After an invention by a Japanese scientist of a synthetic blood substitute, Tru Blood, vampires decide to "come out of the coffin" and join the rest of the human race. After the Vampire Rights Amendment is passed, vampires and humans reach an uneasy truce.

Four years later, into Merlotte's life walks Bon Temps' first vampire. Bill Compton (Moyer) is a 173-year-old vampire, and Sookie's taken with him the second she sees him. She's not at all afraid of the handsome vampire, and, in fact, she can't hear his thoughts. The sudden silence is refreshing to her.

When an unsavory drug-dealing couple coax Bill out of Merlotte's, they attack him and bind him with silver. As they attempt to drain him of his blood to sell it for the powerful effects it has on humans, Sookie interrupts and saves Bill. As Bill recovers from the attack and blood loss, he begins to realize that Sookie is special, although he doesn't know why.

Unwilling to tell him her secret, Sookie goes back to work, and Sam and Tara both lay into her for going up against the dangerous couple, especially to save a vampire. However, Sookie's fascination with Bill only grows, as does his interest in her.

Meanwhile, Tara finds the perfect job working at Merlotte's as a bartender, and Sookie's brother, Jason, worries he may have accidentally killed his latest conquest during sex. When the woman turns up dead, Jason knows he's in big trouble. However, before Sookie can figure out what's going on with her brother, Bill pops up again, tempting a relationship that will shake up her nice, simple little life.

Faithful retelling gets updated

Academy and Emmy Award winner Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) returns to HBO with his latest series, True Blood, taking on the world of vampires and a kooky heroine named Sookie. Based on the first novel in Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire Series," Dead Until Dark, this is a very faithful retelling of the story.

The pilot, "Strange Love," gives us a quick intro regarding how vampires joined the human race and how Tru Blood, the synthetic blood substitute, came into play. Then it quickly goes into Sookie's story and her own introduction to vampires via her fascination with Bill. While the episode movies along nicely, some of Sookie's natural humor as the narrator of the books suffers. That snappy look at life through Sookie's eyes would be impossible to replicate, but not having it in True Blood makes the story feel just a bit flat. Ball and the actors work hard to add that snap back in other ways, however.

Fortunately, Anna Paquin is incredibly watchable as Sookie, and her performance holds up the story and makes it believable. Ball and Paquin have provided a very real take on how Sookie's mind-reading ability works. In fact, Ball's managed to get an exceptional cast that embodies most of the major roles perfectly. Stephen Moyer turns out to be a very worthy Bill Compton. Readers of the book series should not be disappointed when it comes to the casting.

Ball's script also appropriately updates the material to allow for Hurricane Katrina and a more racially integrated cast than Harris has in her books. The major change is the reinvention of the character Tara, who now is Sookie's African-American best friend. Both Tara and gay short-order cook Lafayette have expanded roles as two of the more lively characters.

It all adds up to a well-done take on Harris' series. One note, however. The first couple of episodes end on cliffhanging moments. This is not a series with stand-alone episodes. That will certainly make for a richer series, with a mythology-worthy environment. So if you're coming to the True Blood party, get ready to stay tuned.