• This is the reason I started watching Vampire Diaries: A randomly stumbled-upon YouTube clip of Damon insulting Twilight and commending Anne Rice. I thought to myself - this show must think highly of itself.

    Now I have been an avid Twilight basher for many years (solely my opinion), and I know everyone tends to compare the two - but how can you not, with the vampire overload in the last few years? That being said, I had very low expectations of this show and watched the first episode out of boredom. What have we got? Human girl meets mysterious vampire guy in high school (this seems to be the trend). Lots of clichés, cheesy dialogue, generally a pretty bad pilot. I watched the second episode and it wasn't as bad, and the third could actually be called pretty decent. By the fourth I was hooked, and watched the first 10 episodes in 2 days (I was home sick in bed, haha).

    I really have to commend this show for having a strong-minded female lead that doesn't cry and try to kill herself when her boyfriend dumps her. Some people have called her naive, but she's 17 for Christ's sake!

    It's good that the show has moved away from a high-school drama to focusing on the town's history and it's supernatural roots. I think that some of the supporting characters (Matt and Caroline) need to either get interesting, or get out. As for the Salvatore brothers, their scenes are amazing and they have great chemistry, whether they're fighting or teasing each other. Damon rules, and is definitely the main reason I watch this show.

    Overall, this show is worth watching. It's probably one of the most entertaining PG-13 rated shows this season (I'm used to HBO, and any show that doesn't have tits and dongs flying all over the place and can still keep me interested has something going for it). This isn't True Blood, but it'll do until June.