Reader’s Corner: HBO’s True Blood (Sookie Stackhouse Series): So What’s the Verdict?

by Avid Reader on November 24, 2008

in Avid Musings

I have refrained from watch­ing HBO’s True Blood, the Sookie Stack­house series that was adapted to tele­vi­sion by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) and directly inspired by the nov­els writ­ten by Char­laine Har­ris because I have not fin­ish read­ing the series yet. How­ever, my mother and sis­ter are addicted to the show.

As for the TV show, she and I both don’t like the char­ac­ter who plays Eric and thought Sam’s char­ac­ter should have been some­one a bit older. So, fans, what say you? How have you enjoyed the series thus far? It seems that True Blood has become a hit with fans and look­ing over my stats, reviews of Dead Until Dark is a pop­u­lar post here at my blog as well as Liv­ing Dead in Dal­las. So share your likes or dis­likes about the show now that the sea­son is over. I’m curi­ous. I may watch it after I fin­ish read­ing the series. Maybe.

For Fur­ther Reading

{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

mechelle August 19, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Jill D.: I have only read the first book in the series. Keis­hon, you don’t really need to read the whole series to watch the first episode. The first episode ends where the first book ends. There are quite a few dif­fer­ences between the book and the TV show, but the basic plot says the same. I have enjoyed both the book and the TV show, but for dif­fer­ent rea­sons. The book is nar­rated by Sookie, so every­thing that hap­pens is told solely through her eyes. Sookie becomes very near and dear to the read­ers heart. With the TV show it’s a lot dif­fer­ent because the story is no longer told through just Sookie’s eyes and more empha­sis is placed on the other char­ac­ters. I found this to be a good thing for the TV show, espe­cially with the addi­tion of Tara and Lafayette’s characters. As far as the act­ing goes, I like Anna and Steven as Sookie and Bill. Steven’s accent doesn’t bother me, I actu­ally enjoy the way he talks. So far for me the actor play­ing Eric seems the least suited for the role. It’s not so much his looks, but more his per­son­al­ity that doesn’t work for me. Of course, every­one will have var­ing opin­ions on whether the actors are suited to play the characters. Over­all, I really like Alan Ball’s vision for True Blood. There are so many sub­tle nuances and humor that I think a per­son would have to watch each episode more than once to catch every­thing. Any­way, sorry this was so long winded

well in the book tara and lafeyette dont know each other.. tara is a store owner and lafeyette works with sookie… i love lafeyette in the hbo series to bad their going to kill him off

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mechelle August 19, 2009 at 7:43 pm

i love the hbo series… so i thought if the series is this good the books must be bet­ter. to my sur­prise the hbo series changes alot of things in the book adding char­ac­ters and mix­ing the sceens up.…characters like eric(the needy vam­pire sherif) keep u so inter­ested in both the books and the series while sookie(main char­ac­ter) seems to be clue­less on whats going on around her… and bill(sookie’s vam­pire bf) turns out to be a totally evolv­ing into some­one sookie might not want to know in the end.… i am still read­ing the book series.. so i will see how that turns out.

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Avid Reader July 1, 2009 at 8:26 am

I just never caught onto the series and YES, I have noticed that the plots on the show are inde­pen­dent of the book. Maybe that’s a good thing.

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Lexi June 30, 2009 at 7:44 pm

I have read the whole series and I’m dis­a­pointed in how the series is pant­ing out. It’s loosely based on the books this (sec­ond) sea­son. They have changed the char­ac­ters around and added plots where there were none before. On the other hand, I know fans who have read the books and are delighted with how the series is turn­ing out because they don’t “know” what is going to hap­pen next.

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Kipeep June 22, 2009 at 6:24 pm

I have only seen the HBO series, and just recently heard about the Sookie series. I just wanted to get everyone’s opin­ion. Since I have seen the series, will that ruin the book series for me? Is it dif­fer­ent enough to still be good? Will watch­ing the series give away parts of the book?

