and one called "BloodCopy Exclusive INTERVIEW WITH SAMSON THE VAMPIRE".

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 Tru Blood surfaced and was discussed between many vampires before going public. At one point, Lamar wonders if Tru Blood is making the world safe for vampires or from them.

Several commercials featured on HBO and Facebook aired prior to the series premiere, placing vampires in ads similar to those of beer and wine. Some beverage vending machines across the US were also fitted with cards indicating that they were "sold out" of Tru Blood.

Thousands of DVDs of the first episode were handed out to attendees of Midnight Madness, a special screenings event of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

Blockbuster Video provided free rental of the first episode of True Blood several days before it was broadcast on HBO. The video had a faint promotional watermark throughout the episode.

On April 16, 2009, HBO released the first teaser poster for Season 2. The image uses a perspective technique that shows observers one of two images.

A minute-long promotional video advertising season two, which featured Bob Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'", was released via Entertainment Tonight in early May.

In July 2009 HBO.com began selling Tru Blood, the fictional drink that appears in the show. In real life, it is a blood orange carbonated drink, developed and manufactured by Omni Consumer Products, a company that specializes in defictionalizing brands from television and movies.

Plot

Following the creation of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a telepath and waitress at Merlotte's in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), a Shapeshifter — though this secret is kept hidden. One night, Sookie meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old vampire who has returned to Bon Temps following the death of his last remaining relative. As she cannot hear his thoughts, she finds it easy to be in his company and over the first season, the two become romantically involved.

Season one

The main mystery of the first season concerns the murders of women connected to Sookie's brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Maudette Pickens and Dawn Green are both strangled shortly after having been alone with Jason. Though Detective Bellefleur has little doubt that Jason is the killer, the town sheriff does not suspect him. Jason and Sookie's grandmother is murdered shortly afterward. At the end of the season it is revealed that Arlene Fowler's fiancé, Rene Lenier, is actually a man named Drew Marshall who created a fake identity, Cajun accent and all. He has been killing women he considers "fangbangers."

The first season also focuses on Sookie's relationship with Bill and Sam's relationship with Sookie's friend Tara. Bill explains the rules of being a vampire to Sookie and, after he finds himself killing a vampire to defend Sookie, he is forced to turn a young girl, Jessica, as punishment. In the last episode of the season, this new vampire is left with Bill under his care. After Maudette and Dawn's murders Jason becomes addicted to vampire blood and has a short relationship with another addict, Amy Burley, which ends when she is murdered by Drew. Season one ends with the discovery of a body in Detective Andy Bellefleur's car in Merlotte's parking lot. The first episode of season two reveals the body to be that of Miss Jeannette, the drugstore clerk who has given phony exorcisms to Tara and her mother.

Season two

Season two is based on Living Dead in Dallas, the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse novels. It centers on the disappearance of the 2,000 year old vampire and Sheriff of Area 9 in Dallas, Godric. Maryann Forrester, the woman who takes Tara into her house and Steve Newlin, the leader of the Fellowship of the Sun are the two main trouble-makers of the season.

In the beginning of the season, Miss Jeanette is found dead in the parking lot of Merlottes. She’s found with her heart cut out in the backseat of Detective Andy Bellefleur’s car. Jason, who goes to the Fellowship of the Sun leadership conference, quickly becomes close to Steve and Sarah Newlin, the leaders of the church. This actually turns into an affair with Sarah. Later, Steve believes that Jason is working with vampires and attempts to have him killed.

Jessica Hamby, the 17 year-old girl who was turned by Bill as punishment for killing Longshadow, begins a relationship with Hoyt Fortenberry. They met when Jessica went to Merlotte’s to meet someone. They bonded quickly and ended up at the old Compton house.

Sookie is attacked by a monster that poisons her and leaves deep scratches in her back. Sookie is healed, thanks to Dr. Ludwig and the vampires at Fangtasia. Daphne, the new waitress at Merlotte’s, was also attacked by the monster and had scars on her back.

