The Vampire Diaries Premieres With A Bite

The big screen has Twilight, cable’s got True Blood. Now Primetime television has The Vampire Diaries.

The CW’s latest teen series premiered on Thursday night starring a fresh crop of beautiful faces and gobs of bloodsucking drama.

The first episode boasted a little of everything -- much of which has already been done. Set in a woodsy town called Mystic Falls, Elena (Nina Dobrev), is a Bella Swan-esque high school student who keeps a diary, chronicling her life after losing her parents in a car wreck. On the first day of school she is drawn to the hot new boy in school, Stefan (Paul Wesley), a brooding, romantic guy with a mysterious aversion to blood.

Of course there’s a love triangle and the promise of conflict to come. Stefan is a century-old vamp who carries a photograph of an old lover who bears a striking resemblance to Elena. Then there’s Damon, a blood thirsty vampire played by Chace Crawford look-a-like, Ian Somerhalder, who shows up to settle an old feud with Stefan while announcing his intention to reek havoc on the town.

Is The Vampire Diaries a hit? Given the current craze for anything blood sucking, it’ll probably draw audiences, despite its lack of an original plotline. But what can we say -- the main characters are fun to drool over. The frontrunner was by far Ian Somerhalder, who seemed to have fun playing his bad boy character, spitting out sarcastic and witty lines while looking absolutely gorgeous.