So! Tell me about the premier! What did you think?

So far so good. It stayed very true to the book, but hasn't actually progressed that far into the book yet. It wasn't exposition-y with establishing the characters, etc., but I think they did intro them quite well. One thing that I noticed it did for me was to really put it into the South. My brain knew it took place in the South, but I've lived my whole life in San Diego. I literally couldn't give them appropriate accents and speech rhythms and whatnot. Now they have them. I was very unsure about the casting of Anna Paquin as Sookie. I pictured Sookie as a young Crystal Bernard-type. But Anna's making it work. It wasn't stellar, walk-don't-run material, but I think it's got potential.

Definitely worth a second watch.

Mildly amusing note: they pronounce her name differently than I've heard anyone on this coast pronounce it. Everyone here seems to go with the long "o", Sue-Key. They use a shorter, almost schwa-er, rhymes with "bookie" pronunciation. At first I thought it sounded silly, but I was getting used to it, then Stephen Moyer gave one delivery where he just made it sound...like a proposition. Or a promise. He's growing on me very quickly.

And, assuming I manage to keep it up, I'm taping, so I can loan you the tape, at least after the first 6 eps (assuming you still kick it old school with a VCR in the house).

I also discovered a ton of extras on the OnDemand channel that they've apparently been running since June. Mostly 2-minute news-bloggy stuff. Pretty fun with trying to establish the World in advance.

Also, also, of the three rather attractive fellows on the show, two of them are Brits IRL. So they're automatically extra hot. At least in my brain.

And, assuming I manage to keep it up, I'm taping, so I can loan you the tape, at least after the first 6 eps (assuming you still kick it old school with a VCR in the house).

Oh, that would be fantastic!

I watched True Blood last night, because vampires and pretty people! Yay! I didn't know anything about the books prior to catching this show, so I really had no idea what to expect. It was fun in parts, but it also seemed to be trying way too hard. I also felt like some of the characters, the cook/road worker and the best friend especially, were way, way over the top. I guess maybe they're just drawn that way? I'd like those two to take it down about 5000 notches.

I enjoyed Sookie and her family. And the brother is very pretty. All of him, my goodness. Yes, very very pretty. I'm enjoying Bill and Sookie thus far, too. Although, for my money, the bartender is much yummier (And he calls her Cher! I love that. It reminds me of Gambit from the X-Men cartoon series) so I'm not getting why she doesn't just jump on that.

My main problem with the story thus far was that I found it entirely predictable. I hope there weren't supposed to be any surprises in this first episode, because everything seemed horribly telegraphed. And the ending just annoyed me and made me think that our heroine is the least intelligent creature on the planet. Which is not, I hope, what they were going for.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening. The show definitely did enough to get me to watch again.

It was fun in parts, but it also seemed to be trying way too hard.

Hoping that since things are now sketched into place they can chill a bit in future and won't feel the need to draw people so broadly.

I also felt like some of the characters, the cook/road worker and the best friend especially, were way, way over the top. I guess maybe they're just drawn that way? I'd like those two to take it down about 5000 notches.

You're completely right about Lafayette and Tara, especially Tara. Although Lafayette was being pretty close to the way he's written in the books, Tara was definitely cranked up to eleventy. Hopefully now that they've pounded hard all the personality points we're supposed to get, they can tone down her obnoxiousness and make her less of a cardboard cutout.

My main problem with the story thus far was that I found it entirely predictable. I hope there weren't supposed to be any surprises in this first episode, because everything seemed horribly telegraphed. And the ending just annoyed me and made me think that our heroine is the least intelligent creature on the planet. Which is not, I hope, what they were going for.

I think the first ep's pretty standard set-up stuff - no surprises. And it's true that the ending is pretty obviously gonna happen, even without having read the books. I think maybe it's Harris highlighting Sookie's naivete that she didn't expect it - her world wasn't that real, or graphic, or violent at this point, so she keeps stoutly saying "I can take care of myself!" because it's not even a possible scenario in her head. (Or maybe Harris was just lazy and wanted the set-up. But I like my first theory better). Maybe for people (audience members) who haven't been raised with Joss and Tim, the ending wasn't so obvious? Maybe they'd believe the Rattrays are all talk and no follow up. Though I must admit there have been times (once or twice) in the books where I either didn't get Sookie's motivation or thought she was overreacting to things.

