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Review: Vampire Diaries is worth watching. Really. Here's why.
Many people who tune in to The Vampire Dairies tonight at 8 p.m. ET will assume that the series, about a romance between a teenage girl and a vampire guy, is a quick knockoff of the popular Twilight book and movie series. Those people will be wrong.
Years before Twilight was published, New York Times best-selling author L.J. Smith wrote a series of books called The Vampire Dairies about a high school girl who was torn between two warring vampire brothers, one good and one evil. The CW wisely decided to jump on the popularity of the teen vampire romance genre and brought on experienced writers, Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek) and Julie Plec (Kyle XY), to write the pilot.
There's plenty of moodiness, mysterious fog and spooky black crows in the excellent pilot, which sets the stage for poor, beautiful Elena (Nina Dobrev) to deal with far more than just losing her parents in a car accident.
It's back to school at Mystic Falls High for 17-year-old Elena and her younger, drug-dealing brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), four months after their tragic loss. Elena works hard at smiling and telling everyone she's fine, despite her heavy heart. However, when she literally bumps into a deeply mysterious and hot new student named Stefan (Paul Wesley), she is immediately drawn to him.
Meanwhile, strange things are beginning to happen in the town of Mystic Falls. A young couple is ripped apart, and fog rolls in out of nowhere. Something very dangerous has come to the small Virginia town.
Stefan knows what evil things can lurk in the dark. He's not the 17-year-old teenager he pretends to be. Instead, he's more than 100 years old and he's a vampire. Stefan has returned to the town of Mystic Falls for a reason. Unfortunately for Stefan, his brother Damon, also a vampire, and an evil one at that, has followed him, and he's not about to let Stefan get the girl.
The new series offers a good mix of creativity, strong source material and appealing young stars to create one of the most promising teen series since Roswell. Dobrev does a terrific job in the key role, and her Elena is sadly sweet. We can understand her attraction to the slightly awkward Stefan.
While it's hard to imagine Wesley or Somerhalder actually being more than 100 years old, considering that they are such modern actors, we do get a hint of how deliciously evil Somerhalder's Damon will be as the bad guy. So a sweet young heroine, a hunk of a hero and a vicious vampire with a grudge set on destroying them (along with more than a little fog) ... what more could you hope from a romantic/horror teenage television series?
By GQ at 6:55 AM ON 09/10/09
I'm sorry, but nothing in that review makes me want to watch this. It may pre-date Twilight but it's sure as hell riding on it's coat-tails.
By gorehound696 at 8:01 AM ON 09/10/09
I will never watch an episode of this tween vampire show.
By RangerPrimeX at 9:27 AM ON 09/10/09
Well I am going to try this. It sounds like it may be more of a step up from Twilight which I found too much of a tween romance. I have always liked good vampire shows and movies which ran the full spectrum of styles balancing comedy and drama like Buffy, True Blood and Being Human
By scifire at 9:50 AM ON 09/10/09
I agree with RangerPrimeX. Let's give this a chance. If you are a vampire fan, how could you NOT try this out?
By River at 9:57 AM ON 09/10/09
Isn't there something pathetic about 100+ year old guy going back to high school to hook up with a 17-year old child????
Would you find it hot if 70 year old Woody Allen busted a move on a 17 year old cheerleader?
What about Joan Rivers hanging out at the high school to find herself a 16-year-old football player?
The ick factor is real.
By Artemis at 10:07 AM ON 09/10/09
Loved the books 15+ years ago when I was a teen, and I will definitely watch the series. (They had me with Ian Somerhalder.) To all the fuddy duddies of all ages who are too stuffy for this sort of fun, I say :P
By Daniel at 12:19 PM ON 09/10/09
Pick up the latest copy of Entertainment Weekly. They have a full page write-up and give the show very favorable marks.
By Shiny at 2:54 PM ON 09/10/09
Yeah and Entertainment Weekly couldn't review almost anything intelligently if someone led the way through that maze.....
By UnRiel at 4:08 PM ON 09/10/09
River asks an interesting question, but I don't know if ICK is the right response. We're dealing with fantasy here so traditional aging and maturation do not necessarily apply. Accepting that there are no immortals, if there were, what would they be attracted to? If they have the physical exuberance and appearance of a late teen perpetually, wouldn't they prefer someone that reflects their own self image which is shaped by the image they see in the mirror? And we know that a teenage girl is going to be attracted to a handsome young-looking male, ESPECIALLY if his demeanor expresses the physical confidence usually associated with a more mature adult man.
I find the whole idea of sex between vampires and humans as shallow story-telling. I prefer Anne Rice's vampires, which do not even have a sex drive, just a blood lust drive. Vampires that lust to have sex with their food source is almost but not quite akin to bestiality. I think this made Anne one of the more courageous vampire authors for keeping her vampires sensual and predatory, but not sexual.
By BlessedBlogger at 4:43 PM ON 09/10/09
You don't have to watch it. I can tell you the whole series story in a nutshell.
Season one is all about choosing the good guy or the bad guy. It's so hard to choose because one guy is so nice but on the other hand I REALLY like glorifying lying cheating abusive jerks. What's a girl to do? Season two ups the drama by throwing in a death but by the end of season two whoever died is dun dun dun! Not really dead! By season three everyone in the cast has slept with everyone else in the cast, possibly due to a curse or mind control from an even more ancient vampire! How exciting! But wait, because your pants will be blown off in season four when (ignoring the fact that ageless vampires are looking older...) we discover that somehow a vampire has knocked someone up! And did I mention that all of this was predestined by some ancient prophecy?! OMG!!!
