Two weeks ago, 3.7 million people watched the premiere of HBO’s "True Blood," making the second most watched program on HBO since "the Sopranos" finale.  I was one of those people.  The thing is, however, I don’t know why. It's way too soap opera-y for the straight male that I am, the main vampire character Bill is kind of a drip, and the "mystery" part that made up last season's arc was neither compelling nor well done.  See Veronica Mars’s first season to see how it should be done.  Even more damning is that there’s no there there-- its got nothing, no allegorical goodness that's half the point of Vampire stuff.  Just compare it to Buffy, the Alpha and Omega Vampireness which started off as an allegory about adolescence and overtime also became one about love, sex, death, free will, and the dangers of musical demons, all wrapped in a sly feminist "Girl Power" manifesto.  Or, hell, even "Twilight" which has more depth to it despite its yucky purity proselytizing thirteen year-old girl mentality.  But I do swear that nothing brings the smiles more than hearing people in bad accents say the word “Sookie.”

So why, oh why the "True Blood" love?

Because it’s fun. 

It's some good ole fashioned dumb fun and by dumb I don't mean dumb-dumb I mean smart dumb, the kind of dumb that doesn’t make you feel insulted afterwards but the kind of fun that makes you want to just kick back and enjoy being entertained without having to think about it.  And there's just enough substance to it to make you feel like you actually watched something, as opposed to say "Entourage" where you watch and realize a half-an-hour just went by and you don’t know where it went t

The fact that there is nothing much to it is actually the key to the show because nobody pretends otherwise.  People want to attach some sort of allegory to it, like how Vampires coming out to people and wanting to assimilate into non-dead culture represents gay people, but I don’t think the Producers buy it.  Nor do the actors nor the writers nor what have you.  They all know it’s all fun and the actors and writers and producers are smart enough to just go with it and do a good job at just going with it.

And, yes, okay, the world that’s created is kind of entertaining.  Bill's still boring but it's stil kind of fun to think that there’s real vampire bars and people get high off vampire blood and then have lots of sex.  Who wouldn't want to do that? And dear God, Anna Paquin in her waitress outfit….

So, there you have it.  I love True Blood and I proudly admit it.