document_title: NBA All-Star Game

question_text: who won more games east or west nba

question_tokens: who won more games east or west nba

text: NBA All-Star Game

text: History[edit]

text: The idea of holding an All-Star Game was conceived during a meeting between NBA President Maurice Podoloff, NBA publicity director Haskell Cohen and Boston Celtics owner Walter A. Brown. At that time, the basketball world had just been stunned by the college basketball point-shaving scandal.

text: In order to regain public attention to the league, Cohen suggested the league to host an exhibition game featuring the league's best players, similar to Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.[5] Although most people, including Podoloff, were pessimistic about the idea, Brown remained confident that it would be a success, and he even offered to host the game and to cover all the expenses or potential losses incurred from the game.[6] In the first All-Star Game, the Eastern All-Stars team defeated the Western All-Stars team 111–94.

text: Boston Celtics' Ed Macauley was named as the first NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, and the All-Star Game became a success, drawing an attendance of 10,094, much higher than that season's average attendance of 3,500.[7] In 2010, the NBA All Star Game attendance record was set when 108,713 fans jammed Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This shattered the existing attendance record previously held at Ford Field on Dec. 13, 2003 when 78,129 attendees watched Michigan State play Kentucky.[8]

text: On October 3, 2017, the NBA and NBPA announced the changes to the NBA All-Star Game format starting with the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. The vote leaders for each conferences will be assigned as team captains and will be able to select players from the rest of the starters and the reserves, regardless of the conference they play in, to form their own teams. This marks the first time, the conferences will not play against each other since the inaugural All-Star Game.[3]

text: Features of the All-Star Game[edit]

text: The starting five from each conference consists of three frontcourt players and two guards, selected by a combination of fan, player, and media voting. In 2017, the NBA moved from a pure fan vote to a weighted process wherein fan voting accounts for 50% of the total and player and media voting account for 25% each.[1] The league made the change in response to social media campaigns that resulted in mediocre players such as journeyman Zaza Pachulia nearly being voted as All-Star starters over more deserving players.,[1][9] Prior to 2013, fans selected two forwards and one center instead of generic frontcourt players.[10] The NBA in 2003 began offering All-Star ballots in three languages—English, Spanish and Chinese—for fan voting of the starters.[11]

text: NBA coaches vote for the reserves for their respective conferences, none of which can be players on their own team. Each coach selects two guards, three frontcourt players and two wild cards, with each selected player ranked in order of preference within each category. If a multi-position player is to be selected, coaches are encouraged to vote for the player at the position that is "most advantageous for the All-Star team", regardless of where the player is listed on the All-Star ballot or the position he is listed in box scores.[12] If a player is unavailable for the game due to injury, the NBA commissioner selects a replacement for the roster. If the replacement is for a fan-selected starter, the all-star coach chooses the replacement in the starting lineup, and is not limited to the commissioner's addition to the roster.[13] It is also possible for more than one All-Star to be selected from one team, but there has never been more than 4 All-Stars represent a team in the game. Most recently was the 2017 Golden State Warriors who had 4 players represent that team (Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson.) This has only occurred 8 times dating back to 1962 Boston Celtics and the 1962 Los Angeles Lakers.[14]

text: The Game is played under normal NBA rules, but there are notable differences from an average game. Since the starting All-Stars are selected by fan vote, players sometimes start the game at atypical positions. For instance, in 2007 Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady had the two highest fan vote totals among Western Conference guards. As both players normally play shooting guard, Bryant, who is 6'6" (198 cm), started the game as a point guard, despite him also manning the shooting guard position on his team.

text: The player introductions are usually accompanied by a significant amount of fanfare, including lighting effects, dance music, and pyrotechnics. Special uniforms are designed for the game each year, usually red for the Western Conference and blue for the Eastern Conference, but the 1997–2002 games allowed players the opportunity to wear their respective team uniforms, and until 2009 and from 2015 to the present, the host conference wore light uniforms. Originally players from the same team who share a number have the option to either keep or change numbers (e.g. Patrick Ewing trading his familiar #33 for #3 because of Larry Bird wearing the same number), but since 1997 players from the same team can keep their customary uniform numbers even if they share them. A major recording artist typically sings "O Canada" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to tipoff. One of the more memorable performances was given by Marvin Gaye during the 1983 game; Gaye was accompanied by Gordon Banks, who played a tape from an all night session that used numerous elements of soul music and funk, and Banks still has that historic tape of the music to which Gaye sang his soulful version.

text: Gameplay usually involves players attempting spectacular slam dunks and alley oops. Defensive effort is usually limited and the final score of the game is generally much higher than an average NBA game. The coaches also try to give most of the reserve players some time on the court instead of using a limited rotation as they would in a normal game, but giving the starters more minutes because that's who the fans want to see most. The fourth quarter of the game is often played in a more competitive fashion, if the game is close.

text: Halftime is also longer than a typical NBA game due to musical performances by popular artists. Recent guests have included Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Ariana Grande, Elton John, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, OutKast, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Christina Aguilera, Pharrell Williams, Migos, and John Legend.

text: All-Star Game records[edit]

text: All-Star Game results[edit]

text: This is a list of each All-Star Game, the venue at which it was played, and the Game MVP. Parenthesized numbers indicate multiple times that venue, city, or player has occurred as of that instance (e.g. "Michael Jordan (2)" in 1996 indicates that was his second All-Star MVP award). As of the 2017 All-Star Game (the 2016–17 NBA season)[update], the Eastern Conference leads with a record of 37 wins and 29 losses. The Western Conference has won the last 3 games.

text:
Eastern Conference (37 wins)
Western Conference (29 wins)

tag: table

text: Note: Stadium names are named based on the name at the day of the All-Star Game.

text:
Year
Result
Host arena
Host city
Game MVP

1951
East 111, West 94
Boston Garden
Boston, Massachusetts
Ed Macauley, Boston Celtics

1952
East 108, West 91
Boston Garden (2)
Boston, Massachusetts (2)
Paul Arizin, Philadelphia Warriors

1953
West 79, East 75
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
Fort Wayne, Indiana
George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers

1954
East 98, West 93 (OT)
Madison Square Garden III**
New York City, New York
Bob Cousy, Boston Celtics

1955
East 100, West 91
Madison Square Garden III** (2)
New York City, New York (2)
Bill Sharman, Boston Celtics

1956
West 108, East 94
Rochester War Memorial Coliseum
Rochester, New York
Bob Pettit, St. Louis Hawks

1957
East 109, West 97
Boston Garden (3)
Boston, Massachusetts (3)
Bob Cousy (2), Boston Celtics

1958
East 130, West 118
St. Louis Arena
St. Louis, Missouri
Bob Pettit (2), St. Louis Hawks

1959
West 124, East 108
Olympia Stadium
Detroit, Michigan
Elgin Baylor, Minneapolis Lakers
Bob Pettit (3), St. Louis Hawks

1960
East 125, West 115
Convention Hall
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia Warriors

1961
West 153, East 131
Onondaga County War Memorial Coliseum
Syracuse, New York
Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati Royals

1962
West 150, East 130
St. Louis Arena (2)
St. Louis, Missouri (2)
Bob Pettit (4), St. Louis Hawks

1963
East 115, West 108
LA Sports Arena
Los Angeles, California
Bill Russell, Boston Celtics

1964
East 111, West 107
Boston Garden (4)
Boston, Massachusetts (4)
Oscar Robertson (2), Cincinnati Royals

1965
East 124, West 123
St. Louis Arena (3)
St. Louis, Missouri (3)
Jerry Lucas, Cincinnati Royals

1966
East 137, West 94
Cincinnati Gardens
Cincinnati, Ohio
Adrian Smith, Cincinnati Royals

1967
West 135, East 120
Cow Palace
Daly City, California
Rick Barry, San Francisco Warriors

1968
East 144, West 124
Madison Square Garden III** (3)
New York City, New York (3)
Hal Greer, Philadelphia 76ers

1969
East 123, West 112
Baltimore Civic Center
Baltimore, Maryland
Oscar Robertson (3), Cincinnati Royals

1970
East 142, West 135
The Spectrum
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2)
Willis Reed, New York Knicks

1971
West 108, East 107
San Diego Sports Arena
San Diego, California
Lenny Wilkens, Seattle SuperSonics

1972
West 112, East 110
The Forum
Inglewood, California
Jerry West, Los Angeles Lakers

1973
East 104, West 84
Chicago Stadium
Chicago, Illinois
Dave Cowens, Boston Celtics

1974
West 134, East 123
Seattle Center Coliseum
Seattle, Washington
Bob Lanier, Detroit Pistons

1975
East 108, West 102
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Phoenix, Arizona
Walt Frazier, New York Knicks

1976
East 123, West 109
The Spectrum (2)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (3)
Dave Bing, Washington Bullets

1977
West 125, East 124
Milwaukee Arena
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Julius Erving, Philadelphia 76ers

1978
East 133, West 125
Omni Coliseum
Atlanta, Georgia
Randy Smith, Buffalo Braves

1979
West 134, East 129
Pontiac Silverdome
Pontiac, Michigan†
David Thompson, Denver Nuggets

1980
East 144, West 136 (OT)
Capital Centre
Landover, Maryland
George Gervin, San Antonio Spurs

1981
East 123, West 120
Coliseum at Richfield
Richfield, Ohio
Nate Archibald, Boston Celtics

1982
East 120, West 118
Brendan Byrne Arena
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Larry Bird, Boston Celtics

