I couldn't take Jason or Tara at first and was basically just holding on for Gran and Lafayette. However, the Tara character got a lot better as the season progressed and Jason, well, once he stopped being nekkid practically every minute of every scene he was in, he got a little bit more tolerable.

I actually think the main characters on the show (Sookie/Bill/Sam/Jason) are infinitely less interesting than the supporting characters. In addition to Gran and Lafayette, the Bellefleurs rock. Arlene is great and I would watch an entire spin off of the Hoyt Fortenberry Show. And I thought the other vampire characters, Eric and Pam and Eddie, were great. I mean Eddie's story alone made the back half of the series watchable. And Stephen Root, man. Awesome.

Thanks for your input. We may try it again as there is something going on in S2 that we are interested in...

Oh, and Ms. Fay gets another toaster. Cause Mom went from actively repulsed and disgusted by Entourage to toleration to Sharing Her Daughter's Freaky New Interest to seeing Piven on tape talking about acting and turning to me saying "Wow, he's *really* smart...that's the agent, right?" So, now though I'm uncomfortably aware that my Brainy Jewish Guy button and my Competence is Hot button were factory installs, I thought it was too cool not to share. And at least I know a bit more about theater than I do about Olbermann's baseball thing. But he's so into it, it's sexy even though it still sort of sounds like "blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah," Boom! Second-gen conversion toaster.

...and Jason, well, once he stopped being nekkid practically every minute of every scene he was in, he got a little bit more tolerable.

My mileage definitely varies on that one. But I do agree that Tara improved considerably, particularly once her mother's exorcism subplot developed.

Yeah so far that's killer. And, yeah, Jason's got a great bod. But it just proves that almost anything can get, well, I hesitate to say boring because he is quite well-defined and all, but I really don't need to see him re-enacting the whole Joy of Sex to get that he's a highly sexed person who thinks with his dick. But then, he's not really my type, either. But he ought to send his trainer a nice gift(I almost said "basket", which I'd live to regret,) for the next occasion.

So "Jason has sex" = "Lana's parents are still dead"?

Gotcha.

Bwah!

I'm thinking that this season it's going to be Jason's got religion with the freaky anti-vampire church.

You know, initially I was very "...whatever" about Jason, but I grew to love the hell out of him. He's pathetic, poor bastard, but I found myself feeling really sad for him. I wasn't expecting to give a damn about the mess he got himself into, but - I kind of did. I thought it was a really good performance - all his vanity and gullibility and thoughtlessness and just plain dumbness - it wasn't without its pathos. And I loved the hell out of Tara, I really did, total mess that she was. Her momma made me cry - I thought that was a hell of a performance too, I really did. And Hoyt Fortenberry is adorability on a stick, and I loved the Sheriff too, with his fabulous hangdog expressions. Basically, I really liked the ensemble, I liked the cinematography and the music a lot too, and the changes they made from the books were definitely all to the good.

I didn't give much of a stuff about Sookie and Bill and their romance, but I didn't want to punch either of them in the face, so that was a big improvement over the books. Gran was adorable. Pam & Erik & co were great - Pam in particular wins at being a vampire.

Oh, and Ms. Fay gets another toaster.

Yay! Go me! And, yeah...Piven does push a whole bunch of my buttons. Same buttons, in fact.

Fay, how could you forget Lafayette? His character didn't get much love in the books (seeing as how he died fairly quickly), but I really like him in the series. That scene where he takes off his earrings to beat the crap out of the rednecks is priceless.

I agree. And he gets better and better as the season proceeds.