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In no particular order – we had too hard a time choosing! – here are our 10 reasons why The Vampire Diaries is better than True Blood. Oh, and just for kicks, see if you can pick out who authored which reason.

* Nina Dobrev. At first she seemed adequate as Elena. Then I saw her as Katherine and was wowed. She has created two completely different, fully realized characters. You can tell them apart just by expressions and mannerisms. It really is amazing.

* Unlike a certain other vampire show, the plot lines actually seem to connect the dots. (And, there aren’t any terrible Southern accents.)

* Chemistry between actors. Check out this dance sequence with Elena and Damon. They practically have sex just by looking at each other while dancing at a Cotillion-like event. It’s not just that pair either – the cast is filled with actors that have great chemistry together, as a large group and in pairs.

* Someone on the writing staff has an amazing ability to take (sometimes) borderline unlikeable characters and make them sympathetic. Witness Tyler’s transformation from jerky high school jock to semi-tragic, sometimes charming werewolf and Caroline’s change from bossy queen bee to funny, charming, amazingly supportive friend (but still bossy) queen bee.

* Ian Somerhalder. His portrayal of Damon has made him into an extremely interesting character, a sensitive bad boy with a sly sense of humor and an unpredictable dark side. And he has that eye thing… someone’s gone to the trouble of cutting them together, so enjoy.

* Pacing. Each episode of TVD seems to move forward, rather than rehashing everything ad nauseum until it all wraps up neatly in the last two episodes of the season. Filler is acceptable in a 24-episode season, but if you can’t keep a 13-episode season tight and well paced, well, I can’t help you.

* No unnecessary nudity. Now I am fine with the boobs and blood genre that is so prevalent on pay TV, but sometimes TB seems to put in plot points simply because we can see Anna Paquin’s boobs or Ryan Kwanten’s butt. (As a nod to my co-author, Joe Manganiello may remain shirtless forever.)

* A serious take on the genre. TVD is a drama; TB is camp. Enough said.

* A sense of realism. Yes, there is a certain necessary suspension of disbelief involved in both shows, unless you believe vampires and werewolves are real. Which is fine; I’m not here to judge. But TVD balances the unbelievable with a slate of characters who act in ways that are completely believable.

* Strong women. Many of the women on True Blood are capable and have supernatural powers. In fact, TB had one of my favorite characters, Nan Flanagan, a no-nonsense PR flack whose entire goal was to promote the pro-vampire agenda. But our main ladies are constantly needing rescue from the gentlemen of the show. Elena does stupid things (really, Elena, you want to go alone into the woods full of werewolf-vampire hybrids?), but she also takes care of herself when she has to.

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True Blood – Checking in on Season Four

Well, what we’ve all been waiting for for three and a half seasons has finally happened. Did you like the way it was handled?

At about this same point in season three, I swore off TB forever. I was tired of all the rape and torture. The promise of more Alcide lured me back in. (Honestly, it’s a crime against nature for that man to have a shirt on. Just sayin’.)

I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of sticking with it again because I really don’t like/actively despise huge chunks of the show. I can’t stand Tommy or his whole story line. I miss the Jason Stackhouse of season 1 who was actually funny (please don’t take the Jessica thing any further, I beg of you, Alan Ball). I love Lafayette but can’t stand the whole Jesus plot. Bill is boring.

On the other side of my list (yes, I made a pros and cons list), there is Alcide, Eric and Pam. Right now those three are outweighing the cons, but I’m not sure how much longer it’s going to be that way. Honestly, I’d be happier if all they did was show that clip of Alcide stripping down over and over, or anyone of Eric’s nude/partially nude scenes.

I’m probably talking heresy here, but I’m actually finding this season kinda boring. You know what it is? I miss Dennis O’Hare’s Russell, the vampire king of Mississippi. He was such a fantastic villain. Fiona Shaw is hamming it up as Marnie, but it just hasn’t been as entertaining – although I think that’s more a problem with the writing than with her performance.

What do you think? How are you feeling about season four so far?

