The CliffsNotes version of all you need to know
for tonight's premiere on HBO:
From the creator and Executive Producer of Six Feet Under
"I am not that familiar with vampire fiction.
I've never read an Anne Rice book, I never watched Buffy.
Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark
Based on author Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire book series
Anna Paquin (The Piano, X-Files, Darkness, the ever-upcoming Trick-r-Treat) is cast as Sookie Stackhouse, a Louisiana waitress who can hear thoughts à la Mel Gibson in What Women Want, a talent that understandably hampers her love life.
Enter Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a "handsome 173-year-old" who returns to his hometown as vampires worldwide are "coming out of the coffin" due to a new Japanese "synthetic blood nourishment beverage" that recently made killing to feed unnecessary.
