Flashback Blog: Why The Whedonverse Rocked So Hard

There are two types of people in this world—ones who love Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and ones who don't (poor souls).

The web is awash with sites devoted to the quirky teen program that became a pop culture phenomenon. From fan pages misspelling a number of characters' names, to the complex musings of Buffy'd up academia, little has been left unsaid.

To be honest my inner teen would love to blog a slightly hysterical rant, something along the lines of "OMFGangelishotbuffykicksassxandercracksmeupozwasmyfavourite" or  something like "ilovegileswillowissocutecordeliamakesmeLMAO". Likewise, my inner philosopher wouldn't mind putting her thinking cap on, maybe apply the infamous Tipping Point approach to the Buffy cultural experience.

Instead, I'll simply comment on why audiences were enthralled, or more accurately, why this audience member, who hates horror and scary stuff, loved the show so much.

Maybe I've left my run a little late, but it can be argued the show still impacts today's scripted television output. A number of Buffy writers have since scribed for successful programs (Mad Men, Torchwood, Game of Thrones, Gilmore Girls, Lost, 24), while other tv writer's cite Buffy as a strong creative influence. Buffy spoofs and tributes also continue to pop up...

Besides, like a fine wine, Buffy gets better with age.

BEST BITS

*The inherent humour, often peppered with on-the-money cultural references. Everyone was so witty! The cultivated flippancy offered some release from the seriousness of the themes, but was slickly abandoned when the story crossed over to more dark and complex material.

(Not many scripts are consistently, cleverly funny, yet somehow able to transition smoothly to serious moments without losing the audience. These transitions were always beautifully handled by the Buffy writers, and were in no way jarring).

*Like Clarke Kent, Buffy soon learnt secret identity does not equal super cool. Not to mention, the pay's less than minimum wage...

*Interesting cinematography that often tried for a more filmic approach (ie use of long shots) despite budget restrictions.

*The character's personal growth. Some shows drag their character through many adventures that never seem to realistically reshape their psyches (here's looking at you, Gossip Girl). In the Buffyverse, everyone changed, partly as a result of living on the Hellmouth, partly because they were growing up. Willow went from nerd to black magic addict, Riley went from soldier to borderline fangbanger, while Buffy went from living, to dead, to living, to dead. Oh, and to living again.

*The way the show took modern teenage scenarios, and added a supernatural twist to the 'lesson' portion of the story. For example, underage Buffy drinks spiked alcohol at a frat party, and wakes up chained to a wall, about to be sacrificed to a demon. Talk about lesson learnt. In another episode, Willow meets a guy on the web, only to discover her new boyfriend is a demon loose inside the internet. (There's a worst case online dating scenario for you).

*Buffy's bob cut that nobody liked except me. (Gellar tried to make her hair less blonde as the series went on).

TIMES I CRIED

Yes I am that much of a girl. I'm not talking category five, red alert kind of emotional outpourings, like heart-wrenching sobs... maybe more mini-tears?

-Buffy killing Angel

-Buffy breaking up with Angel

-Oz leaving

-Tara dying (oh yeh. Um, spoiler?)

-Jenny dying

-Joyce dying

There's no denying Sunnydale had a high mortality rate. Basically, love and loss were the cornerstone of Buffy-inspired emotional empathy.

BEST BADDIES

Faith, Spike and Angel (on a soulless day). When they were bad, they were EVIL... yet somehow, still riveting viewing. You really cared about the three regular baddies on Buffy. They were multi-faceted, made a lot of morally bankrupt choices, but deep down, all were in some way redeemable.

BEST EPISODES BY FAR

I'm keeping this for a whole other blog (I can't help myself).

BEST QUOTES

Come on, there are entire BOOKS dedicated to this!