Daphne shows Sam that she’s a shapeshifter and they begin a relationship. They are happy, but Daphne ultimately betrays him for Maryann, who plans to sacrifice him to “The God who Comes.” Sam escapes before he can be killed, and Daphne dies soon after. Sam is framed for her murder and placed in jail. Daphne is killed by Eggs, who is under Maryann’s spell. She’s killed when her heart is cut out of her chest. Maryann takes her heart, cuts it up and serves it to Tara and Eggs.

Godric is Eric’s maker, and when he goes missing, Eric asks Sookie to go to Dallas in search of him. In exchange for Sookie’s services, Lafayette is freed from the basement of Fangtasia. Tara starts dating Eggs, the ex-criminal that also lives with Maryann.

Sookie infiltrates the Church of the Sun in order to get a lead on where Godric is. She is with one of the Dallas vampires’ human, Hugo. While at the church, Hugo betrays her and they are subsequently locked up in the church’s basement. Hugo believes that the church will protect him, but he ends up being beaten up. When he’s brought before the vampires for his punishment, Godric lets him go free.

After being betrayed by Eric, Bill encounters Lorena. Lorena is keeping Bill in the hotel room. She’s mad at Bill because he left her and she still loves him. It’s depicted through flashbacks that Bill hated being with her and he almost had to force her to “release him”. Bill hits her over the head in order to help save Sookie from the Church of the Sun.

When Sookie, Jason and Bill return to Bon Temps, Bill tries to get help from Sophie-Anne Leclerq, the queen of Louisiana. Sophie-Anne tells him about the maenad and actually helps him out a great deal.

Cast and characters

Anna Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse

The first season of True Blood had a total of sixteen main characters with the sixteen actors portraying them receiving star billing in the opening credits. Anna Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a sweet hearted, brave and naive waitress at Merlotte's Bar and Grill. Sookie is a telepath, capable of hearing the thoughts of all humans in her vicinity. Stephen Moyer plays Bill Compton, a dark and mysterious vampire, having returned to his original hometown of Bon Temps. He and Sookie develop a mutual attraction to each other almost instantly. Sam Trammell plays Sam Merlotte, the mild mannered owner of Merlotte's who is secretly a shapeshifter. Shapeshifters have not yet revealed themselves to the world at large in the same way vampires have. Sam also harbours a romantic love for Sookie. Ryan Kwanten plays Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's promiscuous, simple minded brother who attracts all the women in town. Rutina Wesley plays Tara Thornton, Sookie's fiery and outspoken best friend who puts on an aggressive front to hide her vulnerabilites due to a troubled family background.

Chris Bauer plays Andy Bellefleur, the somewhat incompetent and short tempered detective at Bon Temps Police Department. Lynn Collins plays Dawn Green, a confident waitress at Merlotte's who has a turbulent on-off sexual affair with Jason. Nelsan Ellis plays Lafayette Reynolds, Tara's gay cousin who possesses both tough, survivalist qualities and effeminate, camp qualities. He holds down four jobs as a short order cook at Merlotte's, a road crew worker, a prostitute and drug dealer. Jim Parrack plays Hoyt Fortenberry, an innocent and kind friend and co-worker of Jason's who believes in the best of others, as observed by Sookie when she reads his mind. Carrie Preston plays Arlene Fowler, an older waitress at Merlotte's who has been married multiple times. Michael Raymond-James plays René Lenier, Arlene's Cajun boyfriend who is also a friend and co-worker of Jason and Hoyt. William Sanderson plays Bud Dearborne, the chief sherrif at Bon Temps Police Department who is distrustful of vampires. Lois Smith plays Adele Stackhouse, Sookie and Jason's hospitable and down to earth grandmother. All of the above characters make their first appearance in the pilot episode, "Strange Love".

