Based on the Southern Vampire Mystery/Sookie Stackhouse books by author Charlaine Harris, HBO’s newest original series, True Blood, is the first new drama from Alan Ball, creator of the now-defunct Six Feet Under. With a combination of humor, horror, mystery and romance, the show captures the frenetic, fun energy of Harris’ novels.

Featuring a cast where no one is in need of acne treatments, the star of the show is X-Men’s Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress who, with the help of her vampire friend Bill, solves crimes.

The debut episode is more graphically sexual and features stronger objectionable language than Harris’ novels, but otherwise stays close and true to the source material. In fact, the debut episode that played tonight is taken almost directly from the first few chapters of Harris’ first Sookie novel, Dead Until Dark.

The big question is whether the freshman melodrama can stand up well against the third season of Showtime’s popular serial killer drama, Dexter.

My prediction for the biggest disappointment this coming fall TV season is NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy. While the Christian Slater concept-vehicle definitely looked promising when announced last spring, the signs of trouble are all over this one; they’ve already swapped showrunners and the show simply seems to be headed for disaster.

Or not. I mean, if the show finds itself, it could be a great fit with Chuck and Heroes on NBC Monday nights this fall; however, even a good show isn’t guaranteed to succeed; after all, I personally loved Journeyman and we all know how that one went.

Still, it seems the Peacock’s Ben Silverman may end up wearing baby clothes over this particular flop-in-waiting before the season’s over.

When it comes to new shows this fall – genuinely new shows and not last seasons rookie-year relaunches, which have plenty of promising skeins – nothing beats the promise of J.J. Abrams’ latest effort, Fringe, on Fox.

Billed as a bit of a modern take on the X-Files concept, the show promises to be more accessible to new viewers than recent creations like Lost and Alias. While any J.J. Abrams effort is anticipated as much as an acne cure, this show marks his first effort outside of ABC in quite some time.

Fox, which is doing well with shows like House, Bones and 24, is overdue for its next runaway hit; Fringe is my best bet for delivering on that.

Success in a quick weight loss program is far easier than success in television, but producer Greg Berlanti is preparing a new hour-long drama for the Alphabet network.

Titled The Return, the show is a science fiction concept that examines the impact at the White House and around the world when a group of aliens land. Berlanti’s credits include Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone and Brothers and Sister.

His co-creator is Rene Echeverria, whose credits include Medium, Star Trek, The 4400, Dark Angel and Now and Again. With his SF cred and Berlanti’s quality control, The Return could be the most intriguing show to land on ABC since LOST.

The new Nicholas Cage actioner, Bangkok Dangerous, took over the top spot in the weekend box office, during a very tame week in theaters, grossing a mere $7.8 million against a $45 million budget, which is not a good sign for the box office success of the flick.

The now-deposed Tropic Thunder slipped only to second place with a competitive $7.5 million, pulling the flick to $96.7 million since its debut, and ensuring it will top $100 million. However, against a $92 million budget, that’s not as impressive as it would be otherwise.

Considering the new season of TV stands to draw some audience away from theaters, it’s hard to imagine things will get better until closer to the winter holiday season.

For now, third place goes to House Bunny with $5.9 million; fourth place to The Dark Knight with $5.7 million; Traitor rounds out the top five with $4.6 million.

Personally, I’m not expecting big things from anything in September; about the only movie I’m really looking forward to is the Ricky Gervais comedy, Ghost Town.