''I don't know who you think you are,
But before the night is through,
I wanna do bad things with you''
How much do I love This bizarre TV series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris called ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'' which stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress who works at the local Merlotte's Bar and diner, Sookie lives in a small Louisiana town that just happens to be cohabitated by both humans and vampires.
Sookie is the protagonist of the story, and the series depicts her everyday life as she matures and leaves her sheltered life in small town Louisiana.
She starts the books as a barmaid who is a telepathic; there is also a focus on the everyday life of modern vampires, such creatures having recently "come out of the coffin". Sookie has many experiences with such vampires, as well as others in the supernatural community, including shape-shifters, fairies and werewolves.
In the television show, Sookie is introduced in True Blood as one local resident of the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. She lives with her grandmother, and is in close contact with her brother, Jason Stackhouse, played by Austrailian soap Home and Away's Ryan Kwanten.
Vampires not only exist, but the entire world knows about them, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight causing uproar.
The show details the co-existence of vampires and humans after the Japanese-made synthetic blood called "TruBlood" becomes available for purchase as a substitue for human blood, it becomes possible for humans to share the world with the bloodsuckers. Now that human have been safely removed from the menu, many people remain apprehensive about vampires living amongst them in Louisiana.
Even still, it's no easy thing when Sookie finds herself harboring feelings for the charming undead gentleman named Bill Compton, a dashing 173-year-old vampire living up the road, played by Englishman and Anna Paquin's true life fiancee Stephen Moyer with a convincing southern accent.
Other town residents include Sookie’s best buddy Tara (Rutina Wesley) and her shape-shifting boss Sam (Sam Trammell).
Marketing Campaign
The premiere of True Blood has been prefaced with a viral marketing/ARG campaign, based at BloodCopy.com. This has included setting up multiple websites,
encoding web address into unmarked envelopes mailed to high profile blog writers and others, and even performances by a "vampire" who is attempting to reach out to others of their kind, to discuss the recent creation of "TruBlood", a material apparently pivotal to the initial plot.
Tru Blood Drink
This is the popular drink of vampires on the hit HBO series "True Blood", and due to the vision of the true blood design team and a journey that was in effect well before the premiere of the first season of True Blood, now fans worldwide can be a part of the show by picking up a 2 pound glass of Tru Blood the Drink, it is an exact replication of the drink in the series.
Recent promotions include a music video by rapper Snoop Dogg, declaring his love for the fictional character of Sookie Stackhouse and for the series.
(Snoop Dogg "Oh Sookie" True Blood Music Video)
Character Profiles
Sookie is played by Anna Paquin.
Most of us have wondered what it would be like to possess a superhuman talent such as telepathy. The ability to read minds would have obvious advantages. Detecting lies, dominating the negotiating table, and, for the more sinister among us, exploiting the weaknesses of others for gain - or even sadistic glee - would be easy. But Sookie's not like that.
Sookie Stackhouse's parents died when she was a child, shortly after she realised she had telepathic powers. Her kindly grandmother Adele took care of Sookie and her brother Jason, and Sookie's been living with her ever since.
Sookie spends her days surrounded by simple folk, listening to their simple thoughts. These range from garden-variety neuroses and pointless ponderings to the most deviant of sexual fantasies.
She works for Sam Merlotte at Merlotte's Bar in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana - the gathering place of a thoroughly underwhelming rag-bag bunch.
If drunk, sexually frustrated men seem utterly predictable to the ordinary observer, imagine how mundane their mind-numbing antics appear to a skilled telepath. But to Sookie's credit, she'll always maintain a smile... even if it leaves the unenlightened thinking she's something of a lunatic.
Perhaps it's not surprising that at 25 years old she's still a virgin, her attempts at dating having been nothing short of disastrous.
Despite her frustrations, Sookie is no cold-hearted cynic. She retains a sense of idealism despite her 'curse', sticking up for minorities - such as vampires, like Bill, by refusing to judge an entire community on 'a few bad apples'. Maybe she really is a valiant soul.
Or maybe worrying about such things provides a much-needed distraction from the tedium of daily life as a telepath in a backwater one-horse town...
Bill is played by Stephen Moyer.
What would you do with immortality? Learn to speak every language, play every instrument, or read every great work of literature? You would probably benefit from a distraction or two, given that everybody else would grow old and die around you. Life would be anything but too short. And not too cheerful, either.
Bill Compton is a vampire, and he's 173 years old. His use of immortality hasn't been quite so worthwhile. He's spent a good deal of time listening to music - lots of music - and his latest favourites include Tuvan throat singing and Cambodian disco dancing. Some tastes are so acquired they can take a couple of lifetimes to really take off.
