Not only is HBO's sultry vampire drama "True Blood" the pay cable channel's biggest ratings hit since "The Sopranos," it is also on track to become the network's next big cash cow.
DVD sales for the first season of True Blood have exploded faster than the veins in Sookie's neck did in Sunday's episode. In its first two weeks of release, almost 725,000 units were sold, which translates to $26 million, according to TV by the Numbers. The show has also become one of the most popular downloads on iTunes. Since HBO produces and owns "True Blood," most of that money will flow back to the cable network.
Of course, like all HBO shows, "True Blood" isn't cheap to make. Although a typical drama on broadcast television may cost north of $2 million an epsiode, HBO's cost $3 million to $4 million an episode. But if the show's success continues, it will be profitable for the network in no time.
The emergence of "True Blood" as a smash hit has to be at least a little bit of a pleasant surprise for HBO. When it premiered last year, it drew only 1.4 million viewers and looked like it would join "John From Cincinnati" and "Tell Me You Love Me" as another quirky flop for the network.
But as the season wore on, its popularlity started to grow. Sunday's second-season premiere drew 3.7 million viewers which, as our sister blog Showtracker notes, was the highest number for an HBO show since the finale of "The Sopranos." HBO reran the premiere episode later that night so all totaled the premiere drew over 5 million viewers.
The strong start of "True Blood" should ensure a decent turnout for HBO's newest comedy, "Hung," about a teacher who decides to use his best asset to become a male gigolo. It premieres June 28.
Although many view the surge of "True Blood" as a sign that HBO's ready to reclaim its cool crown from Showtime, which has gotten a lot of buzz for "Weeds," "Californication" and most recently "Nurse Jackie," HBO's bottom line has remained strong even when its creative side wasn't. The channel, which is in about 30 million homes, generates $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion in profit for parent Time Warner. That would make any vampire thirsty.
-- Joe Flint
Photo: Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin of "True Blood." Credit: HBO / John P. Johnson
'Lost' writers find the Garden of Eatin': 'Top Chef Masters' cook for the Dharma Initiative crew
The name “Top Chef Masters†(9 p.m. Central Wednesday, Bravo; three stars) might be a little unwieldy, but it’s accurate.
“Top Chef,†the mother ship that spun off “Masters,†which premiered June 10, isn’t really about top chefsâ€"it’s about kitchen obsessives who aspire to be among the culinary elite. The contestants may find success after the showâ€"several alumni of the Bravo reality program are doing well in the restaurant worldâ€"but they’re just would-be top chefs during the competition.
“Masters,†on the other hand, is a competition for chefs who already have achieved mastery and success. Each week, four well-known chefs are pitted against each other in interesting challenges. In Week 1, for example, chefs such as Hubert Keller had to whip up their fare in a dorm room.
And Wednesday's quickfire challenge is, like the other mini-challenges on "Masters," an oldie but a goodie from "Top Chef's" second season. It's quite interesting to see which of these noted food-world hot-shots gets this whimsical challenge impressively wrong.
Wednesday’s main challenge has the chefs, who include molecular gastronomist Wylie Dufresne of New York’s wd-50 and Chicago’s hotshot Bowles (a veteran of Charlie Trotter’s and Tru who is now the proprietor of the restaurant Graham Elliot), coming up with cuisine that would be appropriate for the islanders on “Lost.†Among those dining on and rating the chefs’ fare Wednesday: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the executive producers of “Lost,†along with the rest of the writers of the ABC show. (For a video peek at the challenge, look here.)
It’s a shame that the fast-paced “Masters†doesn’t spend much time on the “Lost†panelists’ reactions to the chefs’ imaginative and delectable-looking meals. Another quibble: These are terrific chefs (the other two competitors are Suzanne Tracht and Elizabeth Falkner). Anyone whose ever braised or pureed anything would probably like a more lingering look at how these masters work under pressure and with limited resources.