THE ROMANCE

Why don't we start with a Baker's Dozen? Angel and Buffy. Angel and Darla. Xander and Arnya. Willow and Oz. Xander and Cordelia. Buffy and Riley. Willow and Tara. Spike and Druscilla. Harmony and Spike. Buffy and Spike. Giles and Ms Calendar. Giles and Olivia. Spike and Anya.... & the list goes on.

For some reason, romance in the Buffyverse (generally) kicked ass. I cannot put it more succinctly. From healthy relationships, to very, very unhealthy partnerships (who can forget Xander and the bug lady?), Whedon & his crew really knew how to write the many different facets of love.

WORST BITS

*I bought the dvds as they came out. Single eps, then group eps, then 3 disc half-season sets, etc... unfortunately, now I want the whole Buffy TVS In One Pretty Box collection, instead of the bits and pieces I've acquired. Like a miscellaneous tea set of vintage crockery, I try to think of them as charming, but really, it's ultimately unsatisfying.

*The last season. It doesn't exist, do you hear me? Bad fan fiction that leaked over from an alternate reality. In my world, there is no Season 7 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. THERE IS NO SEASON SEVEN.

*There is also no excuse for the massacre that was the introduction of Dawn. Apparently, the character was meant to be a lot younger than the actress they finally cast: perhaps this is why she came off as ridiculously immature and almost unwatchable. Buffy being a single child was part of the show's premise, an aspect that shaped the character. Trying to shove a little sister in there just didn't work.

*Buffy's mum Joyce, in early seasons, is little more than a one-dimensional mum puppet, more startlingly Stepford than the well-programmed robot wives from that movie. In fact, she accidentally ends up dating a robot in one episode. Personally, I think he was probably surprised to learn his true love wasn't also mechanical.

*Angel's straggly hair in the flashbacks.

IN SUMMARY

If you love Buffy, watch it again. If not, well... watch it again!

Also, the spin-off series Angel isn't included in this blog, 'cause that's another nostalgic topic for another rainy day.

For anyone wondering about the image at the beginning of this blog, I had a Buffy theme party once and hung the walls with images and articles about BTVS pulled from magazines.... (yes, now might be a good time to delete me from your facebook friend's list). I wore a black wig, floor length old-fashioned dress and carried a porcelain doll. (If you don't recognise that as Druscilla, I'm surprised you even read this far!).

Druscilla: "I'm naming all the stars."

Spike: "You can't see the stars, love. That's the ceiling. Also, it's day."

Druscilla: "I can see them. But I've named them all the same name... and there's terrible confusion."

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 2, Episode 14.

Finally, I thought I should finish up with some words from the Buffy master himself, creator Joss Whedon:

The Sky is Falling

First Stargate Universe, now Falling Skies. Apparently, when it comes to science fiction, (television) writers are phoning it in these days. Way to give the genre a bad name.

To be fair, kudos for attempting to make a post-apocalyptic program. Hats off for thinking outside the box, sidestepping another sixties show or rehashed procedural. However, there's a reason scifi is described as the thinking man's genre. Mediocre scriptwriting isn't going to wash.

Unfortunately, Falling Skies airs on the same network as The Walking Dead. I've blogged before about the horror of that show (and by horror, I mean the atrocious scripts, not the zombies). Falling Skies carries on the dubious nouveau tradition of join the dots apocalyptic storytelling.

Here is the trailer for the show. I'll admit, I was worried after I caught a glimpse. It definitely lacks the kind of zest I was expecting. Miracle of miracles, somehow I managed to hold onto a shred of my initial optimism...

...till I actually watched the pilot.

To summarise extensively, aliens have invaded Earth. Falling Skies starts six months after Invasion Day and follows a ragtag bunch of rebels. Our protagonist is a history professor turned soldier. One of his kids has been captured by the aliens and 'harnessed', which seems to involve mind control via a big slug-looking thing attached to your spine and brain.

Okay, there's a few, teeny-tiny issues here. Things like plot, narrative, characters, and moments that are just plain nonsensical. Boy, have we got some logistical problems...

