Season 3 DVD/Blu-Ray comes out May 31, 2011 in the US

The list of DVD extras for True Blood Season 3 is out thanks to play.com.

For the DVD:

For Blu-Ray:

Thank you to KaysGetaway for the news!

[Disturbance from Liv: latbfan is a longtime friend of the site and contributor. She's gifted us this latest article that she penned right after True Blood season 3 ended. Please understand fandom, that we highlight various writers with passionate opinions here on True Blood News. If you're interested in getting your article featured on TB-N, write info@trueblood-news.com. Now we give you, latbfan's wish list...]

As y’all know (and several of you have been kind enough to point it out), I do not write for True Blood. I’m simply a glamoured fan(g) who has issues with moderation. But if I were to be a fly on the wall in the sacred writers’ room, these are the things I would whisper into Mr. Ball’s ears. My Top Ten List of Things I Want to See Happen in Season 4:

1. Bring Back Popcorn for Smart People: When Alan Ball first described the show as popcorn for smart people, I nodded my head and eagerly dug into the bucket with both hands. I like popcorn (with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, or if I’m feeling really naughty, with a great deal of butter and salt), and I was drawn to the analogy not only because I’m a self-proclaimed foodie but because it fit perfectly: not sticky-sweet cotton candy or rich peanut butter fudge or overly-indulgent deep-fried Oreos, Season 1 was snacky and fun, but I could consume an awful lot of it before I felt guilty (or sick to my stomach).
2. Keep the Story Grounded and the Facts Straight: I can handle an Amy Burley- big bag of supernatural crazy if the heart of the story is grounded in an emotional Truth (please note the capitalized “T” – that’s not a typo). If the foundation is built on something real (like the notion of “Terrors of Intimacy”), I’m on board. When that foundation is shaky, the story crumbles. Same with the mythology. I need to know the limitations of this world. What is a blood-bond, exactly? How does V work? Do vampires drink from each other and if not, why? What causes the daytime bleeds? The list goes on. These little things become glaring, distracting questions if they’re not addressed or the rules seem to change.
3. Less Ensemble: HBO is known for shows with fabulous ensemble casts, and their shows attract big-name actors who are willing be be part of large casts because a smaller part on a good HBO program is better than the main characters on a lot of other shows. True Blood has an incredibly talented cast, and no offense to them, but the show works better when there’s a focus on the main people, by which I mean the Trinity (Bill, Sookie, and Eric). I like the supporting cast and their unique stories, but I want them to stay on the side-lines and support.
4. More Pam: An exception to Number Three is Pam. We need more Pam. The solution to any problem, as far as I’m concerned, is to add more Pam-spice to the gumbo pot… I love her on her own. I love her with Jessica. I love her with with Eric. I just love Pam.
5. Less ADHD Editing: This is really a subcategory of Number Three, but the frantic editing, as the show struggles to keep the audience from forgetting all the nuances of the various, disparate storylines, is jarring and results in disjointed episodes. I’d like to stay in one place with one story for more than 3 minutes at a time.
6. Get Back to Bon Temps: I understand that the show is based on books, and in the books, the story goes on the road. However, the show (and its large cast) feels more manageable when it stays in Bon Temps. I like Merlotte’s; it’s a kind of micro-society that’s symbolic of everything everywhere else, all the while retaining its small-town charm.
7. Tone It Down a Notch: Everything, from the gore to the sex to the acting to the deeper meanings, is over-the-top. The characters do a lot of screaming, orgasmically and in anger and in fear. We see an awful lot of wide, terrified/horrified eyes. There are buckets and fountains of blood. Religious zealots are all hypocrites and all the people in power abuse it. Anything that starts out interesting (like Maryann’s orgies) becomes overdone and obnoxious, and I’m bracing for the impact of the witches (who at the moment are interesting but I fear won’t remain that way). The show has become as subtle as a flying brick, and I don’t enjoy being bludgeoned about the head.
8. Let Eric Be Disappointed: We know Eric won’t be able to rest until he accomplishes his life-long vengeance against Russell Edgington for killing his parents. I get it, I really do, and Eric’s loyalty to their memories and commitment to avenge them is one of the things I love most about him. But I love Russell Edgington too much to see him die anytime soon. Of course that silver and concrete aren’t going to hold him, and when he’s resurrected (sooner rather than later, of course), I want him to stick around. Eric’s carried his vendetta for the past 1,000 years, and I’m really hoping he continues for at least another 250 or so. (Y’all thought that was going to be about something else, didn’t you?)
9. This Time(line) is Not on Our Side: The frantic time-line in Bon Temps adds a layer of insanity to all the supernatural craziness. Less than two months have passed on the show. There’ve been proposals and declarations and deaths (and deaths and deaths) and too many near-deaths to recall. Let the characters breathe a little bit (even if they don’t technically require oxygen) and mature and have time to learn from their mistakes.
10. Believable Love Stories: I’m passionate about True Blood, and I think it’s really cool that so many other people are too. I love how actively engaged so many of us are about what happens in Bon Temps. But the Eric v. Bill debate (and Sam and Alcide) goes on and on ad nauseam, and it’s enough to drive a person to barrel of stakes. (I’ve said for ages now that someone working on their PhD in psychology needs to study the fan(g)dom.) Can we all just agree that everyone has made mistakes? That each suitor brings his own attributes and failings to the table? And whether or not Sookie deserves the adoration of so very many hot men isn’t up for us to decide – that ship has sailed, and in the confines of this world, it’s simply the way it is. Lucky, lucky Sookie. Personally, I find it much more interesting when she has legitimate, viable options to choose from, rather than going for the lesser of evils or the last man standing. Alan Ball and Co. will follow Book #4, and I accept that Bill truly loves her, but they aren’t staying together (although whether or not that split is permanent, well, we’ll have to wait and see). But in the meantime, I want Bill to have a sophisticated and lovely woman (either human or vampire – I care not) he treats as an equal and is honest with. No moping around! And if Sookie’s with Eric, I want it to be based on something real, not him out of his mind or her tasty and addictive blood. (Although after the finale, maybe I’m the one who needs a healthy bit of amnesia…)

