Why is True Blood better than Twilight? And why should you care?

I’ve got a whole list of reasons why True Blood wins the (a-HEM) day.

And unless you are living under a rock, in a cave, or in Tora Bora … wait. That’s caves too …. Well, you know what I mean …. Vampires are everywhere! It’s unavoidable once the sun goes down.

So if you are going to be held captive by the undead, you might as well go with the vamps that actually have something to say besides “I vant to suck your blood.”

• True Blood often jumps around, over and through bigger issues – such as gay bashing, discrimination, fear, societal stigma, and politics. It may be coated in corn-syrup-blood, but the issues are there.
• UPDATE: This post drew some comments reflecting Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer’s (friendly) charity contest – check out the comment from NotHoney below and click the link to participate!!!
• Sookie Stackhouse is tougher and feistier than Bella Swan.
• I am totally Team Edward — and all for innovation — but vampires just should not “sparkle.”
• Alexander Skarsgard burns … and no, not because he’s taken his character Eric Northman out into the sun (at least, not yet) but because there is just something about that smile.
• Pop out fangs are the bomb.
• Supporting characters in True Blood have almost as much depth as the leads.
• The acting is better. Or the scripts are….
• A television series allows for more character development (and time to fix mistakes).
• Twilight doesn’t have Nelsan “Lafayette” Ellis, Mariana “Lorena” Klovena, or Kristin “Pam” Bauer.
• True Blood characters speak in tongues … other than English, that is. (But I have to say I’ll be disappointed if no Bulgarian pops up somewhere in the series.)

In at least one area – werewolves – I think Twilight is ahead of the pack. The Quileute American Indian wolves from Twilight are seriously cool. The werewolves in True Blood are a bunch of idiots (except for Alcide, of course!).

I did not compare the writing in the books because I have read the Twilight series, but have not read the Southern Vampire Mysteries (a.k.a. Sookie Stackhouse) series. Now that I am an avid True Blood fan, I can’t read the books until the television series ends. (I know, I know, I’m odd that way ….)

So what do you think? Have I crossed over to the dark side?

As a devoted fan of all things bloodsucker, I was delighted to read about all of the bloody creatures snapping up honors at last night’s Peoples’ Choice Awards.

The New Moon installment based on the Twilight saga phenomenon sucked up four awards, including favorite movie, franchise, on-screen team and breakout male actor for Tayler Lautner. My other current favorite fang-fare, HBO’s True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris’ series) grabbed favorite television obsession, while CW series The Vampire Diaries won for new television drama.

My joy in this news is twofold. One, it means we’re likely to see more bloodsuckers soon rising to feast in contemporary literary fiction works, on television and in the movies. Two, the popularity of these walking dead – who tend to either glory in the hunt or live in eternal torment – means that I am definitely NOT alone in my not-so-secret infatuations. (phew!!!!)

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