If you prefer your vampires, werewolves and fairies a little tougher than Stephanie Meyer and RoboPats insist on painting them, then you're probably a fan of HBO series True Blood. That is unless of course you're one of those people who refuses to watch TV because it's comprised entirely of mind-numbingly inane drivel, softcore pornography, terrible adverts for things you won't ever need, and brain-damaged people from the sticks drinking themselves unconscious over and over again until they get a chat show or a column with Closer. Although having said that, it seems pretty unlikely you would be on HM if you were.

But for those of you who love TV and True Blood with all the inappropriate emotional intensity of an incestuous sibling, we've got some bad news: Alan Ball, the show's executive producer, thinks it might be time for him to call it a day. Whether that means the show finishes as well is unclear, although it's hard to believe HBO would can it that easily: (via The Hollywood Reporter)

“Right now I’m in the middle of negotiating for a fifth season,”

“I don’t know if I have any left in me after that. We’ll see.”

“I think if we did 13 seasons we’d have to address why vampires are aging. Maybe there would be a bad batch of Tru Blood. … With the supernatural thing you can always go places storywise that you couldn’t go on another show.”

“I’ll play it by ear and see how it happens,”

This follows a recent chat he had with Rolling Stone, in which he mentioned the possibility that maybe the show would continue on without him:

“I don’t believe True Blood is 100 percent dependent on my participation. It has a strong following and a really strong cast, and there could be a future where I step back and the show would continue.”

Shame.