True/Slant Exclusive! Actual ‘Vampire Diaries’ entries leaked

There’s, like, a totally new clique of blood suckers in town, thanks to the same CBS-slash-UPN-slash-Time Warner-owned network behind Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and a bunch of other shows that people younger than you watch totally every week like their lives depended on it. Called The Vampire Diaries, the show follows new-in-town schoolgirl Elena Gilbert (tragic accident + change in location + learning the ropes + hot vampire dudes = ka-ching!), her kid brother (pathos machine), and a couple tall, dead, and handsome bros with funny names (think foreign exchange students). One bro’s good, the other’s totally evil, both want to show Elena their secret handshake, but only one actually will. It’s like The Breakfast Club, if the cafeteria were serving blood pudding every single day of the week.

The show premieres in September, but thanks to a secret Hollywood insider (so hush-hush) I got a sneak peek at a few of the blood suckers’ actual diary entries. I think you’ll be surprised.

Monday. Dear Diary, stayed up all night again. Met this nice girl. She had really long blond hair and this great smile. Killed her. Got to bed just as the sun was coming up. But a stupid cricket or something outside my window totally kept me awake for hours. Not happy.

Wednesday. Dear Diary, went out last night and snacked on all these skater punks over by the reservoir. I am seriously rocking a contact high right now. I just ate a whole bag of Doritos and, like, can’t stop giggling. Plus? I now have, like, fifteen skateboards. Test tomorrow.

Saturday. Dear Diary, you know that scene in that movie “The Lost Boys,” when they hang from the train tracks and stuff? We totally did that tonight! I thought it would be awesome, but it was actually kinda lame. Then we went for ramen and Stefan was like, “Worms, Damon, you’re eating worms.” I was like, “Not funny!” Plus, my favorite t-shirt now? Totally grease-stained! All the dry-cleaners close at 5. Lame.

Sunday. Dear Diary, last night was pretty weird. First of all I totally drained the life from this super nice guy. Elena was like, “Dude, he’s so handsome.” I don’t know, I guess he was. I mean, I don’t really tend to notice that stuff cause I’m a guy too and all. But he seemed really nice, and he had this awesome messenger bag and this really nice, like, sorta deconstructed jacket that I thought he totally rocked. I guess things got kinda homoerotic because Stefan was like, “Bro, you’re so gay.” I’m so confused I want to die. Or live. Or something.

Where Have All the Bad Boys Gone?

Ian Somerhalder as Damon on "The Vampire Diaries: " I know what you're thinking how many more vampires do we need in pop culture. And sure the show is capitalizing on our current love affair with all things vampire but the pilot came to life once Somerhalder's Damon hit the screen. I had a delayed reaction to realizing this was the same actor who played nice guy Boone on "Lost." He's the bad vampire to his brother, good vampire Stefan (Paul Wesley). Let the sibling rivalry begin. If my television viewing history is consistent, I'll totally be rooting for Damon over the soulful Stefan.

The Vampire Diaries: Brooding bad boys and the girls who love them

What makes vampires so attractive? Maybe because they're such deliciously bad boys.

What's the seemingly endless appeal about vampires? Julie Ples, executive producer of The Vampire Diaries, has an idea -- and it has a lot to do with TV bad boys like Jordan Catalano from My So-Called Life and Dylan McKay from the original 90210.

"There's something about the naughty bad boy -- you want to believe that there's so much going on behind those eyes, you want to believe there's epic amounts of soul and wisdom there," Julie said. "With real boys, you're usually out of luck, but with a vampire, you're getting that."

And we're certainly going to see that with Stefan, the love-struck bloodsucker at the center of The Vampire Diaries. His backstory is what drew actor Paul Wesley to the part:

"He's a vampire born in the 1800s, and then has to mask himself as a high schooler," Paul said. "Me and Nina [Dobrov] and Kat [Katerina Graham], we're all about the same age, we're all friends, but when I'm on set I have to get into this place where I think I'm like their grandfather."

But that just makes him the world's oldest adolescent: "He may be 50 years old, but he's a teenager, and he still can't get it right," joked executive producer Kevin Williamson.

Paul agreed. "It's a rebirth for him -- he can have that teenage, young adult experience, the first love he's been lacking 150 years. It's not like he's a conman, it's not some pervy thing -- he's genuinely experiencing this with the naiveté of a 18-year-old kid."

