It’s not polite to stare. And you really shouldn’t use defamatory nicknames. Political correctness demands at least awareness of what may be offensive. You risk your life if you offend this particular minority.
“True Blood,” premiering tonight on HBO, is Alan Ball’s follow-up to “Six Feet Under,” only more politically pointed.
Taking the Sookie Stackhouse Southern gothic vampire novels and turning them into darkly funny, risque, suitable-for-cable fare, Ball has the best new adult drama of the season.
“True Blood” infuses the HBO schedule at 7 p.m. and repeats often.
In the not-too-distant future, thanks to advances in the production of synthetic blood, vampires have “come out of the coffin.” They no longer need to prey on humans since the Japanese have invented mass-produced synthetic blood. They walk freely (after dark), although they remain subject to prejudice and misunderstanding. As a group, they’re trying to pass an equal-rights amendment, but as individuals they still harbor a bit of self-loathing.
In the tiny town of Bon Temps, La., Sookie works as a waitress at Merlotte’s bar. She’s just a normal human, with a hitch: She is clairvoyant. When Sookie meets the dark and mysterious 173-year-old Bill Compton, the first vampire patron at Merlotte’s, she feels a connection.
Anna Paquin (“The Piano”) smolders as the mind-reading barmaid. Stephen Moyer (“The Starter Wife”) is suitably powerful and other- worldly as the vampire.
Talking to critics this summer, Ball addressed the vampire metaphor. Who do they represent? Is the reference as obvious as it seems?
“They totally work as a metaphor for gays, for people of color, in previous times in America, for anybody who is misunderstood and feared and hated for being different. I think, because of the cultural climate that we exist in today, it seems like, oh, well, they are a metaphor for gays because gay marriage and gay rights and that kind of thing. But I think it’s a bigger metaphor, and at the same time, it’s also not a metaphor at all. It’s vampires.”
Around the dial.
KVOD, now at 88.1 FM, today introduces a new weekly program from NPR and the New England Conservatory. “From the Top,” airing Sundays at noon, celebrates young classical musicians with pianist Christopher O’Riley as host.
Despite complaints about the reach of the signal to the north, “People are starting to notice we’re more local, we sound more alive,” said program director Karla Walker. “Before we couldn’t talk about the weather.”
“We have a role to play in the city,” said host-producer Steve Blatt. The station plans local music events, instrument drives for schools, educational outreach and other “breaks from the formality of what people assume is a classical music format.”
‘Melo does ESPN
. Carmelo Anthony makes the radio, TV and Internet rounds at ESPN on Wednesday, doing ESPN, ESPN2, webchat and “ESPNews.”
Hold the dogs
. Schools should stop serving hot dogs and other processed meats because even small amounts increase the risk of adult cancers, says a commercial produced by the Cancer Project, a national nonprofit research and advocacy group. The spots will air in Denver Wednesday on four network affiliates to highlight a government meeting on childhood nutrition Thursday in Denver.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