Kristin Bauer is a guest writer on The Huffington Post; she reflects on shark survival and asks you to join her in asking the US Senators to get into action.

“Sharks have a severe image problem. Most people have probably never seen the beauty of a shark up close, but I have been fortunate enough to dive with sharks in Belize and Cancun. They are stunning, prehistoric animals that have been swimming the ocean for 400 million years. But when we hear the word shark, our imaginations project a much more villainous image that instills fear and has made at least one great movie. (Playing a vampire on True Blood, I can relate).

In reality, however, humans are the predators and sharks are the prey. We’re hunting many shark populations to the brink of extinction.

The demand for shark fins, which are used to make shark fin soup — a popular dish in Asia — leads to the killing of tens of millions of sharks around the world each year. Sharks aren’t furry or cute, so there just aren’t as many voices to speak for their conservation. I know my own feelings toward sharks changed after seeing the documentary Sharkwater, which exposes the shark finning industry while displaying the natural beauty of sharks. I visited the Philippines, too, which also opened my eyes about shark conservation. As trays of shark fin soup passed my table, I saw how voracious the human appetite for shark fins really is, and I realized how changed our oceans would be without sharks.

The whole world isn’t going to see Sharkwater, but there are ways to change public opinion of sharks and help populations recover — and it starts with you. Sharks weren’t put here millions of years ago just to be made into soup. We need them, and they need our help — sharks are part of our ecosystem for a reason.

As you read this, there is a bill awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate that would eliminate in U.S waters the barbaric practice of amputating shark fins at sea, and make our country an international leader in shark conservation. The Shark Conservation Act is likely to be voted on in the upcoming weeks.

With the clock ticking towards the end of the current Congress, it could also be ticking away the time sharks have in our oceans. It does not have to be that way. You can make a difference by contacting your senators and letting them know that they should support this important legislation before it’s too late for sharks.

Playing the top of the food chain on television is fun, but in real life that position has its responsibilities. I suspect sharks aren’t here just to be an appetizer.

Please join me in asking our senators to do the right thing for sharks.”

Source

Joanna’s article, “The Phenomenon of HBO’s True Blood,” which originally appeared on the Nest in mid October was just published in the December issue of Kino Magazine! Congratulations Joanna!

Read the article in English here.

In other news, a blogger for the Dallas Daily News believes that True Blood (and other current vampire vehicles) “make a mockery of real civil right issues.” The reasoning here is that because True Blood’s vampires are striving for equal rights which parallels minority groups and unjustly stigmatized peoples, that the show is minimizing their struggle. She calls it “spoofing” the struggles of real life victimized groups; I call it using fictional oppressed groups to highlight the dangers and injustice that are omnipresent in today’s society.

Vampire dramas are like opinions these days; every network has one. The WB has ‘Vampire Diaries,’ ABC just premiered ‘The Gates,’ HBO is going on its third season of ‘True Blood ,’ and box offices everywhere are releasing The Twilight Saga’s ‘Eclipse’ tonight at midnight. And while Vampires are certainly nothing new when it comes to plot lines (I grew up during the ‘Buffy’ era) some of the issues they are now parodying are unique because of our nation’s current political climate.

