Questionable Southern accents, last-minute character swaps and mixed reviews from fans notwithstanding, HBO is betting that viewers will stick around for a second taste of vampire drama* True Blood*.
After just two episodes, the network announced the decision to renew the show for a second season, with production slated to begin early next year in Los Angeles. The network was apparently impressed by the early numbers: The show clocked 4 million viewers since its Sept. 7 debut, and saw viewership jump by a dramatic 24
percent from the first to second episodes, according to a press release.
Produced by* Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball, True Blood* stars X-Men alum Anna Paquin (pictured) as a young waitress in Louisiana who begins dating a 124-year-old vampire and becomes deeply entangled in the seedy underbelly of vampyric society.
True Blood's renewal marks the first of the fall's sci-fi programming guaranteed to stay in circulation through 2009 -- which will be the next? J.J. Abrams' LSD-dropping, mad-scientist-riddled sci-fi show Fringe? Or the dystopian drama Sarah Connor Chronicles, about a group of rogue time travelers struggling to save humankind?
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