Why ABC's The Gates is a Better Than the CW's The Vampire Diaries

For those who are fans of vampires and the supernatural on television ABC's summer replacement series, The Gates may just be the show for you. This series, which is billed as a supernatural crime drama, is part Desperate House Wives, part Witches of Eastwick and part Vampire Diaries, a mix that may help it find a more mature target audience than other shows of the same genre. Here then are five reasons why this summer series will make for better television than TV's other vampire show, the CW's Vampire Diaries.

There's Life After High School

Let's face facts, vampires and all things supernatural have marketable appeal beyond the teen age bracket. If you don't believe me simply take a poll of the readers and movie goers which made the Twilight saga such a huge hit. That being said, Vampire Diaries' target audience is rather limited as most of its major characters are still stuck in high school. On the other hand, while The Gates has a good number of characters still in school, it also has a large adult cast that takes the supernatural beyond the teen years and into the shadows of a secretive suburban society. Given enough time then The Gates will weave the more intricate plot lines, plenty of which will still appeal to the teenage market.

More Than Just Vampires

While the season ending cliff hanger for The Vampire Diaries hinted at there being more mythical creatures than just vampires in the close-knit town of Mystic Falls, The Gates has already introduced vampires, werewolves and a succubus all within its first few episodes. If nothing else, there is more of a diverse mythical society living within The Gates, the type of society that made Buffy the Vampire Slayer such a lasting success.

The Good and Bad of the Craft

As with The Vampire Diaries, The Gates makes use of witches as well as vampires. Unlike the former, there seems to be both good witches and bad witches in the latter. What's more, the craft they practice is more integral to the plot lines. In part, the witches in The Gates seem to be part of the glue keeping the community together, as their practice range from medical, to that of protecting the secrets within the walls of the secluded community. Therefore, while The Vampire Diaries makes use of witches in a limited supporting role, the sky seems to be the limit in the way witches will be used in The Gates.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of the Love Triangle.

Yes, there is a love triangle brewing in The Gates, as new comer Charlie Monohan (Travis Caldwell) makes time with Andie Bates (Skyler Samuels), who still had been dating werewolf Brett Crezski (Colton Haynes) . Yet unlike the Stefan-Elena-Damon triangle in Vampire Diaries, this teenage love triangle is only one of many plot lines in the new series. No matter how this new love triangle plays out, the success of The Gates does not hinge on it. The same cannot be said of the love triangle in Vampire Diaries.

Less Staking, More Detective Work

While Vampire Diaries seems to be following the television tested formula for getting rid of pesky vampires by staking the undead in countless numbers, The Gates seems to be veering away from this tried and true fantasy-drama formula. In The Gates, ferreting out the undead and the host of other mythical creatures hiding within the community will require some real detective work by chief of police Nick Monohan (Frank Grillo). In doing so, The Gates will be able to create the type of suspenseful drama that fuels many of TV's top crime shows.

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1599357/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/

http://abc.go.com/shows/the-gates