Issues with "True Blood" - Free Evil Faery Anthology - "Supernatural" Thursday

Carolyn Cane is having a lively discussion at The Trillionth Page about Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series vs. "True Blood," directed by Alan Ball. "To Mark and me, Alan Ball deciding not to taint himself by watching Buffy is like a writer saying she wants to write a great classic novel, but not wanting to taint herself by reading Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Jane Austen, Graham Greene, etc. In fact, that's barely a metaphor--it's exactly what Joss Whedon is to TV."

I really like the Southern Vampire books, but I was predisposed to dislike the TV series because: 1) I've disliked everything else Alan Ball has done; 2) he had a snotty "Buffy, who?" attitude that I found ignorant and disrespectful of Joss Whedon's amazing and smart series; 3) the casting was so off, from bleached out Anna Paquin as Sookie to the lack of authentic Southerners; and 4) Ball discussed his decision to crank up violence and graphic sex to draw in a male audience, not because it served or advanced the story.

But I tried to watch the show anyway. I tried a few times. The cheeze factor is ridiculous. Bad make-up, bad accents, bad set design, corny dialogue, strange casting choices. I think it's okay to remake something as your own. However, one hopes that you can be as good as the original, or improve upon it, not that you will use it just to get an audience base and warp it completely. Why not, then, just start with a new concept?

But that's just me -- so don't leave an angry comment. I know my tastes are specific. Everyone else loved Alan Ball's "Six Feet Under" and "American Beauty." Me, I'll stick to Charlaine Harris's novels where I can really imagine a small Southern town infested with paranormals.

Fans of the series may be interested in an interview with Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill Compton in "True Blood." "Well, the character I played in Ultraviolet loved being a vampire and the character this time is somebody who struggles with it. He struggles with the fact that he has to feed on humans. He's trying to live a decent life and is very conflicted and tortured which is great fun to play." (BBC News)

Read about Annette McCleave's new novel, Drawn Into Darkness, and enter a contest to win a copy. "The hero Lachlan starts off the story in the guise of a priest. Yup, black suit, white collar, and big silver cross around his neck. Now, he’s not actually a priest, but the heroine Rachel doesn’t know that." (Yankee Book Reviews)


What do you do if you like terrifying faeries AND free reads? As part of a Halloween celebration, Juno Books' is offering a free ebook, Scary Faeries: Four Fearful Tales of the Fey.


"SUPERNATURAL" THURSDAY


I don't know if I'm terrified or delighted that Paris Hilton will be on "Supernatural" tonight. I'm definitely intrigued. John Kubincek at Buddy TV has a list of demands for this episode, and #1 is that Hilton says, "That's hot." "This is essentially Paris Hilton's catchphrase, so I definitely expect to hear these two words come from her mouth. Bonus points if Dean says it."

Eric Kripke, the show's creator, says that Hilton plays "a monster who takes the form of Paris Hilton… It’s a fun, irreverent episode about modern celebrity. [Fans] should withhold judgment until they see it.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Here's a clip from tonight's show. "Super famous, super crazy ghosts killing their super fans." Sounds super!




GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

This is all angsty, not my usual thing, but you may like it.



This is more to my taste.



I'm sure Alex O'Loughlin fans will be happy that the actor who played Mick St. John on "Moonlight" is back in a new series, "Three Rivers." Here's a video you'll enjoy, but it's got some R-rated scenes and I don't know what offends people or not, so you can see it on YouTube.