Country of origin United States Original network HBO | No. of episodes 12 | |
Original release September 7 (2008-09-07) – November 23, 2008 (2008-11-23) | ||
The first season of the American television drama series True Blood premiered on September 7, 2008 and concluded on November 23, 2008. It consists of 12 episodes, each running approximately 55 minutes in length and was, for the most part, based on the novel Dead Until Dark, the first entry in The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. The story takes place in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, two years after vampires have made their presence known to mankind, and follows telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she attempts to solve a series of murders that seem to be motivated by a hatred of vampires.
Contents
HBO broadcast the first season on Sunday nights at 9:00 pm in the United States, with a repeat showing at 11:00 pm. The complete first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 19, 2009.
Plot
Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a waitress with telepathic abilities. Stephen Moyer plays her love interest, vampire Bill Compton. Sookie works for Sam Merlotte, played by Sam Trammell, owner of Merlotte's bar and a shapeshifter who has a crush on Sookie. Rutina Wesley plays Sookie's best friend Tara Thornton, begins bartending at Merlotte's after quitting her job at the Super Save-A-Bunch. Also working at Merlotte's are Tara's cousin Lafayette Reynolds, played by Nelsan Ellis, a short order cook and hustler, and Arlene Fowler, played by Carrie Preston. Arlene is a thrice-divorced waitress with two children who, over the course of the season, becomes engaged to Rene Lenier, played by Michael Raymond-James, a Cajun labourer who works on a road crew.
Ryan Kwanten plays Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's brother, a labourer on a road crew and ladies' man. Jason's sexual relations begin to die, one after the other, and he is suspected of being a serial killer. Jim Parrack is Hoyt Fortenberry, Jason's co-worker who admires Jason's abilities with women. Lois Smith plays Adele Stackhouse, Jason and Sookie's grandmother who has looked after them since the deaths of their parents. Lizzy Caplan plays Jason's love interest Amy Burley, who begins a relationship with Jason because of a shared addiction to vampire blood, or "V". They kidnap Eddie Gauthier, played by Stephen Root, to use his blood.
In the vampire community Alexander Skarsgård plays Eric Northman, the Sheriff of Area 5, which includes Bon Temps, and owner of the vampire bar Fangtasia. Working for Eric, both in the bar and under him as Sheriff, are Pam, played by Kristin Bauer, and Chow, played by Patrick Gallagher. The bartender Longshadow, played by Raoul Trujillo, is killed by Bill to protect Sookie. As punishment for killing a fellow vampire and to replenish the vampire ranks, Bill is taken to the Magister, played by Željko Ivanek, and forced to sire Jessica Hamby, played by Deborah Ann Woll. Jessica is cared for by Eric but when he grows tired of her he leaves her with Bill.
In the middle of the season Tara's mother, Lettie Mae, played by Adina Porter, undergoes an exorcism to rid herself of what she terms her "demons" - her addiction to alcohol. The exorcism is administered by "Miss Jeanette" an alias of Nancy LeGuare, played by Aisha Hinds. Following her exorcism Lettie Mae kicks Tara out. Following a crash and DUI, Tara is taken in by Maryann Forrester (who initially presents herself to Tara as some kind of social worker), played by Michelle Forbes. While staying with Maryann, Tara meets "Eggs" Benedict Talley, played by Mehcad Brooks, to whom she feels a strong attraction.
The central mystery of the season begins when Maudette Pickens, played by Danielle Sapia, is killed. William Sanderson plays Sheriff Dearborne, who places his only detective, Andy Bellefleur, played by Chris Bauer, in charge of finding the killer. Bellefleur suspects Jason Stackhouse, and that suspicion grows after the murder of Dawn Green, played by Lynn Collins. Andy's cousin Terry, played by Todd Lowe, works as a cook at Merlotte's.
Other minor characters include Mack and Denise Rattray, played by James Jean Parks and Karina Logue. Bartlett Hale played by Cheyenne Wilbur, Sookie and Jason's pedophile great-uncle. Coroner's assistant Neil Jones played by Kevin Michael McHale, and vampires Malcolm, Liam and Diane played by Andrew Rothenberg, Graham Shiels and Aunjanue Ellis.
The international conflict between vampires and humans is played out in the background, but two minor characters are introduced who become major characters in the second season. Michael McMillian plays Reverend Steve Newlin and Anna Camp plays his wife Sarah. They head the anti-vampire church the Fellowship of the Sun following the death of Steve's father, who was supposedly killed by vampires. A representative of the Fellowship of the Sun approaches Jason Stackhouse while he is in jail in the final episode of the season.
Crew
Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran five seasons. In October 2005, after Six Feet Under's finale, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball became acquainted with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery books. One day, while early for a dentist appointment, Ball was browsing through Barnes & Noble and came across Dead Until Dark, the first installment in Harris' series. Enjoying it, he read the following entries and became interested in "bringing Harris' vision to television". However, Harris had two other adaptation options for the books when Ball approached her. He said she chose to work with him, though, because "[Ball] really 'got' me. That's how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books."
Ball wrote and directed the pilot episode, double Emmy winner Scott Winant, Red Rock West writer/director John Dahl, Heathers director Michael Lehmann, former Deadwood director Daniel Minahan, The Sopranos director Nick Gomez, Pretty Persuasion director Marcos Siega, The Wire director Anthony Hemingway and Six Feet Under co-producer Nancy Oliver directed subsequent episodes, with Ball directing the finale.
Nancy Oliver joined Ball as a producer, in the same role she had on Six Feet Under. Ball wrote the first three episodes with Brian Buckner, Alexander Woo, Raelle Tucker and Chris Offutt writing two episodes a piece, Nancy Oliver wrote and directed the eleventh episode, which marked her debut as a director.
Buckner, Tucker and Woo were also credited as producers, Offutt was executive story editor for this season. Christina Jokanovich was an associate producer and Carol Dunn Trussell the line producer.
Reception
The first season of True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as Big Love which premiered at 4.56 million, and John from Cincinnati which debuted at 3.4 million. However, by late November 2008, 6.8 million a week were watching; this figure includes repeat and on-demand viewings. The season finale's viewership was 2.4 million. True Blood has reportedly become HBO's most popular series since The Sopranos and Sex and the City.
Awards & nominations
The series won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Anna Paquin won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television series - Drama whilst the show was nominated for Best TV series - Drama. It also won best TV show, best horror actor for Stephen Moyer, Best Horror Actress for Anna Paquin & best villain for Alexander Skarsgård at the Scream Awards
United Kingdom
All ratings are taken from the UK Ratings website, BARB.
Season 1 ending credits songs
Songs from the Season 1 ending credits in order by episode number.
- Little Big Town – "Bones"
- Vallejo – "Snake in the Grass"
- Charlie Robison – "Good Times"
- Lynyrd Skynyrd – "That Smell"
- Nathan Barr – "The Cabin"
- Mark Seliger's Rusty Truck – "Cold Ground"
- Cobra Verde – "Play with Fire"
- Eagles of Death Metal – "I Want You So Hard"
- Rufus Thomas – "Walking the Dog"
- Dr. John – "I Don't Wanna Know about Evil"
- Gillian Welch – "Pass You By"
- Crooked Still – "Ain't No Grave"