1983
East 132, West 123
The Forum (2)
Inglewood, California (2)
Julius Erving (2), Philadelphia 76ers

1984
East 154, West 145 (OT)
McNichols Sports Arena
Denver, Colorado
Isiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons

1985
West 140, East 129
Hoosier Dome
Indianapolis, Indiana†
Ralph Sampson, Houston Rockets

1986
East 139, West 132
Reunion Arena
Dallas, Texas
Isiah Thomas (2), Detroit Pistons

1987
West 154, East 149 (OT)
Kingdome
Seattle, Washington† (2)
Tom Chambers, Seattle SuperSonics

1988
East 138, West 133
Chicago Stadium (2)
Chicago, Illinois (2)
Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

1989
West 143, East 134
Astrodome
Houston, Texas†
Karl Malone, Utah Jazz

1990
East 130, West 113
Miami Arena
Miami, Florida
Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers

1991
East 116, West 114
Charlotte Coliseum
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charles Barkley, Philadelphia 76ers

1992
West 153, East 113
Orlando Arena
Orlando, Florida
Magic Johnson (2), Los Angeles Lakers

1993
West 135, East 132 (OT)
Delta Center
Salt Lake City, Utah
Karl Malone (2), Utah Jazz
John Stockton, Utah Jazz

1994
East 127, West 118
Target Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls

1995
West 139, East 112
America West Arena§
Phoenix, Arizona (2)
Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings

1996
East 129, West 118
Alamodome
San Antonio, Texas
Michael Jordan (2), Chicago Bulls

1997
East 132, West 120
Gund Arena
Cleveland, Ohio
Glen Rice, Charlotte Hornets

1998
East 135, West 114
Madison Square Garden***
New York City, New York (4)
Michael Jordan (3), Chicago Bulls

1999
Canceled due to the league's lockout.
The game was originally set to play at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[15]

2000
West 137, East 126
The Arena in Oakland
Oakland, California
Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers

2001
East 111, West 110
MCI Center
Washington, D.C.
Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers

2002
West 135, East 120
First Union Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (4)
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

2003
West 155, East 145 (2 OT)
Philips Arena
Atlanta, Georgia (2)
Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves

2004
West 136, East 132
Staples Center
Los Angeles, California (2)
Shaquille O'Neal (2), Los Angeles Lakers

2005
East 125, West 115
Pepsi Center
Denver, Colorado (2)
Allen Iverson (2), Philadelphia 76ers

2006
East 122, West 120
Toyota Center
Houston, Texas (2)
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

2007
West 153, East 132
Thomas & Mack Center
Las Vegas, Nevada*
Kobe Bryant (2), Los Angeles Lakers

2008
East 134, West 128
New Orleans Arena§
New Orleans, Louisiana
LeBron James (2), Cleveland Cavaliers

2009
West 146, East 119
US Airways Center (2)
Phoenix, Arizona (3)
Kobe Bryant (3), Los Angeles Lakers
Shaquille O'Neal (3), Phoenix Suns

2010
East 141, West 139
Cowboys Stadium
Arlington, Texas#†
Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat

2011
West 148, East 143
Staples Center (2)
Los Angeles, California (3)
Kobe Bryant (4), Los Angeles Lakers

2012
West 152, East 149
Amway Center
Orlando, Florida (2)
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder

2013
West 143, East 138
Toyota Center (2)
Houston, Texas (3)
Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers

2014
East 163, West 155
Smoothie King Center (2)
New Orleans, Louisiana (2)
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers

2015
West 163, East 158
Madison Square Garden (2)*** / Barclays Center
New York City, New York (5)
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

2016
West 196, East 173
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario
Russell Westbrook (2), Oklahoma City Thunder

2017
West 192, East 182
Smoothie King Center (3)
New Orleans, Louisiana (3)
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans

2018[3]
Team LeBron 148, Team Stephen 145
Staples Center (3)
Los Angeles, California (4)
LeBron James (3), Cleveland Cavaliers

2019[16]
TBA vs. TBA
Spectrum Center
Charlotte, North Carolina (2)

2020[17]
TBA vs. TBA
United Center
Chicago, Illinois (3)

2021[18]
TBA vs. TBA
Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Indiana (2)

text:
* denotes a city without an NBA team in play during that calendar year.
** denotes game played at the "third" Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, which the first three NBA All-Star Games played in Madison Square Garden (1954, 1955 and 1968) were.
*** denotes game played at the "fourth" (or current as of 2017) Madison Square Garden that runs from 31st to 33rd Streets from 8th to west of 7th Avenues above the western half of Penn Station in Manhattan that opened in February 1968, approximately one month after the 1968 game was played in the "old" MSG.
† denotes an NBA All-Star Game that is held at an NFL or MLB stadium.
§ denotes a stadium or arena whose venue name has since changed AND the venue has hosted a subsequent NBA All-Star Game under the alternate name.
Portland, Sacramento, Memphis, and Oklahoma City are the only current NBA cities that have not yet hosted an NBA All-Star Game.[a]
New arenas that have not hosted the All-Star Game are BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, United Center in Chicago (set to host the 2020 game), TD Garden in Boston, American Airlines Arena in Miami, Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (set to host the 2021 game), American Airlines Center in Dallas, Spectrum Center in Charlotte (set to host the 2019 game), AT&T Center in San Antonio, and Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
# Arlington, Texas does not have an NBA team within its city limits, but it is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex that has an NBA team (the Dallas Mavericks).

text: Other All-Star events[edit]

text: The All-Star Game is the featured event of All-Star Weekend, and it is held on a Sunday night. All-Star Weekend also includes a number of popular exhibition games and competitions featuring NBA players and alumni as well as players from the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and NBA G League (G League).


document_title: History of mobile phones

question_text: when did the first cellular phone come out

question_tokens: when did the first cellular phone come out

root

text: History of mobile phones

text: Predecessors[edit]

text: Before the devices existed that are now referred to as mobile phones or cell phones, there were some precursors. In 1908, a Professor Albert Jahnke and the Oakland Transcontinental Aerial Telephone and Power Company claimed to have developed a wireless telephone. They were accused of fraud and the charge was then dropped, but they do not seem to have proceeded with production.[2] Beginning in 1918, the German railroad system tested wireless telephony on military trains between Berlin and Zossen.[3] In 1924, public trials started with telephone connection on trains between Berlin and Hamburg. In 1925, the company Zugtelephonie A. G. was founded to supply train telephony equipment and, in 1926, telephone service in trains of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the German mail service on the route between Hamburg and Berlin was approved and offered to first-class travelers.[4]

tag: p

text: In 1907, the English caricaturist Lewis Baumer published a cartoon in Punch magazine entitled "Forecasts for 1907" in which he showed a man and a woman in London's Hyde Park each separately engaged in gambling and dating on wireless telephony equipment.[5] Then, in 1926, the artist Karl Arnold created a visionary cartoon about the use of mobile phones in the street, in the picture "wireless telephony", published in the German satirical magazine Simplicissimus.[6]

text: The portrayal of a Utopia of mobile phone in literature dates back to the year 1931. It is found in Erich Kästner's children's book The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas:

text:
“
A gentleman who rode along the sidewalk in front of them, suddenly stepped off the conveyor belt, pulled a phone from his coat pocket, spoke a number into it and shouted: "Gertrude, listen, I'll be an hour late for lunch because I want to go to the laboratory. Goodbye, sweetheart!" Then he put his pocket phone away again, stepped back on the conveyor belt, started reading a book...
”

— Erich Kästner

text: The Second World War made military use of radio telephony links. Hand-held radio transceivers have been available since the 1940s. Mobile telephones for automobiles became available from some telephone companies in the 1940s. Early devices were bulky, consumed high power, and the network supported only a few simultaneous conversations. Modern cellular networks allow automatic and pervasive use of mobile phones for voice and data communications.

text: In the United States, engineers from Bell Labs began work on a system to allow mobile users to place and receive telephone calls from automobiles, leading to the inauguration of mobile service on 17 June 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after, AT&T offered Mobile Telephone Service. A wide range of mostly incompatible mobile telephone services offered limited coverage area and only a few available channels in urban areas. The introduction of cellular technology, which allowed re-use of frequencies many times in small adjacent areas covered by relatively low powered transmitters, made widespread adoption of mobile telephones economically feasible.

text: One of the earliest fictional descriptions of a mobile phone was the 1948 science fiction novel Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein. The protagonist, who has just traveled to Colorado from his home in Des Moines, receives a call from his father on a pocket telephone. Before going to space he decides to ship the telephone home "since it was limited by its short range to the neighborhood of an earth-side [i.e. terrestrial] relay office." Ten years later, an essay by Arthur C. Clarke envisioned a "personal transceiver, so small and compact that every man carries one." He wrote: "the time will come when we will be able to call a person anywhere on Earth merely by dialing a number." Such a device would also, in Clarke's vision, include means for global positioning so that "no one need ever again be lost." Later, in Profiles of the Future, he predicted the advent of such a device taking place in the mid-1980s.[7] U.S. TV series Get Smart (1965-1970) depicted spy gadgets with mobile telephones concealed in random objects, including shoes.