In almost all of these Vampire dramas, the main blood-sucking character regales us with stories of their oppression — how they were forced into the coffin, made to deny their true selves and must live in secret because they are viewed as ungodly monsters by the (often times Southern & Christian) locals. You’d have to be oblivious not to see the underlying commentary here.

HBO’s True Blood, which is by far the most brazen in its spoofing takes it a step further by blatantly parodying the gay marriageissue, declaring that the vampire population should be able to ‘love freely,’ touting tolerance and fighting for equal vampire marriage rights. The shows fictional Vampire advocacy group even has a real website, AmericanVampireLeague.com, which has produced videos almost identical to those put out during California’s Proposition 8 vote, but instead of gay rights of course they are advocating for vampires.

And on their home page they broadcast this fake news bulletin, which in my opinion, makes light of violent crimes:

“Human Victim Battered by Hate Crime: In the early morning hours of August 30, a young Brooklyn woman was abducted, savagely beaten and left bound to a utility pole. Her assailants also left her with an ominous message, the letter “V” crudely painted on her chest, presumably as a warning to others. Her transgression? Sharing a drink with a vampire co-worker from her office…”

So my question is, in a nation so dead-set on being politically correct all the time, where is the outrage when an issue that’s so real to so many is being made fun of by a major cable network?

[Please note that the above question is not TB-N's question]

You can read it all here.

The “twisted” sex scene between Bill Compton & Lorena is getting a lot of commentary in the blogosphere since the True Blood season 3 episode 3 entitled, “It Hurts Me Too” aired last Sunday. The much discussed scene has recently been listed in the Hall of Shame on the National Organization for Women’s (NOW) website. The article urges the audience to write to HBO to “tell them what you think about this violent, misogynistic scene in True Blood.”

I know that there are various reaction levels: of justice being done, acceptance, outrage & disgust provoked by this one scene. One thing is for sure, nobody has reacted with indifference. The question I am pondering after reading their take, is what if the roles had been reversed and it was a male vampire being so in “love” with the female vamp, that he compelled her to have sex with him and she was the one doing the twisting? Would that affect how we all interpreted this act?

Offender: Television show True Blood

Media Outlet: HBO, first airing 6-27-10

The Offense: Vampire Bill Compton has violent sex with his nemesis/”maker” Lorena, during which he twists her head around backward.

NOW’s Analysis: Here’s a quick backgrounder for the uninitiated: HBO’s True Blood is based on a series of books about vampires and other super-natural characters. The show frequently contains explicit sex and violence. Bill is a main character and romantic interest for the female lead, Sookie. Currently Bill is going through a personal crisis about loving a human while being controlled by vampire Lorena, who turned him into a vampire long ago and keeps popping up despite his attempts to break away from her. Lorena is the classic “bitch” character who viewers are encouraged to hate. Bill definitely despises her, but vampire rules compel him to follow his maker’s commands.

In this context, Lorena asks Bill to make love to her. He says “never” but proceeds to throw her on the bed and rip off her clothes. Apparently, he can’t stop himself from having sex with her, but in a form of protest, Bill literally twists her neck, turning her face around backward. He continues to have sex with her as the camera provides us with a wide shot that is disturbing, to say the least. Facing the floor, with blood spilling out of her mouth, Lorena proclaims to Bill that she still loves him.

True Blood might be make-believe, but the parallels to real life in this scene are too horrifying to ignore. The scene taps into a hatred of women that still exists in our society — a revulsion toward women with power and a desire to punish them for making men feel weak. Yes, we’re supposed to be shocked. This is our wake up call that Bill might not be a suitable lifemate for Sookie. But let’s forget for a minute who or what these characters are: Here is a scene that was written and filmed to allow viewers to watch a man have violent sex with a woman he hates so much he twists her head around, and she loves him all the more for it. Remember, the character of Lorena is fictional, her persona and actions are the creation of writers, directors and producers. She is presented, simultaneously, as a hideous, controlling “bitch” and a pitiful, deluded stalker. And while we are supposed to be disgusted by Bill’s violence, aren’t we given permission to believe, just a tiny bit, that this woman got what was coming to her? Bad girls deserve to get hurt, and, besides, they like it — right? Thanks, but no thanks, True Blood for this messed up depiction of women, men, violence and sex.

Who needs Chicken Soup for the Soul, when you have True Blood? Since we are human, things tend to happen in one’s life may it be a tragedy, the economy, or it could be simply the stress of buying regular food or organic. Everyone has their ticks. This is why we want, need – an escape from reality; and True Blood gives us just that and more.

