Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Vampire Diaries AKA Proof That Sexy Vampires Are Network Winners

I'd heard about The Vampire Diaries (TVD) in the same way I believe most other people in my generation found out - they got a bit bored of Gossip Girl's obsessive but circling plotlines and so decided to check out what other beauties CWTV (the original broadcasting network for the show) had to offer. At this point in my life, I had been exposed to the in-ignorable saturation of the Twilight series; various interpretations of the fairytale genre in the forms of new shows such as True Blood and Misfits; and had actively sought alternative material in defiance of what I believed was a short-term phase that everyone would soon grow out of. How wrong could I be. With The Hunger Games now developing the whole "alter-reality" genre that took off when Harry Potter concluded and Twilight started out, producers around the world are now tapping into this increasingly profitable drama. Beauty and The Beast, Once Upon A Time, Teen Wolf, and The Secret Circle and of course Supernatural are just some examples of this new genre that is dominating our TV screens. 

Spooky.
TVD is one such program that belongs to this group. It features vampires, then werewolves, witches, doppelgangers, and a whole variety of freaky features that accompany these fictional characters. But freaky seems to be doing well for the network with the show premiering in 2009 with an audience of 4.91m, its highest premiere ever. Over the three seasons, it has managed to maintain its grip on its eager audience with the program seeing a 3.36m premiere for season 2 and a 3.10m premiere for season 3 with there being little variation between premieres and finales. This is good news for the network that has seen some of the worst broadcast rating fails such as The LA Complex.

Personally, I like it. Apparently, not everyone else does.
Numbers aside, TVD utilises an interesting format that has worked well for its not-so-original content. The program focuses on Elena Gilbert, a normal 16 year old who lives in the quaint township of Mystic Falls, a place that prides itself on being totally undramatic (minus the occasional animal attack). Her life revolves around making cheerleading practice, making out with her boyfriend Matt, and hanging with her best friend Bonnie and frenemy Caroline. That is until the day her parents die in a car crash that she witnesses firsthand. Depression, withdrawal and a general disinterest in life defines Elena's life for the next 4 months until the first day of school where her life changes again when she meets new-man-in-town, Stefan. Your typical brooding, dark, mysterious stranger character, Stefan has a freaky way of making people do what he wants, wears a wicked yet kinda odd-looking ring all the time, and generally has a thing for creeping up on people when they least expect it. Over time, Elena soon guesses Stefan's gig and soon becomes comfortable with the idea that she's dating a vampire. At the same time as all of this, Bonnie, her best friend, discovers she has some freaky powers of her own; Jeremy, her brother (a hopeless stoner in love with the wrong girls) gets involved with the whole vampire drama; Matt, her ex, gets jealous; and Caroline becomes involved with a dark, mysterious stranger of her own who, low and behold, turns out to be Stefan's older annoying brother, Damon. 


Damon - Did I mention he's kinda hot too?
The rest of the season sees Stefan and Damon banging it out against one another which we finally learn has to do with the fact that Stefan was the one who got Damon turned 165 years ago when the woman they were both in love with bit them. Catherine is a 500 year old vampire who has been running for half a century (at this stage we are not privy to this information) but she has decided that she has come back to Mystic Falls to claim a special prize - Elena. Turns out little-miss-normal is actually a Doppelganger with all sorts of cool powers such as the ability to stop an evil Original, aka Papa Vampire. This leads us into Season 2 which comes with all sorts of fun things such as the introduction of the werewolf myth which takes up most of the season, and finally Klaus - AKA Mega Bastard. This guy is EEVVVVIILLL and you really don't want to get on his bad side, which Stefan and Damon have a habit of doing. Over time, we realise there is more than one of these bad boys as Klaus has a whole family - almost as bad as when you discover the one cockroach you found under your bed is actually a sibling of MANY. Rebecca, Elijah, Cole and Finn were all turned by their mother when they learned of the man-eating werewolfs in their neighborhood. From there, the vampire myth/reality was spawned and 900 years later, Stefan and Damon were added to the family tree.

And you thought your siblings were weird.
I've missed out A LOT of details with this very brief description of the series but that's because this particular show just has so much going on! This I feel is its most interesting quality. Normally, TV shows are outed by critics for their inability to stick to the rules they created when the show started - that is, the rules by which the characters play by everyday, the rules the audience knows the show by and gets used to. For example, in Grey's Anatomy, the rule is that sleeping with your fellow attendings or residents is ok and generally doesn't incur the wrath that most normal people would endure if they found themselves trying to sleep with their boss. TVD is different however in the way it specifically doesn't do this. The rules change. One minute, its been made pretty clear that a vampire definitely dies from the bite of a werewolf. The next, we discover that this isn't technically true as the blood of an original can cure a vampire afflicted with this particular ailment

This is the defining factor that makes up TVD and I believe its one of the many qualities that keeps its viewers coming back for more and more. Couple that with a brilliant love story which then turns into an even better love triangle; really well-scripted suspense; and the motive to keep everything as simple as possible and you have a real hit on your hands. Its really impossible to make any comparisons between Twilight and TVD has there are many stylistic and thematic differences that separate these two seemingly identical stories. And with a epic season 3 finale, I think The CW can expect good audience returns next season. 
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