text: In the USSR, Leonid Kupriyanovich, an engineer from Moscow, in 1957-1961 developed and presented a number of experimental models of handheld mobile phones. The weight of one model, presented in 1961, was only 70 g and could fit on a palm.[8][9] However, in the USSR the decision at first to develop the system of the automobile "Altai" phone was made.[10]

text: In 1965, Bulgarian company "Radioelektronika" presented on the Inforga-65 international exhibition in Moscow the mobile automatic phone combined with a base station. Solutions of this phone were based on a system developed by Leonid Kupriyanovich. One base station, connected to one telephone wire line, could serve up to 15 customers.[11]

text: The advances in mobile telephony can be traced in successive generations from the early "0G" services like MTS and its successor Improved Mobile Telephone Service, to first-generation (1G) analog cellular network, second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, third-generation (3G) broadband data services to the state-of-the-art, fourth-generation (4G) native-IP networks.

text: Early services[edit]

text: MTS[edit]

text: In 1949, AT&T commercialized Mobile Telephone Service. From its start in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1946, AT&T introduced Mobile Telephone Service to one hundred towns and highway corridors by 1948. Mobile Telephone Service was a rarity with only 5,000 customers placing about 30,000 calls each week. Calls were set up manually by an operator and the user had to depress a button on the handset to talk and release the button to listen. The call subscriber equipment weighed about 80 lb.[12]

text: Subscriber growth and revenue generation were hampered by the constraints of the technology. Because only three radio channels were available, only three customers in any given city could make mobile telephone calls at one time.[13] Mobile Telephone Service was expensive, costing 15 USD per month, plus 0.30 to 0.40 USD per local call, equivalent to about 176 USD per month and 3.50 to 4.75 per call in 2012 USD.[12]

text: In the UK, there was also a vehicle-based system called "Post Office Radiophone Service,"[14] which was launched around the city of Manchester in 1959, and although it required callers to speak to an operator, it was possible to be put through to any subscriber in Great Britain. The service was extended to London in 1965 and other major cities in 1972.

text: IMTS[edit]

text: AT&T introduced the first major improvement to mobile telephony in 1965, giving the improved service the obvious name of Improved Mobile Telephone Service. IMTS used additional radio channels, allowing more simultaneous calls in a given geographic area, introduced customer dialing, eliminating manual call setup by an operator, and reduced the size and weight of the subscriber equipment.[12]

text: Despite the capacity improvement offered by IMTS, demand outstripped capacity. In agreement with state regulatory agencies, AT&T limited the service to just 40,000 customers system wide. In New York City, for example, 2,000 customers shared just 12 radio channels and typically had to wait 30 minutes to place a call.[12]

text: Radio Common Carrier[edit]

text: Radio Common Carrier [15] or RCC was a service introduced in the 1960s by independent telephone companies to compete against AT&T's IMTS. RCC systems used paired UHF 454/459 MHz and VHF 152/158 MHz frequencies near those used by IMTS. RCC based services were provided until the 1980s when cellular AMPS systems made RCC equipment obsolete.

text: Some RCC systems were designed to allow customers of adjacent carriers to use their facilities, but equipment used by RCCs did not allow the equivalent of modern "roaming" because technical standards were not uniform. For example, the phone of an Omaha, Nebraska–based RCC service would not be likely to work in Phoenix, Arizona. Roaming was not encouraged, in part, because there was no centralized industry billing database for RCCs. Signaling formats were not standardized. For example, some systems used two-tone sequential paging to alert a mobile of an incoming call. Other systems used DTMF. Some used Secode 2805, which transmitted an interrupted 2805 Hz tone (similar to IMTS signaling) to alert mobiles of an offered call. Some radio equipment used with RCC systems was half-duplex, push-to-talk LOMO equipment such as Motorola hand-helds or RCA 700-series conventional two-way radios. Other vehicular equipment had telephone handsets and rotary dials or pushbutton pads, and operated full duplex like a conventional wired telephone. A few users had full-duplex briefcase telephones (radically advanced for their day)

text: At the end of RCC's existence, industry associations were working on a technical standard that would have allowed roaming, and some mobile users had multiple decoders to enable operation with more than one of the common signaling formats (600/1500, 2805, and Reach). Manual operation was often a fallback for RCC roamers.

text: Other services[edit]

text: In 1969 Penn Central Railroad equipped commuter trains along the 360 km New York-Washington route with special pay phones that allowed passengers to place telephone calls while the train was moving. The system re-used six frequencies in the 450 MHz band in nine sites.[13]

text: In the UK, Channel Islands and elsewhere the "Rabbit" phone system was briefly used, being a hybrid of "cell" base stations and handsets. One major limitation was that you had to be less than 300 feet (closer with buildings) from a base due to power limitations on a portable device. [16] With modern technology a similar variant is being considered for Apple's new 4G "smart watch" so they can be used in large events in a broadly similar way to a femtocell.

text: European mobile radio networks[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: In Europe, several mutually incompatible mobile radio services were developed.

text: In 1966 Norway had a system called OLT which was manually controlled. Finland's ARP, launched in 1971, was also manual as was the Swedish MTD. All were replaced by the automatic NMT, (Nordic Mobile Telephone) system in the early 1980s.

text: In July 1971 Readycall was introduced in London by Burndept after obtaining a special concession to break the Post Office monopoly to allow selective calling to mobiles of calls from the public telephone system. This system was available to the public for a subscription of £16 month. A year later the service was extended to two other UK towns.[17]

text: West Germany had a network called A-Netz launched in 1952 as the country's first public commercial mobile phone network. In 1972 this was displaced by B-Netz which connected calls automatically.

text: The cellular concept[edit]

text: In December 1947, Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young, Bell Labs engineers, proposed hexagonal cells for mobile phones in vehicles.[18] At this stage, the technology to implement these ideas did not exist, nor had the frequencies been allocated. Two decades would pass before Richard H. Frenkiel, Joel S. Engel and Philip T. Porter of Bell Labs expanded the early proposals into a much more detailed system plan. It was Porter who first proposed that the cell towers use the now-familiar directional antennas to reduce interference and increase channel reuse (see picture at right) [19] Porter also invented the dial-then-send method used by all cell phones to reduce wasted channel time.

text: In all these early examples, a mobile phone had to stay within the coverage area serviced by one base station throughout the phone call, i.e. there was no continuity of service as the phones moved through several cell areas. The concepts of frequency reuse and handoff, as well as a number of other concepts that formed the basis of modern cell phone technology, were described in the late 1960s, in papers by Frenkiel and Porter. In 1970 Amos E. Joel, Jr., a Bell Labs engineer,[20] invented a "three-sided trunk circuit" to aid in the "call handoff" process from one cell to another. His patent contained an early description of the Bell Labs cellular concept, but as switching systems became faster, such a circuit became unnecessary and was never implemented in a system.

text: A cellular telephone switching plan was described by Fluhr and Nussbaum in 1973,[21] and a cellular telephone data signaling system was described in 1977 by Hachenburg et al.[22]

text: Emergence of automated services[edit]

text: The first fully automated mobile phone system for vehicles was launched in Sweden in 1956. Named MTA (Mobiltelefonisystem A), it allowed calls to be made and received in the car using a rotary dial. The car phone could also be paged. Calls from the car were direct dial, whereas incoming calls required an operator to locate the nearest base station to the car. It was developed by Sture Laurén and other engineers at Televerket network operator. Ericsson provided the switchboard while Svenska Radioaktiebolaget (SRA) and Marconi provided the telephones and base station equipment. MTA phones consisted of vacuum tubes and relays, and weighed 40 kg. In 1962, an upgraded version called Mobile System B (MTB) was introduced. This was a push-button telephone, and used transistors and DTMF signaling to improve its operational reliability. In 1971 the MTD version was launched, opening for several different brands of equipment and gaining commercial success.[23][24] The network remained open until 1983 and still had 600 customers when it closed.

text: In 1958 development began on a similar system for motorists in the USSR.[25] The "Altay" national civil mobile phone service was based on Soviet MRT-1327 standard. The main developers of the Altay system were the Voronezh Science Research Institute of Communications (VNIIS) and the State Specialized Project Institute (GSPI). In 1963 the service started in Moscow, and by 1970 was deployed in 30 cities across the USSR. Versions of the Altay system are still in use today as a trunking system in some parts of Russia.

text: In 1959 a private telephone company in Brewster, Kansas, USA, the S&T Telephone Company, (still in business today) with the use of Motorola Radio Telephone equipment and a private tower facility, offered to the public mobile telephone services in that local area of NW Kansas. This system was a direct dial up service through their local switchboard, and was installed in many private vehicles including grain combines, trucks, and automobiles. For some as yet unknown reason, the system, after being placed online and operated for a very brief time period, was shut down. The management of the company was immediately changed, and the fully operable system and related equipment was immediately dismantled in early 1960, not to be seen again.[citation needed]

text: In 1966, Bulgaria presented the pocket mobile automatic phone RAT-0,5 combined with a base station RATZ-10 (RATC-10) on Interorgtechnika-66 international exhibition. One base station, connected to one telephone wire line, could serve up to six customers ("Radio" magazine, 2, 1967; "Novosti dnya" newsreel, 37, 1966).