Still, “Masters†is entertaining, partly because it’s fun to see successful chefs battle their nerves; there are times when Dufresne looks as panicked as any untested “Top Chef†competitor. Bravo bleeps out Dufresne’s frequent profanity, but it won’t be hard to figure out his expletive of choice, which he utters when not running around the kitchen like a trainee who has had 10 cappuccinos.
What makes this show work is that these chefs are all extremely competitive. The money they win goes to charity (and the winners proceed to a final competition round), but it’s not about the prizes. These chefs didn’t make it in the restaurant world by being laid-back; they are scrappy, imaginative and they hate losing (they would have done just fine on that "Lost" island, methinks).
And it’s hard to imagine that they care what the TV audience will think of them, but it’s clear that they don’t want to look bad in front of their food-world colleagues.
If the three top judges on this show (who aren't the usual "TopChef" judges, by the way) are a pretty dry and flavorless, it necessarily matter all that much. The chefs' personalities come through, the dishes look delightful and by the end of Wednesday’s episode, you’ll wish youwere on the “Lost†islandâ€"as long as these chefs are on the DharmaInitiative’s kitchen staff.
Chicago is well represented in the upcoming rounds of “Mastersâ€:Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo competes in a street-cookingchallenge June 24, and Smith of Chicago’s Table Fifty-Two is one of thechefs in the July 22 episode. Bowles is an affable, puckish presence in Wednesday's episode, but then the whole thing is a fairly pleasing confection.
“Top Chef Masters†comes from the crack Magical Elves productioncompany, which also whips up “Top Chef†and used to make “ProjectRunway†for Bravo. (“Runway†will debut in its new Lifetime home inAugust.) “Masters†has the Elves’ signature snappy editing, smartcasting and zippy pace. (A side note: Bravo's "Runway" replacement, the cheap-looking "Fashion Show," is not an Elves production, and it shows. It's a badly paced, shockingly uninteresting, not-very-hot mess.)
Photos, from top: "Lost's" Melinda Hsu Taylor, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Damon Lindelof and Kyle Pennington enjoying the "Top Chef" fare; "Lost's" Adam Horowitz, "Top Chef Masters" host Kelly Choi, "Lost's" Carlton Cuse and Brian K. Vaughan; Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, Choi, Cuse, Vaughan; Wylie Dufresne in the "Top Chef Masters" kitchen.
Check out The Stew blog on Thursday for my colleague Joe Gray's post-episode thoughts. The Stew also has this story and video on Bowles.
Bravo's episode summaries for Wednesday's episode and for the June 24 episode are below.
June 17, "The Lost Supper": "Operating on an extremely tight budget, the chef’s must create theperfect amuse bouche using only what they can find in a vending machine(season two, "Top Chef"). Master chefs Wylie Dufresne (wd-50), SuzanneTracht (Jar), Graham Elliot Bowles (Graham Elliot Restaurant) andElizabeth Falkner (Orson) find themselves “lost†as they are challengedto make a meal inspired by the hit TV show, using ingredients such asfish, wild boar, fresh fruits, and other island specialties."
June 24, "Offal Tasty": "The chefs take their skills to the street. Rick Bayless (FronteraGrill), Cindy Pawlcyn (Mustards Grill), Wilo Benet (Pikayo) and LudoLefebvre (Ludo Bites) set out to make a treat for Los Angelespedestrians, creating a quickfire dish based on a color (season two,"Top Chef"). One chef moves on to the Champions Round."
Organizers offer refunds after Shoreline music-food event fiasco
It was supposed to be a glorious blend of tasty tunes and gourmet food. But the inaugural 'Great American Food & Music Fest' came down with a bad case of indigestion.
Two Manets, A Makeover And A Mystery
Early in his career, the French artist made two paintings that are on view, together for the first time in years, at a Washington, D.C., gallery. Curators made a fascinating discovery while restoring one of them.
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