Here's a dozen factors that stood out in the pilot as, hm, questionable* at best:

1. For some reason, these technologically advanced aliens can't seem to 'see', let alone find, roaming packs of humans numbering in the hundreds. Apparently they've have never heard of heat seeking goggles. But later in the episode, a baddy sets off a handful of flares, which does draw them in. UH HUH.

2. We all know trolleys are unreliable, taking ten minutes to manoeuvre down a supermarket aisle. Why exactly you'd attempt to roll a full trolley down the middle of a road covered in car wrecks and chaos at night while being chased by an alien remains one of the pilot episode's great mysteries...

3. There are civilians and soldiers (although most of the soldiers are more just anyone who picked up a gun, from what I can tell). Some soldiers are disgruntled at having to drag the civilians around. Now the million dollar question- why exactly are all the able-bodied men and women labelled "civilians" not being trained to fight, even on a rotating roster??

The answer is, apparently there's no room for grey. The scriptwriter's cling to this easy black and white conflict, created courtesy of a rigid, caste-like system comprised of Soldiers and Civilians. (Oh, there is a thirteen year old boy who totes a gun on patrol, while other grown men stay back at base camp dishing out soup and fixing clothes). In summary, MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.

4. The resistance is constantly on the look out for ammo, yet they waste bullets en bulke. When a renegade fighter tells them to shoot out the alien's legs first before shooting them in the head, I couldn't work out why they didn't carry swords, and just chop off the heads, instead of piling round after round into a near corpse? Extravagant, much??

5. On that note- why do none of our brave soldiers seem to carry knives or machetes en masse? I know, a machine gun is better, but since the soldiers are often shot or incapacitated before capture, a few massive knives strapped to the body aint gonna hurt!

6 Everyone's been on strict rations for a few months at least (as in, water-y oatmeal for brekkie and soup-y slush for dinner) so the cast should be majorly LEAN. Yet somehow, the civilians include a LOT of healthy, portly types who look like they've been sneaking off to a secret Krispy Kreme location.

7. At the beginning of the pilot, the commanding officer splits everyone up, making it clear all scientists will travel with him (ie, offscreen). This is a BIG disappointment. I wanted to see the research into the alien technology, how the scientists were forced to work outside of their disciplines, the possibilities of biological warfare, etc... instead, a lot of screen time is dedicated to a family dynamic that's not very diverting to watch.

8. Our protagonist is a history professor who spends the entire episode quoting past moments in history when the underdog rose up and won. This quirk remains charming for all of two minutes. (If he keeps up with these rousing stories, he's bound to get taken out by a round of friendly-fire).

9. Everyone is dull. Seriously. The main characters are lazy, sloppy cardboard cut-out stereotypes you've seen a dozen times before. By starting the story six months in, there should be some major post traumatic stress going on. The effects of a unique longterm scenario like this would provide psychological fodder for decades to come. Not with this crew, though. Their reactions are dumbed down and over-simplified.

10. Decimated cityscapes are always represented on tv by piles of cement rubble and a scatter of small, eternally-burning fires. It's like there's a budget backdrop shop offering a special somewhere, it's all so neat. Where are the corpses and rats? Plus, it's been six months. Would these little fires still be burning so tidily??

11. I know the aliens are a less-than-subtle metaphor, and it's only the first episode, but honestly, whatever happened to the old adage, Know Your Enemy?? Nobody seems really interested in understanding the aliens, their goals and psychology (if only to defeat them). They're two-dimensional baddies, which also makes the basic us vs them mentality difficult (and boring) to watch.

12. It's good to know that even while the good old US of A is falling to an alien invasion, women will continue to wear push-up bras, skintight jeans and long hair hanging loose. Sure, they've probably got nits by now, and you might think all that hair on your face would be annoying in combat, but you'd be wrong. God Bless America.

