True Blood - in a nutshell - is an American series shown on the HBO channel.  It's currently just started it's second season run (one episode aired so far) having completed it's first season run of 12 episodes in about October/November last year (2008).

The series is about a girl - Sookie Stackhouse - who has the ability to read minds, or rather listen to people's thoughts and her relationship with a vampire and a shape-shifter!  The series is based on a series of book by author Charlaine Harris and is set in Louisiana, US.

This is no ordinary run of the mill tale though! The thing that sets this series apart from anything else (vampire related) is A) It's full of sex B) It's full of Vampires and C) It's full of very good actors!!  Now, I likes a good vampire film or story, but this truly is something else!  Whilst the sex is not gratuitous in any way, it adds to the plots and adds to the general story with humour, sensitivity and candour.  The Vampires are no "standard" Vamps either.  Yes, they're dead and yes, they're blood suckers (with rather cool fangs that "flip down"), but the traditional Holy Water and Silver Cross malarkey doesn't play a part (or hurt the Vampires, actually) and they can even go in Churches.  So this is no ordinary Vampire tale.  The writers even go as far as to mention these things as part of the plots too, mostly in a humourous fashion.

Also humourous at times, is the effect that Vampire blood has on people.  Likened to an addictive Class A drug, the Vampire blood can have different effects on different people, ranging from gentle LSD-style hallucinations, to phalllic torporism.  Funny to wincing in one fail swoop.

What sets this series apart from any other Vampire, or even American, Series is the writing and the acting.  OK, the writing obviously makes for a good yarn, but it's the sheer quality of the acting that absolutley nails it.  The lead actors - Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse and Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton absolutley bring this series to life, however it has to be said that the co-stars really make it just as much as the leads.  It would be a good enough series with just Paquin and Moyer (they really are the most stunning actors!), however the characters brought to life by Rutina Wesley, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammel and all the rest merit just as much praise.  Special mention here to Nelsan Ellis - absolutely hilarious performance from him - the only actor (apparently) that was allowed to improvise in front of the cameras.

Personally, I really have to thank Anna Paquin, William Sanderson (he was in Blade Runner - cult epic!!) Carrie Preston and the rest of the actors.  I was very slowly losing a lot of faith in the ability of actors to actually act!!  Won't go into the names of the other US Series, but I was beginning to think that actors had lost the ability to project atmosphere, the ability to walk and talk at the same time and to characterise.  But here we have a multi-country band of "proper" actors doing "proper" acting!  Would you have known that Stephen Moyer was from Romford, Essex? (UK).  Anna Paquin is stupendous - they're all stupendous, exemplary, outstanding and all the rest of those really good adjectives!

This really is Oscar-Winning telly.