True Blood

The new season of HBO's series, True Blood, has finally begun. I love this show so much I'm not sure if I can adequately express it. I will try nonetheless. For those of you who are uninitiated, I will introduce you to some of the denizens of Bon Temps.

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at Merlotte's. She has an affinity for short shorts, tanning, and her Vampire boyfriend, Bill. Sookie is also telepathic.

Jason Stackhouse is Sookie's, dumb as a box of rocks, brother. He is a ladies' man and easily led and has no apparent super-powers that don't involve sex.

Bill Compton is Sookie's fanged boyfriend. He died just AFTER the Civil War and has a bathtub I would die for.

Jessica is a new Vampire created by Bill. She started out annoying but is now one of the most endearing and refreshing of the characters.

Hoyt is Jessica's boyfriend. They are going through a rough patch since Jessica just drained her first human and cheated on

him all in the same night. Hoyt's super power is being super adorable.

Tara is Sookie's best friend (at least that is what everyone keeps insisting) but she spent most of last season under the power of a Maenad and is really pissed at Sookie for reading her

boyfriend's mind and getting him killed. Tara's super power is her amazing ability to ignore her own intelligence in favor of making terrible decisions. Last seen trying to kill herself by ODing in her cousin's bathroom.

Lafayette is Tara's cousin and works with Sookie at Merlotte's. He is just awesome and is generally the voice of reason in this show. He is selling Vampire blood, or "V", for Vampires and is about to get himself into a whole lot of trouble. At least he isn't still chained up in the basement of the Vampire bar "Fangtasia".

There are plenty more characters, but these are the ones that seem to be of immediate interest.

What makes this show amazing (aside from the characters) is its camp. I have often heard the acting referred to as "bad", but I disagree. I believe everyone involved is well aware that the absurdity of the story requires the actors to play along. The series of books on which the show is based are ridiculous in the extreme. They are so bad that they are almost good. The show hasn't followed the books too closely since the first season, but I am hesitating to read the third book until this season is over.

All I can say is that I am really looking forward to my summer of Vampires.