Okay, now that it’s officially September, it’s time to start looking forward to all the new shows the networks are trying to ‘tempt’ us with, as well as the return of our beloved favorites! This fall, I’ll be recapping episodes of The Vampire Diaries, a surprise favorite of mine last year. But first!
It’s time we squared-off the television show with the books by L. J. Smith that inspired them! I enlisted the help of reader/friend Talya, who is a super fan of L. J. Smith (or at least was when she was 12, and therefore has many fond memories and is STILL waiting for the final installment of The Night World Series, dammit!). Who will win? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure the Salvatore brothers are about to KO somebody!
Meet the champions:
VS.
Round 1: Elena Gilbert
(Talya will be representing the books, while I will represent the tv show.)
The Book (Talya): Elena is a BEYOTCH. She is whiny and mean and snobby in the books, so it’s like, ‘who cares? Die!’
-1 point
The Show (Jenny): Elena is awesome! She’s really sweet and caring, and tough! (Like, when she finds out she’s dating a vampire, she tells him to get out of her life, instead of being all accepting and swoony). She stands up for herself and others. (Plus she’s the adorable Nina Dobrev, whom Talya would like to remind everyone was Mia, the teen mom, on Degrassi!)
+1 point
Round 2: The Salvatore Brothers
The Book: In the books the Salvatore brothers are from the Italian renaissance. HOT. They become vampires- after they have ingested vampire blood- by fighting to the death and killing each other! Awesome! Stefan is the good one, Damon is evil. Not awesome sexy evil, just douchebag fiend evil. As characters without pictures, they can be as hot (or not) as you want.
+2 points
The Show: In the show, the Salvatore brothers originate on a Virginia plantation in the 1800′s. They become vampires- after they have ingested vampire blood- by being killed by their father- the ever-awesome James Remar, clearing the town of the vampire scourge, even if they’re his own sons. Stefan is good (or is he?) and Damon is evil, (but was he always?) in that super-sexy evil way. In the show, as Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, their hotness is NOT left up to your imagination:
Exhibits A & B
Paul Wesley surprisingly holds his own as the do-good hero against Ian Somerhalder's scene stealing Damon
+2 points
Round 3: The Diaries
The Book: In the books, the Diaries are actually an important part of the plotline, it is called the Vampire Diaries after all. Caroline steals Elena’s diary, which conveniently outs Stefan as a Vampire, and plans to read it to the entire town. Major plot point, and awesome right?
+1 point
The Show: The first few episodes showed both Stefan and Elena doing some diary-writing while some angsty alternasong played in the background. Then they kind of drift into the background, only showing back up when Elena’s kid brother of the eternally pouty face steals it and finds out all about the vampires, which, by then, he knew anyway, but it creates tension between them.
-1 point
Final Round: The Plot
The Books: One of the reasons Talya (and many others) loved these books was all of the crazy plot twists and turns! However, since there are many books, and only one season of the show is out so far, anything listed here might be too spoilerish for those who haven’t read them.
+2 points
The Show: The first half of season 1 meandered a bit, however, everything felt pretty plot specific, and by the second half of the season, I couldn’t wait each week for the new episode to air. A large part of that was due, in fact, to the cast (not just the three leads, but cute blonde Caroline, hot history teacher with a mysterious past, and Sark from Alias, chewing up the scenery!). However, the plot did twist and turn, and even though I could see where it was heading a fair amount of the time, I still got pleasantly surprised along the way, and the ride was thoroughly enjoyable. (Talya also noted that where the show deviates from the books has made it really come into its own.)
+2 points
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it, but it looks like we have a tie! You know what that means, gentle readers! It’s time for a…
Bonus Round: (where we will make our closing arguments.)
The Show: My closing argument is as follows: Women want them. Men want to be them. Exhibits A & B:
Oh, did I forget to mention that the Salvatore brothers spend much of the show shirtless?
To quote the words of the text from my husband regarding these two: "Dude, I am so gay for them."
The defense rests.
The Book: I’d like to say how much awesomer the books are, but the truth is the show is much more AWESOME! So instead I will list my #1 reason why the books aren’t as awesome as the show: The obvious one, the books are written down on paper, which means there is no ooogling of Ian Somerhalder.
Negative 1000 points.
Check in next week for a quick recap of season 1 of the Vampire Diaries in preparation for the premiere on Sept. 9!
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“is STILL waiting for the final installment of The Night World Series, dammit!”
My God! Me too!! It’s been..err, a very long time, and I’m still waiting to find out how that series ends! At least now I’m not alone.
And I didn’t know Sark had a role in this show! Now I must watch it.
Yes! I just wanted to comment on this post to say that I’m so glad I have some validation for still waiting. I mean, come on. At this point, I’d just accept a plot outline.
Bonus round:
There is NO chance I will read these books (vampires…ick). -10
There is a HUGE chance I will watch the show just to get a shirtless Ian S. fix. +1000
Lenore, you should def give it a go! Not only is he shirtless, but the boy can ACT! And they let him!
