BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) ALAN BALL
At this point, you’d be catching up. Last week saw the third season finale of this HBO hit vampire drama. As per my normal viewing habit, I tackled the entire third season in one gigantic marathon. I don’t like waiting week to week and I love going on TV benders. This frees up time throughout the months a show is on for me to do other things and not feel so tied down to “keep up”. I’ve done this now with eight seasons of the work of Alan Ball. He created and produced the masterpiece of television called “Six Feet Under” for five seasons and now three on “True Blood”. I’ve watched the entire run of “Six Feet Under” now going on four times and the first two seasons of “True Blood” at least 3 times now. If you enjoy quality television then Alan Ball is a name you should not only know, but celebrate. The man creates these worlds that are so easy to fall into. If you’ve not seen either of his shows, you may also know his work via his two movies “American Beauty” and “Towelhead”. I love the way his style evokes a balance of the surreal and the dramatic. The dude can write.
(THREE) FUN CHARACTERS
The show stars Anna Paquin as “Sookie Stackhouse”. She’s a waitress, who can hear people’s thoughts. He brother is “Jason” and he’s a good hearted-dim witted sexaholic. Her best friend is “Tara”, a sassy chick trying to figure out her path in life. They all either hang out at or work at “Merlottes”, a bar owned by a “shapeshifter” named “Sam”. That’s just the tip of the ice berg. The characters are great. Did I mention that Sookie has a on and off again relationship with “Bill Compton”, a vampire? There are plenty of vampires. Outside of Bill, there’s the vampire Eric and a slew of others. It’s hard to describe these characters without getting into specifics. For something that sounds so strange and potentially lame I assure it’s not. It’s just these characters have a lot more depth than you’d think a show like this would have. The term “stereotype” is not of much use to this show. With each season, they’ve added more characters and built upon what they already had.
(TWO) MYTHOLOGY
The vampires, shape shifters, and werewolves aren’t the only supernatural beings in the show. There and telepaths, gods, demons, a maenad, werepanthers, and so much more. It’s not a topic I’m as well versed in as I’d like, but I’ve been told there are many ties into classic greek mythology. It’s slowly and surely expanding on what the show covers. The thing is that the show treats these beings with a serious tone and respect to history and the lore that goes with it. The vampires have chain of commands they must go through, the wolves have a pack mentality, and all the other odds and ends that come into play are just as real on this show as the human characters. Now the show is expanding even more, but I’m nervous about them “jumping the shark” to include hobbits or evil dwarfs. That would be bad. But then again…
(ONE) SHARK JUMPING
We’re given a good, sometimes great television show. It’s on for awhile and people enjoy it as it peaks. Then without any more reasonable ideas, the show will “jump the shark” and go off the deep end. The term comes from when The Fonz literally jumped the shark on “Happy Days”. From then on, the show just overstays its welcome. This all relates to “True Blood” as the show continues to jump the shark over and over again. It’s like the makers of the show are in a hurdle race and the hurdles are sharks. There have been like a dozen points in this show where it leads up to some huge “What the F” moment and then just keeps going and building up the next one. I don’t like using the term “pulpy”, but that’s exactly what this show is. It’s over the top, flashy and can be a bit cheesy but it takes itself seriously and is done so well that you can’t help but just accept things for what they are. It’s a fun experience to say the least. “Yeah, Jason and Andy are preparing for war against the mindwashed town”?… you shrug it off. “So he turns into a dog, but he’s not a werewolf”?… you shrug it off. You’re watching one of the best productions on television… you just have to embrace it.
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