Some tidbits of interest from HBO's TCA sesh for its new vampire drama "True Blood":

**Creator/exec producer Alan Ball (pictured with stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer) affirms right off the bat that he's no vampire freak. He stumbled on the book series that spawned "True Blood" while browsing in a bookstore as he waited for a dental appointment. He was sold by the tagline "Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend wasn't such a good idea" on the first installment of Charlaine Harris' series of Sookie Stackhouse novels. As he read through it, he realized the colorful characters and backwoods Loo-zee-ana setting would make a fine TV show.

**Ball, renowned for "Six Feet Under" and "American Beauty," has never seen "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"  or "Angel" or read Anne Rice novels. But he does have a favorite vamp pic, 1987's "Near Dark," which marked the directorial debut of Kathryn Bigelow. "The best vampire movie ever made, in my opinion," Ball told TCA-ers.

**Ball didn't say whether he'd seen CBS' "Moonlight" or not, but he did volunteer an opinion on the show."I think it's pretty lame when you let your vampire go out in the day just because you don't want to shoot at night," Ball said.

**A great deal of thought was put into how to depict the physiological attributes of the undead. No quick slip-on fangs for "True Blood's" vampires. "We took great pains to depict a certain kind of physiology for the fangs, where they are actually retracted like rattlesnake fangs, and then they click forward. I wanted to approach the supernatural not as being something that exists outside of nature, but something that is more deeply rooted in nature," Ball said.

"How would you characterize the sex?"

This line in Alan Ball's new HBO vampire drama "True Blood" is posed not by a shrink or a sex therapist or a nosy friend but a sheriff's deputy with a thick Louisiana drawl. Let's just say it stems from a situation involving a roadside work crew and a loose woman named Maudette who turns up dead in her apartment.

"True Blood," based on the series of fantasy/mystery novels by Charlaine Harris, is true to its fictional small Louisiana town setting (Bon Temps). It's swampy, languid, humid, lusty and full of ... steam. I've still got another seg to go on the screener HBO sent out on Monday, so I'll reserve judgment until I've spent two hours with this weird collection of characters.

Ball is definitely not Pasadena anymore. I am pretty much convinced that Anna Paquin (pictured) is the best thing about the show -- by far. She's adorable, and does a lot with material that could otherwise sound ridiculous, in the wrong hands. (I'll leave it others to decide if she nails the accent.)

In a nutshell, "True Blood" takes place in the not so distant future when the undead have "come out of the coffin," complete with their own advocates making the talk show rounds and an equal-rights-amendment type bill that they're pushing in Congress. Paquin plays a plucky virtuous waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who has her own unusual trait in that she can read minds -- which can make her rounds at the tables at the backwoods bar and grill where she works awfully noisy.

Sookie is open-minded enough to be friendly to vampires, who are now able to "mix" with mortals after the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood, which is supposed to keep them from gnawing on unsuspecting sweet young things like Sookie. Bill, played by Stephen Moyer (pictured left and below with Paquin), is a handsome, mysterious vamp who falls for Sookie after she shows him some kindness one night (it involves her whacking a bad guy with a heavy chain, and protecting Bill from the greedy whims of some trailer-trash types).

Lois Smith is good as Sookie's slightly-daffy grandmother. Rutina Wesley is fun to watch as Sookie's smart-mouthed best friend, Tara ("Can you believe someone would name a black girl after a plantation. My mother was either stupid or mean.") So far some of the supporting characters seem a little 2-D, but Sookie is compelling enough to make up for a few Southern-fried cliches in the pilot seg, written and helmed by Ball.

"True Blood" bows Sept. 7. HBO is cranking up the viral marketing campaign with the launch of this elaborate website for Tru Blood, a "synthetic blood nourishment beverage" that figures into the show's storyline. Just in case you miss it on the Web, HBO also took out a full page faux ad for Tru Blood in today's edition of Daily Variety. "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Friends."