AS SEEN ON TV: SAM MERLOTTE

SAM MERLOTTE

AS SEEN IN:

'True Blood'

CREATED BY:

Charlaine Harris

PORTRAYED BY:

Sam Trammell

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:

Sam Merlotte is a fictional character from the The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse Series by author Charlaine Harris.

Sam lives in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, and is the owner of a bar named Merlotte's. Sam has strawberry blond hair with blue eyes. He is both a close friend of and the employer of mind-reading barmaid Sookie Stackhouse. 

Sam is a shape shifter. His biological mother was a shifter as well as his brother. He is a true shape-shifter in that he can take the form of any animal; although his preferred shape is that of a collie, he can change into any animal he has seen. On nights when the moon is full, Sam - like all shapeshifters - feels a strong urge to change; the rest of the time he can do it at will. 

In the eighth book during the were war, instead of turning into a collie as usual, Sam unexpectedly changes to a lion to protect Sookie. It is said that the enemy werewolves were even frightened to challenge him due to his now great strength, though he is eventually challenged by the enemy pack leader, who initially jumps on his back but proves to be no real challenge as he defeats her with little effort and then goes on to kill more werewolves brutally, as Sookie watches now under Claudine's protection.

Sam has expressed his interest in Sookie and has kissed her on more than one occasion, but the two have never actually dated. He remains her good friend and supporter. He is protective of Sookie and is both jealous and concerned when Sookie involves herself first with the vampire Bill Compton and then Bill's employer Eric Northman. Under the guise of platonic friendship, he often advises Sookie to get away from the vampires while she still can. Despite this, Sam is dragged into the drama that surrounds Sookie and other supernatural creatures on an irregular basis.

Sam also engages in a sexual relationship with Callisto, a maenad, who briefly drifts through Sookie's hometown (and later attacks Sookie). Callisto leaves Bon Temps shortly after the attack.

When Sookie unexpectedly discovers that Sam is a shape-shifter, she is hurt that he did not see fit to confide in her because she has always been open with him about her own condition. With time, their friendship recovers.

In the HBO series 'True Blood', based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Sam is portrayed by actor Sam Trammell. In the first season, Sam engages in a brief sexual relationship with Tara Thornton. Sam is also revealed, in the second season, to have had a sexual encounter with the maenad Maryann while he was still an adolescent.

Maryann comes to Bon Temps looking for the now adult Sam, convinced that he is the sacrificial victim she needs to bring forth her god. In the season's conclusion, Sam and Bill concoct a scheme to trick Maryann into making herself vulnerable, and succeeds in killing her by shifting into a white bull, which is the symbol for Maryann's god, with her defences down, Sam in bull form uses his horn to impale her and then transforms back to his human self to rip out her heart.

I think that if the situation arises, we could claim that some animal who makes a one-shot appearance in another TV show, one who displays human intelligence and reasoning, could be Sam Merlotte.  It would be preferable if that animal was also located down South, but it would be easy enough to splain away why Sam had been traveling.  And this could take place before or after the events of 'True Blood'.  We might even build up Sam's resume enough so that he could be considered for the honorary Birthday List induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

(And TV commercials could be considered for this as well!)

BCnU!