Alexander Skarsgård plays Eric Northman, first introduced in the first season's fourth episode "Escape from Dragon House", a one thousand year old vampire who owns the vampire bar Fangtasia and also acts as Sheriff of Louisiana's Area Five in the vampire political system. Lizzy Caplan plays Amy Burley, introduced in the seventh episode of the season, "Burning House of Love", is a New Age hippie and love interest for Jason. Despite her intelligent, friendly exterior, Amy is hiding psychological problems and has a heavy reliance on drugs, particularly vampire blood , colloquially referred to as V. Stephen Root plays Eddie Gauthier, a lonely, middle aged, recently turned vampire who is kidnapped by Jason and Amy for his blood.

The second season of True Blood seen eleven of the main characters from the first season return with Lynn Collins, Lois Smith, Stephen Root, Lizzy Caplan and Michael Raymond-James have previously departed the cast. Todd Lowe who plays Terry Bellefleur, Andy's cousin, an oddball cook and Iraq war veteran at Merlotte's first appeared in the second episode of season one, "The First Taste", and was promoted to series regular in the second season. Michelle Forbes plays Maryann Forrester, a fun loving woman who takes Tara in and is secretly revealed to be a maenad who first appears in the tenth episode of season one "I Don't Wanna Know" and is subsequently promoted to regular status in the second season. Also appearing in that episode is Deborah Ann Woll who plays Jessica Hamby, a newborn vampire created by Bill who is both petulant and vulnerable. She is also promoted to regular status in the second season. Mariana Klaveno plays Lorena Krasiki, Bill's manipulative and psychotic maker of Bill, who appeared in the fifth episode of season one "Sparks Fly Out" and became a regular character during the second season. Mehcad Brooks plays Benedict "Eggs" Talley, a handsome young musician who resides with Maryann and acts as a love interest for Tara, first introduced in the season one finale "You'll Be the Death of Me" and promoted to regular status in the second season. Michael McMillian plays Reverend Steve Newlin, the charming but bigoted minister and leader of the Fellowship of the Sun anti vampire church who first appeared in season one's third episode "Mine" but is promoted to regular status in the second season. Anna Camp plays Sarah Newlin, Steve's cheery wife who assists him in running the church and is first introduced in the season two premier, "Nothing but the Blood". This brings the total number of main characters for the second season to eighteen.

The third season of True Blood sees the return of fourteen main characters from the second season with the departure of Anna Camp, Michael McMillian, Michelle Forbes and Mehcad Brooks although Michael McMillian continued to appear in a recurring capacity during the season. After two seasons as a recurring character, Kristin Bauer van Straten who plays Pam Swynford De Beaufort, Eric's snarky progeny is promoted to regular status. The second episode of the third season "Beautifully Broken" introducedMarshall Allman as Tommy Mickens, Sam's difficult and estranged younger brother who is also a shapeshifter, Kevin Alejandro as Jesus Velasquez, a confident gay nurse who takes care of Lafayette's mother and is later revealed to be a brujo, Denis O'Hare as Russell Edgington, the ambitious and ancient vampire king of Mississippi, and Lindsay Pulsipher as Crystal Norris, a love interest for Jason from the strange community of Hotshot. She is later revealed to be a werepanther. This brings a total of nineteen character to the main cast for season three.

With the fourth season, it was announced that Fiona Shaw would be joining the cast as Marnie, a sweet Wiccan possessed by the dark witch Hallow. Janina Gavankar plays Luna, a shapeshifter and love interest for Sam. Joe Manganiello who plays Alcide Herveaux, a gruff but ultimately good werewolf , who previously appeared a recurring character in the third season will have a starring role in the fourth season.

