The Vampire Diaries Premiere Episode is Not Fang-tastic

The Vampire Diaries shows what happens when horror is crossed with a nighttime soap opera, like 90210, Melrose Place or One Tree Hill. I consider it to be very much a knockoff of the popular Twilight movie series and books. It is like a soap opera with the addition of horror as a secondary aspect versus the other way around. The story focuses more on the interaction of the young characters in social situations that young people face.

Although The Vampire Diaries is based on a series of books that were written by L.J. Smith well before the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, I think that, if not for the current popularity of Twilight, the show probably would not have been made at this time, if ever. Based on the popularity of Twilight, the CW execs probably scrambled to find a similar story and take advantage of the popularity for ratings.

The premiere of The Vampire Diaries really did not delve far into the horror part of the story but it did introduce the two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon, in the barest sense. Mostly, the premiere introduces the characters and sets up their background stories and current situations.

The background story is about two vampire brothers: Stefan Salvatore, who is good, and Damon Salvatore, who is evil.

The opening scene shows a couple driving on a foggy night when a figure appears in the middle of the road and attacks them.

The next day, the new high school year begins and students are return to school in the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. We meet the popular teen Elena and her brother, Jeremy, getting ready for high school at their Aunt Jenna's house. We learn that Elena and Jeremy's parents died four months ago and they are taking it hard; Elena is depressed and Jeremy turns to drugs.

Elena drives to school with her friend, Bonnie, who has psychic powers and is a descendent of Salem witches. At school, she meets a mysterious new male student, Stefan Salvatore, and both becomes interested in one another. While visiting her parents' grave during the day, a fog starts to grow around it and a crow appears, scaring her into fleeing, only to run into Stefan, who flees after seeing a cut on her leg.

We meet Elena's friends including the previously mentioned Bonnie, her somewhat friend, Caroline, and Elena's ex boyfriend, Matt. We also learn that Matt's sister, Vicki, is a waitress at the teen hangout / restaurant and that Jeremy used to have a fling with her. Vicki no longer likes him and goes out of her way to keep him away, even dating his rival, Tyler.

At a party, Vicki is attacked and left unconscious and bleeding with a wound on her neck. Stefan returns home to find his brother, Damon, whom he has not seen in 15 years. They argue about the past and Stefan shoves Damon out of a window but Damon is stronger. Based on their past rivalry over a girl named Katherine, Damon wants to cause him pain by attacking humans and pursuing Elena.

This first episode left many things out of the story, which I assume will be brought out over the course of the show slowly. Many aspects of the story have been changed from the original books, so fans of the books might be disappointed. It also left us with a lot of questions.

Stefan claims that his parents died and he lives with his uncle, whom we learn almost nothing about. What role does the uncle play in all of this? What is up with the crows? Do vampires turn into crows? Why the abundance of fog? How do vampires go out in the daytime? Why doesn't Vicki like Damon anymore? Why does this sound like a soap opera? Maybe because it is!

The Vampire Diaries feels somehow lacking in character depth and the likability of the characters. So far, I really do not care about any of the characters, which is the first sign that it will probably not take root and grow on me like past TV series, such as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel.

The emotion shown on the show is not very believable and wouldn't be anything at all without the use of music to convey feelings of sadness and such.

I don't know if The Vampire Diaries will last long but, oftentimes, I am wrong about what shows will hit or miss. It depends on the segment of the audience, which might have very different preferences than I do, making me unable to give a fair assessment. I believe that hard-core horror fans, most likely, will not be all that excited about this show. I think that fans of the soap opera-like shows will comprise the largest fan base for The Vampire Diaries -- the fans who are about the drama rather than the horror.

I will do this show a few more episodes but, if they are liked this episode, I don't think I will be watching this very long.

Cast
Elena Gilbert: Nina Dobrev (Degrassi: The Next Generation)
Stefan Salvatore: Paul Wesley (Wolf Lake, 24)
Damon Salvatore: Ian Somerhalder (Lost, Smallville)
Bonnie: Katerina Graham
Jeremy Gilbert: Steven R. McQueen (Everwood):
Vicki: Kayla Ewell (The Bold and the Beautiful)
Zach: Chris William Martin (The L Word, Heartland)
Matt: Zach Roerig (Friday Night Lights, One Life to Live, As the World Turns)
Tyler Stratton: Michael Trevino (90210, The Riches, Cane)
Aunt Jenna: Sara Canning
Caroline: Candice Accola
Mr. Tanner: Benjamin Ayres (jPod, Smallville)

Executive Producers
Bob Levy (Gossip Girl)
Julie Plec: (Kyle XY, Cursed, Scream 2 & 3)
Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Scream 2-4, Venom, Cursed, Halloween H20)
Leslie Morgenstein (Gossip Girl, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants)

Director
Marcos Siega (Dexter, Cold Case, True Blood, Veronica Mars)