An unusual and unexpected side effect of going back to school is the amount of television I watch.

In my stay-at-home mom life, I rarely watched tv.  In fact, I often went weeks without watching even a few minutes of the news, instead getting most of my information on line.  Don't get me wrong, the tv was almost always on but hearing Nickelodeon in the background hardly qualifies as watching tv.

So why more tv now?  Simple.  Sip and thirst.

Going back to school is like a great drought sweeping across my life drying up all my time.  Yesterday I put the finishing touches on a 66 page statistics paper.  It took me twelve solid hours to edit (three times) and cite it.  And it was only the beginning of the final three weeks of this quarter.

Then there is the time between huge projects, when there are just a couple hundred pages to read, and things aren't as tense.  It's like getting a cool sip of water in the midst of drought.  Unfortunately it doesn't do any practical good.  There isn't enough time to tackle regular household projects.  It is just enough of a breather to gasp, then back under.

It is during these cool sips, these gasps, that I find myself wondering how to fill my hour, my thirty minutes.  My mind is tired so I flip on the tv.

A few years ago I discovered the world of vampires, werewolves, fairy, and other supernatural races in the fiction/science fiction genre.

I love it.  Protagonists can do so much more when they read people's minds, or fly, or insert supernatural ability here.  And the struggle is escalated when the antagonist has the same or even more of those abilities.

With my predilection for this genre you can imagine how happy I was to see a vampire series start on HBO called "True Blood."

I didn't know when I started watching, but the series is based on a books written by a woman named Charlaine Harris.  The reason I was glad to see it on HBO (as opposed to regular tv) is because I knew they could take it places Buffy's PG-13 rating never could go.

I think of Buffy as a tongue in cheek vampire story.  True Blood is grittier, bloodier, and of course there are boobie shots.  The last part doesn't really do much for me, but the first two really make Buffy look childlike in comparison.  

In this series vampires are "out."  Meaning they are no longer hiding and free to be in human society.  A new synthetic blood called TRUE BLOOD was created so they don't have to hunt people anymore.

Of course not all vamps want to mainstream with humans, but some do.

So the show is based on a girl/woman named Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin).  She is from Bon Temps Louisiana (read small small southern town).  She waits tables for a living, lives with her grandma (who is murdered by a serial killer in the first season) and has an older brother named Jason who is a total slut.

Sookie can hear other people's thoughts.  This made her a little weird growing up.  And dating was pretty much out of the question.  She can usually keep herself from hearing, but it takes work.  She's naive, wears really tight or cutesy clothes, and is a bit snooty to humans but ends up dating a vampire named Bill.  (Mostly because she can't read his thoughts and its a relief.)

I will say right now, the actress playing Sookie is talented but I personally can't get past the gap between her front teeth.  I know some people think gaps are sexy, Madonna has a gap, but (and I am showing my bias here) the only people I ever knew in life with a gap that big between their front teeth rode the short bus.  So whenever she opens her mouth I see, well, the short bus.

The other characters in the show, like her mouthy black best friend Tara Thornton (played by Rutina Wesley) and the black homosexual short order cook Lafeyette Reynolds (played by Nelsan Ellis) really make the show awesome to watch.  Tara's mom is an alcoholic and last week she went to a Voo Doo Dr to get rid of a demon...ah, but I don't want to give it away. hahaha

Sookie and best friend Tara at the bar where Sookie waits tables:

Here is my problem with the show (besides Sookie's short bus smile).  Sookie's love interest, the vampire Bill, is well, ICKY.  The whole point of this genre is to make the supernatural races MORE.  Faster, smarter, more viscous, more sex, more handsome, just MORE!

Since they chose to make Bill (who was bitten by a vamp and became a vamp shortly after the civil war) the "love interest", he should be a least a little HANDSOME.

Instead he has a little bit of a gut, ugly hair (though they do try to spiff it up occasionally) and IS NOT HANDSOME!  In fact he reminds me of ear hair, too long nose hairs, and old man legs in tube socks.  I don't know why, it just IS.

Here is Bill the vamp.

They also cast the wrong actor for the shifter Sam.  He owns the bar where Sookie works.  No one knows he's a shifter yet.  There are shifters and fairies and all sorts of weird things in hiding, only the vamps are out.  I know this from the books which I haven't read but have found snippets on line.  Anyway, shifters are supposed to be hot and strong and well, not some backwoods weak redneck looking dude, shesh, don't they READ THESE BOOKS?  Though I will say he would be handsome with a haircut and some nicer clothes, but he's still too small a guy for the role.

SAM:

When Sookie slept with Bill I gagged, and luckily was able to fast forward it.  Short bus smile and ear hair vamp sucking face and grunting.  ~shivers~ 

BUT ALAS!  All is not lost.  Why?  One word my friends, ERIC.  Now he is the kind of vampire I have come to read and love.  A one time Viking, aggressive, sneaky, dominant predator, superalpha male, WHOA!  Yum.  Yum.  He owns a vamp club and is the "Sheriff" of area 5 (read strong vamp).  And played by a honest to goodness Northsman!

And Sookie with the short bus smile, gives him a hard time and acts like she's better than he is because she's sleeping with old tube sock and nose hair vamp.  ~Gag~

I won't be disappointed when Sookie dumps Bill or visa versa.  Whatever, just move on sister!  (My weak stomach can't take much more of the pawing and breathing and well, grossness of it all.)

So I went in search of the books and discovered Sookie is basically just a tease when it comes to interaction with Eric.  She ends up with just about every other "super" thing out there (she has fairy blood in the books and that makes her irresistible to alpha males, yeah right, I think its the short bus smile. Heh.)  But poor handsome BAD BOY Eric gets nadda.

Maybe Eric will be so popular on HBO they will re-write the books a bit and give him more air time.  ~crossing fingers~  OR hell, just give him his own show...and calendar...and house next to mine, and, yeah its like that.  hahahaha.

If not, I like the other characters enough to keep watching for awhile.  The way small town Louisiana is incorporated into the show, the drug use (V is a drug, its vamp blood and just a little makes humans well, watch the show!) haha  

If you get a chance to watch it, let me know what you think.