I know, I know; I’m a little damned late (only 9 years!) with this but it wasn’t available to me when it was on. I’ve been semi- binging for the last couple of weekends and after 4 seasons I still don’t quite know what to make of it. I know it was created by Alan Ball of the fabulous Six Feet Under, and I know the source material is a series of YA books, and the result to me is exactly as incongruous as you’d expect.
I have a ton of questions and comments but I don’t expect anyone to rehash a nine year old show (unless they want to! )but the main one is What is it supposed to be and to whom is it targeted? I remember it being hugely popular and I now wish I had read those many articles about it at the time. Was there a lot of middle age folks like myself tuning in each week FOR NINE YEARS? Was it on a par with Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Because I can see the similarities but I get a completely different vibe.
Obviously something is making me continue to watch (and its name is Alexander Skarsgard)though there are times when the story doesn’t interest me and it’s just on in the background (like the stupid story with Marnie and the witches. Hated her and that whole arc) yet other times I’m mesmerized. I guess I’m jut trying to get an idea of how it was thought of when it was originally aired and if I’m missing something.
I watched the whole thing, but there were definitely some stupid seasons (the fairy-centric season was the worst imo). The ending was awful.
I liked that the vampires better fit my idea of what a vampire should be, and the premise of Vampires being out to the public. That’s a neat idea. The Originals doesn’t have that, but I still like it better.
Heh, I laugh when one of the characters comments on how Sookie always escapes unscathed and what a pain in the ass she is. I would have cut her loose a long time ago.
I agree that it’s not directed at teenage girls, yet it’s just childish / teen angsty enough to make me wonder. It’s not* quite* satire yet the premise is too ridiculous to be taken seriously, yet sometimes it seems like we’re meant to.
It’s the kind of show I watch and think “this is meant to be watched stoned”.
Yes exactly. It’s one of those shows that I’m not sure if they are trying to be funny, but they are funny.
One of my favorite one liners: Werewolf girl had just made friend with a bunch of other werewolf girls. Later on that night, she remarked to her boyfriend: “Those are some cool bitches!” (Or something like that) It took a second for that to sink in, but once it did, I LOL’d.
Also that guy with the overbearing mother and the redhead vampire GF (It’s been a while, I forget the names), that whole mess was a riot.
Your mistake, I believe, is in preconceiving it to be based on “a series of YA books”–it isn’t. The Southern Vampire Mystery series is urban fantasy/paranormal romance, but not YA books, they are AA books. They are typical of the genre–female protagonist who is a bit of an outcast discovers that she is Someone Special and gains the affections of various supernatural beings. (Of course, Sookie knew that she was Someone Special from the beginning, with the telepathy, but in one of the later books/seasons she discovers why.) I binge-read all 13 books on a whim over a 2 or 3 week period after watching a couple of seasons of the show–they are a quick, light read but never were targeted at teens.
Sorry if it’s obvious, but what are AA books? After watching the first couple eps I asked the friend who recommended it to me (and who has read the books)if it was based on a YA series and she said it is so I took her word for it. I said in my OP that I knew it was based on YA books but in fact I came to that(apparently false) conclusion after watching it. It may not officially be cataloged that way but I’m not really seeing a distinction.
Definitely targeted to adults, straight and gay. There are moments of horror and hilarity, mixed, that are both hair-raising and funny. Example: Eric has some ‘bad humans’ chained up in his basement. One of them starts mouthing off, and he comes storming down the stairs, rips off the guy’s arm, and beats him to death with it! All the while, wearing a pink plastic hairdresser’s cape, and with foils in his hair, to give him blond highlights! … Like, should I laugh or what???..The last season was absolutely terrible, a very disappointing ending, but I couldn’t NOT watch to the bitter end.
Fair enough;I appreciate the explanation. Let’s just say it feels to me personally as more of something that would appeal to young adults. Obviously I’m enjoying it too but perhaps not in the spirit intended (or maybe I am. Like I said, I don’t know exactly what they’re going for )
I think the books are better than the tv show by a large amount. Even in the books I would stop reading Book 10 or 11. I can pin that down if you really want to given it a go. (The author is widely considered to have been pressured into adding an extra 2-3 books in the series due to its popularity, and then placed the characters into a hugely unpopular ending to get everyone to stop bothering her.)
I didn’t watch it when it aired but watched it recently. I enjoyed it, even though it was uneven and had some bad elements. I think if I had been watching in real time the lows would have felt lower because I would have had to wait a year between seasons, but all I had to do recently was click next on hbo go.
I have the first book but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet because I keep picking up something else. I hope it’s good because the last premium tv show based on a book that I read was Dexter, and that book series took a steeper nosedive than the final season or two of TB.
I have the first and third seasons on DVD, which are probably my favorites of the series. I liked the Maenad and Godric parts of season 2 but hated the Fellowship of the Sun stuff. I thought the series continued to decline after season 3 to the point where I watched the seasons (except for the last, after Alan Ball left, and which I heard was terrible) but didn’t find them to be all that great or memorable. The actors are all pretty great, but the scripts and storylines just weren’t doing anything for me.
I read the first book of the series and I thought it was interesting but I’ll never read another.
Watching the villains in the first episode of the TV series just made me queasy, so I never watched it again.
I hope it is not a thread shit to note that I read the first four or so and felt they declined steadily in quality. I often compare them to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. IMHO both started out as workmanlike, but sorta cliched urban fantasy centering on a Mary Sue( Sookie Stackhouse ) and a Gary Stu( Harry Dresden ). But again IMO they went on different trajectories - the Dresden books held serve for about 3 books and then started to improve steadily, the Stackhouse books nosedived pretty quickly I thought.
Horses for courses of course. I watched the first season of the TV show and found it entertaining in an over the top sort of way, but couldn’t maintain interest into the second.
)but the main one is What is it supposed to be and to whom is it targeted? I remember it being hugely popular and I now wish I had read those many articles about it at the time. Was there a lot of middle age folks like myself tuning in each week FOR NINE YEARS? Was it on a par with Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Because I can see the similarities but I get a completely different vibe.
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