True Blood season 1

The first season of the American television drama series True Blood premiered on September 7, 2008 and concluded on November 23, 2008. It consists of 12 episodes, each running approximately 55 minutes in length and was, for the most part, based on the novel Dead Until Dark, the first entry in The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. The story takes place in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, two years after vampires have made their presence known to mankind, and follows telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she attempts to solve a series of murders that seem to be motivated by a hatred of vampires.

HBO broadcast the first season on Sunday nights at 9:00 pm in the United States, with a repeat showing at 11:00 pm. The complete first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 19, 2009.

Storyline
Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a waitress with telepathic abilities. Stephen Moyer plays her love interest, vampire Bill Compton. Sookie works for Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), owner of Merlotte's bar and a shapeshifter who has a crush on Sookie. Sookie's best friend Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley) begins bartending at Merlotte's after quitting her job at the Super Save-A-Bunch. Also working at Merlotte's are Tara's cousin Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis), a short order cook and hustler, and Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preston). Arlene is a thrice-divorced waitress with two children who, over the course of the season, becomes engaged to Rene Lenier (Michael Raymond-James), a Cajun labourer who works on a road crew.

Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), Sookie's brother, is a labourer on a road crew and ladies' man. Jason's sexual relations begin to die, one after the other, and he is suspected of being a serial killer. Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), Jason's co-worker, admires Jason's abilities with women. Adele Stackhouse (Lois Smith) is Jason and Sookie's grandmother who has looked after them since the deaths of their parents. Jason's love interest Amy Burley (Lizzy Caplan) begins a relationship with Jason because of a shared addiction to vampire blood, or "V". They kidnap Eddie Gauthier (Stephen Root), to use his blood.

In the vampire community, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) is the Sheriff of Area 5, which includes Bon Temps, and owner of the vampire bar Fangtasia. Working for Eric, both in the bar and under him as Sheriff, are Pam (Kristin Bauer) and Chow (Patrick Gallagher). The bartender Longshadow (Raoul Trujillo) is killed by Bill to protect Sookie. As punishment for killing a fellow vampire and to replenish the vampire ranks, Bill is taken to the Magister (Željko Ivanek) and forced to sire Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll). Jessica is cared for by Eric but when he grows tired of her he leaves her with Bill.

In the middle of the season Tara's mother, Lettie Mae (Adina Porter), undergoes an exorcism to rid herself of what she terms her "demons" - her addiction to alcohol. The exorcism is administered by "Miss Jeanette", an alias of Nancy LeGuare (Aisha Hinds). Following her exorcism Lettie Mae kicks Tara out. Following a crash and DUI, Tara is taken in by Maryann Forrester (Michelle Forbes), who initially presents herself to Tara as some kind of social worker. While staying with Maryann, Tara meets "Eggs" Benedict Talley (Mehcad Brooks) to whom she feels a strong attraction.

The central mystery of the season begins when Maudette Pickens (Danielle Sapia) is killed. Sheriff Dearborne (William Sanderson) places his only detective, Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) in charge of finding the killer. Bellefleur suspects Jason Stackhouse, and that suspicion grows after the murder of Dawn Green (Lynn Collins). Andy's cousin Terry (Todd Lowe) works as a cook at Merlotte's.

The international conflict between vampires and humans is played out in the background, but two minor characters are introduced who become major characters in the second season: Reverend Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian) and his wife Sarah (Anna Camp). They head the anti-vampire church the Fellowship of the Sun following the death of Steve's father, who was supposedly killed by vampires. A representative of the Fellowship of the Sun approaches Jason Stackhouse while he is in jail in the final episode of the season.

Main cast

 * Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse
 * Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton
 * Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte
 * Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse
 * Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton
 * Chris Bauer as Detective Andy Bellefleur
 * Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette Reynolds
 * Jim Parrack as Hoyt Fortenberry
 * Adina Porter as Lettie Mae Thornton
 * Carrie Preston as Arlene Fowler
 * Michael Raymond-James as Rene Lenier
 * William Sanderson as Sheriff Bud Dearborne
 * Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman
 * Lynn Collins as Dawn Green
 * Lizzy Caplan as Amy Burley
 * Lois Smith as Adele Stackhouse
 * Stephen Root as Eddie Gauthier