Going to get the season 1 DVDs
they keep pushing the date back, it is INFURIATING, it’s not like L.J. Smith died or something, she is still writing tons of stuff. AH.
It is totally a conspiracy to keep us from ever knowing what happens.
The show wins this TIMES infinity! I read the books about midway threw the season & barely got threw the first 4 they were so f-ing terrible. I’m sorry, but try rereading these books as an adult & they make TWL seem like fine literature.
The only reason I gave the show a try initially was because of my long standing love of Ian Somerhalder (or, as he’s known in my house, Magically Delicious) – but this is one of the few cases EVER where a show got progressively better & better with every subsequent episode. The plot moves lightening fast, the acting is great, they got away from the lame diary entries (sorry, that was just terrible) and mist & crows. All of this made it one of my very favorite shows as the year progressed, and I am an avid TV watcher.
Me & a few friends actually started a blog about the show & we are doing reviews for upcoming episodes too as well as other really fun stuff. Actually, falling in love with this blog is part of what inspired us to do a blog of our own, check it out: http://salvatoreboardinghouse.wordpress.com/
That’s adorbs! I love the bit about cleaning up around the boarding house. But now I totally can’t read your site until AFTER I’ve done the recaps!
LOL – don’t worry, we are doing big ‘complete with screenshot’ recaps & have a posting schedule of (hopefully) like the Tues after an episode airs. They will be formated like the review we did for episode 1.22 (http://salvatoreboardinghouse.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/episode-122-founders-day/). Right now we are just posting quick recaps of the eps &have picspams & S2 wishlists in the works. PLUS we play a game we invented on twitter last year called Vampire Diary Bingo – it’s TOTES super fun! The first post on that – including game cards – will be going up on Monday.
i LOVE the tv show, so naturally i thought i’d at least like the books.
the books are like taking a sip of a drink that you think is soda and turns out to be water. my mind was so confused.
lol to your analogy allison!
never read the books and after watching the show, why would i? dear GOD these boys are smokin hot. it’s all i need to tune in every week
can’t wait to see what happens this season!!!
I read the books, they were LAME and made me want to kick elena’s ass real hard. but man, the tv show? its like crack, i just cant get enough of those two hot boys darn it!!! and damon salvatore? i frackin love him like there is no tomorrow, mainly because –
He rocks the leather jacket, like rocks it like it was made for him
He is so vain its quite endearing
He would walk all over you and you’d probably let him just because
He does the jedi mind tricks with compulsion
He kills people but I still kind of love him
He is *the* king of one-liners
Hes a villian I can get onboard with
I’ve never read the books but now I’m thinking I’ll skip them. I watched the show just because I was kind of curious. I was fully expecting it to be lame to the max but seriously, I love it. I feel like a major tool watching it in front of my husband who wants to watch history documentaries all the time (yea for history though!) so now I prefer to watch alone where I can drool privately (because the shirtlessness? Thank you CW. Thank you so much). The thing is, I know I’m supposed to like Stefan and be all for he and Elena being together, but thruthfully I think he’s a major stick in the mud. Unless he’s wearing his white tank top and doing his push ups (does he do it in every episode?) I’m not into him. Now Damon on the other hand… Damon is that naughty sexy evil that you can’t help but love. And also, it’s Ian Somerhalder. Hello, no brainer there. Totally excited for the new season!
Also..did you guys see that Entertainment Weekly did this monster smackdown poll (TV vs, movie monsters, vampires, etc, etc.) last week? The race was narrowed down to Edward Cullen and Damon and who won? Damon.
I voted for Damon in that poll! Was there really ever any competition? I mean c’mon, REALLY? I thought not!
I think even Edward Cullen would’ve voted for Damon, come to that!
I unexpectedly somehow came to love love love this show. I am all about Damon and his snarkiness.
Also – right on Tammy – I agee about Stefan being a stick in the mud mopehead. He is like a vampire version of Elizabeth Wakefied. :p
(I JOKE I JOKE!!)
So true! That it the perfect comparision!
I love that you’re husband would go gay for Ian S.! Double extra bonus points if you get a picture of him wearing a Team Damon t-shirt to post in one of your recaps. Haven’t read the books but I’m totally on board for the show. The previews for the upcoming season makes it look like we’re going to get some extra special hotness!
I haven’t read the books, but I did catch the first couple of episodes of the show before I got behind. I definitely enjoyed it, and the ogling. I have the first three discs of Season 1 waiting for me at home right now from Netflix. Woot!
i’ve read the books & i actually liked them. The only thing that bothers me about the show is that there is no Meredith in it. She’s 1 of the main characters in the books so i just assumed she’d be in the show. i would prefer her over Bonnie (who i REALLY can’t stand even tho she had Whitley Gilbert 4 a grandmother which should have made her super awesome but it totally didn’t) Other than that tho i totally love the show & think that it’s pretty much the best NEW show that came out of last years paltry excuse 4 new TV-watchin’. + the season finale final moment wuz THE BEST CLIFFHANGER of the year!
