TV Review: True Blood

The commercial and critical success of the now classic HBO series "The Sopranos"  has inspired a new generation of great television that some critics believe even surpasses today's film world as the most important artistic influence on mass American culture. With such milestone shows as "Weeds" and "Dexter" joining the Showtime lineup, (accompanied recently by the fabulous entrance of the brilliant show "Mad Men" to  AMC) I would tend to agree with the critics that television is entering a new golden age with some of the most compelling, and often risky stories out there. 

The only risk that HBO's new show "True Blood" takes is the risk of being REALLY over the top- which it exceeds with glee. A high content of sex, language and violence can be integral to a well-plotted show, but on "True Blood" it is just gratuitous and pointless. The story of a psychic young woman in love with a vampire is set in a rural town in Louisiana but the characters are so exaggerated in their redneckery that you can only guess creator Alan Ball's prior knowledge of the "deep" south was watching a certain special scene in "Deliverance" over and over again. 

But everything about this show is horribly executed so that even a plot-line as complex as a newly out-of-the-closet race of vampires who drink synthetic blood instead of human blood called True Blood so that they can be accepted by society and can be found as easily as a can of Red Bull at a gas station- (breathe!) seems cliched and boring. My recommendation: if you want great over-the-top television, watch "Ugly Betty".  If the story of "True Blood" intrigues you, read the book.