Guest cast

 * Todd Lowe as Terry Bellefleur
 * Kristin Bauer van Straten as Pamela Swynford De Beaufort
 * John Billingsley as Mike Spencer
 * Alec Gray as Coby Fowler
 * Aisha Hinds as Miss Jeanette
 * Dale Raoul as Maxine Fortenberry
 * Graham Shiels as Liam
 * Raoul Trujillo as Longshadow
 * Laurel Weber as Lisa Fowler
 * Jeremy Denzlinger as Wayne
 * Aunjanue Ellis as Diane
 * Kanin Howell as Chuck
 * Michelle Forbes as Maryann Forrester
 * Danielle James as Randi Sue
 * Michael McMillian as Reverend Steve Newlin
 * Caleb Moody as Royce Williams
 * John Prosky as David Finch
 * Stacie Rippy as Cindy Marshall
 * Andrew Rothenberg as Malcolm
 * Danielle Sapia as Maudette Pickens
 * Jessica Tuck as Nan Flanagan
 * Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica Hamby
 * Avion Baker as Young Tara
 * Tara Buck as Ginger
 * Patrick Gallagher as Chow
 * Labon K. Hester as Young Jason
 * Karina Logue as Denise Rattray
 * Melanie MacQueen as Faye Lebvre
 * Kevin McHale as Neil Jones
 * Tess Alexandra Parker as Rosie
 * James Jean Parks as Mack Rattray
 * John Rezig as Deputy Kevin Ellis
 * William Schallert as Sterling Norris
 * Zenali Turner as Young Sookie
 * Cheyenne Wilbur as Bartlett Hale
 * Patricia Bethune as Jane Bodehouse
 * Michael Bofshever as Orry Dawson
 * Mehcad Brooks as "Eggs" Benedict Talley
 * Željko Ivanek as Magnus the Magister
 * Mariana Klaveno as Lorena Krasiki
 * Adam Leadbeater as Karl
 * Judy Prescott as Sue Ann Merlotte
 * Stewart Skelton as Minister
 * Martin Spanjers as Young Sam
 * Sharon Tay as Sharon
 * Tanya Wright as Deputy Kenya Jones

Crew
Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran five seasons. In October 2005, after Six Feet Under's finale, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball became acquainted with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery books. One day, while early for a dentist appointment, Ball was browsing through Barnes & Noble and came across Dead Until Dark, the first installment in Harris' series. Enjoying it, he read the following entries and became interested in "bringing Harris' vision to television". However, Harris had two other adaptation options for the books when Ball approached her. He said she chose to work with him, though, because "[Ball] really 'got' me. That's how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books."

Ball wrote and directed the pilot episode, double Emmy winner Scott Winant, Red Rock West writer/director John Dahl, Heathers director Michael Lehmann, former Deadwood director Daniel Minahan, The Sopranos director Nick Gomez, Pretty Persuasion director Marcos Siega, The Wire director Anthony Hemingway and Six Feet Under co-producer Nancy Oliver directed subsequent episodes, with Ball directing the finale.

Nancy Oliver joined Ball as a producer, in the same role she had on Six Feet Under. Ball wrote the first three episodes with Brian Buckner, Alexander Woo, Raelle Tucker and Chris Offutt writing two episodes a piece, Nancy Oliver wrote and directed the eleventh episode, which marked her debut as a director.

Buckner, Tucker and Woo were also credited as producers, Offutt was executive story editor for this season. Christina Jokanovich was an associate producer and Carol Dunn Trussell the line producer.

Reception
The first season of True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as Big Love which premiered at 4.56 million, and John from Cincinnati which debuted at 3.4 million. However, by late November 2008, 6.8 million a week were watching; this figure includes repeat and on-demand viewings. The season finale's viewership was 2.4 million. At the time, True Blood had reportedly become HBO's most popular series since The Sopranos and Sex and the City.

Awards and nominations
The series won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Anna Paquin won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television series - Drama whilst the show was nominated for Best TV series - Drama. It also won best TV show, best horror actor for Stephen Moyer, Best Horror Actress for Anna Paquin & best villain for Alexander Skarsgård at the Scream Awards

United Kingdom
All ratings are taken from the UK Ratings website, BARB.

Season 1 ending credits songs
Songs from the Season 1 ending credits in order by episode number.
 * 1) Little Big Town – "Bones"
 * 2) Vallejo – "Snake in the Grass"
 * 3) Charlie Robison – "Good Times"
 * 4) Lynyrd Skynyrd – "That Smell"
 * 5) Nathan Barr – "The Cabin"
 * 6) Mark Seliger's Rusty Truck – "Cold Ground"
 * 7) Cobra Verde – "Play with Fire"
 * 8) Eagles of Death Metal – "I Want You So Hard"
 * 9) Rufus Thomas – "Walking the Dog"
 * 10) Dr. John – "I Don't Wanna Know about Evil"
 * 11) Gillian Welch – "Pass You By"
 * 12) Crooked Still – "Ain't No Grave"