text: One of the first successful public commercial mobile phone networks was the ARP network in Finland, launched in 1971. Posthumously, ARP is sometimes viewed as a zero generation (0G) cellular network, being slightly above previous proprietary and limited coverage networks.[citation needed]

text: Handheld mobile phone[edit]

text: Prior to 1973, mobile telephony was limited to phones installed in cars and other vehicles.[20] Motorola was the first company to produce a handheld mobile phone. On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive, made the first mobile telephone call from handheld subscriber equipment, placing a call to Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs, his rival.[26][27] The prototype handheld phone used by Dr. Cooper weighed 1.1 kg (2.42 lb) and measured 23 cm long, 13 cm deep and 4.45 cm wide. The prototype offered a talk time of just 30 minutes and took 10 hours to re-charge.[28]

text: John F. Mitchell,[29][30][31] Motorola's chief of portable communication products and Cooper's boss in 1973, played a key role in advancing the development of handheld mobile telephone equipment. Mitchell successfully pushed Motorola to develop wireless communication products that would be small enough to use anywhere and participated in the design of the cellular phone.[32][33]

text: The early generations[edit]

text: Newer technology has been developed and rolled out in a series of waves or generations. The "generation" terminology only became widely used when 3G was launched, but is now used retroactively when referring to the earlier systems.

text: 1G – Analogue cellular[edit]

text: First automatic analogue cellular systems deployed were NTT's system first used in Tokyo in 1979, later spreading to the whole of Japan, and NMT in the Nordic countries in 1981.

text: The first analogue cellular system widely deployed in North America was the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS).[34] It was commercially introduced in the Americas in 13 October 1983, Israel in 1986, and Australia in 1987. AMPS was a pioneering technology that helped drive mass market usage of cellular technology, but it had several serious issues by modern standards. It was unencrypted and easily vulnerable to eavesdropping via a scanner; it was susceptible to cell phone "cloning" and it used a Frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) scheme and required significant amounts of wireless spectrum to support.

text: On 6 March 1983, the DynaTAC 8000X mobile phone launched on the first US 1G network by Ameritech. It cost $100m to develop, and took over a decade to reach the market.[35] The phone had a talk time of just thirty-five minutes and took ten hours to charge. Consumer demand was strong despite the battery life, weight, and low talk time, and waiting lists were in the thousands.[36][37]

text: Many of the iconic early commercial cell phones such as the Motorola DynaTAC Analog AMPS were eventually superseded by Digital AMPS (D-AMPS) in 1990, and AMPS service was shut down by most North American carriers by 2008.

text: In February 1986 Australia launched its Cellular Telephone System by Telecom Australia. Peter Reedman was the first Telecom Customer to be connected on 6 January 1986 along with five other subscribers as test customers prior to the official launch date of 28 February.

text: 2G – Digital cellular[edit]

text: In the 1990s, the 'second generation' mobile phone systems emerged. Two systems competed for supremacy in the global market: the European developed GSM standard and the U.S. developed CDMA standard. These differed from the previous generation by using digital instead of analog transmission, and also fast out-of-band phone-to-network signaling. The rise in mobile phone usage as a result of 2G was explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid mobile phones.

text: In 1991 the first GSM network (Radiolinja) launched in Finland. In general the frequencies used by 2G systems in Europe were higher than those in America, though with some overlap. For example, the 900 MHz frequency range was used for both 1G and 2G systems in Europe, so the 1G systems were rapidly closed down to make space for the 2G systems. In America the IS-54 standard was deployed in the same band as AMPS and displaced some of the existing analog channels.

text: In 1993, IBM Simon was introduced. This was possibly the world's first smartphone. It was a mobile phone, pager, fax machine, and PDA all rolled into one. It included a calendar, address book, clock, calculator, notepad, email, and a touchscreen with a QWERTY keyboard.[38] The IBM Simon had a stylus you used to tap the touch screen with. It featured predictive typing that would guess the next characters as you tapped. It had applications, or at least a way to deliver more features by plugging a PCMCIA 1.8 MB memory card into the phone.[39] Coinciding with the introduction of 2G systems was a trend away from the larger "brick" phones toward tiny 100 – 200 gram hand-held devices. This change was possible not only through technological improvements such as more advanced batteries and more energy-efficient electronics, but also because of the higher density of cell sites to accommodate increasing usage. The latter meant that the average distance transmission from phone to the base station shortened, leading to increased battery life while on the move.

text: The second generation introduced a new variant of communication called SMS or text messaging. It was initially available only on GSM networks but spread eventually on all digital networks. The first machine-generated SMS message was sent in the UK on 3 December 1992 followed in 1993 by the first person-to-person SMS sent in Finland. The advent of prepaid services in the late 1990s soon made SMS the communication method of choice among the young, a trend which spread across all ages.

text: 2G also introduced the ability to access media content on mobile phones. In 1998 the first downloadable content sold to mobile phones was the ring tone, launched by Finland's Radiolinja (now Elisa). Advertising on the mobile phone first appeared in Finland when a free daily SMS news headline service was launched in 2000, sponsored by advertising.

text: Mobile payments were trialed in 1998 in Finland and Sweden where a mobile phone was used to pay for a Coca-Cola vending machine and car parking. Commercial launches followed in 1999 in Norway. The first commercial payment system to mimic banks and credit cards was launched in the Philippines in 1999 simultaneously by mobile operators Globe and Smart.

text: The first full internet service on mobile phones was introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1999.

text: 3G – Mobile broadband[edit]

text: As the use of 2G phones became more widespread and people began to use mobile phones in their daily lives, it became clear that demand for data (such as access to browse the internet) was growing. Further, experience from fixed broadband services showed there would also be an ever-increasing demand for greater data speeds. The 2G technology was nowhere near up to the job, so the industry began to work on the next generation of technology known as 3G. The main technological difference that distinguishes 3G technology from 2G technology is the use of packet switching rather than circuit switching for data transmission.[40] In addition, the standardization process focused on requirements more than technology (2 Mbit/s maximum data rate indoors, 384 kbit/s outdoors, for example).

text: Inevitably this led to many competing standards with different contenders pushing their own technologies, and the vision of a single unified worldwide standard looked far from reality. The standard 2G CDMA networks became 3G compliant with the adoption of Revision A to EV-DO, which made several additions to the protocol while retaining backwards compatibility:

text:
Introduction of several new forward link data rates that increase the maximum burst rate from 2.45 Mbit/s to 3.1 Mbit/s
Protocols that would decrease connection establishment time
Ability for more than one mobile to share the same time slot
Introduction of QoS flags

tag: ul

text: All these were put in place to allow for low latency, low bit rate communications such as VoIP.[41]

text: The first pre-commercial trial network with 3G was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in the Tokyo region in May 2001. NTT DoCoMo launched the first commercial 3G network on 1 October 2001, using the WCDMA technology. In 2002 the first 3G networks on the rival CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology were launched by SK Telecom and KTF in South Korea, and Monet in the US. Monet has since gone bankrupt. By the end of 2002, the second WCDMA network was launched in Japan by Vodafone KK (now Softbank). European launches of 3G were in Italy and the UK by Three/Hutchison group, on WCDMA. 2003 saw a further eight commercial launches of 3G, six more on WCDMA and two more on the EV-DO standard.

text: During the development of 3G systems, 2.5G systems such as CDMA2000 1x and GPRS were developed as extensions to existing 2G networks. These provide some of the features of 3G without fulfilling the promised high data rates or full range of multimedia services. CDMA2000-1X delivers theoretical maximum data speeds of up to 307 kbit/s. Just beyond these is the EDGE system which in theory covers the requirements for 3G system, but is so narrowly above these that any practical system would be sure to fall short.

text: The high connection speeds of 3G technology enabled a transformation in the industry: for the first time, media streaming of radio (and even television) content to 3G handsets became possible,[42] with companies such as RealNetworks[43] and Disney[44] among the early pioneers in this type of offering.

text: In the mid-2000s (decade), an evolution of 3G technology began to be implemented, namely High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s.

text: By the end of 2007, there were 295 million subscribers on 3G networks worldwide, which reflected 9% of the total worldwide subscriber base. About two thirds of these were on the WCDMA standard and one third on the EV-DO standard. The 3G telecoms services generated over $120 billion of revenues during 2007 and at many markets the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones. In Japan and South Korea the market no longer supplies phones of the second generation.

text: Although mobile phones had long had the ability to access data networks such as the Internet, it was not until the widespread availability of good quality 3G coverage in the mid-2000s (decade) that specialized devices appeared to access the mobile web. The first such devices, known as "dongles", plugged directly into a computer through the USB port. Another new class of device appeared subsequently, the so-called "compact wireless router" such as the Novatel MiFi, which makes 3G Internet connectivity available to multiple computers simultaneously over Wi-Fi, rather than just to a single computer via a USB plug-in.

text: Such devices became especially popular for use with laptop computers due to the added portability they bestow. Consequently, some computer manufacturers started to embed the mobile data function directly into the laptop so a dongle or MiFi wasn't needed. Instead, the SIM card could be inserted directly into the device itself to access the mobile data services. Such 3G-capable laptops became commonly known as "netbooks". Other types of data-aware devices followed in the netbook's footsteps. By the beginning of 2010, E-readers, such as the Amazon Kindle and the Nook from Barnes & Noble, had already become available with embedded wireless Internet, and Apple had announced plans for embedded wireless Internet on its iPad tablet devices later that year.

