Sharpen your stakes.

I can't tell you how excited I am to share this news. After months of waiting (and waiting), HBO has finally announced that they have officially ordered Alan Ball's latest series, True Blood. Ball (Six Feet Under) wrote and directed the pilot for True Blood and it is anticipated that he will write several episodes of the supernatural drama.

Based on the acclaimed Southern Vampire Mysteries novel series by Charlaine Harris, True Blood will go into production this fall. However, the pay cabler still hasn't determined an episode count or launch date for the series. (I'd guess sometime in mid-2008 or as late as fall 2008.)

True Blood will star Anna Paquin, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Stephen Moyer, and Brook Kerr. Paquin toplines as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress and social pariah who falls for a seductive vampire (Moyer) in rural Louisiana. Vampires, having developed a synthetic blood, freely mingle with humans.

Ball's pilot script for True Blood was one of the best written ones from this past development season and I have been waiting with baited breath for HBO to order the damn thing to series. This has just become a must-watch series.

Stay tuned as this project develops; I'm already trying to get my hands on the pilot that HBO shot earlier this year.

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Jace is an LA-based television development and acquisitions exec who watches way too much television for his own good and would love a TiVo for every room in the house. (He’s halfway there.) His blog, Televisionary, can be found at televisionaryblog.com.