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The Vampire Diaries - 4 misconceptions of how it's supposedly inferior to True Blood

27 Oct 2011

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I remember seeing promos running everywhere for The Vampire Diaries (TVD as I will often refer to it) back in the summer of 2009 and thought to myself how the show would be a great way to curb my cravings for the next season of True Blood during its hiatus. It's been two years since The Vampire Diaries premiere and, without a doubt, I can tell you that I now use True Blood as my summer filler for the next season of TVD. Personally, I like The CW drama more than the HBO one — but it's ridiculous to choose favorites because everyone can have their cake and eat it too (an expression which makes no sense… why wouldn't you eat your own cake?). But to do that, we've got to get rid of the silly and widely-believed misconceptions that keep people from watching Diaries and proclaiming that Blood is a much better show.

Here are four popular ones (you'll notice they all stem on the idea that TVD is amateurish), in no particular order:

1. "It's a girly, teen soap. True Blood's for adults!"

I've heard this way too often around the Internet and in real life. It's not hard to look at which network the show is on and pigeonhole it as some teenage melodrama. I won't lie to you, the first six or so episodes of the series really put on a teenage gothic romance vibe that was undoubtedly hard to shake off. Even I abandoned the series after those first episodes. But the show got rid of the actual diaries, it got rid of Elena and Stefan's (dreadful) voiceovers as they journaled, and it changed tones completely.

Once someone's big secret is revealed in that first season, and after a certain someone dies: Vampire Diaries put its game face on. Unfortunately, the show insists on keeping its characters in high school… which I admit plays to the show's biggest detriments. It's kind of hard to think about 17 year olds having sex and killing people, but whatever. I just pretend they're all 25 or so. The real ages of the actors, anyhow.

I'm not saying that the show got rid of romance, that would be ridiculous. Practically every drama has a romance element. I'm saying that True Blood isn't any less of a romance soap opera than The Vampire Diaries. In fact, it may even be more than one.

Have you ever watched an episode of True Blood and thought, "Why are there, like, four guys that unrequitedly are in love with Sookie (who basically just bitches them out on a weekly basis)?" No? Because it's true. Bill, Eric, Alcide, and Sam. The Vampire Diaries may be working a love triangle pretty hard but it's not a love pentagon. Albeit, Sam isn't much of an "option" anymore on True Blood, but that still leaves a love trapezoid… and that's still more of a romance melodrama than The Vampire Diaries is. (And yes, Katherine factors somewhere in the love triangle, but it's a completely one-sided relationship… so actually, no she doesn't.) The show has just started to ham up the idea of the triangle recently, in any case, which seems on par with True Blood in terms of seasons but is slower-paced episode-wise.

Read misconceptions 2, 3, and 4 at NoWhiteNoise!
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22 comments:

  1. Desola28 October 2011 at 01:03

    This was pretty good.
    And True!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Luke James Farmer28 October 2011 at 01:03

    THANK YOU!
    But it pisses me off more when people claim it's a twilight ripoff. The books have been around way longer then twilight, and it's not shit, unlike twilight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. jensenfan197828 October 2011 at 01:04

    I know what you mean.  Supernatural is not a teenager's show either.  It's a dog gone shame iit's on the CW for that reason.  On another network,  it would be treated with more respect.  Scyfy would know what to do wit it.  Sigh.  I don't like True Blood. It's too much like porn for me.  The pilot freaked me out.  I no longer have HBO because of shows like True Blood.  I have grand kids at times, and to be honest, I found it offensive.  I will stick with Vampire Diaries and my only season of Moonlight on DVD.

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  4. Sarah28 October 2011 at 01:04

    I think it's because I'm an adult that I'd rather not watch True Blood. I started watching The Vampire Diaries for sentimental reasons, and I still prefer it. TVD has been more suspenseful over the past couple of years than any other show I've watched in this genre. I studied Television Writing/Production for a while at Columbia College Chicago. I have to say that the writers of this show are awesome.

