I’m still reserving my judgement on the entire series. So far the only thing that has me even remotely interested is Somerhalder, so at this point in time the portrayal of Damon is the only thing that’s going to hook me.

Though I’m going to give Williamson some cred – I had commented previously that the feel of TVD was very similar to the feel of Dawson’s Creek in a warped way. Now, I really disliked this show, but it was like crack: I couldn’t stop watching. That’s some pretty powerful stuff that might bleed over into TVD.

I am still disappointed that they dont have the look of the characters. However, without having actually seen it we can not tell if they have the “feel” of the characters. And that is actually much more important than the looks of the people. So, as others have said. I am reserving my judgment until I have seen it. :)

I still wish they’d go all the way and change the name of the series so we could all enjoy it as something different, because it really is WAY too different to be called The Vampire Diaries.

There are too many arbitrary changes for no discernible reason, and too many deviations from the source materials. Before the show came out, I said “As long as everyone looks about right, and the iconic scenes are there, I’ll probably love it.”

The characters are all different. They all look wrong and they’re almost all WRITTEN wrong, too. The iconic scenes are gone, because the story does not for ONE SECOND stick to the books. This is not Vampire Diaries and no one’s going to convince me that it is. It’s not being a purist to feel upset and disrespected when not a single character looks like their book self and not a single plot point stays the same; literally the ONLY scene that’s taken from the books is Stefan mind whammying the secretary. Woooow.

The True Blood ripoffs also cheapen an otherwise relatively original (for its time) story, and I feel pretty disgusted by those. A sassy black best friend! A druggie brother in trouble with the law and blamed for the murders! A vampire returning to his old hometown to reassimilate! All of this is from True Blood, NOT Vampire Diaries. Twilight-izing Elena is also irksome, as well as Twilight-izing her and Stefan’s relationship. Way to cheapen the integrity of the story by making it look like one big plagiarism-fest, guys. Great job.

The only way I’ll be watching this show is if they change the name or do a LOT of rewriting and recasting before the series goes to shoot. One or the other. I’m not a purist – not everything needs to be the same, and I don’t MIND changes here and there (like, I don’t really care that Tyler’s not a ginger kid or that Vickie looks wrong, and additional scenes and minor plot changes and new subplots are fine by me too). But when every single iconic scene is gone, every single character relationship is completely different (in some cases for the worse), and none of the characters look right (Hell, Stefan doesn’t even look particularly ATTRACTIVE, so there goes any chance of pure eye candy), well… they might as well crap all over my copies of the books for all the respect they’re showing them.

So that’s my vote. Either they change the name of the series to reflect the fact that it has absolutely nothing in common with the books – in which case I’ll judge it on its own, though the writing in the script made me cringe – or they do some serious rearranging of both cast and script. Nothing else will convince me to even bother tuning in out of morbid curiosity.

But keep Marcos Siega. He’s cool.

I have to agree with Incanto on this one. The first time I heard about the Vampire Diaries being a series, it was on tv guide.com. I was thrilled that one of my favorite childhood book series would become a television show. That was before.

When I saw the cast, I was hesitant. When I saw who the director was, I got annoyed. (I hated Dawson’s Creek). Then when I read the script, I was pissed.

We have an Elena who should be Meredith. A Caroline that should be Elena. A Stefan that’s not devastatingly handsome. I can’t even go into the horror of changing Bonnie’s appearance.

Why change the town, the names, the charaters’ description for crying out loud? Hell, Alfred Gough and Miles Miller changed the mythology of Superman by making Clark Kent and Lex Luther best buds in Smallville. But literally, that was it. They didn’t change the town name, the character’s name, and only minor changes to the characters’ physical descriptions.

I mean, damn. It would be like Harry Potter without the ‘lightening scar’. No wonder Lisa says she won’t watch.

I was so excited when i heard that they were making this book into a tv series. But can you say disappointment? How are you not going to follow the book? Why do you think Twlight was such a hit? Because they followed the book!!! I mean first off Elena is blond, second your Damon would fit better as Stefan. Where is Meridith? Also Elena has a sister not a brother. You follow your fans, thats what gets your ratings and support.. READ THE BOOKS, THATS WHAT MAKES THIS STORY SO SPECIAL.