Today's show is HBO's big summer hit True Blood.3 seasons (the fourth is currently on the air), 36 episodes since September 7th 2008, a big plotline per season (I find it easier to have polls with shows like that) and a lot to discuss about.
Yesterday I didn't talk about what I take into account when I choose which polls to create, so here are my 4 golden rules :
- The shows must have at least 3 seasons already aired.
- No polls of that kind have been made about the shows before on the site.
- The shows have to be in production (or have a final season coming up soon).
- No animated series (because I don't know about you but I personally have a hard time trying to delimit their seasons, figure out which episode goes where when I try to remember which season might be the best (probably because there's no actual evolution)).
If I take these 4 parameters into account and if I want to post a poll per day, I have enough polls to last until August 5th ! That might be too much though. I might cut out some of the polls I planned, e.g some sitcoms for which there's not much to debate with since we face the same problem we have with animated series.
Feel free to comment on your choice below.
And by the way, you can still participate to yesterday's poll if you haven't already, your opinion matters : What is your favourite season of Breaking Bad ?
Anyway, here is the poll :
Season 2 is my favourite.
ReplyDelete- I didn't like season 1 very much. The plot was just weak, Jason was irritating with his multiple storylines that had just no point (well we do get to see Lizzie Kaplan naked, which is of course a good thing, but aside from that there was not much material). I hated most of the season except the Bill flashback in episode 1.05 and perhaps the last 4 episodes which were more entertaining.
- Season 2 completely won me over. I was the first one surprised of that, given how little I enjoyed season 1. Episode 2.01 was okay but episode 2.02 was awesome and that's the moment I became craving for more True Blood each week. What changed ? The first reason of my newly-borned addiction is Jessica : I have a complete crush on her. The second reason is the Fellowship of the Sun : that was a pretty awesome storyline, it's the kind of storyline I expect from a show based in a society that acknowledge vampires and allows them to live and breath. Unlike season 1 in which Jason only did random stupid things, here we have an actual plotline with him inside that fellowship. Eric really stepped up this season as well, and he's charismatic. Lafayette was much less annoying in season 2 too, because he had more stuff vampire-related. Also, the menade (played by the very talented Michelle Forbes) and the orgies were pretty great too, although a bit repetitive from times to times. Season 2 is True Blood decomplexed, the show at its best : better stories, better characters, more blood, more sex, more humor, more suspense and much more fun.
- It's pointless to say that it was as a True Blood fan that I started to watch the 3rd season. And I have to say I was slightly disappointed by the first 3 episodes. It took me some time to really get into it, and the ending could have been better, after a bunch of amazing episodes the last 2 episodes diminished my interest instead of building up to a peak of tension and quality. Episodes 4 to 10 were truly great though. And while many storylines were far from perfect (especially Sam's and Jason's), Russell was outstanding, each of his scenes were great (his 'news report' was one of the best scenes of the entire series). The werewolf sticking by Sookie was a nice addition to the cast, and this season showed me that Pam was a great character as well. I also liked that the Bill/Sookie relationship was torn apart from start to finish. And of course, my love for Jessica only got bigger.
So it's season 2 > 3 >>> 1 to me. Now, season 4 just started and I have to say they're off to a pretty good start. The first 2 episodes are far better than the first two of the previous season. A lot of potential, I like where this witch threat of bringing things back to life is going. Frankly, I don't have anything to complain about (except the awful CGI during a scene early in the season premiere).
Perhaps now that I love the show I should watch the 1st season again, maybe I'll have a different take on it, maybe I'd like it this time.
By the way, I don't know how I should choose which shows deserve a poll here. Because there's no point in making a poll in which I will be the only one participating. Maybe I should do some polls in which I ask you which shows do you want to have polls for (*mind blown*). Meh, I'll figure it out eventually.
This is a great idea Bunky, looking forward to the other polls.
ReplyDeleteNot really a difficult question for me - season 2 is the clear winner.
ReplyDeleteSeason 1 was solid. It wasn't completely crazy, had a normal human being as the big bad. Nevertheless it wasn't very addictive, but solid entertainment.
In season 2 things started to get a lot more interesting. Michelle Forbes was great as baddy, Jason was completely unneccassary and annoying, Godric popped up and made Eric a more likeable character. Intriguing season, liked it a lot.
Season 3 started off great. Denis O'Hare was the best big bad so far and just amazing as Russell Edgington, Bill was separated from Sookie and all of the sudden he was a great character (something that translates in s4 as well, whenever he isn't worrying about Sookie all the time and working on his own agenda, he is far more interesting). But there were way too many little subplots. I thought most of them would be connected in a spectacular finale, instead they all went their own way and for me the last 3 episodes of s3 definitely belong to the bottom 5 episodes of the show's history. That's why in the end I was pretty disappointed by the third season and I'm hoping things will get back to old s2 glory.
Those are your polls, so go nuts with them!
ReplyDeleteThe third rule is a let down. It cuts out some amazing shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and many more.
ReplyDeleteA special place for season 1 cause it got me into the show, but pound for pound season 2 was the best. I shall not speak of season 3, lol.
ReplyDeleteSeason 2 is my favorite !
ReplyDeleteThing is that there aren't that many people caring about most of these shows. Maybe if you do a Buffy or X-Files poll you'll get a decent return on answers and comments, but with f.e. Oz... I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteSeason 1 by far.
ReplyDeleteSeason 1 was the most true to the books and as a fan of the books, it was the only one that was true to the books in spirit also.