Differences between the books and television series

The True Blood television series is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by Charlaine Harris. Season 1 of True Blood is based on Dead Until Dark , the first book in the series while Season 2 of True Blood is based on Living Dead In Dallas , the second book in the series. Seasons 3 and 4 of True Blood are set to be based on Books 3 and 4, Club Dead and Dead To The World respectively. The books are first person accounts by Sookie Stackhouse and when other characters are not in a scene with her, they disappear from the story. In the television series, supporting characters are given their own storylines alongside Sookie. Some of these storylines are entirely new ones created by Alan Ball while other ones are stories that exist in the background of Charlaine's stories. While plotlines involving Sookie stick closely to those of the book, some of the storylines from other characters overlap with Sookie's. Below is a list of characters and how their plotlines differ from those in the book.

Sookie Stackhouse

• In the books, Sookie has few close friends. She's involved in a romantic relationship with Bill Compton and is good friends with Sam Merlotte and Arlene Fowler. She was also friends with Tara Thornton in high school but become friendly acquaintances afterwards. In the television series, Sookie and Tara have been friends since childhood and have been extremely close ever since. Sookie, in the television series, has much more friends than she does in the book and is seen to be quite close to Lafayette Reynolds, Amy Burley and Dawn Green.

• Sookie does not meet the famous vampire Bubba and he does not guard her while Bill is away while a killer is on the loose, Sam Merlotte guards her instead. It has been stated that Bubba will not be part of True Blood due to the costs of using Elvis Presley's image.

• Sookie is not shown to have any special powers besides reading minds and communicating to certain people with her mind in the books. In the television series, Sookie is seen to attack Rene Lenier with her mind powers in the graveyard when he is chasing her, she reads his mind while he screams, visibly in pain, "Stay out of my mind, bitch!" She also attacks Maryann with a special magic in her hands

• The final scene of the book Dead Until Dark differs slightly from the finale of Season 1 of True Blood. In the book, Sookie is beaten up and attacked by Rene Lenier at night in the graveyard but manages to fight him off due to the powerful vampire blood inside her. She weakens Rene greatly and manages to hide away in Bill's house where she passes out and wakes up in a hospital ward with Bill beside her. He tells her that Rene has been arrested. In the television series, Rene attacks Sookie in the graveyard during the day. Sam Merlotte becomes aware that Rene is trying to kill Sookie and shapeshifts into a dog and attacks Rene. Bill is asleep in his hidey hole during the day. Realizing (from having Sookie's blood) that Sookie is in danger, he manages to pull himself out of his vampire induced sleep and wanders out into the sun. He begins to burn in his quest to save Sookie. While Sam and Rene fight (Rene discovers Sam is a shapeshifter when he kicks Sam and Sam turns back into a man), Sookie picks up a shovel and decapitates Rene with it. Her and Sam bury Bill's burning body, saving him in the process. Sookie passes out and finds herself in her home surrounded by Jason, Sam, Tara, Lafayette and Arlene, later to be visited by a fully healed Bill.

• Sookie asks Tara to move into her at the start of Season 2 of True Blood. Sookie and Tara move in together and while Sookie is in Dallas, Maryann Forrester and Eggs Talley move in temporarily. At the end of the series, Sookie and Tara continue to leave with each other. In Books 1 and 2, Sookie lives on her own.

• In the books, Sookie has blue eyes. In the TV series, she has brown eyes.

• Sookie bargains with Eric to release Lafayette from imprisonment in the TV series. No such event happens in the book.

• In the books, Sookie is saved from the Fellowship of the Sun by a pack of werewolves. In the TV series, herself and Eric are saved by Jason and Godric .

Jason Stackhouse

• In the books, Jason has blue eyes. In the TV series, he has brown eyes.

• In the books, Jason is said to have had a one night stand with Maudette Pickens months before her killing while having casual sexual affairs with Dawn Green and Amy Burley the nights before they were killed. In the TV series, Maudette is killed the night after they had sex. Herself and Jason were watching a homemade video of Maudette and Liam having sex. Jason and Maudette decide to repeat the act and Maudette pretends to be strangled during their rough sex. Jason flees the scene, thinking he killed her, but later finds out that she wasn't actually dead until she was killed later by the real killer.