Bill's what's known as a 'mainstreamer', adopting something that vaguely resembles a normal life, dieting on synthetic blood so that he can dwell among humans.
He's the first 'out' vampire to live in Bon Temps, and his arrival hasn't gone unnoticed by the inhabitants - including a certain mind-reading barmaid.
It's no coincidence that Bill moved to Bon Temps. This small, unremarkable town was the home of Bill's family when he was human, all those long years ago.
Perhaps the familiar setting will help him reconnect with his lost humanity... or will the haunting memories of his past life send him deeper into darkness?
Jason is played by Ryan Kwanten.
So you're a young, good-looking guy living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. How do you get your thrills? For Jason Stackhouse the answer is obvious. Sex. With as many women as possible, as often as possible. Who would have thought that such a simple plan could result in so much trouble?
When Jason's not bedding Bon Temps' womenfolk or being interrogated by Andy Bellefleur and Bud Dearbourne, he works in construction - along with Hoyt, Rene and Lafayette. He's not famed for his hard work and dedication.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
Jason is Sookie's brother, and grew up with Sookie and his grandmother.
Having a telepath as a sibling can be exhausting - Jason's pretty good at resisting his sister's mind reading - but he can't keep it up all the time, and he'd sooner she didn't know the secrets to his every lustful craving...
To be fair to Jason, he's not totally obessessed with sex. He's been known to branch out into drugs as well.
Tara is played by Rutina Wesley.
Tara has a hard time at home, and she tends to take it out on her employers, customers and friends. In fact, she'll lay into just about anybody that dares to breathe in her presence... and even the fanged types that don't.
Tara's mother Lettie Mae is an alcoholic, who's stubborn and obstinate at best, and at worst, violent. So Tara tends to spend a lot of time with her best friend Sookie, and flamboyant cousin, Lafayette.
In fact, the longer she can stay out of the house the better.
Her employment record doesn't make for an impressive read, and she's hardly left previous jobs with golden references.
As ungrateful as Tara might seem to boss Sam, her latest position at Merlotte's Bar has been the most fruitful
Tara has been unlucky in love, and for the little good it does her, she carries a torch for Jason Stackhouse. Jason, meanwhile, moves from fling to fling obliviously.
Lafayette is played by Nelsan Ellis.
Lafayette is a jack of all trades - if those trades include cook, drug dealer, porn producer and gay prostitute. And as Tara's loyal cousin, he can add counsellor and part-time landlord to the list.
Lafayette keeps a cool head, rarely rising to jibes about his flamboyant dress sense or homosexuality - but when he does retaliate, he's sharp, to the point, and more than a little bit scary.
His frequent verbal - and sometimes physical - tussles with a trio of Bon Temps' finest homophobes are the talk of Merlotte's Bar... when there hasn't been a murder for while, obviously.
Or when people aren't gossiping about Sookie and Bill. Some people get all the attention.
Never one to miss an opportunity, Lafayette's recent business ventures include dealing 'V' - vampire blood. This is a pretty risky undertaking, not only can it have very painful side effects -
Jason Stackhouse could testify to this - it's highly illegal, and most worryingly of all, vampires don't take too kindly to it being dispensed around the human populace. Not very kindly at all...
Sam is played by Sam Trammell.
Sam Merlotte is in the unenviable position of being in love with a telepath. When the object of your desire is privy to your every carnal longing, scrap of jealous paranoia, and seductive scheme, it does little to enhance that all-important sense of romantic mystery.
So as yet, Sookie hasn't fallen for his charms.
Sam is the owner of Merlotte's Bar in Bon Temps. It may not be the most happening, cultural centre of the universe, but it's the only bar for miles around, which makes it the best bar for miles around. So in a way, people could describe Sam Merlotte as a lynchpin of the local community.
But they don't.
Sam's very wary of vampires, Bill in particular.
While Sookie might be happy to shoot for cheerful co-existence, Sam's not so happy-go-lucky. When vampires first 'came out of the coffin', stockpiling the bar with Tru Blood was low on his priority list.
Eric is played by Alexander Skarsgård.
A vampire's power increases with age. Eric Northman is over 1000 years old, making him one of the most powerful vampires in Louisiana.
Eric is Sheriff of Area 5, acting as arbitrator of vampire disputes within his region. But in the event of serious feuds or severe crimes being committed, even Eric must answer to higher powers...
Eric spends most of his time at his bar, 'Fangtasia', in Shreveport, a short drive from Bon Temps. It is there that he whiles away the nights, assisted by Pam: a loyal vampire progeny of his, whose tongue is as sharp as her fangs.
As a relative youngster, the likes of Bill have little recourse but to defer to Eric's authority.