*Just to note: I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but the actual basis of a program HAS to be solid. I can shrug off a few dodgy script points while watching a series, but the IDEA of it, needs to feel... relatively plausible. Instead, Falling Skies premise tilts toward farcical, more's the pity.

If you do want to catch some quality humans vs aliens conflict, go old school, and chase up a few episodes of the nineties classic, Space: Above and Beyond.

That, my friends, is how it's done.

A Taste of the Strange

Lately I've sampled a slice or two of television shows focusing on weird and wonderful characters; unexpectedly quirky flavour mixes, the entertainment equivalent of pizza dipped in fudge sauce. If you love a tv menu where all the programs are topped with lashings of loopiness, these specials might appeal:

Misfits (British).

An odd little British gem about a group of youths sentenced to community service. After a bizarre storm, our less than stellar young citizens discover they all now possess a different 'gift'. In contrast to the slick production values favoured by Americans, this program's take on the supernatural scene is gritty, violent and believably awkward. The script is irreverent and often hilariously funny, making the adventures of this motley crew irresistible viewing.

Wilfred

The American version of this show is only now set to launch, so this is as much prediction as recommendation- but I really enjoyed the original Australian series, and I love Elijah Wood. Wilfred US should be great, looped-out viewing. Basically, the main character sees his neighbour's pet as a man dressed in an enormous dog suit. Yep, where everyone else sees man's best friend, he sees a bloke in a bad costume, making for a truly surreal (viewing) experience!

Ugly Americans (animated).

This cartoon takes the idea of illegal aliens to a whole new level. In an alternate dimension version of New York, our protagonist Mark works at the Department of Integration, helping strange creatures adapt to life in the Big Apple. The problems are endless, and endlessly BIZARRE. Also, Mark's on/off affair with his boss Callie (who's a TAD demonic) brings new meaning to the term dysfunctional. Not for those with a weak stomach, you'll either love or hate the oddball series.

Bored To Death

If you've never caught an episode, make time to indulge in this quietly cult series. A bored guy pretends to be a Private Investigator, thereby livening up his life a little. Frankly, who hasn't been tempted to try the life of a PI once in a while? (Oh, just me, then?). It's like he's starring in his own procedural. Sometimes bordering on almost too hip, it's still enormously fun. The main character is a writer, which allows for a certain level of believable eloquence.

The Immediate Future (of television, that is!)

What to watch, what to watch? It's fun when American networks try on new shows. Of course, after an episode or two most of them are rejected, but at least we get to enjoy the whirlwind for a few weeks.

Here's a dozen standout newbies, along with links to some dazzling trailer action. Vetting a show based on a minute thirty or so of footage is bit like judging a book by it's cover- hardly an informed decision, but hey, you work with what you've got...

(I didn't write much about the previews, because I know I'll blog about the best of these at a later date!).

1. Awake

Brilliant premise, brilliant trailer. Just the idea of someone living like this gives me chills. Must-watch show of the season.

2. Terra Nova

The latest scifi series from Steven Spielberg and Brannon Braga. Fresh scifi blood's pretty scarce on the (tv)ground at present, so a lot of genre hopes are pinned on this one.

3. Scandal

I like this kick-ass chick. She's a crisis management lawyer with presidential contacts. The writing quality seems relatively promising, overall.

4. New Girl

Sitcoms in the vein of Friends are de rigeur. This light, fun take stars Indie Golden Girl Zooey Deschanel. Enough said.

5. Alcatraz

If you like Lost, you might like JJ Abram's latest effort- with Sam Neill! I think there's enough requisite spookiness for me to give it a chance.

6. Pan Am

Here's a flashback to old school stewardess glamour. I'm not really into this sixties-based television trend, but Christina Ricci is fantastic.

7. The Finder

A spin-off of Bones, so the writing's bound to be good. (Also glad the guy from Happy Town got a new show).

8. The Playboy Club

Lovers of Mad Men are bound to give this one a chance. Apparently, the sixties are SO in right now. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the allure?

