When Real Life Spills Over Into TV

When Real Life Spills Over Into TV
By Maree Anderson

Ack! Is it Thursday again, already? Where did the week go?

And you know those revisions I was talking about last week, I've only just got them to the stage where I can print out the entire novella and check it all for continuity. That is, make sure that the bits I've changed and mucked around with and rewritten, seamlessly fit in with the rest. It's not easy when your muse takes the bit between her fangs and insists on adding in entire scenes just when you think you're done. Are you listening, muse? Please be nicer to me next time, huh?

So, the problem with today is that I have no idea what to write about, because my brain is chock full with Were-Hyenas who have no redeeming qualities whatsover, Were-Lions with sex on the brain, and Felinoid Demons who have phobias about aforementioned Were-creatures. Not a heckuva lot of space left for "real life" at the moment, LOL.

But hey, a topic has just popped into my head -- maybe because the first episode of the second series of True Blood aired just last night. (Yes, I know we're a bit behind in New Zealand.) Maybe because Anna Paquin, the actress who plays Sookie, grew up in New Zealand, which definitely makes her a New Zealander as far as we're concerned ;-). I dunno, but I'm gonna run with it.

Now unless you've been hiding out somewhere with no internet connection and no TV, newspapers or gossip mags, you probably already know that Anna Paquin is engaged to her co-star, Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill to her Sookie. And I still laugh when I remember that scene from the first series when Sookie gives Vampire Bill a hard time about his name and wonders why he wasn't called something more vampiric like Eugene (or whatever the hell name she thought up). Priceless!

Anyway, so little Anna is now engaged to Stephen. "Sookie" and "Bill" are an item on screen and in real life.

Personally, I had a big, “whoa, that’s kinda weird” moment when Anna and Stephen came on screen together for the first time in Series 2, Episode 1. It took me a few minutes to set aside all the media coverage stuff I’d seen about their engagement and get back into them as Sookie and Bill.

And having read the series and therefore knowing what Charlaine Harris had in store for Sookie and the gorgeous, scrumptious, ultra-sexy Eric, makes the whole thing a bit weird, too. (Not hard to guess that I'm a total Eric convert, is it? Sorry Madison!)

So here's the question for discussion:

• Does knowing they're engaged, now color your perception of the scenes between Sookie and Bill?
  

What I mean by this is:

• Does Anna and Stephen's "real life" commitment mean that the make-out scenes between Sookie and Bill are even hotter than previously? Or does it have completely the opposite effect, kinda make them ho-hum.
  

• Does it give an added spice to the scenes where they disagree or fight? Or does it have completely the opposite effect, cause it's now kinda like watching a couple in a stable relationship bickering, which frankly, isn't so exciting.
  

• Does knowing that "Sookie" is now engaged to "Bill", give her subsequent interactions with Eric a truly delicious, even more forbidden edge? Or does it get your back up, give you the feeling that Anna's kinda cheating on Stephen in real life, even though she's not because she's yanno, just acting!
  

And last but definitely not least, I'll leave you with this:










;-)

Maree