I could go on and on but if there is a kind and loving god then season four will end with every single person on the show spontaneously exploding. The end. Seriously guys, I love scifi/fantasy/horror but this is NONE of those things. It's Dawson's Creek with fangs. This is a SOAP OPERA and you and I both already know the entire story so why bother watching it?
By Eris14 at 5:08 PM ON 09/10/09
River, the two vampire brothers only lust after the 16 year old because she looks like Katherine, the woman who turned them both into vampires.
By Angie at 6:32 PM ON 09/10/09
No one sleep with anyone in this show. These vampires CANNOT have sex so they get all the pleasure from blood exchange. So please, you might one to get your facts straight before trying to INFORM someone about the show or books.
That said, I am definitely giving this chance. While the books were not AMAAAZING, they are definitely good and from what I've seen from the pilot, the show isn't that bad either, so I'm excited.
And please let's stop making comparisons between this and the Sparckly crap that Twilight is.
By REDante at 9:00 PM ON 09/10/09
First of all, they dont look like theyre 17 year old highschool students, they look college age, second I agre with the other, why are they going to highschool, youd figure after a 100 or so years theyre education would locked and sealed, third is it so hard to get a date with a college girl, fourth maybe the books came out before twilight but dont pretend like CW (WB studios really) isnt trying to cash in on Twilight fans. Young girl next door apple kind of thing, who apparently is looking for a relationship with a lot of drama, someone who is an emo wannabe that has "issues" that the world doesnt understand so hell be moody and mysterious, and she doesnt think twice about necrophilia.
Finally that first photo on the top of the page, is that the 17 year old (25 year old looking) vampire standing next to her IN THE SUNLIGHT??????
SPARKLE SPARKLE GUYS
By infernosphere2003 at 10:12 PM ON 09/10/09
I got about 10 minutes into the pilot before I flipped the channel.
By Jhart334 at 12:39 AM ON 09/11/09
Ok this Tv show would be ok...maybe IF you havn't read the books. The director said in the pre-show interveiws that he changed somethings to make it a better series...talk about everything. They changed what the charectors looked like, they added people, they change the plot. Nothing about this show is The Vampire Diaries, except the title. It made me want to scream how they could take a good book and slap it's name on a tv show that has almost nothing to do with it. It's like they read the book made a vauge outline out of it and then changed everything anyways. I wouldn't suggest it for anyone who likes Twlight or has read The Vampire Dieries. There is a real reveiw, not all this crap about modern actors and a summery of the show.
By UnRiel at 9:45 AM ON 09/11/09
Since none of the shows I care about were starting for another week, I gave this watch. I agree with REDante that Stefan does not pass for a high schooler, but this is nothing unusual for Hollywood. Not having read the books, I was encouraged that many of the traditional vampire limits like not crossing a threshold until being invited are intact so far. My opinion so far is that it didn't suck.
By farscape29 at 12:23 PM ON 09/11/09
Between this crap and Twilight, they have ruined vampires. All this tween, girly vamp crap is just terrible. True Blood, 30 Days of Night, Near Dark those get it right. Not this stuff. Ugh...but tween girls are the hot marketing group right now so the entertainment industry bends over backwards to appease them.
By SPotter at 5:33 PM ON 09/11/09
Twilight, and all the others books in that series were so poorly written, and the movie was abominable, I have been stunned and saddened that people have even contemplated the thought that this crap is good, or great literature. It's a truly sad sign of our times...
By someone at 5:43 PM ON 09/11/09
Okay, I read one of the author's other series when I was thirteen, and they were good, heck, their still pretty good. I can tell you that the vampire diaries was out 15 years ago, and was very popular among the girls in my middle school. I've never been much for vampires (I despise twilight), but I will probably watch an episode or two, if nothing more then for nostalgia's sake.
By redrose at 6:29 AM ON 09/12/09
twilight, vampire diaries, does not hold up to true blood. if someone was smart they would have amde ann rices books about vampires into a tv series instead of movies,before these ridiculous sseries came out. excluding true blood.
By VampirePhile at 9:31 AM ON 09/15/09
Hmmm, this is great news for The V Diaries.
I watched the show and I can see it growing on me.
I thought at first it was giving too much away, but I look forward to the intriguing development(s) of the relationship between Stefan, Damon and Elena. And what Damon could be up to, to jeopardize it!
It’s good to see it do well.
And as a fan of the vampire genre in general, it’s even better.
That’s why I’m saddened to think that networks like LifeTime Tv couldn’t have kept that other decent vampire show “Blood Ties”.
“Blood Ties’” fan base was growing and still continues to (imagine the collective disappointment when the new fans to “BT” find out it’s no longer running) :o(
And the vampire Henry, played by Kyle Schmid, wasn’t hard on the eyes either! ;o)
And FYI - regarding "Twilight" and any comparaisons.
All these other books: Blood Ties series, Sookie / True Blood, The V Dairies, etc were written waaay before "Twilight".
Stef. Meyer just got a lucky break, that's all!
By spike at 4:58 PM ON 10/19/09
What will the writers come up with next to destroy:
Salems Lot The Romance.
Lets face it, the V diaries is a good concept but twillight the movie got there first.
My wife loved twillight and watched it 8 times.
(i could not watch the movie at all ).
Personally i think vampires and romance can't mix because of vampire age and hopefully wisdom in which the vampire self preservation is more important than chasing a female or a male in any sense.
I think writers dumb-down the current vampire mythos era .
I think vampires ( the older they are, the wiser they get) because if a vampire lived for a hundred years + he or she will know how to survive and know how to evade discovery from humans.
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spike:
What will the writers come up with next to destroy: Salems Lot The Romance. Lets face it, the V diaries is a good...More »