9. Apartment 23

I really like Krysten Ritter, and am glad she got her own show. She just manages to bring so much sass to her small screen performances.

10. The Ringer

Not quite convinced Sarah Michelle Gellar has chosen the right vehicle for her tv return (the premise sounds dubious), but I will watch this out of Buffy-based respect.

11. Grimm

Obviously inspired by Supernatural, but it is from the executive producers of Buffy and Angel, so I'm in. Just hope it gets the chance to run a whole season.

12. Unforgettable

If I have to include a procedural, it would be Unforgettable. Basically, the protagonist is like a female Sherlock Holmes.

Happy Viewing!

xoxo

Supes Up

A succubus, a pickpocket and a werewolf cop walk into a (fey) bar. Not a joke, but a scene from Lost Girl, the Canadian television series recently picked up by America's Syfy network.

I have a soft spot for Canadian productions. I don't know what it is about programs from the other America, but they seem to stick in my mind. (I would make some jokes at Canada's expense here, but all the best ones have already been laid out by the writers of How I Met Your Mother).

More importantly- I love me some supes. Lost Girl taps heavily into the supernatural zeitgeist. (Hey, if there's room for the paranormal on bookstore shelves, there's room for the paranormal on television screens. Case closed).

Some of us watch supernatural television the way other people watch procedural dramas:

Average Joe's Weekly Viewing

-NCIS

-Law and Order

-Cold Case

Supe Fan's Weekly Viewing

-Supernatural

-True Blood

-The Vampire Diaries

In summary- Joe relaxes with the cops, while I kick back with the fey. Cest La Vie.

Lost Girl's costuming and sets make me think gritty graphic novel, though the content is a little tamer. Despite predictable lesbian overtures and an early threesome (why does paranormal tv equal risque romps these days?), it's clear our heroine Bo's heart belongs to wolf boy Dyson from the get go.

There is, of course, lots of sass. Attitude is de rigeur in shows where the main character's an outsider giving the finger to the Man.

Our loveable succubus Bo (get it?) does just that, by refusing to join a clan. Unlike Aaron Spelling's first paranormal soapie back in the day (ah, Kindred: The Embraced), this time the clan situation's easier to follow. Let me break it down for you:

Light.

Dark.

That's about it.

The debut episode did hammer home the importance of a quality support cast that can compensate for a relatively mediocre lead. It's not that Anna Silk is a bad actress- I just think she's miscast.

The story gives the impression the character Bo is around her mid-twenties. The actress, however, is easily in her late thirties. There's also constant references in the script to Bo's beauty. In all honesty, Silk isn't notably beautiful. She's thin and relatively pretty, but her features aren't that distinctive. She also doesn't have enough onscreen charisma to compensate for the lack.

Luckily, the other two thirds of the lead crew are impressive talents, thereby saving the day.

I love Ksenia Solo (which is why I used a photo of her for this blog, instead of the lead). Solo plays Kenzi, a tough talking teen thief who becomes Bo's best bud. Not only can she act, she has some of the palest blue eyes in the business.

Likewise, actor Chris Holden-Reid, who's face might look familiar from Tudors, also brings it to the table. Granted he's the only cop I know who wears a steampunk kind of leather vest to work, but boy, can he carry it off. Holden-Reid puts in such an understated, yet impacting performance, you can't take your eyes off him.

In the series debut, Bo fights a guy who makes the cast of Gladiator look small. I have to admit I was shocked when our heroine calmly cut the big baddy's throat. I was expecting a whole "I won't kill" rigmarole. No one mentions it again, and Bo seems unbothered by it, which definitely hints at a dark side behind the pretty face.

Just like the now-defunct supe show The Dresden Files, we've got a bar where the fey hang out and a bartender that seems to know more than he's saying. Most importantly, there's also a Private Investigations business to propel our protagonist into action.