Any other loyalties must be considered secondary, and that includes Sookie. Rarely does a human spark Eric's interest quite like she does...
Jessica is played by Deborah Ann Woll.
Perhaps there is such a thing as the vampire sense of humour. It entails a cynical delight in chipping away at the holy and the wholesome to expose their twisted cores, revealing the 'pure of mind' as the deviants they are. That and puns, of course.
So come Bill's sentencing at the vampire tribunal, it would be naïve to suppose that the innocent, virginal, teenage church-goer selected by the all-mighty Magister was picked at random.
Jessica Hamby may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she was the right person for the grim task at hand.
It's not all bad though. It actually turns out that life for a 17-year-old girl in a strict, religious Louisianan household wasn't much fun anyway.
At least, not when compared to the blood-draining, power-flaunting nocturnal high life of the undead.
Pam is played by Kristin Bauer.
Once upon a time, the only vampires people knew about were the ones in books and films - the kind that had a flair for the theatrical - they were dramatic, excessive, and utterly convinced of their own superiority. Pam continues that tradition.
Pam was made vampire over a century ago by Eric Northman. Nowadays, she helps Eric run the Fangtasia bar in Shreveport, sometimes working as a bouncer, sometimes taking a managerial role.
Eric, meanwhile, prefers to recline in favourite chair and let Pam keep things ticking over.
In contrast to mainstreamers like Bill, Pam possesses little more than contempt for humans, though she has demonstrated an almost scientific curiosity about Sookie and her powers.
Perhaps Bill's summary of Pam paints the most accurate picture: 'She was turned over 100 years ago, and still treats everyday like it's Halloween.'
Hoyt is played by Jim Parrack.
Hoyt Fortenberry is a rare breed - a genuinely nice guy. It's easy to seem kind and to give the appearance of caring, but in Hoyt's case he really means it. Sookie could testify to this, having read the minds of almost everyone in Bon Temps.
Hoyt is part of the road crew that includes Jason, Rene, and Lafayette. He always puts in an honest day's hard work, which only goes to reveal how lazy Jason can be But Hoyt would never dream of putting his friend in a bad light on purpose, of course.
Unlike Jason, Hoyt's very shy when it comes to women. It might have something to do with his domineering mother Maxine, one of the biggest, nosiest gossips in Bon Temps.
He still lives with her, which probably doesn't do much for his love life.
Arlene is played by Carrie Preston
Arlene Fowler has a kind heart, and is ever the optimist - let's face it, getting married four times isn't the work of cautious cynic now really, is it?
Arlene works as a waitress for Sam at Merlotte's Bar, alongside her good friend Sookie Stackhouse.
Arlene often displays motherly concerns for Sookie - perhaps because Sookie's real mother died when Sookie was still a little girl.
Her concerns can sometimes extend into bigotry, however.
Arlene's not the biggest fan of vampires, and the burgeoning relationship between Bill and Sookie isn't something she approves of.
Arlene has two young children from previous marriages, and she often finds it tricky to juggle her commitments between her kids, her job, and boyfriend Rene. Nonetheless, she remains one of Bon Temps' most high-spirited residents.
Terry is played by Todd Lowe.
A lot of strange and deeply troubling events have taken place in Bon Temps lately. But the things that really scare us - the things that can torment us for a lifetime - don't need to be supernatural. War is terrifying enough.
The Terry Bellefleur that returned to Louisiana after serving in Iraq was a different man to the one that left. Shy and uncomfortable, constantly on the brink of crippling anxiety, Terry displays all the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
That's not to say he doesn't lead a relatively normal life. He still enjoys fishing with his cousin Andy, and from time to time, he helps out at Merlotte's Bar.
Terry's co-workers are very patient and considerate of his condition. Sookie, Sam and Arlene all recognise that Terry has a gentle soul, and consider him a loyal friend.
Andy is played by Chris Bauer.
The taste of satisfaction you might experience from ascending the ranks of your profession isn't quite so sweet when you add small-town mentality into the mix. In fact, it makes for a decidedly bitter flavour.
Andy Bellefleur is a detective - it wasn't an easy journey, and it's a darn sight more respectable than the excuses for 'careers' that your average Bon Temps resident might muster.
But does 'Detective Bellefleur' get the credit he deserves? No. 'Andy' gets little more than casual indifference - usually in the form of condescending town matriarchs who never noticed he grew up. Not even the Sheriff, Bud Dearbourne, treats him as an equal.
Investigating the recent murders in Bon Temps could be the chance for Andy to prove his worth, show his mettle, and teach these backwards folks a thing or two.
And he's not one to join the bandwagon and blindly point fingers at vampires - he's already got a suspect, and a good one at that - in the form of Jason Stackhouse.
