I had high expectations going into True Blood from Alan Ball (creator of Six Feet Under). The smart writing of the Six Feet Under was sure to carry over to Ball’s first series since the finale in 2005. Fortunately, the script does carry over the interesting quarks and characters of his previous serious. Unfortunately, the acting is lackluster and the series itself is dismal.

When a series has the confidence to let stories arch over a few episodes, including the introduction and back-stories of characters, I have much more respect for said program. In the case of True Blood, plots and characterizations are crammed together and forced into not only single episodes or scenes, but also single sentences. The flow feels as if the writer didn’t have the confidence the show would last long and wanted to get as much out of the gate as possible.

If the negatives were left simply to forced plot lines, I would have been comfortable with the series. Unfortunately the mostly unknown cast (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) lead by Anna Paquin (Rouge, X-Men) is like watching a high school drama class. The acting is more than sub-par, it’s downright unbearable. Like the aforementioned issue (forced plots), if this had been the single issue, I think the show may have been suffice.

The overall issue with this show seems to be confidence. With the combination of poor acting and fair writing, the show seems like it’s fate may be similar to John from Cincinnati.

HBO has a history of taking chances and sticking with winning formulas (or producers). In the case of True Blood, giving Alan Ball a shot at a new series with his winning history in the HBO ring was a smart move by network executives. Unfortunately, the opportunity seems shot. Had the series has a chance to grow in a not-so-quick fashion and have more confidence, in addition to a few extra camera takes, the show may have had some possible spark. However, this was just the pilot.