4:26PM: T-Minus four, wait, now three minutes until HBO’s TRUE BLOOD panel. Or as I like to call it, the only way to guarantee our seats for the DEXTER panel that follows immediately thereafter.
4:32PM: Since theTVaddict.com doesn’t endorse illegal downloading, I finally got a first look at TRUE BLOOD courtesy of a trailer HBO produced exclusively for Comic Con. It’s pretty much X-MEN, but with really sexy Vampires. Oh, and fellow Canadian Anna Paquin.
4:44PM:Creator Alan Ball [SIX FEET UNDER] promises to avoid the big three Vampire clichés: Blue light, Contact lenses and Opera music. Which is all well and good, but if you ask me, the big thing Ball should concentrate on avoiding is cancellation! Moment of silence for MOONLIGHT…
4:49PM: Because Anna Paquin’s protagonist Sookie Stackhouse is telepathic, she has remained a virgin. Take that ABC Family’s SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER.
4:50PM: Warning for Bella and Edward fans. According to Alan Ball, human/vampire sex may not be such a great idea.
4:52PM: Today’s word of the day, women who lust after vampires are called ‘FangBangers.’
5:03PM: Cliché Alert: Just like BATTLESTAR GALACTICA isn’t about space, Alan Ball promises that TRUE BLOOD isn’t just a show about Vampires, “it’s a show about relationships.”
5:05PM: Viral Marketing Alert: lovebitten.net
5:06PM: When asked by a fan if there’s really going to be an actual drink called ‘True Blood’, he answers, “V8, Valium, Vicodin and Viagra” Funny stuff, and not at all rehearsed!
5:08PM: Fans are asking questions with regards to future plot lines set in future books. Hello… SPOILER ALERT much!
5:14PM: Apparently Alan Ball doesn’t go online to read fan reaction. D’OH
5:17PM: Worst question of any Comic Con Panel. For the panel, “What drew you to the characters?” Ummm… I think it’s called a paycheck.
5:23PM: Inevitable comparison between TRUE BLOOD and TWILIGHT. Being Buddhist, Alan Ball believes that there is room for everything in the world and doesn’t feel any sense of competition.
5:30PM: Alan Ball ends the panel by revealing that “after SIX FEET UNDER, I was very tired with dealing with people talking about their problems and the fact that we all die… blah… blah… blah. I wanted to do something fun and so far I’ve had more fun working on this series than anything else in my career.”