The Vampire Diaries

Network: The CW
Episodes: 171 (hour)
Seasons: Eight

TV show dates: September 10, 2009 — March 10, 2017
Series status: Ended

Performers include: Nina Dobrev, Steven R. McQueen, Sara Canning, Katerina Graham, Candice Accola, Zach Roerig, Kayla Ewell, Michael Trevino, Paul Wesley, and Ian Somerhalder.

TV show description:
After a tragic car accident that kills their parents, 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), are left to pick up the pieces of their lives. The siblings now live with their cool-but-overwhelmed Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning), who is doing her best to be a surrogate parent.

Elena’s always been a star student at Mystic Falls High; beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends, but now she finds it hard to hide her grief from the world. She manages to find some comfort with her social circle — best friend Bonnie (Katerina Graham), frenemy Caroline (Candice Accola), and former boyfriend Matt (Zach Roerig).

Unfortunately, Jeremy’s on a more dangerous path, hanging out with the stoners and using drugs to mask his pain. Jeremy’s also trying to figure out why Matt’s sister, Vicki (Kayla Ewell), is suddenly rejecting him and hanging out with Jeremy’s rival, Tyler (Michael Trevino).

As the school year begins, Elena and her friends are fascinated by a handsome and mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Stefan and Elena are immediately drawn to one another, but Elena is puzzled by his bizarre behavior when he suddenly appears at the cemetery where her parents are buried.

What Elena doesn’t know is that Stefan is hiding a dark secret of his own. He’s a vampire. At a bonfire party the next night, Elena and Stefan are just getting to know each other when chaos erupts and Vicki is attacked. She’s left bleeding from a savage bite to the neck.

Fearing that he knows who is responsible for the attack, Stefan returns home to find his estranged older brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder). Damon’s also a vampire and the two brothers have a long and bitter history. Damon ridicules Stefan for rejecting their legacy of violence and brutality, but he understands his brother’s obsession with Elena. She looks exactly like a woman that Stefan loved more than a century ago; a woman that Damon tried to make his own.

The two vampire brothers – one good, one evil – find themselves at war for the souls of Elena, her friends, family and the rest of the residents of Mystic Falls, Virginia.

What do you think? Do you like The Vampire Diaries TV show? Do you think it should have ended? Would you have watched a ninth season?