Though HBO raised a few eyebrows when it announced that True Blood —the messy but fun vampire series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris — would be rebooted, such a project has more potential than might be immediately apparent. True Blood was a tremendous success for HBO during its run, even though it largely eschewed the mystery-solving component of the book series after its first season. Like so many other vampire series of the time and since, it worked very hard to make vampires sexy, and it often focused more on the relationship dramas of its central characters rather than murder mysteries.