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Avid Reader December 3, 2008 at 9:58 am

@Jill D — I watched the first episode last night. In fact the first two and then went to go read. I don’t know. I didn’t feel the need to watch more. {she said duck­ing } The act­ing is ho-hum for me and the guy who plays Bill is alright I guess. I was watch­ing it last night and going why is this so addic­tive? I haven’t got the bug yet that has bit many of you thus far. The char­ac­ter of Tara — her voice dri­ves me crazy and Jason, didn’t real­ize he was such a slut. I think Alan Ball amped up that aspect of his char­ac­ter big time. I’m def. stick­ing with the books. The show has to grow on you and open­ing cred­its — don’t like that either.

@Vanessa — almost all of Harris’s books are dig­i­tal so I do have ‘Grave Sight’ and you’re right the story was very slow-going but I remem­ber being excited to read it at the time. There are just soooo many books to read and maybe I’ll get to it one day.

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Jaq December 2, 2008 at 7:29 pm

I just found GRAVE SIGHT on the reminder table at the book­store! lol. I just need the last book to fin­ish the tril­ogy. I want to see the H/h get together and just admit that they love each other in more than a brotherly/sisterly way (when they were in their teens they’re par­ents got mar­ried and they became step-siblings.)

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Jill D. December 2, 2008 at 3:41 pm

I have only read the first book in the series. Keis­hon, you don’t really need to read the whole series to watch the first episode. The first episode ends where the first book ends. There are quite a few dif­fer­ences between the book and the TV show, but the basic plot says the same.

I have enjoyed both the book and the TV show, but for dif­fer­ent rea­sons. The book is nar­rated by Sookie, so every­thing that hap­pens is told solely through her eyes. Sookie becomes very near and dear to the read­ers heart.

With the TV show it’s a lot dif­fer­ent because the story is no longer told through just Sookie’s eyes and more empha­sis is placed on the other char­ac­ters. I found this to be a good thing for the TV show, espe­cially with the addi­tion of Tara and Lafayette’s characters.

As far as the act­ing goes, I like Anna and Steven as Sookie and Bill. Steven’s accent doesn’t bother me, I actu­ally enjoy the way he talks. So far for me the actor play­ing Eric seems the least suited for the role. It’s not so much his looks, but more his per­son­al­ity that doesn’t work for me. Of course, every­one will have var­ing opin­ions on whether the actors are suited to play the characters.

Over­all, I really like Alan Ball’s vision for True Blood. There are so many sub­tle nuances and humor that I think a per­son would have to watch each episode more than once to catch every­thing. Any­way, sorry this was so long winded :)

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Alyssa December 1, 2008 at 5:50 pm

I watched the first six or seven episodes, then just got too busy. I’m sure I’ll catch the rest some­time. I hope I like Eric–I’ve only seen him a lit­tle so far, and he’s one of my favorite char­ac­ters in the books.

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tami November 30, 2008 at 8:45 pm

i dont think of it as sook­ies show, it is to me, jason;s show, and sookie is just a walk on . i was really dis­ap­pointee they didnt keep to the books, bur i do watch and like i said, i think of it as noth­ing to do with books show

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vanessa jaye November 30, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Keis­hon, I think the rea­son you put down Grave Sur­prise, is the rea­son I found it flawed. It was kinda bor­ing on one hand, but on the othr I was very intrigued by the main char­ac­ters and Har­ris has a way of writ­ing that just pulls you along.

One of these days, you’ll watch the show, and I’ll rea the books, and we’ll com­pare notes. It might be eas­ier for me though because I’ve already pre­pared myself by think­ing they’re two sep­a­rate sto­ries with some char­ac­ters in com­mon. ;-)

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Avid Reader November 29, 2008 at 7:31 pm

@Chelle — thanks for pro­vid­ing feed­back on the show! Appre­ci­ate it.
@Vanessa Jaye — I have GRAVE SUPRISE in my moun­tain of books. I remem­ber read­ing it a long time ago but I put it down for some odd rea­son. Hey, the way you feel about the TV show is how I feel about the books except it’s the reverse for me! *g*

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vanessa jaye November 29, 2008 at 2:52 pm

Keis­hon I recently read Har­ris’ GRAVE SURPRISE (I think it’s part of a tril­ogy, and I want to grab the other books). Why the book had flaws, I really enjoy the author’s voice, so I’m sure you’re right about being hooked on the Sookie books.