• Dawn's character is more fleshed out on TV than she is in the book. She appears to be a fun loving woman who rekindles her sexual affair with Jason. She teases Lafayettewith her body and hancuffs Jason to the bed, showing a kinky side. She also appears to be temperamental when Jason gets annoyed with her, she shoots at him with a gun to get out of her own house. This is not seen in the books.

• Amy is also more fleshed out on TV than she in the books. On TV, herself and Jason meet at Fangtasia. She is an intellectual free spirited hippie and her and Jason fall in love. Amy gets a job waitressing at Merlotte's but also has a dark side. She convinces Jason into helping her kidnap the vampire Eddie Gauthier and drain him off his blood as herself and Jason are addicted to V blood. She stakes Eddie later, upsetting Jason who had befriended Eddie. She promises to give up V blood for Jason after once last time. Amy is strangled after herself and Jason are asleep following sex. None of this is seen in the book.

• In the TV series, Jason joins the Fellowship of the Sun whilst in jail for killing Amy. He attends the Fellowship camp in Dallasand has an affair with Sarah Newlin . He soon learns the error of the Fellowship ways and helps Sookie and Eric from the Church when they are trapped by Steve and Sarah. Jason returns to Stan Davis' nest with Sookie, Eric, Bill and Godric when the house is hit by a bomb. In the books, Jason remains in Bon Temps and never joins the Fellowship Of The Sun.

Sam Merlotte

• In the Season 1 of the television series, Sam is involved in a secret sexual relationship with Tara Thornton. In the books, Sam never gets involved with Tara and barely knows her at all.

• In the books, Sam has strawberry blonde hair. In the TV series, he has gray hair.

• In the first book, Sam shares only one kiss with Sookie after taking her out on a date. In Season 1 of the TV series, Sam and Sookie share two kisses, once after their date and secondly when Sam is guarding Sookie while Bill is away.

• The final scene of the book Dead Until Dark differs slightly from the finale of Season 1 of True Blood. In the book, Sookie is beaten up and attacked by Rene Lenier at night in the graveyard but manages to fight him off due to the powerful vampire blood inside her. She weakens Rene greatly and manages to hide away in Bill's house where she passes out and wakes up in a hospital ward with Bill beside her. He tells her that Rene has been arrested. In the television series, Rene attacks Sookie in the graveyard during the day. Sam Merlotte becomes aware that Rene is trying to kill Sookie and shapeshifts into a dog and attacks Rene. Bill is asleep in his hidey hole during the day. Realising (from having Sookie's blood) that Sookie is in danger, he manages to pull himself out of his vampire induced sleep and wanders out into the sun. He begins to burn in his quest to save Sookie. While Sam and Rene fight (Rene discovers Sam is a shapeshifter when he kicks Sam and Sam turns back into a man), Sookie picks up a shovel and decapitates Rene with it. Her and Sam bury Bill's burning body, saving him in the process. Sookie passes out and finds herself in her home surrounded by Jason, Sam, Tara, Lafayette and Arlene, later to be visited by a fully healed Bill.

• In the second book, Sam and the maenad Callisto have a secret relationship. In Season 2 of the TV series, Sam is distrustful of the maenad Maryann Forrester and they never engage in a relationship. They had a previous sexual encounter when Sam was in his teens but Sam was frightened when she started vibrating. Sam stole from Maryann and since then, he and Maryann have had an antagonistic relationship. Sam starts up a relationship with a fellow shapeshifter named Daphne Landry . He is unaware, however, that Daphne worships Maryann, who later instigates the killing of Daphne.

• At the end of Season 2, Sam leaves Bon Temps to search for his true family. In the TV series, Sam was adopted by a shapeshifting family to a human family. In the books, Sam's background is not recalled in any major detail and he remains in Bon Temps throughout the book series.

