When this series was initially released back in 2008 and when it was first on, it was basically the hottest thing on TV. It seemed as though everyone and their mom loved it. When I was visiting a friend recently she told me that she had never seen it so obviously we popped it on.
Let's just say that I don't think this show has aged well, and its rather silly take on vampirism that was fun at the time just kind of seems dumb to me today.
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My friend fell asleep while watching it and we were only about 2 episodes in. She laughed a lot when certain things were happening such as when the main vampire character "Bill" is quite easily subdued in the parking lot of a restaurant by two non vampires. This is a rather silly instance because of the fact that it is already shown that the vampires contain superhuman strength and speed, so when tiny naive waitress "Sookie" comes and rescues him to establish their love interest, it just kind of starts off on a bad foot.
I can understand why people enjoyed the show though. It is a pretty novel concept to have the world arguing that vampires should be allowed to co-exist with humans now that a synthetic blood substitute called "True Blood" has been invented. The introduction of some vampires that are happy to exist like this and that there are some who refuse to stop being hunters is, to me, an easy way for them to continually create conflict situations for basically an unlimited number of episodes.
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Also, since this was an HBO presentation, there was plenty of sex and nudity in the episodes, and that keeps a lot of folks happy out there as well despite the fact that everyone has access to pron on the internet at all times, even back in 2008.
My friend later admitted that she did in fact like it, but was just really tired and that is why she fell asleep. I will admit that watching it for the 2nd time that they do in fact put a ton of rather useless dialogue into the episodes which is understandable because it can't be all action all the time especially when there are around 80 episodes.
Knowing what I know about the series probably makes my opinion of it all a bit more enlightened though and this is possibly why I have a bit of disdain for the series more so than someone who is watching it for the first time might. I know, for example, that more and more creatures of lore are exposed in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana including witches, werewolves, and even fairies. They get a bit ridiculous with things as it appears later on that they don't really have any more ways of having the vampires fight with humans, or even with one another.
One tidbit of information about this show that you might not know about is that one of the main characters Lafayette who was played by Nelsan Ellis, had a rather sad story in his own life.
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He plays a good-natured and helpful character who is known and liked by everyone. He is also extremely gay. Nelson, who is not gay in real life, nailed the role but apparently really struggled with it because he struggled playing the part but was doing so well at it. As is common in famous actors, he coped with this by having a rather extreme drug and alcohol addiction, with some rumors stating that he "needed to be hammered" to pull of the gay scenes that he is in.
Nelson didn't tell anyone that he was very aware of the fact that he had a very serious addiction issue and in films and TV I don't think anyone is going to stop you from doing that sort of thing if you are doing your job well, which he was. He won multiple awards for his role as Lafayette so the ball just kept rolling so to speak.
When Nelson went cold turkey on his own 3 years after True Blood was taken off the air, he went through extreme withdrawal and didn't seek professional help for it and just went through it on his own. I have never heard of this happening to anyone but he actually ended up dying because of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, which was something I didn't know was a real thing, let alone something you could die from. He was a mere 39 years of age when he passed at a Brooklyn medical center.
Back to the show though: True Blood will appeal to a lot of people out there but even though it is less than 20 years old it seems a bit dated because we have moved on from making things comical in the world of vampires in my opinion. There are talks about there being a reboot of this series and I am on the fence about whether or not I think this is actually a good idea.
I do like the opening credits song and sequence though, and it changes from season to season a little bit. I thought this song was by Chris Isaak but as it turns out it is by Jace Everett, a man who basically tries really hard to be Chris Isaak and has experience some level of success by this mimicry.
Should I watch it?
Chances are, you already have. If you haven't and are in your 20's I think there is a good chance you will find it entertaining. However, just like a lot of series, they didn't even have a story for the entirety of the series when they were producing it because I don't think any producers out there know from the start that their show is going to be popular enough to warrant 7 seasons. This becomes more and more evident as the seasons drag on.
All I know is that I really loved it when it first came out so my bit of disdain for it now could very well be based on the fact that I already know how the series spirals into ridiculosity later. Have a go. If you like the first 3 episodes there is a good chance you will be hooked for a season or two.
the only legal way that I am aware of to watch this series is currently by subscribing to the HBO streaming service