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Why HBO Leads the Emmy Nomination Field

Katie and I have both long lamented the state of network television. The only high-quality shows on the big 4 seem to be canceled before they finish their first seasons (a few notable exceptions include Chuck, which struggles each year and is now entering its final season; Supernatural; and Glee.)

Cable is a bright spot, with shows that feature smart writing and interesting characters. And pay cable leads the pack, with envelope-pushing genre shows such as True Blood, interesting period pieces such as The Borgias, and character-driven comedies such as Entourage.

Why can the cable networks succeed where the big boys fail? Pure economics.

The networks sell content that consumers watch, but they aren’t selling to the consumer. Instead, they are selling to the businesses that will advertise on the shows. The investment these businesses make in the shows is big. Not only do they pay the networks to use their airtime to speak to consumers, but they also pay the production costs of the shows and the residuals to the creative personnel each time those commercials run.

For these commercial slots, pure numbers speak. The highest audience numbers command the highest value to these advertisers looking to speak to us. Because the content is being sold to the businesses instead of directly to the consumers, the shows need to be appealing to a wide audience, not offensive to some group who might boycott the business, and likely speak to older clients than the actual viewers will be.

And, each show is a single commodity. Yes, ad slots can be packaged to run over multiple shows, but each show must appeal to these advertisers or else its production costs can’t be justified.

The cable networks are still selling to businesses rather than consumers, but the costs to the businesses are lower, so they can handle a smaller audience. Businesses buy these slots to play commercials they have already produced for the major broadcast networks, and they are not required to pay residuals for commercials that run on cable. In addition, cable networks make a portion of their revenue from subscription fees, so ad rates can be even lower.

Pay cable is the only group that sells its content directly to the consumer. They have to create content that keeps people subscribing month after month, rather than satisfying advertisers first. They can take greater risks because they sell a slate of content, from original series and movies to reality shows and studio and independent films. One risky show may fail, and many on the pay cable nets have. But it is not likely that one show will cause a subscriber to cancel the network. They will just choose to watch something else during that time slot.

As far as HBO’s continued success, I think it is mainly that they are the most established of the pay nets as far as creating original programming. The others are getting better, and their Emmy nominations will continue to increase as they continue to increase their quality and viewer appeal.

What do you think? Are the economics I have outlined enough to explain HBO’s domination of the Emmy field? Or is something else at play?

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True Blood 4.2-4.3

I’m not going to recap these episodes; I assume that you’ve already seen them if you’re reading this.

Things I like so far about this season: Eric is too stinkin’ cute without his memory and Tara has yet to be tortured and/or raped.

Things I don’t like about this season: Alcide has only been onscreen for about 2 minutes and half of that time also involved his being back with Debbie. (And he had his shirt on the whole time.) Anything involving Sam’s brother. The whole were-panther storyline with Jason, which evidently includes his rape. I don’t recall his consent, do you? Remember when Jason was funny? I miss that.

How are you feeling about season four so far?

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True Blood 4.1

The first several minutes are spent in what Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix.com refers to as “Land of the Lotus Eaters.” We find out that Fairies aren’t as friendly as they seem and they will be harvesting humans. Some of them aren’t to happy with the Fairy Queen’s plan to close the portals between their realm and the human one, and they help Sookie and her grandfather escape.

Sookie’s grandfather turns to dust almost instantly after having been in fairy land too long. Sookie returns to her house to find it being worked on by a bunch of construction types who call the police after she insists on entering. When the police arrive, it turns out to be… Jason Stackhouse. Who is thrilled to see Sookie, gives her a huge hug, and then tells her that he sold the house.

Sookie realizes that it’s now sundown and Bill and Eric show up to try and re-insert themselves in her affections. Eric is quick to point out that he’s the only one that didn’t believe she was dead in the YEAR that she’s been missing.

Year? Evidently time moves differently in fairy land.

Anyway, assorted things happen, we find out where everyone is, and that Lafayette is becoming involved with a coven of witches that is trying to raise the dead.

Did a lot of exciting things happen? Not so much. We found out that Tara is gay and cage fighting; Sam is going to anger management and hanging out with other shapeshifters; and Arlene is terrified that her new kid is a serial killer. (When TERRY is the sane parent, you know it’s a problem.) Oh, and BILL is now the King of Louisiana.