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  5. lostrocks4ever28 October 2011 at 01:05

    Never yet watches true blood but I love vampire diaries. Ever since it stopped being that gooey teenage drama back in those first few episodes it's been amazing

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  6. Justine Kubica28 October 2011 at 01:05

    I actually watched entire True Blood series this summer and I think it's ok, but I definitely like TVD better and seriously thank you for the article. It's so true;)

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  7. Daniel Maloney28 October 2011 at 01:05

    I couldn't get into True Blood. But I do enjoy The Vampire Diaries. Nice article, though :)

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  8. KatHale28 October 2011 at 01:05

    Personally I lost all interest in True Blood after season 1(while I still enjoy VD very much),but I completely agree with what you said:it's ridiculous to choose favorites.I would love it if people also stopped comparing them but given the similar theme (vampires) it's probably unavoidable.Some seem to think that calling one show inferior gives value to the other,which is something I will never understand.
    And of course there's the very important factor of personal taste.

    It was a good article!  : )

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  9. Luke James Farmer28 October 2011 at 01:05

    You should check out season 4. It was phenomenal.

    ReplyDelete
  10. DarqueMode28 October 2011 at 01:06

    I think it is a little misleading to say that True Blood is not more adult than TVD. TVD was originally designed to target teens and young adult readers. The Southern Vampire Mysteries were originally designed for an adult audience. Now that is not to say that both TV series adhere to that philosophy exactly. 

    I think True Blood certainly keeps the adults as its target demographic.... TVD I cannot say that honestly. I think the TV series is less designed for teens than the books, but it is still more directed towards young adults. 

    That is not to say TVD is worse than TB because of its target demographic. Personally I think True Blood (and mostly Alan Ball) while trying to interject more graphic adult themes (violence and sex related) has changed the overall tenor and continuity of the books for the worse.  The SVM book series is FAR superior to True Blood where TVD the TV series is far superior to TVD the book series in my eyes.

    One last point.... The way TVD handles romance is far more soap opera like and targeted towards teens. It does not deal with it in a very adult way. That does not mean graphic sexually. It just means it is more about the romance then the sex in most cases. Romance and sex are not mutually exclusive in the adult world (or teen world for that matter) and True Blood does a much better job avoiding confusing or merging the two. While I am a fan of TVD, I think that relationships are VERY soap opera like and cleaned up for a teen audience... It's romanticized. Again, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Some people like a more tame Monterrey Jack cheese and some like a sipicier Pepper Jack - it's all about personal preferences.

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  11. Sarah28 October 2011 at 01:06

    This particular accusation is a source of frustration to L.J. Smith fans. I don't think Stephenie Meier had even graduated college yet when I first read one of L.J.'s later books. The fact that Elena is a brunette on the show is a little off-putting, but it was a good decision because pop culture has been shying away from stories completely centered around blonde girls. Buffy was one of the last respected blonde characters.

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  12. Ryan Cohen28 October 2011 at 01:06

    very interestingg articlee!! i agree witth all your pointss!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Rabia Salvatore28 October 2011 at 03:59

    Oh Moonlight, I love watching episodes of it on youtube. It was a vampire show ahead of the times. I'm happy for Alex O'Loughlin that he's on Hawaii 50 now.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rabia Salvatore28 October 2011 at 04:09

    Like many others, haven't watched True Blood because I don't want to see the gore and nudity that HBO airs because it can. I'm sure its a great show but not my cup of vervain tea. I think you need to watch the first 6 or 7 episodes of any show to give it a real chance. I'm sure if we went back and watched the first few episodes of shows we really love we would not be able to sit through them. Enjoyed reading the article! I think TVD is an amazing show that really knows how to pace a story, set up cliff hangers and have season long arcs. You need the soapy drama stuff to keep it real otherwise it loses all touch with reality and doesn't make character's choices believable. I think people are really hard on Elena, she does do stupid things but she was only 17! Too young to think about all these people dying because of her and too young to deal with being a parent to her brother after losing her own parents. Teenagers do first and think later but that's part of growing up.