text: 4G – Native IP networks[edit]

text: By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming media.[45] Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized 4th-generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. The first two commercially available technologies billed as 4G were the WiMAX standard (offered in the U.S. by Sprint) and the LTE standard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera.

text: One of the main ways in which 4G differed technologically from 3G was in its elimination of circuit switching, instead employing an all-IP network. Thus, 4G ushered in a treatment of voice calls just like any other type of streaming audio media, utilizing packet switching over Internet, LAN or WAN networks via VoIP.[46]

text: Satellite mobile[edit]

text: As well as the now-common cellular phone, there is also the very different approach of connecting directly from the handset to an Earth-orbiting satellite. Such mobile phones can be used in remote areas out of reach of wired networks or where construction of a cellular network is uneconomic.

text: The Inmarsat system is the oldest, originally developed in 1979 for safety of life at sea, and uses a series of satellites in geostationary orbits to cover the majority of the globe. Several smaller operators use the same approach with just one or two satellites to provide a regional service. An alternative approach is to use a series of low Earth orbit satellites much closer to Earth. This is the basis of the Iridium and Globalstar satellite phone services.


document_title: True Blood (season 1)

question_text: who killed sookie's grandmother in true blood

question_tokens: who killed sookie 's grandmother in true blood

text: True Blood (season 1)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a waitress with telepathic abilities. Stephen Moyer plays her love interest, vampire Bill Compton. Sookie works for Sam Merlotte, played by Sam Trammell, owner of Merlotte's bar and a shapeshifter who has a crush on Sookie. Rutina Wesley plays Sookie's best friend Tara Thornton, begins bartending at Merlotte's after quitting her job at the Super Save-A-Bunch. Also working at Merlotte's are Tara's cousin Lafayette Reynolds, played by Nelsan Ellis, a short order cook and hustler, and Arlene Fowler, played by Carrie Preston. Arlene is a thrice-divorced waitress with two children who, over the course of the season, becomes engaged to Rene Lenier, played by Michael Raymond-James, a Cajun labourer who works on a road crew.

text: Ryan Kwanten plays Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's brother, a labourer on a road crew and ladies' man. Jason's sexual relations begin to die, one after the other, and he is suspected of being a serial killer. Jim Parrack is Hoyt Fortenberry, Jason's co-worker who admires Jason's abilities with women. Lois Smith plays Adele Stackhouse, Jason and Sookie's grandmother who has looked after them since the deaths of their parents. Lizzy Caplan plays Jason's love interest Amy Burley, who begins a relationship with Jason because of a shared addiction to vampire blood, or "V". They kidnap Eddie Gauthier, played by Stephen Root, to use his blood.

text: In the vampire community Alexander Skarsgård plays Eric Northman, the Sheriff of Area 5, which includes Bon Temps, and owner of the vampire bar Fangtasia. Working for Eric, both in the bar and under him as Sheriff, are Pam, played by Kristin Bauer, and Chow, played by Patrick Gallagher. The bartender Longshadow, played by Raoul Trujillo, is killed by Bill to protect Sookie. As punishment for killing a fellow vampire and to replenish the vampire ranks, Bill is taken to the Magister, played by Željko Ivanek, and forced to sire Jessica Hamby, played by Deborah Ann Woll. Jessica is cared for by Eric but when he grows tired of her he leaves her with Bill.

text: In the middle of the season Tara's mother, Lettie Mae, played by Adina Porter, undergoes an exorcism to rid herself of what she terms her "demons" - her addiction to alcohol. The exorcism is administered by "Miss Jeanette" an alias of Nancy LeGuare, played by Aisha Hinds. Following her exorcism Lettie Mae kicks Tara out. Following a crash and DUI, Tara is taken in by Maryann Forrester (who initially presents herself to Tara as some kind of social worker), played by Michelle Forbes. While staying with Maryann, Tara meets "Eggs" Benedict Talley, played by Mehcad Brooks, to whom she feels a strong attraction.

text: The central mystery of the season begins when Maudette Pickens, played by Danielle Sapia, is killed. William Sanderson plays Sheriff Dearborne, who places his only detective, Andy Bellefleur, played by Chris Bauer, in charge of finding the killer. Bellefleur suspects Jason Stackhouse, and that suspicion grows after the murder of Dawn Green, played by Lynn Collins. Andy's cousin Terry, played by Todd Lowe, works as a cook at Merlotte's.

text: Other minor characters include Mack and Denise Rattray, played by James Jean Parks and Karina Logue. Bartlett Hale played by Cheyenne Wilbur, Sookie and Jason's pedophile great-uncle. Coroner's assistant Neil Jones played by Kevin Michael McHale, and vampires Malcolm, Liam and Diane played by Andrew Rothenberg, Graham Shiels and Aunjanue Ellis.

text: The international conflict between vampires and humans is played out in the background, but two minor characters are introduced who become major characters in the second season. Michael McMillian plays Reverend Steve Newlin and Anna Camp plays his wife Sarah. They head the anti-vampire church the Fellowship of the Sun following the death of Steve's father, who was supposedly killed by vampires. A representative of the Fellowship of the Sun approaches Jason Stackhouse while he is in jail in the final episode of the season.

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No.
overall
No. in
season
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
U.S. viewers
(millions)

1
1
"Strange Love"
Alan Ball
Alan Ball
September 7, 2008 (2008-09-07)
1.44[2]

It has been two years since the invention of the synthetic plasma TruBlood that has allowed vampires to make their presence known to mankind. In the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, 25-year-old waitress Sookie Stackhouse struggles with being telepathic and not being able to control hearing the thoughts of everyone she sees. That is until 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton walks into Merlotte's bar where Sookie works. She is immediately drawn to him, and so are Mack and Denise Rattray, a couple of local thugs who later attack Bill with silver and try to drain his blood so that they can sell it on the black market. But Sookie rescues him and drives the Rattrays away, after which she learns that not only is Bill equally interested in her, but that she cannot read his thoughts as his brain is technically dead. Meanwhile, Sookie's hard-talking best friend Tara Thornton is fired from her job when she mouths off to her boss and a customer and Sam Merlotte hires her as the new bartender. Meanwhile, Sookie's brother Jason Stackhouse has a sexual interlude with a young woman named Maudette Pickens, who enjoys rough sex with vampires. She shows Jason a videotape of her with a bald-headed, tattooed vampire and later she videotapes them having rough sex. The next day, Jason is arrested by Sheriff Bud Dearborne and Detective Andy Bellefleur for murder of Maudette, who was killed the night before. Sookie's grandmother Adele asks if Sookie thinks she can get the vampire Bill to speak at her Descendants of the Glorious Dead meeting. And at Merlotte's that night, Bill agrees to meet her in the parking lot after work to discuss the favor. Sookie gets into a heated argument with Sam and Tara, who believe that getting involved with a vampire could be very dangerous and Sookie tells them both to stay out of her life. After work Sookie and Sam make amends with one another and alone in the parking lot, Sookie is suddenly and savagely attacked by the Rattrays, out for revenge.

2
2
"The First Taste"
Scott Winant
Alan Ball
September 14, 2008 (2008-09-14)
1.79[3]

The Rattrays are brutally beating Sookie as she bleeds on the ground. They are about to kill her when Bill suddenly intervenes. He kills both Rattrays and takes Sookie to the edge of a lake, where he offers her some of his vampire blood, which has special properties that allow her to completely heal instantly. Sookie asks him about being a guest speaker at her grandmother's next meeting and he agrees to that and to call in on her at her house the next evening to meet her family. Meanwhile, Jason is shown a videotape of him with Maudette and it turns out that Jason thought he had choked her to death during sex, but that she was only fooling around with him. Sheriff Dearborne and Detective Bellefleur aren't entirely convinced Jason didn't kill Maudette, but he is eventually released. Tara returns home from work to find her alcoholic mother passed out on the couch and she asks her flamboyant cousin Lafayette, who is also the Merlotte's cook, to take her to a party. He agrees. Jason meets up with an old flame and another Merlotte's waitress, Dawn and the two spend the night together. The next morning, he discovers vampire bite marks on her neck. Sookie learns that the police found the Rattrays' bodies in the wreckage of their trailer and have ruled that they were killed by a freak tornado. Sookie also notices throughout the day that her sense of smell and taste have been enhanced by Bill's blood. That night Bill meets with Adele, Jason and Tara at Sookie's house. He takes her for a starlit walk and they share their first kiss. The next day Dawn heads for work, leaving Jason tied up on her bed. At Merlotte's, Sookie learns that Reverend Theodore Newlin, founder of the anti-vampire church the Fellowship of the Sun, along with his wife and daughter were killed in an accident. Questioning just how far vampires are willing to go, she races to Bill's house to ask him about the incident where she is set upon by three strange vampires, including the bald-headed man seen in Maudette's sex tape.