Anyway, high hopes.

so I'm not getting why she doesn't just jump on that.

I think that one of the reasons that she likes Bill is that she can't "hear" him.

I hope there weren't supposed to be any surprises in this first episode, because everything seemed horribly telegraphed.

I thought that it just seemed that way because I'd read the book. It had been a while, but I kept going "oh, yeah!"

I'll give it a watch next week.

I think that one of the reasons that she likes Bill is that she can't "hear" him.

I got that this was part of it, but it seemed like she could control the telepathy at times. Thus the extreme concentrate-y face, no? Plus, the bartender is just prettier. I would put up with some voices for him, I think. Most decidedly so.

Maybe for people (audience members) who haven't been raised with Joss and Tim, the ending wasn't so obvious?

Ha! You mean not every show follows up a happy moment with torture for its main characters? Say what?

I'm just saying, I got the naivete with the whole "Don't say the 'J' word" and Treat Her Like a Lady moments. It seems like if she grew up working class enough to know the type of trashy folks that those fools seemed to be, and since it also seemed that she had some kind of history with them, she should have been expecting they'd try to retaliate somehow. How long is she supposed to have been working in that bar anyway? And how old is she supposed to be? I definitely was getting a late teens/early twenties vibe (19/20ish). Is that about right?

I got that this was part of it, but it seemed like she could control the telepathy at times. Thus the extreme concentrate-y face, no?

but with Bill, she didn't have to concentrate.

Maybe so, but I don't know. I guess I would just fall on the side of concentrating a little bit and getting down with the hottie bartender who loves me like crazy over not concentrating but having a boyfriend who might try to suck my blood one night and/or whose friends and acquaintances would probably try to hurt and/or kill me one day. And did I mention about just in general finding the bartender much, much hotter than the vamp?

Also, and somewhat less tongue in cheek-y, when she's with Bill is it just that she can't read him? Or is it that with him the voices in the head stop entirely from everyone? Also, also, does it always require intense concentration for Sookie to block out the voices? Because it seemed like sometimes she wasn't picking up people's thoughts and she wasn't really trying very hard - with her grandmother and her brother in the kitchen, for example, or during the initial scene with Lafayette in the kitchen before all the dirty talk happened. In fact, it seemed like there were only a couple of points where she really had to concentrate to shut the voices out - when she was in the bar surrounded by all the customers walking over to Bill's table the first and second time, for example. So how does her telepathy actually work? Hmm, I guess we may find out more about this as the show progresses.

And did I mention about just in general finding the bartender much, much hotter than the vamp?

I agree. Plus his accent kept doing a wierd thing.

She probably picks up thoughts from people that she knows well, and if people's thoughts are particularly strong. I'm sure that there will be a scene where she explains it to Bill. Exposition, yay!

Ok, I'm trying not to be all, "Well, in the book...", all the time. Let's see, when she was with Bill, she couldn't hear his thoughts at all, and he seemed to help her block others. The rest of the time it seems like she always has background noise. Some people think loudly at her, some not so loudly and not at her, but all the time. She looked like she could concentrate to try to pick up stuff, but did it seem like she could block it out?

I feel like I need to wait another couple of episodes to see what they give us before trying to fill in any blanks in info.

Although, in defense of her taste in fellas, did anybody actually hear Sam ask her out? He thinks things about her and Tara was teasing her about him, but other than acting protective, Sam didn't actually make a move that I saw.

And did I mention about just in general finding the bartender much, much hotter than the vamp?

He is a very attractive guy. I think the guy playing Bill gets a little bit of extra credit from me because I already liked him from "The Starter Wife". And the British accent in all the interviews. Yummy.