True Blood at least going through season 4

Highlights from an interview with Alan Ball

Taken From: Alan Ball Interview
By Abbie Bernstein, Buzzy Multimedia Publishing


As True Blood continues, Ball says, “I think we’re always going to use the books as sort of a foundation, but I just don’t see how, as time goes on, you can’t diverge from them a little bit more each season. I don’t know, though. We’re starting to work on Season Three and we actually are really, really sticking to the books, at the beginning at least.”

“Season Three is a big Eric [the vampire played by Alexander Skarsgard] season and Season Four is really big for Eric’s character, according to the books.”

“I got into Sookie and the world and the characters, and I looked forward to going to bed every night, because I knew I was going to read the book before I went to sleep, and I would tell myself, ‘Okay, I’m just going to read two chapters,’ and I would read seven. I just felt, ‘This is kind of a phenomenon.’ I read first four books, [which] at that time [was what] had been published, and I wanted more. So I called [Harris]. At that time, she had given the rights to a film producer, but those rights were set to run out in a couple of months. They ran out and I convinced her to let me take a stab at it.”

The series Ball created based on the books, True Blood, has successfully been set up at HBO and it would be fair to call the results a phenomenon. The cable network is so pleased with Ball and company that, Ball relates, "I just closed a deal to show-run for two more seasons, so I would assume that [the series is at minimum] going through Season Four.”

Read the entire article here..

True Blood set another record last Sunday

Bloody Hell: 'True Blood' Sets Another Record at HBO

The news just keeps getting better for HBO.
From TheWrap.com

Sunday's episode of the pay cable network's "True Blood" brought in 4.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That's a record tune-in for the two-year-old show, and a stunning stat given just how few home HBO reaches vs. other broadcast and cable networks.

Indeed, "True Blood's" viewer tally was higher than the premieres of some much- hyped network shows, including Fox's "More to Love" (4.0 million viewers) and ABC's "Defying Gravity" (3.6 million).

The news was also good for the other shows in HBO's Sunday lineup. Both "Hung" (3.4 million) and "Entourage" (3.2 million) had their second-best ratings of the season.

Sunday's numbers highlight the stunning summer pay cable networks have been having.

True Blood set for third season

TV Press Tour: HBO picks up 'True Blood,' 'Hung,' 'Entourage'
Zap2it.com

The shows behind HBO's ratings resurgence this summer are getting their reward.

The premium-cable channel picked up all three of its current Sunday-night shows -- "True Blood," "Hung" and "Entourage" -- for new seasons. All three will be back in summer 2010, HBO programming group chief Michael Lombardo announced Thursday at the summer TV press tour.

"True Blood" has turned into HBO's biggest show in its second season. The series is averaging close to 4 million viewers in premiere airings on Sunday nights, and HBO says cumulative weekly viewing (including repeats, DVRs and on demand) tops 10 million people. "Hung" has also started strong, while "Entourage" has made huge gains on its ratings compared to last summer.

Follow Zap2it on Twitter for the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.