"True Blood"

HBO's sultry vampire drama "True Blood" has become a surprise hit for the pay cable network and has almost single-handedly taken the network back to the top of the cultural zeitgeist.

The show, whose second season premiered Sunday to numbers the network hasn't seen since the last days of its mob drama "The Sopranos," is also on track to become HBO's next cash cow.

For Time Warner Inc.'s HBO, it couldn't come at a more opportune time. Over the last few years there has been a perception that the network has been in a creative funk since "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City" ended their runs. Although "Entourage" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" have loyal audiences, neither has broken through the way "True Blood" appears poised to do.