Season Two was my least favorite by far. The Maened plot was ridiculous to me and literally made me stop watching for a while. The silly drunken zombie orgies and although I liked Lafayette, he should have died at the end of Season One. This was the beginning of True Blood having way too many plots NOT concerning Sookie. IT also shows the difference of a good writing team versus one that caters to the fans or changes plots on a whim. Game of Thrones would have killed Lafayette and moved on... True Blood adapted the entire story to keep a favorite alive.
Season Three got back to me enjoying the series and introduced the brilliant Denis O'hare as Russel Edgington. It still suffers from too many non-Sookie plots and deviating from the books way too much, but I expect that now and realize it's just the way the series will be.
I was scared for a moment reading through the other comments as I absolutely loathed S2. It made me stop watching. I'm actually only about 2/3 done the 3rd season as it stands (so I didn't actually vote since S1 is my only real option). I really liked Jason's story in S2, but I hated the Maened plot. It was more than a little repetitive and gratuitous.
ReplyDeleteAs for deviating from the novels, I really love Jessica. She was what kept me watching S2 and why I decided to start S3. I am aware that she was an invention for the show, btu I'm okay with that. Not having read these novels (my friends have described them as softcore porn with Sookie hooking up with a new guy each book), I can't really comment on how faithful or unfaithful I want them to be, but some of the plots do meander.
I always find it odd when shows (especially cable shows) have stories running that don't connect in any way. Even The Wire didn't quite go there. Everything was connected. Then you have a lot of pieces of "modern art" where one character goes through some evolution separate from the other cast with no bearing on the plot.
Ha! Nah they're not soft core or hardcore at all really. Although Sookie is a bit ..um... consumer friendly.
ReplyDeleteI love Jessica too and many of the TV series invention or tweaks honestly. Like I said I got over the book bias I had for the most part. Although I still think True Blood suffers from way too many storylines that don't involve Sookie.
I couldn´t agree more. Season 1 was my favorite aswell. I didn´t like season 2 much and I don´t like all the extra characters. I wish we could have more focus on Sookie and the ones closest to her. In the books Eric is a bigger character and I wish he was in the series too. I am happy that Pam get´s more screen time and I have to say that I love that Alan Ball made Jessica.
ReplyDeleteI´m not a big fan of Tara and it seems like they just make these crazy story lines up for her to keep her on. I would much rather see less of her and have her story be around Sookie.
Agreed on Tara. Every season she has annoyed me, this season the jury is still out of course, but it has started off better.
ReplyDeleteLove Pam too.
I think instead of every Bon Temps character getting their own story each season they should do maybe 2 Bon Temps stories that involve various characters. It would be less convoluted to me and would allow more time on Sookie and each season's mystery which is the actual reason for the series as a whole. I mean it is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series afterall.
I prefer season 3. Maryann in season 2 was so annoying. Sookie wasn't in Bon Temps for quite a few episodes, the fellowship of the sun was just crazy. Season 3 was back to vampires and vampire politics and how to use wolves, witches and fairies. Love season 3.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the plots much more in S3 but I enjoyed the main characters more in S1. Tara and Lafayette specifically were much better characters early on in the show. However, with Jessica's scenes in S3 and Russel it beat out S1. Barely.
ReplyDeleteGood point about back to vampires in Season Three. I liked that too.
ReplyDeleteFirst one, though I'm not watching anymore, so I don't know the third one... :)
ReplyDeleteSeason 2 all the way, I loved the payoff of the storylines, season 1 was great, and season 3 was just a mess, I almost gave up on the show. Tommy, Laffayete's boyfriend, Sam's family, all the stoties never paying off, it was just bad. Season 3 was horrid. I'm giving it a second chance with season 4 now.
ReplyDeleteSeason 3 is my favourite. I thought season 1 was just very boring, to be honest, until it got to the last couple of episodes. Season two was a lot better, and it had the amazing Godric (especially his death scene, oh my), but the whole Mary-Ann thing with the orgies lingered on too long, and it was pretty repetitive. Season three was just amazing, filled with action and hot scenes, and ofcourse the great Russel Edgington.
ReplyDeleteSeason 1.
ReplyDeleteMy ranking is: 2, 1, 3. But I've enjoyed all of them. I loved the Maryann plot and how much bigger the scale of the 'mystery' was. Also loved the The Fellowship of the Sun stuff. Godric, Eric, Jessica...
ReplyDeleteI loved season 1 and was already hooked, but season 2 took things to the next level for me. Honestly, it has been a while so my memory of it is a little hazy but I do remember how much I enjoyed it at the time, especially from around a third of the way into the season towards the end.
Season 3 I enjoyed too... but I felt there were times they took the over the top craziness of the show a bit too far. Still, very enjoyable.
Season 4 I felt started off a bit weak with the first episode, but given True Blood's history it seems to get better as the season progresses... and this seems to be the case given how better 4x02 was than the premiere.
Season 3 , the hotness between Eric and sookie heated up oh not to mention there first kiss so it gets bigger points than all the other ones for that hahahah
ReplyDeleteSeason 2 so far, because I really liked Godric !
ReplyDeleteHands down Season 2, you just can't top it though I do think Season 4 is shaping up to possibly be the best, I loved Season 1, it did start off a little slow but it hit its stride and got better and better, For me Season 3 is the weakest, it was such a let down.
ReplyDeleteShould ask us Most Disliked Character per season.
ReplyDeleteLoved season 2 of TB!!
ReplyDeleteWow I guess Season 2 it is. For me it was Godric and Eric.
ReplyDeleteJust found this poll. Amusing that if it had been set now, season 4 would win hands down :P
ReplyDelete