3
3
"Mine"
John Dahl
Alan Ball
September 21, 2008 (2008-09-21)
1.81[4]

In order to save Sookie from Malcolm, Diane and Liam, who are about to feed on her, Bill claims Sookie as his human, declaring "Sookie is mine." With Sookie safe, for the time being at least, Malcolm offers to let Bill feed on Jerry, a young human the trio carry around with them as a toy. Bill is about to feed, but Sookie looks into Jerry's mind and sees that he has Hepatitis D, an infection that infects only vampires. Now robbed of his chance at revenge for the loss of his boyfriend to vampire blood addiction, Jerry attacks Sookie, but Bill stops him and knocks him out. Diane wants to know how Sookie knew about Jerry's intentions, but Bill manages to get the group out the door before they can ask any more questions. The incident leaves Sookie shaken and with doubts about her relationship with Bill. At Merlotte's, Sam and Tara close up for the night and share a few drinks. They talk about being lonely and come to an arrangement, whereby they will have sex just once. Dawn returns home and her little game with Jason quickly turns into more rough sex. However, knowing that Dawn has been with vampires causes Jason to lose his erection and the two have an argument about sex with vampires, which results in Dawn threatening Jason with a gun and throwing him out of her house, all of which is witnessed by Dawn's neighbor. Bill pays a visit to Malcolm, Diane and Liam and tells them to leave Sookie alone. They criticize him for his mainstreaming and suggest that the Great Revelation was not a good idea. Tara returns home and is attacked by her alcoholic mother Lettie Mae, who calls her a whore and scares Tara out of the house. She drops in on Lafayette, just as a state senator is leaving his "appointment" and asks for a place to stay. Sookie has a dream in which Bill takes her virginity and, after a discussion with Adele, decides that she should give Bill another chance. Jason goes to Lafayette's house to get some Viagra, but ends up with a vial of vampire blood. Lafayette instructs him to take only one or two drops of blood at a time. To get it, Jason has to dance on camera for Lafayette's website and Tara gets a much appreciated view of Jason's performance. Sam asks Sookie to swing by Dawn's house, as she did not show up for work. Sookie obliges and finds Dawn's dead body sprawled out on her bed.

4
4
"Escape from Dragon House"
Michael Lehmann
Brian Buckner
September 28, 2008 (2008-09-28)
1.82[4]

As Sookie screams for help, Jason shows up with a bouquet of flowers. Dawn's neighbor answers Sookie's calls and, upon seeing Dawn's body, accuses Jason of killing her and he storms off. Later, a large crowd of police and onlookers has gathered, including Arlene Fowler, another Merlotte's waitress, her boyfriend Rene Lenier and Hoyt Fortenberry, both of whom work on Jason's roadworks crew. Sam, who owns the block of houses, shows up to comfort Sookie just before Mike Spencer, the county coroner, and his assistant Neil bring Dawn's body out. Andy Bellefleur takes Jason in for questioning again and Jason, remembering that he has a vial of illegal vampire blood on him, swallows the whole thing. Halfway through his questioning, the overdose of "V-juice" gives Jason a severe case of priapism. He is rescued from the cops by Tara and, after she takes him home, Jason tries to rid himself of his erection, but nothing will work. Adele asks Sookie to read the townspeople's thoughts in order to find any evidence that will clear her brother's name. Desperate for relief, Jason goes to Merlotte's to see Lafayette, who cannot help him. After deducing Jason's use of V-juice, Tara insists on taking him to the hospital. In order to help in Sookie's investigation, Bill agrees to take her to a vampire bar in Shreveport named Fangtasia. Sam warns Sookie of the dangers of hanging around in such places, but she ignores them and goes anyway. When they arrive at Fangtasia, Bill and Sookie are admitted by an old vampire acquaintance of Bill's, Pam. Sookie describes the bar as being like an attraction at Disney World. At the hospital, Jason lies to the doctor about taking any drugs and, not wanting to risk a drug reaction, the doctor uses a large syringe to drain the blood out of Jason's penis without anesthesia. On the ride home, Jason sleeps and Tara reminisces about their childhood together, when Jason would protect her from her mother's drunken violence. It seems that Tara is in love with Jason. At Fangtasia, Bill and Sookie are summoned by Eric Northman, a thousand-year-old Viking vampire and owner of the bar. Sookie shows him pictures of Maudette and Dawn and Eric reveals that he slept with Dawn, but rejected Maudette. Sookie senses that a human is being fed on in the bathroom just before a police raid on Fangtasia, and she, Bill, Pam and Eric manage to escape just in time. On their way back to Bon Temps, Bill is pulled over by a police officer and the situation gets out of hand when Bill glamours the officer. Sookie is afraid Bill is going to kill him, but instead he simply drives off after warning the officer to be careful the next time he pulls someone over on suspicion of being a vampire. Sam lets himself into Dawn's old house and rolls around in her sheets, sniffing and writhing.

5
5
"Sparks Fly Out"
Daniel Minahan
Alexander Woo
October 5, 2008 (2008-10-05)
1.74[3]

Bill's car arrives outside Sookie's house, and the two have an argument about their encounter with the police officer and Bill confesses that, had she not been there, he would have fed on the officer. Bill promises to never call her again and leaves. Sookie asks her gran about her problem and Adele suggests that she not be afraid or suspicious of him just because he is different. Tara is furious at Lafayette for selling V-juice to Jason and makes him promise to apologize. When Jason stops by, however, Lafayette convinces him to give vamp blood another try and instructs him on how to take it properly. At Merlotte's, Sam seizes his opportunity with Sookie and asks her to go with him to the Descendents of the Glorious Dead meeting and she agrees. Her suspicions about Tara and her brother are also raised when she learns that Tara lied to the police in order to give Jason an alibi for Dawn's murder. That night at the D.O.G.D. meeting, a large crowd has gathered at the church to hear Bill's speech. Among them are three rednecks named Chuck, Wayne and Royce, who are stirring up some trouble. Adele introduces Bill and he recounts the story about the loss of his friend Tolliver Humphries during the Civil War. The Mayor of Bon Temps presents Bill with a photograph of his long-lost wife and children, which stirs powerful emotions in Bill. After the meeting, Sookie and Sam go out for coffee. Everything is going well until the conversation turns to vampires and Sam insists that Bill is dangerous, no matter how she feels about him. At Merlotte's, the trio of rednecks continue to stir up trouble when Royce sends back a burger, saying it has AIDS. This causes Lafayette to fly into a rage and slams the burger in the boy's face. Jason, Rene and Hoyt are dining not far away and Hoyt fails to pick up a girl named Randi Sue. A very-stoned Jason professes his deep love for Tara, who is smart enough to wait until he is sober for this conversation. Bill is paid a visit at his house by Sheriff Bud Dearborne and Andy, who question him about the murders. Bill insists that no vampire could resist a body full of human blood, and since the victims were not exsanguinated, the murderer could not be a vampire. After they leave, Bill remembers how he was turned into a vampire by a woman named Lorena as he was making his way home to his family. She allows him to see them one last time from a distance, but assures him that his old life is over. Tara catches Jason having sex with Randi Sue in the alley behind Merlotte's, which infuriates her. Sookie takes a cab home from her dismal date with Sam and finds her Gran lying on the kitchen floor, dead and in a pool of her own blood.

6
6
"Cold Ground"
Nick Gomez
Raelle Tucker
October 12, 2008 (2008-10-12)
1.67[3]

Sam and Bill, both very protective and territorial, promise to watch over Sookie, who refuses to leave the house her grandmother and she shared. As soon as Mike Spencer has Adele's body removed, Sookie is in the kitchen scrubbing up her Gran's blood. Andy and Bud discuss the case and although Andy regrets releasing Jason Stackhouse, Bud doubts he could murder his own grandmother. The next day, Sookie holds a wake for Adele in the house, which is full of nosy townspeople. Sookie loses it when Maxine Fortenberry attempts to make room in the fridge by moving the last pie Adele made before she was killed. Tara and Lafayette take Sookie upstairs and tell her not to worry about entertaining the people downstairs and to just feel whatever she's feeling. Sookie confesses that she doesn't think she is feeling anything at all. Jason, oblivious to his Gran's death, shows up at work stoned on V and learns the news from Hoyt and Rene. He races over to the wake, storms into Sookie's room and smacks her square on the face, screaming that it was her fault. Tara pushes Jason out, telling him she doesn't even know who he is anymore. Tara tries to comfort her, but the damage is already done. Outside, Andy confronts Jason and practically accuses him of murdering Adele and Jason shoves Andy down as though he weighed nothing. Gran's funeral the following day is more or less a disaster. Jason invites his and Sookie's estranged uncle Bartlett, which aggravates Sookie. Tara's mother Lettie Mae shows up and makes a speech about a woman she barely knew, Jason continues to struggle with his V-juice addiction and Sookie makes a fool of herself when she cannot block out the townspeople's thoughts and tells them all to "shut the fuck up!" When the funeral is over, Lettie Mae approaches Tara and tells her that she has a demon inside of her that makes her drink and she needs money for an exorcism. Tara thinks this is ridiculous and storms off. Sam takes Sookie home and she tells him that she wants to be alone, but Sam doesn't and neither does Tara. Finally alone, Sookie takes the pie out of the fridge and finally lets out her grief as she eats it, sobbing over every bite. Tara takes Sam back to her hotel room and they have sex. Afterwards, Tara starts to feel conflicted about her mother's problem and leaves Sam alone in the room. Sookie races to Bill's house, Bill hears her footsteps and sweeps her up. In Bill's house, they strip naked and Bill's fangs extend. Sookie tells him she wants him to do it, and Bill buries his teeth into her neck and starts to drink.

