I'm sure that at this point, most people that are interested already know about CW's upcoming new show The Vampire Diaries. Based on LJ Smith's popular series, before even seeing any material from the show it was obvious the reason for the production was to capitalize on the "Twilight" fandom. I've been curious about the show and had every intention to check it out when it airs on September 10th but I'd yet to see anything from the show.

Earlier today, fellow vampire fan and all around fabulous ProgGrrl posted a link to some new art for the show and I was surprised to find it a little more risqué than I initially anticipated. See for yourself:

Instantly, I'm much more interested. My first thought at this second image: fabulous! It's like "Gossip Girl" meets vampires! And we all know how much I love "Gossip Girl"...

I did a little digging and found that a very resourceful YouTuber has cut together the various sneak previews that have been floating around the web and after seeing this, I'm a little shocked and very excited at how much this resembles "Twilight". The look, the feel and even the music... One of the characters (who I'm assuming is a vampire) even resembles Edward...Im' completely and utterly sold.


What I'm wondering now is whether I should go ahead and pick-up the series to read or if I should wait for the show. I was under the impression that I had "The Vampire Diaries" on the shelf but it turns out to be another LJ Smith series called "Night World" which I have started and am enjoying a great deal.

Suggestions?

And if you're interested in finding out more about the show and/or the Smith's world, I recommend taking a browse through the very awesome Vampire-Diaries.net.

In the comments for my mini-review of “Gossip Girl”, Monica brought up another show which I hadn’t heard of and after a little reading, I decided to give a few episodes a shot and see if it was any good.

“Privileged” is another CW show though this one appears to cater to a slightly older audience. It stars Joanna García as Megan, a Yale educated writer with aspirations to become a journalist – a task that hasn’t gone well. In the first 10 minutes of the show we learn that she’s living in NY’s Meat Packing District writing a story that wasn’t assigned. She gets fired and through some crazy events, ends up in Palm Beach, as a tutor to the Baker girls. She has to ensure, by whatever means possible, get the girls into college but obviously, they have other ideas.

The show didn’t start off on the best footing and from the opening credits, I knew something was off. García doesn’t seem to fit the role and frankly, the writers haven’t given her much to work with. She comes across as a blubbering fool rather than a Yale educated woman with high aspirations. To make matters worse, all of the characters on the show seem badly realized to the point that I can’t even recall the names of the main characters (I had to look them up). The basis of the show has potential to be interesting but an episode an a half in, the story hadn’t moved; Megan was still at some party which (surprise!) the sister she was trying to avoid was at and the two were re-opening old wounds. The pilot also introduced what I assume will be the love interest Will, the wealthy next door neighbour who happens to come over to the house for breakfast (apparently this is a common occurrence). Though handsome, he comes across as a bit of ditz and though I’m sure there’s more to his character which will develop as the show goes on, I can’t be bothered to find out what that something is.

Though it clearly wants to be something more, “Privileged” is completely uninteresting. It lacks the energy, chemistry or presence of “Gossip Girl” and though it could potential get better as the season progresses, I could only manage to get though 1.5 episodes before giving up out of sheer boredom.

I would be surprised to find out that this has been extended to a second season but you can never be sure about TV Networks. They often cancel the good shows to keep crap on the air. This is one to avoid.

I seem to have fallen into the world of teen literature and TV and what better way to continue the trend than with a new TV show? Thought Gossip Girl has been on for a year, I'd yet to see an entire episode of the show and while trying to decide what to start watching, I recalled a conversation with a guy I met who was over from the Vancouver Island. Talking movies, we came to discover that we shared similar tastes (for the most part) and he mentioned his addiction to the TV show so I figured it was worth a look. I started with one episode thinking that if I didn't like it, I wouldn't put the effort into the rest of the series but that's all it took: one episode to get me hooked.

In a period of a week I managed to watch a season and a half of the show - catching up with the entire first season and what has aired of season 2. It's not brilliant but it's darn entertaining but what keeps me coming back are the constant changes in the characters. One minute you love them, the other you hate them. The basic premise of the show is following a group of young socialites who call Manhattan and specifically the Upper East Side home. Like "The OC" and "Beverly Hills 90210" before it, it's a bit convoluted but unlike those other two shows, I didn't give up part-way through a season.

It's bloody addictive and I pretty much watched the entire first season over a 2 day period the weekend after Christmas. Curious by my addiction, hubby has watched a few episodes of the show and surprisingly, he's mildly interested. How do I know he's not faking interest? He asks me what happened in the last episode and why the characters are doing what they're doing. Yesterday, he even mentioned to me that the show goes back on the air on Monday night.

First few episodes of the show had me hating Blair and Chuck but I must admit that as it stands right now, these two are the more interesting characters in the series - particularly Chuck who is so bad he's good.

Nothing spectacular about the acting other than to say that it's solid overall. Blake Lively is great as Serena but again, it's the apparently mean people who shine and both Ed Westwick (Chuck) and Leighton Meester (Blair) are excellent. Overall, it's a fun and entertaining show which also manages to touch on more than just the superficial. Who knew?

And in case you need more convincing earlier this year NY Magazine published a feature on why "Gossip Girl" is "genius". It's a fabulous read and one I highly recommend!