I miss Hidden Palms.

So I'm posting this quite a while after the fact, but wanted to at least comment before new episodes start back. I caught up on Vampire Diaries before the holidays while the CW was airing two episodes per night for a week. I had high (or low) hopes for this show, and it's not living up. Basically it's not amazing and it's not so horrible it's amusing. It's pretty much just okay.

The good:

• The black vein-y eyes. Possibly my favorite ever version of "vamping". Way better than bumpy foreheads, mouths full of fangs, and your garden variety descending canines.
  
• Stefan and Damon seem to stand around their house shirtless a lot. Other CW shows should take note.
  
• I am vaguely intrigued by who and/or what the new teacher might be.
• Damon. Though he could really go either way. He could be the anti-hero like Spike, or he could become the villain without a purpose, like Sylar.
  
• Steven R. McQueen reminds me of a combination of Kyle Gallner and Connor Paolo. He's like the epitome of the CW Younger Brother.
  
• Caroline. Don't know why, but I like her.
  

The bad:

• When I watched the pilot I found it so predictable that I was saying the characters dialog before they did.
• Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley are like black holes of charisma so the whole Stefan & Elena thing is really not working for me.
• Having dead parents does not inherently make a person interesting. Other people thinking someone is interesting does not make them interesting. Elena is not interesting.
  
• The whole Bonnie is a witch story started out amusing to me and then Bianca Lawson got involved and it all went downhill from there.
• I'm pretty sure Elena and Stefan have already broken up and gotten back together at least once per episode. It's already tedious.
• Vicki. Thankfully she's dead and presumably gone.
  

The things I don't give a crap about:

• Aunt Jenna and her constant dating of people who might be trouble.
• Elena's ex-boyfriend Matt, though I could start to care more about him now that he and Caroline are a pseudo-thing.
  
• The group of townsfolk who know about vampires.
• Katherine. Yeah, I said it. I don't give a crap about her. Nina Dobrev can barely do morose. She really, really can't do whimsically evil and manipulative.

That's it. I may post more about it when new episodes start.