7
7
"Burning House of Love"
Marcos Siega
Chris Offutt
October 19, 2008 (2008-10-19)
2.10[5]

After taking Sookie's blood and her virginity, Bill and Sookie soak in a warm bath. She feels comfortable enough to reveal a very dark secret. When she was a young girl, she was molested by her uncle Bartlett and she fails to notice the hateful, frightening look on Bill's face. A desperate Jason tries to score more V from Lafayette, who throws him out saying he will not sell anymore to someone as irresponsible as Jason. He goes to Sookie's house and tries to take some of Adele's old silver to sell, but Sookie stops him. Tara attempts to smooth things over with Sam, and is interrupted by a call from a bank, where Lettie Mae is making a scene, accusing a loan officer of being a bigot for not giving her a loan for her exorcism. Tara drags Lettie Mae away, but not before she offers to have sex with the loan officer in exchange for the money. After this, Tara agrees to pay for Lettie Mae's treatment. Jason winds up at Fangtasia, desperate for V, and foolishly attempts to buy from the vampire bartender, Longshadow. A young woman named Amy Burley overhears and, pretending to be his girlfriend, gets Jason out of danger with a promise of V. Tara and Lettie Mae go into the woods to a woman named Miss Jeanette, a witch doctor who lives in a rundown bus and, after handing over nearly five hundred bucks, Lettie Mae gets her exorcism. Just as they are leaving, Miss Jeanette tells Tara that she has a demon too, a worse one than her mother and that if she ever wants to lead a happy life, she must have it exorcised. Tara laughs this off and they leave. At Merlotte's, Sookie's mood gives the previous night's events away and both Sam and Arlene are very judgemental of Sookie's decision to sleep with Bill and let him feed. Sookie tells everyone in the bar to mind their own business. In the dead of night, Bill hunts down uncle Bartlett, murders him and dumps his body in the river. Merlotte's is crashed by Malcolm, Diane and Liam who menace the patrons of Merlotte's but Bill shows up in time to stop them from hurting anyone, but only if he goes with them and stops messing around with humans. Bill agrees, leaving Sookie heartbroken. Amy and Jason wind up at his place, do V and wind up in bed together. Chuck, Wayne and Royce, furious at the trio of vampires, plot to kill them. Sookie tries to get Sam to intervene, but he refuses to get involved and, at the break of dawn, the three rednecks set fire to the house in which Malcolm, Diane and Liam are residing. Sookie searches Bill's house, hoping to find him, but she does not. Getting desperate, she races to the vampire trio's house, but arrives to find rescue workers pulling four burnt coffins out of the charred remains of the house.

8
8
"The Fourth Man in the Fire"
Michael Lehmann
Alexander Woo
October 26, 2008 (2008-10-26)
2.07[6]

Sookie thinks Bill was killed in the fire, while Jason wakes up with Amy, thinking they had sex, but it turns out that they were simply V-tripping. Jason opens up to her about his parent's tragic deaths. Tara is amazed at Lettie Mae's seemingly instantaneous recovery and fights with Sookie about Bill. That night, Sookie takes flowers to Bill's grave. As she is walking back, she is attacked by Bill and they have sex. The next day, Jason introduces Amy to Merlotte's and she is hired as a new waitress, but Sookie tries to warn her about Jason. Tara lashes out at her mother's born-again Christianity and, after sleeping with Sam again, snaps at him. Sookie and Bill babysit Arlene's kids and Rene proposes to Arlene, who accepts. Mike Spencer, the coroner, identifies the fourth body in the fire as Neil, his assistant who was secretly a "fang banger". Sam is interrogated by Bud and Andy. Sam claims that he comes from a family of naturists and runs naked through the woods once a year to honor them. But Andy checks and finds out Sam was lying. After talking with Lafayette, Tara starts thinking that she may need an exorcism. Jason sees Amy's darker side when she reveals that she needs more V, but Lafayette won't sell it to him. They decide to follow him and discover that he gets his V-juice from a gay vampire, Eddie. Bill finds Eric in his bathtub who needs Sookie to work for him. Tara goes to Miss Jeanette to get her exorcism. After Lafayette leaves, Jason and Amy kidnap Eddie and shove him into Jason's truck. Sookie reluctantly goes to Fangtasia, where Eric uses her telepathy to find who has embezzled. Sookie learns that a woman named Ginger knows the money was taken, but her memory has been wiped, which means a vampire must have stolen it. At that moment, Longshadow attacks her.

9
9
"Plaisir d'Amour"
Anthony M. Hemingway
Brian Buckner
November 2, 2008 (2008-11-02)
2.35[7]

Longshadow reaches for Sookie's neck and is about to bite, when Bill stakes him from behind, spraying Sookie with blood. Eric warns Bill that there will be consequences for killing a fellow vampire to save a human. Jason is clearly distressed about having kidnapped the vampire Eddie, but he and Amy take him back to Jason's house and chain him up in the basement anyway. The two immediately start using Eddie's blood to get high. Meanwhile, Tara is not entirely convinced she needs to have her demon exorcised. Miss Jeanette gives her a test: look at herself in the mirror and if she can count backwards to ten, she's wrong. Tara later tries it, but is interrupted by her mother. Tara later confesses to Sam that she might need an exorcism and he offers to pay for it. Sookie and Bill return from Fangtasia to discover that Sookie's cat has been murdered. At Merlotte's the next day, Sookie snaps at Andy for not having found the killer that is after her and Sookie finds some comfort in Amy, and the two start to bond. At home, Jason shows a small kindness to Eddie and the two get to talking about Eddie's past as a human and why he wanted to be a vampire. Eric, Pam and Chow, Longshadow's replacement, drop in on Bill and inform him that he must go before a vampire tribunal to be tried for his actions. The four of them drop by Merlotte's, where Bill asks Sam to watch over Sookie in his absence. Eric delivers a stern warning to the patrons of Merlotte's about becoming too comfortable around vampires. A warning delivered pointedly to Chuck, Wayne and Royce. After a tearful goodbye, Bill and Sookie part ways. Distraught, Sookie and Tara reconcile their broken friendship. But it seems short-lived when Sookie walks in on Sam and Tara making out, and runs out. A few minutes later, Sam goes after her, but is intercepted by Andy, who confronts him about lying about the naturist colony. Sam disappears into the bar, and a border collie runs out straight past Andy. Sookie goes to Bill's house, and the dog shows up there. Sookie decides to keep him with her, and names him Dean. Against Amy's wishes, Jason takes some TruBlood to Eddie. Sookie insists that Dean sleep on the bed with her, and she falls asleep. She stirs in the middle of the night and finds at the foot of the bed, not a dog but Sam, completely naked.

10
10
"I Don't Wanna Know"
Scott Winant
Chris Offutt
November 9, 2008 (2008-11-09)
2.39[3]

Sookie jumps out of bed and races into the bathroom, screaming that Sam is the murderer. He follows her and confesses to being a shapeshifter, even shifting into the dog and back right in front of her. Later, he and Sookie discuss their situation and, after Sookie asks him how many more supernatural creatures there are in the world, he says that there are more than she could imagine. Sookie storms off, angry about having been lied to. Tara goes back to Miss Jeanette to get her exorcism, during which she is fed a strange solution which makes her hallucinate a young version of herself, which represents all the negative feelings Tara is trying to exorcise. Tara kills the hallucination and Miss Jeanette comforts her, telling Tara that it is over. Amy discovers Jason's deception, but decides to forgive him, even going so far as to say they should start treating Eddie more like a member of their family. Tara returns home to share the good news with her mother, but Tara's celebration is short-lived when she discovers that Miss Jeanette is a fraud who fed Tara and her mother ipecac and peyote. Tara decides to hide the truth from her mother. Lafayette is paid a visit by the state senator seen in Mine. He is looking for V, but Lafayette has something more physical for him. Sam reminisces about the first time he ever shapeshifted as a teenager. When he returned home from school the next day, his adoptive parents had packed up their things and left. That night, there is an engagement party at Merlotte's for Arlene and Rene and almost the whole town turns out, but Sookie is lonely there without Bill, who has been taken before a vampire tribunal, where a ruthless Magister deals out justice. Tara has too much to drink, fights with Sam and storms off. On the road, she swerves to avoid a naked woman walking a large pig and ends up being arrested. Andy gets closer to the truth about Sam, Sookie has a vision of a young woman being murdered and the killer suddenly strikes at her, but she manages to escape his clutches. Lafayette learns that Jason did something to Eddie and lashes out at him for being reckless. He and Amy return home arguing about Eddie. Jason wants to free him, but Amy is scared of him and of losing Jason, so she stakes Eddie right in front of Jason. The Magister hands down a creative punishment for Bill: he must turn a young teenager named Jessica into a vampire. And although Bill pleads with the Magister, the sentence is handed down and the episode ends with Bill feeding on her.