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  15. alicesayshi28 October 2011 at 04:42

    ... Except True Blood IS better than Vampire Diaries. Not only the aspect that TVD was intended to be for a teen audience and True Blood was intended to be for an adult audience. But I had to stop watching TVD because of how soap opera it got, not to mention how much they ignored every aspect of the book just for fan pleasing. Which True Blood has done too, to an extent, but not in such a giant way. Thing is, TVD shouldn't be about Elena, it's about the brothers, and the story they have with both Elena and Katherine. But at the end of the day, even if Elena IS the protagonist, the story is centred on the brothers. TVD ignored everything about that. In True Blood, each character can exist without their love interest, Bill without Sookie is interesting, Eric without Sookie is interesting, hell even Hoyt without Jessica is interesting. And they don't change who they are in order to be interesting. Damon has changed himself 180ยบ just because Elena doesn't like his real self, and he's too obsessed with her to not be whipped and become boring. They changed Stefan's true self just in order to keep him away from Elena, just so Damon could keep being whipped and so they could develop the triangle in the most boring way possible. And now since they can't make him be with Elena (O NOES THE LOUD FANS LIKE DAMON/ELENA HOW CAN WE), they can't make him be with Caroline (O NOES THE LOUD FANS LIKE TYLER/CAROLINE HOW CAN WE), they can't make him be with Bonnie (O NOES THE LOUD FANS HATE BONNIE AND WE DON'T CARE ENOUGH TO GIVE HER A PROPER STORYLINE ABOUT HERSELF WITHOUT MAKING HER LOOK LIKE SHE'S EVIL), they just went like oh whatever and created a character with the only purpose of serving as Stefan's forgotten love interest. 99% of the storylines and characters in the show don't exist at all in the books, and the other 1% is WAY better explained in the books than the show. Mythology wise. But also, just because one is in CW and the other one is in HBO is not an excuse to say "no shut up" and go on. Let's face it, if you've seen True Blood it has 101% more blood than TVD ever will. Being on CW does low the range of "gore" therefore it makes it more boring for a vampire tv show. It's not Twilight, of course it's not, but there's no way True Blood can be compared on a same level with TVD. True Blood took time enough to develop the triangle and every character, Vampire Diaries said F*CK IT THIS IS WHAT THE AUDIENCE WANTS LET'S DO IT!!1! and avoided every kind of character development and storyline development in order to please the crowd. I was completely and absolutely bored with Bill and Sookie and I wanted Sookie to be with Eric as much as the next person, but they took FOUR seasons to develop those feelings, to develop those characters, to make it understandable. And they got "rid" of Bill for a while because he played Sookie, not because he was risking his life to save his brother while his girlfriend decided to not care at all and do what the audience wanted and kiss that brother. Besides, TVD is about a girl who two brothers fell in love with, fought about, then she left, then other two brothers fell in love with, then they fought, then she left again, then guess what? These two brothers fall in love again but ohhh wait, plot twist, WITH HER DOPPLEGANGER, then they fight, AGAIN. And yet that's not soap opera enough? LOL, riiiiiiiiiight. Sorry TVD, but no.

    ReplyDelete
  16. alicesayshi28 October 2011 at 04:44

    Also, people saying they don't want to watch True Blood "for the nudity and gore" just says everything. Hello, teen audience, nice to see ya there.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Michael Collado28 October 2011 at 05:29

    Holy paragraph breaks, Batman! First off, the whole point was to say that there's no need to choose one or the other. But I'll try to address your concerns.

    - The books are no the show and that they're executed differently from their source material has nothing to do with why one is better than the other. Now HOW they're executed is different.

    - Hoyt is nothing without Jessica. Let's just be clear on that. And the only couples on the show right now are Caroline + Tyler and Bonnie + Jeremy (the latter just broke up) and they're all interesting to me on their own.

    - Damon has NOT done a complete 180. He's slowly progressing to a much better person. That's not a bad thing, that's called character development, something True Blood knows nothing about and can only do by erasing Eric's mind completely and making him a puppy dog for about 11 episodes.

    - Stefan is on the show and he's actively part of the story line. And Elena has not distanced herself from him in any way…

    - I don't understand, are you upset about love triangles or want everyone to sleep around…………?

