Category: The Vampire Diaries
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Test Pilot: File #54, The Vampire Diaries
Test Pilot #54: The Vampire Diaries Debut date: September 10, 2009 Series legacy: An exciting show that became so good it went from “criminally underrated” to properly celebrated in relatively short fashion First impressions mean a lot in television, and that’s why writers, producers, studios, networks, etc. put more time, effort and money into pilots…
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Review: The Vampire Diaries, “Bringing Out The Dead”
Boy, did I pick a great episode to check in with The Vampire Diaries. After what I thought was a fairly weak midseason finale by typical TVD standards, the series bounced around a little bit in its first three episodes of 2012. That’s not to say I didn’t like them or that they didn’t include…
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TV Surveillance Podcast Episode 24 — The Best Television (and Voice Impressions) of 2011
It is that time again folks! The end of the year is upon us and that means it is time to look back on the highs, lows and WTFs in television from the past 12 months. There is a lot to reflect on in regard to television 2011. Charlie Sheen went crazy. Well, crazier. Comedy…
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Review: The Vampire Diaries, “Homecoming”
Let me just put this out front: I enjoyed the fall finale of The Vampire Diaries’ third season. “Homecoming” was an entertaining episode with a number of truly fun and thrilling moments. If this were just about any other series, I’d be talking about how insane and well-plotted this episode was. But this isn’t any…
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Review: The Vampire Diaries, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
I haven’t discussed the last two episodes of The Vampire Diaries here on the blog, but you probably don’t have to make much of a guess about how they were received in the Barker Complex. If anyone was concerned about how Stefan’s departure from Mystic Falls would be handled, you’re probably laughing at your past…
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Review: The Vampire Diaries, “The End of the Affair”
Ed note: Hey folks, I’m very, very short on time today, so this review is going to be shorter than normal. Apologies. I’ll be honest with you folks: I grew a little tired of the flashbacks during the second season of Vampire Diaries. The trips back to 1864 were fine and generally purposeful, but for…
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Review: The Vampire Diaries, “The Hybrid”
After a slightly slower, more character-based season premiere, The Vampire Diaries wasted no time jumping into some big ideas in this week’s episode, “The Hybrid.” This episode introduced us to what will probably be the primary narrative for at least the first half of the season (Klaus building a hybrid army), jump-started a few supporting…
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Season Premiere review — The Vampire Diaries, “The Birthday”
One of The Vampire Diaries greatest strengths is its ability to come up with wild plot twists that seem both entirely crazy and completely believable at the same time. There have been roughly 9,000 insane developments in the first two seasons alone. And I might be understating it a bit. At this point, we expect…
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Controlled madness: On The Vampire Diaries, Nikita and narrative pacing
This summer, I made my way through the first season of Nikita, a series I liked in the early part of last season but one I ultimately lost touch with because I was already watching 71 other things at the same time. Thursday nights are tough, you all know this. Generally speaking, I very much…
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2010-2011 season wrap: The Vampire Diaries
With the 2010-2011 television season officially over, I’ll be taking some time over the next week or so to look back on how some of television’s best and worst fared this season. General thoughts: I burned through the first season of The Vampire Diaries in very quick fashion last August in preparation for the second season.…
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Season Finale — The Vampire Diaries, “As I Lay Dying”
When you’re a series that’s almost entirely defined by your ability to come up with the most insane twists (in a good way), sometimes expectations for that kind of thing get too high. At the time, the end of The Vampire Diaries first season seemed like the most wild thing ever and throughout the series’ second…
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Sun Also Rises”
Well, that was just miserable. The Vampire Diaries is a series that primarily works based on its ability to speed up the narrative so fast that the twists and turns come so quickly, it’s too difficult to even think about how telegraphed they may or may not be. Everything is shocking on this series because it…
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Last Day”
The insane plot developments and shocking twists come so often on The Vampire Diaries that the series has almost lulled me into a nice, cozy sleep in a way. I don’t always know what the twists are going to be, but I always know that they’re coming. Or at least I thought I did. Tonight’s episode, “The…
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Last Dance”
With Klaus ready to make his move, everyone on Team Elena has their own opinion on not only how to kill him, but the best way to protect Elena in the interim. Different perspectives and plans of course brings conflict, and that’s really what this whole episode is about. All season has been about protecting…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Know Thy Enemy”
I’ll be honest: There have been a lot of television series off the air over the past month or so, but there are none I missed more than The Vampire Diaries. It’s certainly not the “best” series I watch, but it’s certainly the most watchable and enjoyable so it is very, very fantastic to have…
CB, PhD 