Diary of a mad fanger

I was determined to resist HBO's True Blood, a Southern Gothicky romp through Bon Temps, Louisiana, where, thanks to the invention of synthetic blood, vampires have "come out of the coffin" to mainstream with humans. One such creature of the night is Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a 173 year-old reluctant vampire who has all the candor of a good heart but the physical attributes of the netherworld. Bill is enchanted by Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Pacquin), a waitress at Merlotte's, the town watering hole. Tormented all her life by the ability to read other people's thoughts, Sookie and Bill stare at one another across the crowded bar like Maria and Tony in their memorable scene from West Side Story, the world falling away before the two of them. Hopelessly attracted, yet fearful of Bill's bad boy side (after all, he is a blood-slurping vampire), Sookie vacillates, her heart telling her this is the one, her mind screaming, "Are you crazy? He's dead!" But- unexpected joy- she can't read his thoughts! Certainly, these two will never be able to gaze lovingly at one another across the breakfast table. 

As the opening credits suggest in Alan Ball's clever and ambitious series, the south harbors the gamut of human- and inhuman- behavior, superstition, faith, love, hate, folksiness and generosity, charm and the KKK, all God's children frolicking in a world both dark and light. While vampires lurk in the night, seductive in their dangerous otherness, humans range from good ol' boys to southern belles, a mélange of the dramatic and the demure, the cast a surprising mix of eccentric and fascinating personalities: Sookie's brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten), a relentless sex addict who loves a mirror almost as much as the willing ladies her pursues; the foul-mouthed, yet endlessly appealing Tara (Rutina Wesltey), as unable to govern her emotions as she is to cast out the "devil" who inhabits her soul; and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), a real scene-stealer, gay short-order-cum-"V"-dealer (the potent and coveted vampire blood) who owns his scenes, his talented barely contained by the small screen.

Unfortunately for the incipient romance between virgin and vampire, a series of recent murders has focused the town on the vampires' tendency toward blood lust, although, as Bill informs local law enforcement, "Surely a vampire would have drained a body of every ounce of her blood." Still, the residents of Bon Temps are reluctant to cast suspicion on one of their own. Bill's seduction of Sookie drives the series, but the town is filled with such a delightful mix of characters that, like "V", there is never enough. Highly addictive, like the one-step-behind law enforcement team who bicker from crime scene to crime scene, there is always another volatile contretemps to charm, amuse and shock the willing viewer. Pacquin is stellar in her portrayal of Sookie, Moyer barely one beat behind her performance and closing (fangs extended). I have been bitten. I willingly drank the vampire's patented Tru-Blood and freely admit: one taste of "V' isn't enough. I crave more. Luan Gaines/2008.