Tara Thornton

• In the books; Tara is Caucasian, sophisticated and fashionable, and owner of a Shreveport clothing store named Tara's Togs. In the television series, Tara is African-American, a barmaid at Merlotte's and is a lot more brash and angry than she appears in the books. She also has a much closer and longer friendship with Sookie than she does in the book.

• In the books, Tara is only a minor character and does not appear until Book 2. Tara is a major character in the television series, appearing in the first two seasons of the show.

• In the books, Tara was raised by her alcoholic parents. Her mother's name is Myrna. She is also the youngest of several children who left home leaving Tara to fend herself, often retreating to the Stackhouses during her teens. Her parents have since died. In the television series, Tara is an only child who was raised by her alcoholic mother Lettie Mae. Her father walked out on them at an early age. Tara takes Lettie Mae to be excorcised of the alcoholic demon inside of Lettie Mae by Miss Jeanette. Lettie Mae is cured of her alcoholism although herself and Tara still have a conflicted relationship. Lettie Mae is still alive at the end of Season 2. Tara used to retreat to the Stackhouses home since she was six years old during Lettie Mae's alcoholism.

• In the television series, Tara is a first cousin of Lafayette Reynolds. In the books, the two are unrelated.

Reception

Critical reception of True Blood has generally been favorable, despite the fact that initial impressions were mixed. The New York Post critic wrote of the opening episodes: "If HBO's new vampire show is any indication, there would still be countless deaths - especially among vampire hunters and the viewers who love them - because everyone would be dying of boredom. And so it is with HBO's new series from death-obsessed Alan Ball, creator of the legendary Six Feet Under, whose new show True Blood, won't so much make your blood run cold as it will leave you cold."

Whereas USA Today concluded: "Sexy, witty and unabashedly peculiar, True Blood is a blood-drenched Southern Gothic romantic parable set in a world where vampires are out and about and campaigning for equal rights. Part mystery, part fantasy, part comedy, and all wildly imaginative exaggeration, [True] Blood proves that there's still vibrant life — or death — left in the "star-crossed lovers" paradigm. You just have to know where to stake your romantic claim."

Ratings

The first episode of True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as Big Love which premiered at 4.56 million, and John from Cincinnati] which debuted at 3.4 million. However, by late November 2008, 6.8 million a week were watching: this figure included repeat and on-demand viewings. The season finale's viewership was 2.4 million. True Blood has reportedly become HBO's most popular series since The Sopranos and Sex and the City.

The second season premiere of the series on June 14, 2009 was watched by 3.7 million viewers, making it the most watched program on HBO since the series finale of The Sopranos. The total number of viewers for the season premiere, including the late night replay, was 5.1 million. The seventh episode of the second season was seen by 4.3 million viewers, a new record for the series. == ==

Season 1 Ratings

Episode #	Episode Title	Viewers
#1.01	Strange Love	1.44
#1.02	The First Taste	1.81
#1.03	Mine	1.82
#1.04	Escape From Dragon House	1.82
#1.05	Sparks Fly Out	1.13
#1.06	Cold Ground	1.82
#1.07	Burning House of Love	2.10
#1.08	The Fourth Man In The Fire	2.07
#1.09	Plaisir d'Amour	2.35
#1.10	I Don't Wanna Know	2.47
#1.11	To Love Is To Bury	2.67
#1.12	You'll be The Death of Me	2.45
Average		2.00

Season 2 Ratings

Episode #	Episode Title	Viewers
#2.01	Nothing But The Blood	3.70
#2.02	Keep This Party Going	3.41
#2.03	Scratches	3.70
#2.04	Shake and Fingerpop	3.90
#2.05	Never Let Me Go	3.85
#2.06	Hard-Hearted Hannah	4.00
#2.07	Release me	4.27
#2.08	Timebomb	4.43
#2.09	I Will Rise Up	4.50
#2.10	New World In My View	5.33
#2.11	Frenzy	5.19
#2.12	Beyond Here Lies Nothing	5.11
Average		4.28

