‘Interview With the Vampire’ pumps fresh blood into Anne Rice’s story on AMC’s The Vampire Diaries
While Anne Rice and The Walking Dead’s The Vampire Diaries were on hiatus, the television drama was also struggling to find its way. During its first week, The Vampire Diaries averaged a 0.5 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, finishing with 1.34 million viewers. While the season ended up with a higher percentage of viewers than any season of the freshman drama’s run, it nonetheless didn’t bring in a whole lot of new viewers, according to the show’s star, Kevin McKidd.
“With a drama like this, you have to think of more than the ratings,” said McKidd, who plays Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries. “You have to think about the creative effect you’re having. Whether it’s an engagement, a fan base, or an audience base. What’s most important is that the show be a part of the fans’ lives.”
At the Television Critics Association summer press tour, The Vampire Diaries creator Stephenie Meyer gave an exclusive interview to Entertainment Weekly that explored the show’s past, present and future. The magazine also has the audio recording that was made while Anne Rice spoke with the show’s producers and cast.
Here at Wrigley, we look at the interview and read the show’s first three episodes from The Vampire Diaries’ end. (If you watch the entire season, you’ll see that a lot of these show-categorizing things just don’t make sense.)
Episode 1: “Penny Dreadful”
At the beginning of last week’s episode, Stefan shows up to the Salvatore home to find Damon there to break the news to him. And as she’s speaking with Emily’s father (Robert Aramayo), Anne is forced to admit the truth about Stefan’s existence – that his mother was actually Damon Salvatore. “I think it’s such a neat