When VD (that’s right, I went there) premiered back in 2009, my husband and I watched the pilot. We weren’t exactly enthralled, but as lovers of genre, we gave it another shot the following week.

We didn’t watch the third episode.

I’m not even sure exactly what it was that made us stop. The story wasn’t moving forward in what seemed like an interesting way? The characters were flat, and the dialogue felt like it was trying too hard? Whatever the reason, we gave up on the show, despite friends telling us how great it was.

For the full article on why The Vampire Diaries is worth a second look, visit our sister science fiction and fantasy blog, Tor.com.