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I'll admit that I was a hater without really knowing what I was talking about. I'd seen parts of a few episodes during HBO Freeview weekends and found them laughably ridiculous - although in fairness, they were probably from Season 5+ which even the most loyal fans concede showed a steep drop in quality. Something inexplicably kept tempting me to give it try though, and it certainly wasn't yet another story involving vampires.
As it turns out, the beginnings of True Blood provide hours of bawdy and bloody entertainment. That vamps have come "out of the coffin" gives them new life, so to speak, with some interesting societal sibebars to consider in-between fang bangings. The swampy Louisiana locations really create a vivid atmosphere for these characters to run around, and the cast is uniformly excellent with Anna Paquin simply perfect as Sookie Stackhouse. Her attraction to Stephen Moyer's 173-year-old Bill Compton provides the first human/vampire love affair that I really bought into, even Buffy & Angel never really had me convinced.
Often described as "trashy" which is fairly accurate, as long as the sharp writing is given its due, not for exposing any great truths but for capturing distinct character details that always resound with honesty. I was never bored at any point and enjoyed the presence and sidestories of all the main characters. Curiously the only boring characters are most of the other vampires, played with the same trite, shallow brooding demeanor seen in most every vampire onscreen during the past 25 years. Never mind, the first season of True Blood is a wild ride I'm very glad I chose to take.
