True Blood (TV Series)
From Iwe
True Blood is an American dark fantasy horror television series produced and created by Alan Ball and based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of novels by Charlaine Harris.
The series revolves around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress living in the rural town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Two years after the invention of a synthetic blood branded “Tru Blood,” vampires are able to "come out of the coffin" and allow their presence to be known to mankind. Now they are struggling for equal rights and assimilation, while anti-vampire organizations begin to gain power. Sookie's world is turned upside down when she falls in love with 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and for the first time must navigate the trials, tribulations, and terrors of intimacy and relationships.
The show was broadcast on the premium cable network HBO, in the United States, and was produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment. The series premiered on September 7, 2008 and concluded on August 24, 2014, comprising seven seasons and 80 episodes. The first five seasons received highly positive reviews, and both nominations and wins for several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
Contents |
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 12 | September 7, 2008 | November 23, 2008 | |
| 2 | 12 | June 14, 2009 | September 13, 2009 | |
| 3 | 12 | June 13, 2010 | September 12, 2010 | |
| 4 | 12 | June 26, 2011 | September 11, 2011 | |
| 5 | 12 | June 10, 2012 | August 26, 2012 | |
| 6 | 10 | June 16, 2013 | August 18, 2013 | |
| 7 | 10 | June 22, 2014 | August 24, 2014 | |
Production
Development history
Title sequence
Music
Marketing
Comparisons to LGBT rights
Cast and characters
- Main article: List of True Blood characters
True Blood employs a broad ensemble cast composed of regular, central characters and a rotating group of impermanent supporting characters. Though the series is based in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, a noticeable number of the actors comprising the cast are originally from outside the United States. In an interview, Ball explained that he didn't intentionally seek out "non-American" actors, but was willing to go anywhere he needed to in order "to find the actor who makes the character breathe". Ball went on to explain that, in casting, there was more of a focus on who would portray the character in a compelling way rather than who would physically resemble the characters from the book. Noting that there's a definite difference between the characters and storylines portrayed in True Blood and the ones depicted in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, he described Harris as being very understanding in terms of how her work was being reinterpreted.
Main
Ensemble cast
Season synopsis
- Main article: List of True Blood episodes
Season 1 (2008)
- Main article: True Blood (season 1)
Season 2 (2009)
- Main article: True Blood (season 2)
Season 3 (2010)
- Main article: True Blood (season 3)
Season 4 (2011)
- Main article: True Blood (season 4)
Season 5 (2012)
- Main article: True Blood (season 5)
Season 6 (2013)
- Main article: True Blood (season 6)
Season 7 (2014)
- Main article: True Blood (season 7)
Reception
Critical reception
Cultural influence
Ratings
U.S. Nielsen ratings
| Season | Timeslot (ET/PT) | # Ep. | Premiere | Finale | Aired | Viewers (in millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Premiere Viewers (in millions) | Date | Finale Viewers (in millions) | |||||
