True Blood: The Complete First Season

Love, death and God: You know it’s got to be the South, where the women are hot and the vampires are cold. True Blood brings Charlaine Harris’ vampire detective novels to life with some added twists, since the creators of the HBO series threw in a few extra characters and plot turns. The books are good; the TV series is better, if only because blood shows up so well in hi-def. True Blood’s alternate take on contemporary Louisiana includes vampires who, with the introduction of synthetic blood, have “come out of the coffin” and are living openly among humans. It also turns out that vamp blood—“V” on the street—has an amazingly addictive effect on humans. Enter Sookie Stackhouse, a shy and delectable mind reader, who falls in love with 163-year-old vamp Bill Compton. Compton’s tall, dark and newly returned to their small town to try “mainstreaming” with the living. Then the murders start, and Sookie’s brother is the prime suspect. True Blood is a keeper.