I am surprised to find myself disappointed in HBO for messing up a series of books I am not incredibly impressed with anyway. Hmm.

I am talking about the HBO series True Blood, based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. I started reading the books on the recommendation of a close friend, and also on curiosity about a series containing one of my favorite subjects: vampires.

That's not to say that I am vampire-obsessed or anything like that. I'm certainly not, in Harris' terms, a fangbanger. But I've always liked vampires. I love Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and one of my favorite movies is The Lost Boys. Vampires have been quite romanticized in popular culture over the years, for whatever reason. Tough and dangerous, yet vulnerable; I think the appeal is that a vampire seems to be the ultimate in bad boy/girl. Girls love the bad boys, right? Especially the ones who have a sensitive side. And guys love the girls who are a little bit naughty. So we have a deluge of vampires in entertainment today.

I have yet to find any vampire stories I like as much as Anne Rice's books. Charlie Huston has been the most entertaining author I've read so far, with his Joe Pitt series, kind of a cross between vampires and crime noir. I also have enjoyed the House of Night books by PC and Kristin Cast. While the stories are definitely aimed at teenagers, specifically teenage girls, there is a depth to the stories and an inclusion of various mythologies and legends that adds a lot more interest to the series. I did read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, although I really wasn't impressed. The stories are VERY "13-year-old-girl-ish", meaning all the cliches about romance, relationships, teenage perceptions, and vampires are all present in abundance. I mean, who else would appreciate that vampires, classically believed to be dangerous blood-sucking fiends, are also *sparkly*? Yikes.

Anyway, I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books because one of my best friends swears by them as her one naughty little indulgence. The stories are pretty interesting, for the most part. The main character, Sookie, is a telepathic human. She is looked at as a weirdo by the other humans she's around. Being different, she ends up finding herself much more at home around "supes", that is, supernatural beings, such as vampires, Werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, fairies, and demons. There are always some interesting mysteries in each story, involving Sookie, her brother, her friends, and her relationships with the supes. While the subject matter is pretty good, the writing style is pretty vanilla. The big draw, at least for my friend (a single mother), is the sex. Harris throws in some naughty little scenes to appeal to her target audience, probably middle-aged women who need a little naughtiness in their lives. Anyway, there is enough sex in the books to have caught the attention of HBO executives, who are known for providing naughtiness for millions of cable subscribers.

So HBO took the Sookie Stackhouse novels and adapted them into a series called True Blood, named after a brand of synthetic blood the vampires drink in the novels. Anna Paquin (for me eternally Rogue in the X-Men movies) plays Sookie. And I have to say, bless her heart, she just isn't a very good actress. Her Southern accent doesn't impress me, and she spends a lot of time staring round-eyed at the other characters and looking confused. The other actors and actresses who play the other characters aren't much better. And none of them look quite as I had pictured in my head (I hate that). Plus, they made some changes to the original storylines, which I'm sure seemed like a good idea to the HBO people, and probably made filming a little easier, but it bothers me when the events I expect get changed. And most annoying of all, they felt it necessary, as with every HBO series, to ramp up the sex. I really don't need or appreciate graphic sex scenes, but HBO put them in every episode. Meh.

I'll probably finish out the series, or at least the season, mostly because I hate starting a series and not finishing it. But I'm pretty disappointed. At least I have real TV shows like 24 and Heroes to keep my entertained.