The Vampire Diaries: 4 Reasons Why You Should Be Watching This Show (If You’re Not Already)

Fans of The Vampire Diariesare willing to defend their show to the death and, frankly, they have good reason to do so.  It’s a shame that this supernatural series doesn’t get more love outside the genre community, because it is a consistent performer in terms of quality.

Some TV viewers might scoff and think it’s merely a Twilight knock-off, but they would be wrong (because it’s far superior to Twilight) and missing out on great television.

Here are my top 4 reasons why this show is a great one:

Storyline Pacing.  You know what happens in every episode of The Vampire Diaries?  SO. MANY. THINGS.  The pacing of various storylines is phenomenal.  When season 3 began, many fans thought that the entire season would be devoted to the Evil Stefan storyline, but that was wrapped up long before the finale arrived.  Within the span of 42 minutes, non-fans might be amazed by how much storyline the writers can pack into a single episode.  Not to mention the fact that a major development from the book only took three years to arrive, when I’m sure many fans thought we might have to wait a bit longer (and probably wouldn’t have even complained about that fact).  This is not the show that takes 6 seasons to have a major development or provide answers (yes, sometimes I’m looking at you, LOST).

Characters.  The Vampire Diaries has a treasure trove of interesting and versatile characters.  Did you start to get bored of goody two-shoes Stefan?  Well, that’s okay, because the writers did as well, so they made him evil.  Were you hoping evil Damon might start feeling a bit more sensitive?  That happened as well.  The nice thing about these characters (particularly the supernatural ones) is that they are very complex and rarely one-dimensional.  Sure, you may be slightly creeped out by the fact that evil, 1000 year old Klaus seems to have a school-boy crush on Caroline, but at least that development isn’t boring.  And then, of course, there’s Caroline, who went from a spoiled and popular high school student to a kick-ass vampire.  There’s depth to the people of Mystic Falls and that makes their storylines even more interesting.

Versatile Actors.  This feeds into my point above about interesting characters, but The Vampire Diaries has some very talented actors on its show.  It’s a shame that The CW is consistently ignored for the quality of its actors, because they do have some talented ones (here and on other shows).  Nina Dobrev has been amazing at playing the duel role of Katherine and Elena on the show.  Her ability to make the two characters completely different, while looking exactly the same, is remarkable.  To the same effect, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley have also turned in great performances playing different facets of their complex characters’ personalities.  No one phones in performances on this show.

Cliffhangers and Surprises. It’s rumored that Dallas invented the TV cliffhanger, but The Vampire Diaries always uses them in a way that elevates the storyline.  In addition to the fantastic pacing, mentioned above, this series consistently delivers on twists and turns. Even when you know it’s coming (like the big Elena shocker in the season 3 finale), you’re still amazed by how successfully the writers managed to pull off one shocker after another.

Season 4 of The Vampire Diaries will air in the fall on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.