that hbo vampire show that only a few of you watch

So yesterday was the first of three events I am going to as part of the Museum of TV and Radio's Paley Festival. Each night features a different tv show and there's a Q&A with the cast and creator. I've been to a few and they've all been incredibly different experiences. Last night was HBO's "True Blood". I have to say that it was the most ridiculous, tragic audience I had ever seen. I was shocked when I got there two hours early and there was already a long line of people waiting. I expect that for the hardcore fan geek shows (ie "lost" and "battlestar") but this show? To describe the crowd, I'd say the typical attendee was around 50 years old and clearly not from LA. And by that I mean...well, how to say this...tragically dressed and not exactly into vanity. Or something. A big group of women were all wearing t-shirts that said "Bill's Babe" with a splash of blood. Apparently they'd flown all the way from Texas. Another group had flown in from NY. Oh my gosh. I mean, this was an event that didn't even last two hours.

So the actual panel... The entire cast was there as well as creator Alan Ball. Somehow, for some reason I can't clearly articulate, the crowd went WILD for this guy who had a tiny tiny part in Season 1. Granted, he was the star of "Generation Kill" on HBO and in general a tall, blonde, athletic drink of water. But, STILL. To get mores oohs and aahs than the guys who play Bill and Jason Stackhouse? Crazy. After enduring the squeals of 50 year old women while they cheered on actors 25 years their junior, they opened up the Q&A to the audience. There was one woman begging for a spandex and shower scene that is apparently in the books...there was a woman who schooled Alan Ball on when he got renewed for second season....there was a woman who emotionally described how the online chat rooms for this show had brought so many people together all over the country...the woman who got up and like a total nut actress asked Alan Ball for a job and wouldn't back off...the woman making a photo collage of the actors next to me....the woman who wanted to know what crevices the dirt got in when they filmed the sex scene in the dirt...and of course the dungeons and dragons type of guy who got up and told them to embrace the lightness and darkness so that HBO didn't cancel them like the bastards they are. So SOOOO awkward. I spent a majority up the time curled up in my seat, cringing, and hiding my head in my hands. The poor actors on stage looked absolutely horrified by the "fans" in the audience. A pretty eye-opening experience.

The best part was that one of the actresses on the show is married to Ben from "Lost". He was sitting in the audience for his wife's event and afterwards a ton of people came up to him and he was gracious enough to meet everyone and take pictures. What a delightful man.