HBO announced it is renewing its new series True Blood after only two airings. Please note that where it says 4 million people have viewed the season premiere from September 7, HBO is counting the cumulative views of the first airing and all the re-airings of that episode. The premiere drew 1.4 million in its first airing and the second episode drew 1.8 million in its initial airing. Though the numbers are weak compared to the glory days of The Sopranos and Sex and the City, the growth for the second episode is impressive and HBO seems to like that people are actually watching the additional airings. HBO loves it some Alan Ball! I’m really looking forward to seeing how the True Blood/Entourage combo fares against Dexter and Californication starting September 28. Here’s the release from HBO:
HBO RENEWS TRUE BLOOD, NEW SERIES FROM “SIX FEET UNDER” CREATOR ALAN BALL, FOR SECOND SEASON, WITH PRODUCTION TO BEGIN EARLY NEXT YEAR
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17, 2008 – HBO has renewed the new drama series TRUE BLOOD for a second season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, Programming Group and West Coast Operations. Created by Alan Ball, the series will begin production of new episodes early next year in Los Angeles, with debut set for summer 2009.
“We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced TRUE BLOOD,” noted Lombardo. “Alan Ball has done it again – made an addictive series that is unlike any other.”
“I am thrilled to be able to continue to work with such a talented group of writers, cast and crew to explore the characters and world created by Charlaine Harris in her novels,” Ball said. “It really is a joy to go to work every day and I couldn’t be happier to be back home at HBO.”
The Sept. 7 debut episode is proving to be a hit with HBO audiences, attracting more than four million viewers to date, while the debut of the second episode on Sept. 14 posted an unprecedented 24% gain in viewers over the first week’s debut.
Critics across the country in Detroit, Baltimore, Denver and Orlando have proclaimed TRUE BLOOD one of the best new shows on TV. USA Today called it “wildly imaginative,” with “one of the best ensembles of the new series,” while the Washington Post found it “audacious, outrageous and playfully grisly.” TV Guide hailed the show as “graphically sexy and scary, and often wildly funny,” and “a broadly entertaining, deliciously twisted slice of modern Southern Gothic.”
Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, TRUE BLOOD takes place in the not-too-distant future, when vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans for their fix. Set in a backwoods Louisiana town, the show follows the romance between waitress Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), who can read minds, and 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy(R)-winning HBO series “Six Feet Under”) created and executive produced the show, as well as wrote and directed episodes of the series, which is based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.
The cast also includes Ryan Kwanten as Sookie’s brother Jason, Rutina Wesley as her best friend Tara Thornton, Sam Trammell as Sookie’s good-hearted boss Sam Merlotte and Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette Reynolds, a cook at Merlotte’s
Have you seen anything on Entourage’s second episode numbers?
I think True Blood being renewed and Moonlight not, even with Moonlight having more viewers , winning its time slot and the people’s Choice award has nothing to do with luck. This was not the lottery , this was a CBS decision. And ,It has to do with the respect a network has for its viewers and their loyalty to one of their shows. I feel happy for True Blood viewers, they are so lucky their show was in HBO instead of CBS. I wish Moonlight to have been in a diferent network . Yes, that would have be luck.
Julia, I did not see anything yet…
Yeah, doesn’t look good. My friend said he’s just going to assume that Entourage had more viewers than True Blood, but I wonder…
I know people that turned back on their HBO so they could get Entourage, but it is a very small sample size, and I wonder too…
I won’t watch “True Blood” since I don’t want to get hooked on a series and then the network cancels it such as what happend to “Moonlight”. I love the description of “True Blood” as mixing romance, suspense, mystery, and humor, True Blood takes place in the not-to-distant future when vampires come out of the coffin. Sounds familiar doesn’t it…..just like Moonlight. HBO viewers are so lucky it is on that network and renewed with such few viewers as Moonlight had most of the time 8 million and not renewed. A network can sure make a difference regardless as to how many viewers and fans a show has.
After watching the first 3 episodes of “True Blood”, I just wonder: why? That show is definitely a “Moonlight-wannabe”, BUT fails to be! Sookie is blonde, and so was Beth; Bill is dark hair, blue eyes, and so was Mick. The story though is plotless, boring, and doesn’t have the sparks that Moonlight provided on a weekly basis.
It is not by adding sex to a show that it will make it better than another.
HBO should have taken Moonlight over from CBS if they had wanted to produce a quality and interesting Vampire show.
3 episodes of TB were more than enough for me to watch. I’d rather re-watch Moonlight on DVD…
I’d rather be watching Moonlight also. We fans won’t just dry up and go away. I watch my computer epasodes from Amazon until January when Warner Brothers has so graciously provided us with Moonlight DVD’s. THEN we’ll see just how well they can keep up with the demand.
True Blood fans are VERY VERY lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CBS sure did miss out on their VAMP chance on television!!!!!!!!!!
True Blood is NOT a Moonlight rip off. I had to watch True Blood because it is based on a book series that I have been reading for YEARS! Get that? YEARS! And in the books Sookie is a blonde, hence a bleached Anna Paquin, and Bill has brown hair, hence that actor’s hair has gotten darker since he played the homeless guy in The Starter Wife.
Not to say Moonlight wasn’t good, I enjoyed it, but it’s not a rip off since the Sookie Stackhouse series came years before Moonlight was a glint in any Hollywood types eye.
And, if you can predict what will happen on True Blood based on the books, you’re in for a real treat. And you’ll probably die laughing if they include Bubba, unless you’re a real big Elvis fan in which case 50/50 chance you’ll laugh.
Seems that the issue is not who came first, True Blood or Moonlight. We who loved Moonlight and realized the quality of the show, who are not True Blood fans because the quality is just not there (& what’s up with the accents?), still wish True Blood good luck and a long run…..and thank God that they are on HBO instead of CBS!
If HBO should decide to expand their viewer numbers, perhaps they should contact Joel Silver at Silver Pictures regarding a Moonlight movie. Then stand back and see what great things happen!!
Charlene Harris got me hooked before this was even a series on HBO. I was soo excited when I heard there was a series based on her books. Although.. I will admit I think the characters are a little more dense than they are in the book it makes for a great series. I love True Blood!
OK Let me set some of these haters straight. You don’t wanna mess with MY show trust me. GIN how the hell is Trueblood a wanna be of lame old moonlight? When the trueblood books were wrote before moonlight was a weak little Idea. Before you go hating on something you need to get the facts straight you dumb idiot. True blood beats out anyother vampire story ever. Anyone who wants to try and say true blood is coying just read the damn books first you freakin idiots, there are 9 books so how the heck would they have gone into the furture and stole from moonlight? are you kidding that show is completely pathetic. HBO would never take on some garbage like that. That being said True blood is the best show of 2008 and most certainly of 2009 and 2010 and on. Got anything else to hate on? NOPE cause I just set you straight Bit*H, Dug you a hole now go bury yourself in it… LAME… Moonlight is never coming back but trueblood is here to stay forever!!! haha