~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Kelly

How Do You Live Your Dash?

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I saw that billboard on my way up Hollywood Blvd to see the view from Mulholland Drive a couple of weeks ago.

I've read a few of the books it's based on Charlaine Harris (The Southern Vampire Mysteries)  ..Thought the Anna character sounded familiar.

Hopefully it makes a better series on tv.

Oh thank goodness, I'm glad I'm not the only person who wasn't wowed by the books. They weren't bad, but...meh.

Already I prefer the series to the first book...apparently they took the book and sliced it into sections of a couple chapters apiece and each section will be one episode. The nice thing about that is that there will at least be that end-of-chapter suspense kind of thing at end of each ep. Last night's ep ended with Rattray kicking the shit out of Sookie in the parking lot. DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

Still...there are aspects of the books (partly due to the writer's style) that I don't particularly care for that I can already see at the very fringes of the series, but I think that Alan Ball as co-writer (Harris is also co-writer) is going to really serve the material well to be less irritating on screen. At any rate, here's to hoping.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Exactly. She had no style!  She opens the book ripping on Anne Rice (who sucks) but has noting better to offer.   Boring town in the south, boring dialog, boring heroine and nothing really quirky going on. Oo , a vampire shows up. And he's really cliche.  I only have the first 2, but I can't imagine she got any more imaginative in the other 8? 9? The first book is really your chance to blow your creative load and show what you've got. Actually, Anne Rice can at least be decadent and set a mood. 

Yeah, I thought it was kind of ironic that she bagged on Anne Rice right up front and then failed to follow it up with something truly meaty.

I was dismayed when I found out that Harris was cowriting the scripts for the show. I mean, the dialogue in the books are just...guh. I realize writing good dialogue can be rather difficult for certain subjects or genres, but come ON. It's a freakin' vampire book...how tough can decent dialogue be? But no. It makes my skin crawl. *SPOILER ALERT* The entire scene where Bill is rescuing Sookie from the attack makes me cringe. I realize this sounds stupid in light of the fact that this is a VAMPIRE book, but it was horribly unrealistic to the point of making the scene not in the least bit shocking or suspenseful. For someone who is supposedly dying from a beating, Sookie talks with Bill like it's just a chat over dinner. OH COME ON.

They've fixed the dialogue for the series though (even though I have to admit, Anna Paquin kind of chewed the scenery during one of the conversations Sookie has with Bill. It was painful to watch). At least, it wasn't bad in the first ep. But time will tell if they're able to sustain or if things will just swirl quickly down the shitter.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

The opening credits are fantastic. Alan Ball and his team have proven that they know how to use music and images to really display the essence of their show's work (I maintain that SFU's opening credits are the greatest of all time). The series...I'm up and down with it. There are scenes and moments that make me excited to be watching it. And then there are scenes, bits of dialogue, subplots, characters...that just give me the shits. I hate Tara. She gets progressively worse as the season goes along. I really don't like how they have Tara and Sam interact...in the first book, Sam is alone and pining for Sookie the whole time, which makes the Sam-Sookie-Bill interactions more meaningful IMO, plus it makes Sam's secret more interesting in the general context of the series.

Also, because Tara doesn't exist in the books, we don't have to deal with Tara's mother. Another subplot and character I could really do without. Though I do appreciate that the series has tried to make Jason Stackhouse a more sympathetic character by the end of the first season (in the books he's just in "bitter cocksucker" mode the whole time). And I like that they fleshed out Lafayette a whole lot more than the books ever did. Makes what happens at the end of the season (and the main plot of season 2) have a greater impact on the viewer.

I remain in limbo about the series until I see what they do with S2. I know the books are shite, and I know the series has mostly improved upon them. It could go either way.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Jordan .

It's been a big disappointment for HBO.  Oh, and for me too.  But then, I've never gotten over the demise of The Sopranos so whaddaya gonna do?

Plus, vampires bore me. Zombies only a little less so but still.  When it comes to HBO, I like Hollywood hangers-on and brutal talent agent story lines best of all right now and the Entourage season is over too.

What about a new season of Curb with a newly single Larry David?  Could that work?  Maybe.

Then there's "24."  (though not HBO)  Maybe... just MAYBE "24" will bring it all back home in January though I strongly doubt it.  The November pilot was mighty fine.  The bleakness of "Sengola" made life in the Neo-Depression seem almost light hearted by comparison and I appreciated the contrast.

That's right, I'm talking about the good life

In the food chain

Love among the ruins...

Can't get that song out of my mind these days.  Hmmmmm.  

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

 Chris "got" it, Booth.  Life in the Food Chain as a TV-movie-real life theme of the day.  It's in the air, isn't it?

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

He cowrites them with a team that includes the original author of the books, who in my opinion should be allowed to write a shopping list, let alone books and scripts. Unfortunately because these are based on novels rather than being original work, the storylines don't lend themselves to being anything other than linear. If they tried to be more of an SFU style, it would just make things worse. But you can still see Alan Ball's touches in the music chosen, the way scenes are filmed, and some of the interactions between characters. His fingerprints are there, they're just a bit obscured sometimes by everyone else's.

SFU was lightning in a bottle. It would take something awfully great to ever reach that pinnacle in HBO's programming. Carnivale had the potential but it got the shitty end of the stick. Bummer.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Nothing like the books. I decided they were so bad because they're told from Sookie's point of view and, mindreader or no, she is a simpleton.

I wouldn't say it's great, but it has its moments and I'm still watching. Vampire Bill is a huge dork. But I like the vampire politics and groupies, it looks amazing, and is actiony and sexy. Worth downloading, mindless fun.

Ditto what you said about the opening titles, Amanda! Everything post-antebellum Southern Gothic crammed into a little rockabilly music video.