& i love any show that employs cast members from my other favorite shows! i STILL love U, Julian Sark!!!!!
The show looks awesome, but I’ve sworn of Vampires… and I think we know why. (It begins with ‘S’ and end in ‘tephenie-frigging-Meyer’.) But I do like shirtless men. A LOT. (And to bo honest, I’ve sworn off *new* vampire shows, but I still watch True Blood anyway, for the lol’s, so aren’t I really breaking my own rules…?)
Okay, well, maybe I’ll give it a go. I do dislike shirts. So very much…
Give in, Holly!
WAIT. SARK IS ON THIS SHOW?!!!!!!! WHY AM I JUST NOW BEING TOLD THIS EXTREMELY VITAL INFORMATION?
i’ve been totally avoiding vampire diaries cos (spoiler: hating ahead) i CANNOT STAND ian somerhalder. he’s solidly in the james marsden category. and by that i mean, HIS FACE ANNOYS ME.
Posh, it’s okay. After my confession to you about feeling that way about Ryan Reynolds, I won’t judge. But Sark! Also, I.S. is evil in this, so you can love to hate him!
brain does not compute – how are James Marsden and Ian Somerhalder in the same category?!?
-off topic- Mind you, when I see myself licking a vamp, it’s gotta be Eric aka the hottest man alive Alexander Skarsgard. Actually anything he plays is alright with me, I fell in love with Brad Colbert first. He’s mine dammit. Mine. -off topic-
I am with posh! WHY WAS I NOT ALERTED TO THE PRESENCE OF SARK?
I will watch anything with Sark. True facts.
So the first season came out on DVD this week and I’m mainlining Somerhalder to get me over my Mockingjay TEABS. You know Damon is team Gale.
I tried reading the books but I hated book Elena so much that I had to stop. I do agree, EvilEva, they need to bring Meredith on board, Kevin Williamson has said they’re going to cast her but it seems like they’ve mostly split her personality between Caroline (who is also SOO much better on the show than the books) and Bonnie.
I read these books when I was like 13 or 14, and I loved them. Like, fucking LOVED them, haha. And I continued to love them for years. And then this show came out, and IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER! TV Elena is such a better person, the girls’ friendship is so much more dramalicious, and Damon is actually an interesting character. So glad they made this show — and that it doesn’t follow the books exactly. The books get my love for the story, but it’s the television show FTW!
As an avid fan of both the book and the TV show my consensus is…
that I am also “STILL waiting for the final installment of The Night World Series, dammit!” Seriously.
Oh, and the TV show wins for me. I agree with everything Christina R. said. And those boys are just delicious.
TV show wins! A million times over!
OK, I have not actually read the books. But they look pretty lame, and like they take themselves way too seriously. The TV show is srz drama, but it makes fun of itself often and, at the same time, is legitimately GOOD.
I used to be embarrassed about watching the show because it started out pretty trashy and weak but it has gotten exponentially better. It’s really come into its own as good television. I mean, it’s not Battlestar Galactica, but for what it is it’s excellent. It’s kind of like “The OC” in its early days.
When does the new season start again???
PS, Stefan is not a stick in the mud!!! I expected to despise him and his Edward-Cullen-lookalike ways, but the writers and Wesley have done a wonderful job with him. The human blood addiction thing was stunningly well-done, for such an overplayed trope. Wesley was fantastc. (“I’m freaking hungry!”) And Stefan has endeared himself by being the good guy without being a hypocrite. I feel the same way about Elena, who I also thought was sort of milquetoast at first.
I totally expected to fall for Damon, as I’m a sucker for a pretty bad boy. And don’t get me wrong, I pant for any Damon/Elena scenes. But I think Wesley is actually the more charismatic actor and I am still in his camp for now.
The books lost so hard for me. I’m not usually into books with vampires, but I wanted to give it the old college try – seeing how I liked the TV series so much. But damn. I hated most of the characters and couldn’t whip up enough interest in what happened next to Elena after the second book. (or was it the first? I can’t remember. I just remember not caring).
Having said that, I am fully committed to caring what happens next on the tv series (more Damon/Elena sexy time, please!). While he hasn’t said so much, I’m pretty sure my husband would totally run away with TV Damon. The husband is one of those “I don’t watch tv” types, but he’s secretly hooked on the show.
OK, I picked up this series because I LOVE the show, but man, it is reaaaaallllllllly bad (IMHO) compared to the show. Granted, I am a HUGE Lost fan, & love Boone/Ian Somerhalder with a seriousness, but, man, the show is SO. MUCH. BETTER.
serija je stvarno dobra…evo komenta iz srbije..i sumrak je bolji.!! u prevodu the twiglt saga is better than vampire diaries…but vampire diaries are willi good too.!! this comment is from serbia..hello!!
I’ve read all the books and i agree the tv shows are WAYYYYYY better then the books but after the third or fourth book it gets really interesting and sooner or later you wont be able to put it down. But everytime the tv show comes on i have to watch it on the big screen tv because their just might be a chance to see Ian S. shirtless and may i say he is one FINE guy.