Season 3 Ratings

Episode #	Episode Title	Viewers
#3.01	Bad Blood	5.10
#3.02	Beatuifully Broken	4.26
#3.03	It Hurts Me Too	4.46
#3.04	9 Crimes	4.68
#3.05	Trouble	4.86
#3.06	I Got a Right to Sing The Blues	4.74
#3.07	Hitting The Ground	5.24
#3.08	Night on The Sun	5.09
#3.09	Everything is Broken	5.00
#3.10	I Smell a Rat	5.39
#3.11	Fresh Blood	5.44
#3.12	Evil Is Going On	5.38
Averrage		4.97

Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Result	For
2008	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television	Won	Nelsan Ellis
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Series, Drama	Won	Anna Paquin
2009	American Cinema Editors	Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Com Television	Won	Michael Ruscio and Andy Keir for episode "Strange Love"
	Art Directors Guild	Episode of a One Hour Single-Camera Television Series	Nominated	Suzuki Ingerslev for episode "Burning House of Love"
	GLAAD Media Awards	Outstanding Drama Series	Nominated
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama	Won	Anna Paquin
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Television Series - Drama	Nominated
	Mr. Skin Award	Best TV Show	Won
	Mr. Skin Award	Best First-Time Nude Scene	Won	Lizzy Caplan
	Motion Picture Sound Editors	Best Sound Editing - Short Form Dialogue and ADR in Television	Nominated	For episode "Fourth Man in the Fire"
	Writers Guild of America	New Series	Nominated	Alan Ball, Brian Buckner, Raelle Tucker, Alexander Woo, Nancy Oliver, and Chris Offutt
	Saturn Award	Best Syndicated/Cable TV Series	Nominated
	Saturn Award	Best Actress on Television	Nominated	Anna Paquin
	NewNowNext Awards	Best Show You're Not Watching	Won
	NewNowNext Awards	Brink of Fame: Actor	Won	Nelsan Ellis
	Broadcast Music Incorporated	True Blood Original Score	Won	Nathan Barr
	Broadcast Music Incorporated	True Blood Theme Song	Won	Jace Everett
	Television Critics Association	Outstanding New Program of the Year	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer TV Star: Female	Nominated	Anna Paquin in True Blood
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer TV Star: Male	Nominated	Stephen Moyer in True Blood
	Bravo A-List Awards	A-List TV Show	Nominated
	Bravo A-List Awards	Sexiest TV Moment	Nominated	Bill and Sookie's Love Scene
	Emmy	Outstanding Main Title Design	Nominated	Rama Allen, Shawn Fedorchuk, Matthew Mulder, Morgan Henry, Camm Rowland and Ryan Gagnier
	Emmy	Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series	Nominated	Junie Lowry Johnson & Libby Goldstein
	Emmy	Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series	Nominated	Suzuki Ingerslev, Cat Smith & Rusty Lipscomb for "Burning House of Love", "Cold Ground" and "Sparks Fly Out".

DVD and Blu-ray releases

DVD Name	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
True Blood - The Complete First Season	May 19, 2009	October 26, 2009	July 1, 2009
True Blood - Season 2	—	—	—

As of July 7, 2009, the first season DVD had sold almost 1.2 million units and was one of the best-selling TV show DVD for 2009. By the end of July, it ranked #15 in all DVD sales.

True Blood: The Complete First Season
Set Details		Special Features
12 Episodes 5 Disc Set 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio Subtitles:English English		In Focus: Vampires in America Tru Blood Beverage Ads Vampire PSAs. Audio Commentaries on: Strange Love by writer/director Alan Ball The First Taste by director Scott Winant and star Anna Paquin Escape from Dragon House by director Michael Lehmann and writer Brian Buckner Sparks Fly Out by director Daniel Minahan and star Stephen Moyer Burning House of Love by director Marcos Siega To Love Is to Bury by writer/director Nancy Oliver