True Blood is Television at Its Bloody Best.

"Thou Shall Not Crave Thy Neighbour."

True Blood ponders the question: Why do good girls fall for bad boys? Alan Ball is perhaps best known for his originality and aesthetics in writing the Academy-Award-winning screenplay for American Beauty, and for creating the HBO television show Six Feet Under. Based on Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, Ball's new HBO series, True Blood (which recently premiered on HBO on September 7, 2008), is another good reason to own a television these days. Set in Bon Temps, Louisiana, the Southern Vampire television series tells the gothic love story of Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress, who falls in love with the town vampire, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Sookie is a virgin, "cursed" with the ability to hear people's thoughts. Bill is a 173-year-old vampire who, despite his Southern charms, has only one thing on his mind when it comes to Sookie. Meanwhile, as religious leaders and government officials debate the safety issues surrounding the co-existence of vampires and humans, "Bad Things" (as the show's theme song suggests) are happening to the residents of Bon Temps. The show's soundtrack (by Gary Calamar) is equal parts "swampy, bluesy and spooky." Ryan Kwanten plays Sookie's brother, Jason Stackhouse, a sex addict who is also addicted to "V" (vampire blood) for its viagra-ecstasy-like effects. William Sanderson and Chris Bauer play the small town's rather inept investigating law enforcement officers. Much like Six Feet Under, True Blood reveals Alan Ball's genius for original storytelling. True Blood is not only television with fangs, it is television at its bloody best.

12/12/08 Update: True Blood received a Golden Globe nomination this week.