"True Blood" reveals meat amid all the fangs, gore

Really good article from the Denver Post

My tastes usually run to the living.

When "True Blood" premiered on HBO last September, it struck me as too fantastical to appeal as serious drama, too awash in gushing blood to entice week to week. I was at best lukewarm to vampire stories other than those involving Buffy slayage.

But "True Blood's" humor won me over, its excessive blood lust a minor point en route to its knowing social commentary.

There are easier, less-violent shows on cable this summer. But easier isn't the answer.

Now that it's got the summer to itself, "True Blood" is looking better and better, and gaining traction with viewers. Apparently more viewers are giving it another shot in the months when there are fewer quality dramatic distractions.

And the series, with new episodes Sundays at 7 p.m. on HBO, is as funny and as unapologetically bloody as ever.

The hour delivers satisfying comedy and witty social satire — along with the requisite grit, gore, fantasy and, not least, the boundary-pushing sexuality promised by the premium channel.

Beyond the fangs, which click into place over the actors' teeth with the goofy thrill of a cheap effect when a vamp is overcome by blood thirst, this is thoughtful small-screen filmmaking. Now and then the silliness of the fangs gimmick jolts your awareness that this is a real genre piece. Creator Alan Ball calls it "popcorn TV for smart people."

The story lines of "True Blood" are rife with allusions to teenage mood swings and impulse control, adult hedonism, religious compulsion, cross- cultural romance and intermarriage — of the inter-species kind.

On the surface, the action may specifically concern shape-shifters who turn from human to canine form, and undead bloodsuckers who avoid daylight and can move at supersonic speed. But going deeper, it is more generally a study of subcultures, discrimination and timeless romance.

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