Fan Fare

Vampire trend bites into big, small screens

(Writing and reporting by Laura Isensee)

These days vampires seem to be all love and no bite.

Or they bite mainly when they’re making love, as in the case of “True Blood,” the original HBO series that premieres its second season on Sunday, and is the focus of aggressive marketing with an advertisement that took over the front page of the ailing Los Angeles Times on Friday.

The series, based on Charlaine Harris’ book series called the “Southern Vampire Mysteries,” tells the story of telepathic Sookie Stackhouse, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton in a small Louisiana town where vampires have come out of the coffin, so to speak.

The show stars Anna Paquin and is one of HBO’s brightest hopes after the cable channel suffered the one-two punch of losing “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under.”

The series also is part of the latest phenomenon of vampires biting into movies and television.

“Buffy” creator Joss Whedon plays in the “Dollhouse”

It’s been six years since the critically acclaimed cult fave “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” went off the air. Since then, the television show’s creator Joss Whedon has released a thriller movie called “Serenity,” directed a couple episodes of U.S. comedy series “The Office” on NBC and created the Web sensation “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

Whedon’s latest project is the sci-fi TV series “Dollhouse” starring the 28-year-old Eliza Dushku, a former “Buffy” cast member. The show began playing earlier this year and has posted mediocre ratings on Fox, which has aired the series in the Friday night dead zone, a time period with typically low viewership. Last Friday, “Dollhouse” ended its weekly erosion and climbed slightly in the ratings to 4.3 million viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.