It was essentially an episode where everything was being set up for the coming season. The best part about it? No more of poor Tara being tortured. The worst part? NO ALCIDE.

Was it bad? Not really. Will it stand out at the end of the season? Not really. I’m still looking forward to seeing events unfold.

For the record, I won’t be tweeting my responses for coming episodes. I had to work to hard at expressing feelings but not spoiling anything – and I didn’t really succeed. Oh, well, it was definitely a worthwhile experience.

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Something new

…for me, anyway. I’m so excited about the return of True Blood that I’ve decided to try posting my immediate responses on Twitter as I watch. Follow @katie71483 and tweet with me!

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Some random thoughts

*Y’all. Red Riding Hood may be the worst movie I’ve ever seen. It was that bad – and I’ve seen some real stinkers (Howard the Duck, anyone?). I don’t really have anything else to say about it.

*During a week when I’ve been composing a really fabulous blog post in my head regarding politics and the media, I find out that I’m not allowed to share any political views via social media or otherwise because it might be interpreted as the view point of my employer and not the balanced, unbiased news they share. Needless to say, it’s very frustrating.

*I’m really struggling trying to come up with the perfect Father’s Day gift for my father. He’s turning 60 this year and is harder to shop for than ever before. Got any suggestions?

*White Collar is off to a great start this summer – I can’t wait to see more. True Blood starts in a few, and I’m really excited to see where they’re going with the whole faery thing. What summer t.v. are you watching and/or excited about?

*I’ve been watching season 5 of Friday Night Lights even though I’ve already seen the whole thing. It is so amazing – there are no words. Do yourself a favor and stream it on Netflix. You won’t regret it. And I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – It’s not about football. It’s about relationships… I want to be Tami Taylor when I grow up, fyi.

UPDATE: I also wish that I was the reporter who did this piece with Chris Evans! It sounds like an amazing adventure!

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To watch or not to watch…

All right, Trubies. Come clean. Have you gone ahead and watched the first three minutes of the upcoming season 4 premiere of True Blood? If you haven’t seen it yet, here you go:

I have to say, when I was watching season three as it aired originally, I was very put off by the almost continuous torture of Tara and a certain sex scene involving Bill and Lorena. Now that it’s almost time for the new season, I’m excited about it. Just as long as I get to spend a little quality time with Eric, Pam, Baby Jessica and Alcide I’ll be happy, lol. (Alcide. yum.)

What did you think? Are you excited about the upcoming season or was season three a bit much and you’re breaking up with it?

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Allow me to introduce myself!

Howdy, y’all!

My screen name is katie71483. If you’re a regular reader of this website, you’ll know that I’m a regular commentator on The Pop Culture Curmudgeon’s posts. I love all things pop culture, obsess endlessly over television in general and Supernatural in particular, and write obituaries for one of the last medium-sized family-owned newspapers in the Deep South.

In my perfect t.v. world, Supernatural is on The CW 24/7, The O.C. is still on, with Cohen making his Cohen-y Cohenisms while fighting a battle with genetics (those eyebrows!), Community and Chuck are never in danger of cancellation, and Joss Whedon has his own network where his shows run in continuos rotation.

Also in my perfect t.v. world – and I’m probably writing heresy here – HBO’s True Blood has already been cancelled, along with Showtime’s Dexter. Honestly, both shows have overstayed their welcome.

True Blood is a real problem for me in that I could care less about Sookie and Bill who are ostensibly the main characters of the show. And, while I do love Eric, Pam and Baby Jessica, they aren’t enough to make it worth an hour of my time every week for 13 weeks. Oh, and will someone please tell the writers to stop torturing Tara? If I want to watch torture porn, I’ll watch something like Hostel, thank you very much.

As for Dexter, Michael C. Hall continues to turn a very fine performance as the serial killer with a mission, but I feel like I’ve been there, done that. It feels very recycled to me at this point.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks and months; I’ll be making regular posts about whatever catches my fancy. If you have any suggestions, please let me know – you can follow me on Twitter @katie71483. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

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