Still, I love the show so much I’m not will­ing to take that chance of spoil­ing that by read­ing the books at this point. :)

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Chelle November 28, 2008 at 4:18 pm

I have not fin­ished the book series, but I really enjoyed the first cou­ple I read. I had no idea there was as TV series now. So glad you posted about it! I love the way Har­ris com­bines humor and fan­tasy in the novels–wonder how that trans­lates to TV?

I first bought the books because I am very famil­iar with Sookie’s ter­ri­tory. For me the set­ting is an inte­gral part of the story, so I hope the series is set in Arkansas/Texas.

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G November 28, 2008 at 1:48 am

Fist– what a great blog re-model. I read you in a reader so this is the first time I have actu­ally vis­ited in ages and I just love it!
Then, True Blood. I think it’s great. I read Char­laine Har­ris years ago and in a dif­fer­ent coun­try (where her books are still in stor­age) and I am very happy with the adap­ta­tion and with the series. HBO does it right. I am miss­ing the Tanya Huff series that was can­celled and Moon­light and this was a won­der­ful “replace­ment” for them, done with a full bud­get.
And I like the actors.

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Avid Reader November 27, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Thanks for the feed­back, guys. Here are my thoughts:

First, I can’t _remember_ Tara from the three books I’ve read thus far. Lafayette I remem­ber well even though his role is some­what minor in the books and another thing is — will Alan Ball con­tinue his char­ac­ter despite his fate in the series? We’ll have to see.

@Vanessa Jaye — bet you any amount of money that if you read the first book in the series you’ll be hooked.

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vanessa jaye November 26, 2008 at 7:57 pm

I Love This Series.

But I couldn’t tell you why. I love the char­ac­ters and their inter­ac­tions, and the var­i­ous keep me intrigue, there’s noth­ing *obvi­ous* about them (I haven’t read the books, but I’ve got the first 2 or 3 buried in the tbr pile somewhere).

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Ladybug November 25, 2008 at 1:45 pm

I have not read the first books in this series, but the later books that I read are ter­rific. The books are well written.

I have been watch­ing the tv series and I find it “inter­est­ing”. I think I have got­ten use to the Anna Paquin play­ing Sokie and Stephen Moyer play­ing Bill. But Moyer need to either work with a dialect coach or drop the accent.
My vision of Eric from read­ing the True Blood Stack­house series is some­one who is beyond hand­some, some­one like (excuse me) Fabio, but not as buff. I cringed and shriek from dis­ap­point­ment every­time Eric appears on screen.

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Sandy (Strlady) November 25, 2008 at 9:56 am

The show has an addict­ing nature even if you don’t like it (like me). I think the cast­ing was ter­ri­ble. I love Anna Paquin but she seems so fake on the show. I know it might be hard to get into the role but she should have that down pat since she has done para­nor­mal in the X-Men series. Tara has such a large role in the series while I really didn’t notice her much in the first two books (what I have read of the books so far). Jason and Sam where well cast and have done a good job so far. I would have gone another route with Bill, Eric and the female vam­pire from the club (she seems too old for the role).
Another thing that gets to me are the funky fangs they use. They look quite cheesy. There have been many vam­pire shows out there that cxould be used as good role mod­els for the cos­tume dept — you would think that they would push those fangs fur­ther to the side of their mouth instead of them seem­ing like buck teeth pop­ping out.
The sto­ry­line itself varies. Some­times the whole episode is naked peo­ple run­ning around, other times you have a few halu­ci­na­tions thrown in for vari­ety sake.
With all the crit­i­cism I laid out, I still tune in and watch. I tell you it has some weird addict­ing qual­ity that makes you turn to watch.
Oh, I will say some­thing pos­i­tive… It does gore well. Very bloody on occasion.

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jmc November 25, 2008 at 9:35 am

I liked how they stuck fairly closely to the book for the first 2/3 of the sea­son, but not so much how they veered off toward the end — some scenes were changed, some cre­ated, some pulled from later books. The actor play­ing Bill does a very hit or miss south­ern accent; I wish he’d just stop. Although Tara is com­pletely dif­fer­ent from the book ver­sion, I find her char­ac­ter inter­est­ing. Same with Lafayette.

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