HBO Orders Second Season Of "True Blood"



Anna Paquin's all growed up. (image via blog.cleveland.com)

Are we the only ones who find HBO's True Blood utterly fascinating? And, we cannot fail to note, how distracting are Anna Paquin's perky breasts on that show (Sookie "Stack"house, indeed). Sending up the claustrophobic xenophobia of the Old South, True Blood is an eccentric mix of several genres -- sci-fi, soap opera serial, Southern gothic, mystery, porn -- that against all odds works. Instead of black people, there is out and out bigotry towards Vampires, who live in large spooky, rambling antebellum houses and have fought in the Civil War.

True Blood's vampires, working against type, are immortal but not amped-up Marvel comic superheros (Howard Stern last week called one a "pussy"); rather they are vulnerable, misunderstood minorities that have nultidimesional personalities and are not above worrying about whether or not to kiss the people they love. The cast is young and hot and mulitculti and did we mention there was a lot of sex? And, best of all, there will be more of True Blood, from TheHollywoodReporter:

"HBO is ordering a second season of new series "True Blood" after just two episodes.

"The series, which follows the adventures of vampires in New Orleans, will go back into production early next year in anticipation of a new batch of episodes for the summer of 2009.

"While the premiere episode of the series received a modest audience, HBO cited an 'unprecedented' 24% increase in viewers for the second installment. In addition, the 'Blood' premiere drew 4 million when additional runs of the that episode were tallied.

"'We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced 'True Blood,' said Michael Lombardo, president of programming group and West Coast operations at HBO. 'Alan Ball has done it again--made an addictive series that is unlike any other."

More here.