It’s not only the allure of vampires and shifters. The show’s ability to wrap its storyline around well developed characters that we are now vested in is uncanny. And we can’t deny that the characters in some way, match something in our own inner self that makes us cling to the show. True Blood gives us something we need beyond just entertainment – it has a healing quality.

We have all had those days where we just want to dive into a bowl of ice cream, watch a movie that makes us cry or laugh – something, anything to wipe out whatever hell we are going through in our mind.  We need some type of vice that keeps us from shoving a pen through the guy’s head in the next cubicle because he cracks peanuts all day or snapping at the drive-thru cashier because once again, they forgot the cheese. There are times we need an escape from reality.

There are so many interesting characters that we can relate to in True Blood, sometimes it’s hard to choose a favorite. Sookie, the protagonist: who can deny in some way or another that she has provoked emotions from us? Whether you cried with her as she devoured Gran’s pie or you screamed at her for slamming the door in Bill’s face, Sookie Stackhouse has the ability to poke us where we need it. We can thank the talented Anna Paquin for making Sookie such a heartfelt character. Sookie’s character along with Tara’s played by Rutina Wesley have the most affect because they are grounded in the human world, for now.

Now we jump the reality train and look at the soul healing properties of the vampires. When the show did a slight shift in protagonist, William Compton took the spotlight and the incredible Stephen Moyer demanded our emotions with his skilled talent. For me, this is the character that allows me to escape the most. Because this character shows us all, life can be much worse. I think I have cried more with Mr. Compton than with any other character.

The understanding of Eric’s character is a lot harder; his character is more of an enigma. He embraces his evil ways and he took the path of the vampire so he could continue to kill. I respect Eric’s character because above anything, he is what he is. But I can sympathize with his character in the regards that he chose his eternal path and now he is being forced to play nice by other vampires like Bill Compton.

True Blood has taken the concept of vampires and made them into modern day superheroes. And, the allure of immortality, never aging and no need for the long wait in a doctor’s office is something we can’t resist.  Eric can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Bill can run faster than a speeding bullet and they are all stronger than a locomotive. Although, it’s not kryptonite that will bring them down – it’s sliver. It’s not just the vamps that allow us to feed that superhero itch; I have to give credit to other supes as well. I would give anything to shift into a large snake to clear out a boardroom.

So our escape begins when we turn on the show and it doesn’t stop there. True Blood communities have popped up everywhere and these are places you can go when you need your True Blood fix. If you haven’t been bitten by the show yet, the next time you go for that bowl of ice cream – try True Blood instead. In the words of the comic book guy, “best show ever!”

Who likes True Blood? Why does it appeal to so many? The folks over at DarkWaveDoom have a few ideas.

Who knew that regal southern gentlemen vampires and demure human ladies could make for the greatest show to hit HBO in quite some time? Getting geared up for a third season, fans are buzzing about what could possibly happen this time around. So far, the series has managed to make household names (and major crushes) out of random Swedish actors, revived Alan Ball’s relevance, and provided spin-off potential for everything from soda to new versions of the books that the series is based on in the first place.

There are a number of reasons that “True Blood” is one of the best things to hit satellite tv in quite some time. First, it manages to appeal to people looking for very different things in an HBO series. Those who want the fantastic and the slightly gloomy will be really into the vampire back story as well as the crumbling Gothic southern homes being filmed expertly by Alan Ball. Fans of camp and kitsch will love the show’s funnier moments, with a fast-talking and truly sassy gay drug dealer stealing every scene he’s in, and markedly hilarious exchanges between midlevel vampires and higher-up sheriffs. “True Blood” is also one of those shows where those who need to swoon at romance can do so right next to partners who are more interested in gory fights or more racy scenes of romance.

Read the entire article at the source

“How do you treat someone you love, for example?” she says. “The core question is always: Does might make right?”

The question comes up again and again in True Blood, the HBO series based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. In True Blood, vampires have emerged from hiding to become mainstream citizens drinking a form of synthetic blood. Bill Compton, who was turned into a vampire after the Civil War, is trying to re-embrace his humanity. In one scene, he voices his envy for a teenager who’s become a vampire just recently, in the modern world, and doesn’t have an evil and violent past to confront.

“It’s so different for her,” he says with sadness and yearning. “When I was made, one had no choice but to live completely outside the human world, as an outlaw, a hunter.”

Whether it’s Bill Compton wanting to embrace his humanity in True Blood, or the entire Cullen family rejecting humans as nourishment in the Twilight saga, these modern vamps are all struggling to be moral even though they are predators by nature. Which brings us to a question: Who are we?

Read the transcript here. The audio will be up at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.