The Vampire Diaries ran for eight seasons and 171 episodes on the CW, from September 10, 2009, to March 10, 2017. It averaged 3.60 million viewers in its first season, won four People’s Choice Awards and thirty Teen Choice Awards, and launched a media franchise. It also drew a generally favorable critical reception, with praise for its acting, character development, emotional depth and thematic elements. That record supports a 6.9 of 10.
Trailer, via MusicFase.
Two Brothers and a Girl From 1864
Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec developed the series from L. J. Smith’s book series of the same name. The premise is a triangle: Elena Gilbert, a young orphan, falls for vampire Stefan Salvatore and later for his brother Damon. Both brothers are obsessed with the same girl, who resembles the ruthless vampire they knew in 1864.
Nina Dobrev played Elena, and also played her doppelgänger Katerina Petrova, known as Katherine Pierce. Paul Wesley played Stefan. Ian Somerhalder played Damon. Kat Graham, Candice King, Zach Roerig, Michael Malarkey and Matthew Davis filled out the cast as Bonnie Bennett, Caroline Forbes, Matt Donovan, Enzo St. John and Alaric Saltzman.
The Doppelgänger Machine
Dobrev also portrayed Katherine, who played a significant role in the second and fifth seasons. In the fifth season she also played Amara, the progenitor of the Petrova doppelgängers and Silas’s true love, sought in the afterlife for two thousand years.
That is a lot of weight on one performer. When Dobrev confirmed in April 2015 that she would leave after season six, the structure had to change.
Elena Sleeps Through Season Seven
The sixth-season finale tied Elena’s life to Bonnie’s: as long as Bonnie lives, Elena sleeps. Dobrev returned to record a voice-over for the seventh-season finale and came back as a guest star in the series finale.
Wesley’s Stefan took the harder turn. He reverts to his old ways as a Ripper to save Damon from a werewolf bite, turns his humanity off, and becomes more antagonistic before returning to his good-hearted self. He becomes human again in the final season and marries Caroline, then dies in the finale, sacrificing himself alongside Katherine to save Mystic Falls.
What the Spin-Offs Owe This Show
The concepts and characters launched a connected franchise: television series, web series, novels and comic books. The Originals, which aired on the CW from 2013 to 2018, was the first major entry, followed by a spin-off of The Originals.
The first season became the most-watched series on the network before Arrow surpassed it. Awards followed, along with the critical notice.
Where the 6.9 Comes From
Here is the case for the score. The Vampire Diaries is a romance that kept upgrading its own machinery. A love triangle became a doppelgänger mythology, became a town under siege, became a franchise. The Stefan-as-Ripper arc is the best thing the show did with Wesley, because it let a good-hearted character be genuinely frightening.
The case against is the back half. Putting Elena to sleep is a story solution, not a character one. It keeps Dobrev’s name in the credits while removing the person the first six seasons were built around.
The Numbers
- Score: 6.9 of 10
- Network: The CW
- Run: September 10, 2009 – March 10, 2017
- Seasons: 8 / Episodes: 171
- Season 1 average viewers: 3.60 million
- Awards: 4 People’s Choice Awards; 30 Teen Choice Awards
- Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
What Holds Up
The early seasons hold up. The casting holds up. Somerhalder and Wesley play the brother split with real friction, and Dobrev’s Katherine is the show’s sharpest creation — a villain who is also a survivor.
What does not hold up is the exit strategy. A series built around Elena spent two seasons writing around her absence, and the show never found a replacement center of gravity.
The Originals was the first major entry in the franchise. That is a real achievement.
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