You see, outsider heroes always have a heart of gold, but that heart of gold is wrapped in a heavy coating of reluctance, sprinkled with an unwillingness to get involved. Mandatory psyche requirements that inspire audience love, but cause headaches for writers. Who wants to watch a reluctant hero sit around at home?

How to overcome this quandary? Make the main character a PI. Appparently it's the perfect job for cash-challenged tv characters who have problems with authority, but can't resist helping the underdog (for a fee).

Honestly, PI's are the new superheroes. They're also less of a headache for the wardrobe department, since it excuses the need for crazy costumes, while allowing for a lot of black leather.

Overall, Lost Girl is great fun. Sure, the script isn't groundbreaking, but the stories are still well-constructed and the show is definitely enjoyable.

Like Supernatural, where the strength of the story lays in the Winchester's sibling relationship, the growing friendship between Bo and Kenzi looks set to be Lost Girl's backbone.

I'll definitely stay tuned for season two, which is currently filming.

Bafta Nominees

I'm torn over who should win for best lead actor on British television. The youngest Dr Who, or the latest Sherlock Holmes?*

Pitting Sherlock against Dr Who is a tough call. Who do you think would win in a bar fight? The guy with the giant brain, or the one wielding a sonic screwdriver?

In a way, Sherlock is the classier choice. (No offence intended to the Timelord).

Benedict Cumberbatch portrays the modern incarnation of a complex, contradictory character sourced from classic literature.

In contrast, Matt Smith plays the most recent re-incarnation (or to be technical, regeneration) of a kooky time travelling alien with a soft spot for Earth.

Sherlock (the series) is more about quality than quantity. Every episode has a filmic veneer, but let's face it- maintaining a high production standard is somewhat easier if your premiere season only spans three episodes.

Dr Who, on the other hand, is a long-running serial where dodgy special effects are downright celebrated. The show has a complex history and there's no denying some of it's a tad kitsch on the eye.

Frankly, elegant understatement has never been Dr Who's forte.

Then there's the genre issue. Historically, science fiction never does well on the mainstream awards circuit. The fact that Smith is the eleventh actor to play the Doctor, yet the first to score a Bafta nomination, pretty much sums it up.

BUT...

As brilliant as Cumberbatch is in his portrayal of Sherlock, it has to be conceded that Smith tackles a unique acting challenge every time he dons that bow tie 'n tweed (which he does with such panache).

How would an actor even begin to embody the personality of a character that's existed for centuries? More importantly, how can an actor instil a child-like, almost flippant social persona over the established patina of a reall-y old soul?

Just ask Matt Smith. He does a beautiful job of exactly that, hence the nomination.

Either way, I'm glad they both scored a nod. Fantastically deserved, my dear Watson!

(*The two nominations are also a sideways nod to Steven Moffat and the entertaining television he's putting out into the world, since he's executive producer and writer for both Dr Who and Sherlock. Other nominees in the category include Jim Broadbent and Daniel Rigby, but I'm backing one of the slender, erratically intelligent misfits from the Moffat universe).

From Text To Textual

Ah, Trueblood. A guilty viewing pleasure for so many if us. The HBO vampire series may not be intellectually or artistically challenging, but by god, it's addictive.

There's not much you can say about vampires that hasn't been written already, so I'll skip right past the relatively lame suckers-as-a-sex-metaphor explanation. I will, instead, strive to scatter as many bad vampire puns as possible through the following text. (Sucks, I know).

A television series that has evolved from a popular book series is an interesting animal. After a lot of thought about the books and the show, comparing them both over the last year, I've come to the following conclusion.

I think of Trueblood, the written word, as the feminine interpretation (in a traditional sense). Trueblood, the television series, is its masculine counterpart.

Sookie: Shut the f*** up!

True Blood, Season 1, Episode 10.

Yes, two completely different animals. What's interesting is that both incarnations, despite sometimes feeling like polar opposites, are extremely successful with the public. More often than not, people are fans of both the books and the television series, which seems almost impossible when you compare the material.

