TRUE BLOOD
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: This new season of True Blood is not overseen by series creator Alan Ball, who has left the production – but it continues, and even amplifies, the vamps-as-oppressed-minorities subtext established back when the show premiered. (Check out the opening credits, for that “God hates fangs” roadside sign.) HBO sent out three Season 6 episodes for preview, and they establish a season of persecution” politicians against vampires, watchdogs against werewolves, and one ancient vampire against faeries, for starters. New cast members this year include Rutger Hauer as, no kidding, Sookie’s “faerie grandfather,” and Arliss Howard as a vamp-hating governor – but the best moments feature the core cast members. Bill (Stephen Moyer, who directs tonight’s season premiere) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) get reunited, leading to my favorite moment so far this season: When Bill, in the third episode of 2013, sends his protégé to approach, and return with, a targeted human, and instructs her, “Wear something inappropriate.” I also really enjoy the hyper-aging half-faerie children of Chris Bauer’s Andy (“They grow up so fast,” he’s told, but this time it’s literal.)