This week we'll pit two US fall shows against each other and see which one comes out the winner. Are the comparisons fair? Of course not. It's about as fair as Sylar cutting open Claire's brain in the Heroes season premiere.
It's all about the ladies in this sci-fi-vs.-fantasy feature matchup as SCI FI Channel's new original series Sanctuary takes on HBO's True Blood. It's a monster mash that has a cool, virtual world with Amanda Tapping in one corner and hot, randy vamps with Anna Paquin in the other ... with accents.
True Blood. HBO, Sundays, 9 p.m. ET/PT. Premiered Sept. 7. After the invention of synthetic blood allows vampires to "come out of the coffin"--they don't have to feed off humans anymore--they've managed to gain rights as citizens. In the small town of Bon Temps, La., local waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Paquin) can't wait to meet her first vampire. Sookie knows something about being different: She's been able to read minds since she was a little girl. Knowing what everyone around her thinks has been a curse to her. But when vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) walks into the bar where Sookie works, she discovers she can't read his mind. Her attraction to him is strong, and she doesn't care that he's a 173-year-old vampire, despite what her friends and the people of the town think. But as Sookie soon discovers, Bill's arrival is only the beginning of the changes that are about to happen in her life.
True Blood's Secret Weapon: With Academy Award-winning actress Paquin (and her Southern accent) and Academy and Emmy Award winner Alan Ball as the creator, there's a whole lot of Oscars running around here. But the real star is the material. True Blood is based on the Southern Vampire series of books by Charlaine Harris.
The Outlook: In this faithful re-creation of the novel series, Ball does a good job bringing Sookie's world alive in True Blood. Paquin embodies Sookie nicely, and Stephen Moyer is just right as Bill. Ball has updated the material appropriately, but it does feel a bit flat without Sookie's internal dialogue, something you can only get by reading the books. The big problem, however, is that the people who don't know anything about Sookie Stackhouse will find the series difficult to follow if they miss an episode. Luckily, being on HBO, the episodes will be run many times. And Ball makes full use of its HBO status with plenty of sex, colorful language and violence. And for fans of the book series, the good news is that the 12 episodes that loosely make up the events of the first novel will air, even though the first few episodes prove Ball isn't afraid to change things up a bit. It all adds up to happy times for HBO. True Blood has been renewed for a second season already. Production is set to begin in early January 2009, with the second season set for the summer.
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Rutina Wesley (left) plays Tara, the best friend to Anna Paquin's Sookie. (John P. Johnson for HBO)
Sanctuary. SCI FI, Fridays, 9 p.m. ET/PT. Premieres Oct. 3. Sanctuary is billed by SCI FI as the first television series to feature live actors against primarily virtual sets, along the lines of 300 and Sin City. While it began life as an eight-episode Web series, the television show features a two-hour premiere that starts at the beginning of the story. While investigating a murder case, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) begins to suspect the explanation offered at a murder scene. Will soon discovers that his suspicions are right. When a woman named Dr. Helen Magnus (Tapping) approaches him, she takes Will to a place she calls the Sanctuary and tells him an amazing tale. According to Magnus, the world is filled with Abnormals, fantastic creatures that are the stuff of fairy-tale books and incredible legends. The world needs to be protected from some of them, while others need to be protected from the world. Magnus has made it her mission to find and study these creatures and to offer them sanctuary if they want it. She is joined on her mission by her fearless daughter, Ashley (Emilie Ullerup), a loyal butler who looks a lot like Bigfoot and their technical wizard, Henry. As Will learns more about Magnus' world and her nemesis, John Druitt (Christopher Heyerhahl), he must decide whether he can "dare to believe in the unbelievable."
Sanctuary's Secret Weapon: With an incredible virtual world and a brunette Tapping with an English accent, who needs reality? Sanctuary is executive-produced by Tapping, creator Damian Kindler, Martin Wood and Sam Egan.
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The cast of SCI FI Channel's Sanctuary (from left): Christopher Heyerhahl as John Druitt, Amanda Tapping as Dr. Helen Magnus, Emilie Ullrep as Ashley Magnus and Robin Dunne as Dr. Will Zimmerman.
The Outlook: SCI FI's big new SF entry, Sanctuary, offers to put Tapping back in action in a role very different role from Stargate SG-1's Lt. Col. Samantha Carter, and that's a good thing. Beyond that, it's dripping with mythology and has loads of action and extremely cool visuals, not to mention some nicely drawn characters. Along with Fringe, Sanctuary has more of a fully realized world than any of the other fall offerings. Taking up residence on Friday nights, the series should be an excellent match for Stargate Atlantis. With 13 episodes ordered, look for Sanctuary to do very well for SCI FI.
The Winner: It's going to be a knock-down, drag-out marathon, with True Blood already being renewed for a second season and Sanctuary a shoo-in, considering that Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis are headed out. Let's call this one a draw, with virtual fangs.
-Kathie Huddleston