To be clear, I read the books first. My concept of the characters evolved from the written word, whereas a lot of other people's initial exposure to the Bon Temp crew was via the small screen. Frankly, the tv crowd are a rougher lot.

Arlene: I'm sorry you fell in love with a serial killer, alright. But honestly, who here hasn't?

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 1.

For virgins of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, Charlaine Harris's books are ver-y different to the television incarnation. Sookie is a lot more old-fashioned, a lot more respectful, and in a way, very romantic. In the early days of the book series, the sex is a lot less graphic and not as intense a focus as it was from day one of the television show.

The most notable difference? Sookie and her friends and family are not white trash in the books. Possibly a little naive and sheltered, but very different to the television series, where everyone around Sookie seems to revel in being crass, trashy, and at least a tad skanky. (Not to mention the many moments I heard a friend refer to as 'redneck dense').

Jason: Never thought I was really smart enough to get depressed.

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 7.

Likewise, the violence and gore isn't celebrated in print as it is on tv. In the books, epic bloodletting is kind of distasteful, even awful, referenced more for the impact it has on the psyche of our heroine (and her subsequent life decisions), than for the dark thrill of it.

Frankly, our heroine seems to have lost a LOT of IQ points in her transition to the small screen. Sookie comes across as quite well-spoken and relatively intelligent in Harris's fictional efforts. Onscreen? Not so much.

Sookie: Did you just call me a dumb bitch?

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 8.

Label me a fangbanger, but I don't know what it is with vampires. However they're written, they seem to come up trumps! Bill and Eric are beloved in both the written word and on the screen. Even Pam, who I feel is a lot prettier and fresher in the books than on television, is popular in both versions. I guess you can't go wrong with a bloodsucker these days...

Jessica: Is it my fault my fangs come out when I'm turned on?

True Blood, Season 2, Episode 4.

Relatively minor characters in the novels, local lotharios Jason and Lafayette move to the fore on the small screen thanks to the sex 'n blood focus of the television series.

Andy: Conscience off, dick on, and everything's gonna be alright.

True Blood, Season 3, Episode 1.

I prefer Lafayette to Jason, partly because Nelsan Ellis is a brilliant actor (great in a one-episode appearance in Veronica Mars as a former Ugandan child soldier btw).

Lafayette: It aint possible to live unless you're crossing somebody's line.

True Blood, Season 1, Episode 7.

The least successful character transition to the small screen would probably be Tara. Not written to be a hundred percent likeable in the books, she performs an important narrative service in that she's someone from Sookie's childhood that Sookie can react against, and Sookie's opinion of Tara is often a measure of her changing life perspective throughout the series.

On tv, however, she has become incredibly annoying, and is the regular character complained about the most on blogs, reviews and fan forums.

Franklin: She's such a f***ing disaster, we could be twins.

True Blood Season 3, Episode 5.

I actually loved the television version of the vampire Godric. He was possibly the most interesting character transition, and killing him off so early was a real loss. He added a certain depth, with his vastly different perspective to all the other self-absorbed characters on the telly.

Godric: A human with me at the end, and human tears. Two thousand years, and I can still be surprised? In this, I see God.

True Blood, Season 2, Episode 8.

Finally- I was reading the latest novel in the series and for some reason it seemed... strange. It took me a while to realise the sense of displacement came from the fact the characters were beginning to act more like their television alter-egos, and less like their established Book Land personalities. I guess, with people coming into the written series as a result of enjoying the television series, the author was bound to bow a little to the crossover pressure.

Personally, I preferred them as notably separate entities, and appreciated the distinct flavours. (I should work in some kind of AB and AB negative blood type joke here, but it's not coming to me).

For anyone who's interested, on True Blood (tv) next season the witches come to town. Hey, the more the merrier, just as long as they don't try to smuggle a maenad into Bon Temp- after the Maryanne fiasco, those bitches are BANNED.