11
11
"To Love Is to Bury"
Nancy Oliver
Nancy Oliver
November 16, 2008 (2008-11-16)
2.67[8]

As part of the vampire ritual, Bill buries Jessica's body in the ground, waiting for her to turn. After being attacked at Merlotte's, Sookie once again has Sam stay with her for protection and the two start growing much closer in Bill's absence. Jason helps Amy clean up the mess Eddie's death left behind and demands that she get rid of every drop of V-juice in the house. The next morning, Sookie searches for the young woman she saw in her vision. With Sam's help, Sookie tracks the woman (named Cindy) down to a pie store. They learn from one of the patrons that Cindy was a fangbanger and that her brother, Drew Marshall, disappeared shortly after her death under suspicious circumstances. Jason confides in Rene and Hoyt about Amy's V-juice habit. Sam and Sookie persuade a difficult police officer to give them information on Drew Marshall, and he promises to fax a photo through to the Bon Temps police station. After seeing his state senator friend on television campaigning against vampire and homosexual rights, Lafayette confronts him about his lies. Amy cooks Jason a nice meal and the two make up. On the way home, Sookie confides in Sam that she thinks she is in love with Bill, but expresses doubt over his loyalties to his fellow vampires. Jason and Amy decide to do V together one last time and while they are passed out, the killer sneaks into their bedroom and strangles Amy to death. Meanwhile, Jessica awakens and crawls out of the ground. Bill tries to impart his wisdom about being vampire, but she turns out to be a disobedient, overly-excited pain in the neck. Lettie Mae refuses to bail Tara out of prison because she is a danger to her soul. They leave on bad terms. Jason wakes up to find Amy dead and calls the police. Bill, needing to get back to Sookie, leaves Jessica with Eric. Tara is bailed out of prison by a woman named Maryann Forrester, who takes Tara into her lavish home. At Sookie's house, Sookie and Sam wind up sharing a kiss just as Bill walks in and attacks Sam. Seeing Bill's vicious side, Sookie rescinds his invitation into her house and slams the door on him. Jason is taken into police custody, saying he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt. A gossipy and distracted secretary is on the phone, and doesn't notice the fax of Drew Marshall's photo before burying it under a pile of paperwork, not before revealing the photo to the audience who discover that Rene is the killer.

12
12
"You'll Be the Death of Me"
Alan Ball
Raelle Tucker
November 23, 2008 (2008-11-23)
2.45[9]

Sookie explains to Jason that she believes she has found the identity of the killer who has been murdering the women in Bon Temps, but Jason has her dismissed from the jail, refusing to listen to her. Maryann continues to comfort Tara and talks with her about her problems, gaining her trust. A representative of the Fellowship of the Sun named Orry visits Jason in prison and gives him some literature about the Fellowship, and tries to convince Jason that even if he did kill the women, his motive was pure because they were all supporters of vampires. Tara meets Benedict "Eggs" Talley, another person who Maryann has taken in under the pretense of helping him rebuild his life. The two of them begin to become interested in each other. Sookie, working at Merlotte's, becomes overwhelmed with the insulting and hateful thoughts all of the townsfolk are thinking about her brother and asks Sam for permission to leave. She finds she is unable to start her car, and as she gets angrier Rene shows up and offers her a ride home. Sam finds Rene's vest and, smelling it, realizes there may be a connection to Rene and the murders. At Sookie's house, Sookie discovers that Rene was the killer by reading his mind and tries to shoot him, but Rene has emptied her gun. She runs into the cemetery with Rene following behind. Bill risks his life by emerging into the sun to try to go to Sookie's aid, but he is quickly weakened and seriously injured by the burning. Sam appears and, in the form of a dog, bites Rene to distract him. Sookie attacks Rene with a shovel, ending in his decapitation. Sam and Sookie discover Bill, weak and burning, and quickly bury him. Later, Sookie is comforted by her friends and by Jason who has been released from prison following the discovery of the real murderer. Bill appears at her doorstep, completely healed, and the two share a tender moment. At Merlotte's, Andy Bellefleur is upset and depressed after his failure to solve the case, and begins drinking. While cleaning outside, Lafayette is attacked by an unknown entity. Afterwards, the Merlotte's staff help Andy to his car, which he believes has been moved, and they discover a dead body on the back seat.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse
Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton
Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte
Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse
Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton
Chris Bauer as Detective Andy Bellefleur
Nelsan Ellis as Lafayette Reynolds
Jim Parrack as Hoyt Fortenberry
Adina Porter as Lettie Mae Thornton
Carrie Preston as Arlene Fowler
Michael Raymond-James as Rene Lenier
William Sanderson as Sheriff Bud Dearborne
Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman
Lynn Collins as Dawn Green
Lizzy Caplan as Amy Burley
Lois Smith as Adele Stackhouse
Stephen Root as Eddie Gauthier

text: Guest cast[edit]

text:
Todd Lowe as Terry Bellefleur
Kristin Bauer van Straten as Pamela Swynford De Beaufort
John Billingsley as Mike Spencer
Alec Gray as Coby Fowler
Aisha Hinds as Miss Jeanette
Dale Raoul as Maxine Fortenberry
Graham Shiels as Liam
Raoul Trujillo as Longshadow
Laurel Weber as Lisa Fowler
Jeremy Denzlinger as Wayne
Aunjanue Ellis as Diane
Kanin Howell as Chuck
Michelle Forbes as Maryann Forrester
Danielle James as Randi Sue
Michael McMillian as Reverend Steve Newlin
Caleb Moody as Royce Williams
John Prosky as David Finch
Stacie Rippy as Cindy Marshall
Andrew Rothenberg as Malcolm
Danielle Sapia as Maudette Pickens
Jessica Tuck as Nan Flanagan
Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica Hamby
Avion Baker as Young Tara
Tara Buck as Ginger
Patrick Gallagher as Chow
Labon K. Hester as Young Jason
Karina Logue as Denise Rattray
Melanie MacQueen as Faye Lebvre
Kevin McHale as Neil Jones
Tess Alexandra Parker as Rosie
James Jean Parks as Mack Rattray
John Rezig as Deputy Kevin Ellis
William Schallert as Sterling Norris
Zenali Turner as Young Sookie
Cheyenne Wilbur as Bartlett Hale
Patricia Bethune as Jane Bodehouse
Michael Bofshever as Orry Dawson
Mehcad Brooks as "Eggs" Benedict Talley
Željko Ivanek as Magnus the Magister
Mariana Klaveno as Lorena Krasiki
Adam Leadbeater as Karl
Judy Prescott as Sue Ann Merlotte
Stewart Skelton as Minister
Martin Spanjers as Young Sam
Sharon Tay as Sharon
Tanya Wright as Deputy Kenya Jones

text: Production[edit]

text: Crew[edit]

text: Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran five seasons. In October 2005, after Six Feet Under's finale, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball became acquainted with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery books.[10] One day, while early for a dentist appointment, Ball was browsing through Barnes & Noble and came across Dead Until Dark, the first installment in Harris' series. Enjoying it, he read the following entries and became interested in "bringing Harris' vision to television".[10][11] However, Harris had two other adaptation options for the books when Ball approached her. He said she chose to work with him, though, because "[Ball] really 'got' me. That's how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books."

text: Ball wrote and directed the pilot episode, double Emmy winner Scott Winant, Red Rock West writer/director John Dahl, Heathers director Michael Lehmann, former Deadwood director Daniel Minahan, The Sopranos director Nick Gomez, Pretty Persuasion director Marcos Siega, The Wire director Anthony Hemingway and Six Feet Under co-producer Nancy Oliver directed subsequent episodes, with Ball directing the finale.

text: Nancy Oliver joined Ball as a producer, in the same role she had on Six Feet Under. Ball wrote the first three episodes with Brian Buckner, Alexander Woo, Raelle Tucker and Chris Offutt writing two episodes a piece, Nancy Oliver wrote and directed the eleventh episode, which marked her debut as a director.

text: Buckner, Tucker and Woo were also credited as producers, Offutt was executive story editor for this season. Christina Jokanovich was an associate producer and Carol Dunn Trussell the line producer.

text: Reception[edit]

text: The first season of True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as Big Love which premiered at 4.56 million, and John from Cincinnati which debuted at 3.4 million.[12] However, by late November 2008, 6.8 million a week were watching; this figure includes repeat and on-demand viewings.[13] The season finale's viewership was 2.4 million. At the time, True Blood had reportedly become HBO's most popular series since The Sopranos and Sex and the City.[14]

text: Awards & nominations[edit]

text: The series won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Anna Paquin won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television series - Drama whilst the show was nominated for Best TV series - Drama. It also won best TV show, best horror actor for Stephen Moyer, Best Horror Actress for Anna Paquin & best villain for Alexander Skarsgård at the Scream Awards

text: Ratings[edit]

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: All ratings are taken from the UK Ratings website, BARB.[15]

text:
Episode number
(Production number)
Title
Original air date
Total viewers
on Channel 4
Rank on channel

1 (1.01)
Strange Love
October 7, 2009
1.91 million
#13

2 (1.02)
The First Taste
October 14, 2009
1.84 million
#14

3 (1.03)
Mine
October 21, 2009
1.67 million
#27

text: Season 1 ending credits songs[edit]

text: Songs from the Season 1 ending credits in order by episode number.[16]

text:
Little Big Town – "Bones"
Vallejo – "Snake in the Grass"
Charlie Robison – "Good Times"
Lynyrd Skynyrd – "That Smell"
Nathan Barr – "The Cabin"
Mark Seliger's Rusty Truck – "Cold Ground"
Cobra Verde – "Play with Fire"
Eagles of Death Metal – "I Want You So Hard"
Rufus Thomas – "Walking the Dog"
Dr. John – "I Don't Wanna Know about Evil"
Gillian Welch – "Pass You By"
Crooked Still – "Ain't No Grave"

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