Granted, Twilight is not a TV show. But these highly popular teen vampire novels and movies have made vampires all the rage. And TV channels are picking up on that, with shows like The Vampire Diaries and True Blood. Yet even before Edward Cullen started sparkling in the sun and stealing the hearts of teen girls everywhere, vampires already had a fairly steady presence in TV culture.
Vampire Diaries (The CW)
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The series debuted when Twilight was already in full swing, so the Vampire Diaries seems like the most obvious attempt to capitalize on Edward Cullen-obsessed teen fans.
Regular high school girl falls in love with brooding vampire classmate – it could really be the same story. Elena (Nina Dobrev)’s okay, but I actually find Stefan (Paul Wesley) a little dull.
It’s his older brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), who is actually the more interesting. Yeah, he’s a cold-blooded killer. But his wit and sarcasm make for some of the show’s funniest dialogue.
True Blood (HBO)
Louisiana waitress Sookie (Anna Paquin) falls in love with gentleman vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer). But if Bill is the “good vampire,” then area sheriff Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) is the “bad vampire,” and is vying for Sookie’s attentions, too. It’s worth noting that True Blood is aimed at an audience a bit older than the Twilight crowd, so the subject matter is aimed at more mature audiences.
So should Sookie end up with Bill or Eric? In what is beginning to become a bit of a pattern, I actually like Eric a lot more than Bill. Like Stephen in Vampire Diaries, Bill may be the series’ resident “good vampire,” but the character is just so dang boring. Yeah, Eric would snap your neck in an instant and not think twice about it, but at least his character has personality. Read the rest of this entry »
Beth Talks TV 