    - The show being on a network channel DOES limit the ability to use gore to its full extent. But thankfully TVD is entertaining in other ways that it doesn't only have to rely on gore.

    - I fail to see how True Blood took any time to develop the love triangle. Eric made Sookie taste his blood, instant affect. Yeah, totally developed.

    - They took three and a half seasons, but that's really only 40 episodes. TVD has had 54 episodes and is now really trying to bring the triangle from a one-sided relationship on Damon's part to a full on triangle.

    - So Bill betraying Sookie is more admirable? I don't understand.

    - TB is a show about a guy that is supposed to kill Sookie but ends up falling in love with her. Then another guy is supposed to just drink her blood but ends up falling in love with her. Then these two guys fight over her, for no apparent reason because she just curses them out all the time, for about four years now. Meanwhile TWO other guys are in love with the same girl and continuously save her because, again, oh wait I DON'T KNOW WHY. No one does! They're all just somehow enamored with her. And everyone is fighting for her all the time. THAT'S less of a soap opera than TVD?

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  18. Sasha Yeganeh-Rad28 October 2011 at 06:57

    I used to prefer True Blood to Vampire Diaries but certain aspects of TVD are just plain better executed. For example, werewolves and witches are much more convincing as threats on TVD than on TB. The werewolf bite on TVD can actually kill a vampire, whereas Bill just shreds a whole pack of them even when they're supposedly stronger from being high on vampire blood. TB's big bad witch, Marnie, this past season was intriguing at first but to be honest, in retrospect I realize it led to being a disappointing storyline, no doubt because of how it was resolved. 

    The romance is also VERY flawed on TB. Sookie and Bill make me upchuck with their cheesy dialogue and the overall way they treat eachother. I was always really anxious to see Sookie and Eric and the first half of season 4 (aside from the "shower scene") was actually kind of satisfying. However, once they threw Bill back in the mix (in my opinion way too quickly, if at all) the whole storyline suffered. Sookie's back and forth makes her look like a total dumbass and especially since she lets Bill off the hook for all the B.S. he put her through. TVD at least has a solid triangle going. Elena has a whole lot more class than Sookie even if both characters do share the trait of always getting involved when they shoudn't. I also think Damon and Elena are much easier to root for than Eric and Sookie at this point. Oh, and Paul Wesley's acting and overall Stefan character are actually likable so when it comes to Stefan and Elena (though I don't care for them) it's actually watchable. Stephen Moyer, with his horrible overacting and the way Alan Ball kisses his character's ass makes me just hate Bill with a passion. And then finally, the supporting cast for TVD is much better than TB's. I hear people always complaining about seeing too much of Tara, Sam, and Arlene yet when it's Caroline, Tyler, and Bonnie people have way better responses. 

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  19. Bloody Steve28 October 2011 at 08:08

    shut the fuck up all of you!!!!vampire diaries is way better than TB!!!it has great scenaria instead of true blood,and it's not girly!!!true blood is for adults because it's a bunch of porn videos with gays and lesbians fucking themselves!!!!

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  20. Julia Eason28 October 2011 at 10:35

    I tihnk it's a case of each to their own.  There is more than enough room (and fans) for both shows.  Just because someone likes one show it doesn't mean the other is rubbish.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Rabia Salvatore28 October 2011 at 16:00

    There are plenty of adults that don't want to see that stuff either so I don't think its fair to pick on teens.

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  22. Ryan Lively28 October 2011 at 16:59

    To be able to say any one show is better than the other, you need to have watched both. There are some people commenting saying that they've never watched True Blood but much prefer Vampire Diaries. I have never watch Vampire Diaries (other than the Pilot), but I'm not saying True Blood is better, it's just the one that I watch. If you've seen both, then I think you can say "I like this one better." I think to also say "I don't like True Blood because of the nudity/sex/gore" would be the same as someone disliking Vampire Diaries because they think it's just a teen/girlie show with no substance and just writing it off because of that. But in the end, to each their own. If you like True Blood, great. If you like Vampire Diaries, great. I'm just a fan of the whole, this show is better than that one thing. Just like what you like.

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