But it's not all hormones and first loves. Let's not forget that Stefan just happens to be a bloodsucking fiend -- and in this universe, that means Stefan decided to do some very bad things. See, in order to become a vampire, you can't just passively get bit and maybe sip a little blood. You also have to make a conscious choice to feed on a human in order to complete the transformation. And no matter how sweet and romantic Stefan seems now, that means he once chose to snack on people.

Julie promised us an early episode will "explore the moment when Stefan and Damon woke and discovered they had become vamps -- what was Stefan like in that moment he fed for the first time."

Because, yes, Stefan is one of those bad boys that the good girls love -- and this bad boy has done some bad, bad things. Tell us in the comments what your favorite bad boys do.

Stephenie Meyer Sued for Copyright Infringement

An author who accused Stephenie Meyer, the writer of the best-selling “Twilight” novels, of plagiarism has filed suit against her, Reuters reported.

Earlier this month, a lawyer for Jordan Scott, the author of the 2006 vampire novel “The Nocturne,” sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ms. Meyer’s publisher, Hachette Book Group, that said her work contains many situations that are similar to those in Ms. Meyer’s 2008 book “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth entry in her series about a romance between a mortal woman and an undead vampire. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in California reiterated those similarities, noting, for example, that both books contained passages about a wedding and an after-wedding sex scene on a beach. Hachette Book Group said that Ms. Meyer had based “Breaking Dawn” on an earlier, unpublished sequel to “Twilight” that she wrote. The publisher called the suit a “publicity stunt to further Ms. Scott’s career,” and said it expected the court would dismiss it, according to Reuters.

Ian Somerhalder on Vampire Diaries

If Paul Wesley plays the sweet and broody vampire Stefan on The Vampire Diaries, Ian Somerhalder is the counterpoint. As Stefan’s vampire brother Damon, Somerhalder is more like the vampire we read about in Bram Stoker.

Ian Somerhalder Writes in His Vampire Diaries

“He’s angry,” Somerhalder said. “He feels like he’s been wronged, very badly, and he wants vengeance and redemption. However, he is lonely. He’s the most lonely person I’ve ever known. Imagine being 170 years old. However old you are, at this point in time, imagine thinking about how much you know about life and quadrupling that, and seeing all the people you’ve ever known die around you. That probably makes you very cynical and lonely.”

That’s deep, but Somerhalder is having fun. “It’s so much fun. That’s why he’s so fun. Violence and brutality, for me, is never okay. I’m not a violent or brutal person, in the least bit. I’m actually really passive. But, his violence and brutality stems from someplace. Even people who are bad, do it for reasons. The reason why people like the bad boy in a film, a show, a book or a play is because they have so much fun doing what they’re doing, while they’re doing it. And, there’s something that’s interesting and enticing about watching someone like that. Even if he’s being mean, he’s having fun doing it. So, as humans, we’re sickly drawn to that, and we’re all guilty of it.”

Looking into Damon’s background gave Somerhalder even more fuel for the rage. “It’s intense. Even people who are bad, it all stems from a place. It’s coming from a place. When we’re good to people, it’s coming from a good place. When we’re bad to people, it’s coming from a bad place. But, we all have a reason for what we’re doing, and Damon’s is pretty justified. He feels as though he was hurt very badly in the past, and wronged very deeply, so he’s ticked off and he’s ready for some vengeance. It’s going to be interesting. He has reasons for everything he does, so there will be shifts. The whole idea is that Damon has lost all humanity, but we will see different sides of him, as the season starts to play out. "

Just like an actor, the villain is never really a bad guy. “He’s a very dynamic, very complicated character. The relationship between Stefan, Damon and Elena is getting away from just this teen soap show. They’re very complicated relationships.”

Of course, that’s for several weeks of television to reveal. “There are so many elements that are going to dictate that because of the mythology of it all. These two brothers have very different views on life. Damon has decided to not dismiss his heritage, which is, unfortunately, feeding on people. That’s what vampires do. It’s like if a human being decided to stop eating, essentially. And, Stefan, because of his love for people or just his desire to not have to brutally kill them, has decided not to, which makes it invariably difficult to hang out. And so, there are going to be a lot of twists and turns that are going to illustrate how different they are, and the bouncing back and forth of good to bad and bad to good. There are so many places that they can go.”

The Vampire Diaries premieres September 10 on The CW. .

'Vampire Diaries' Creator Is Excited And Energized For The New CW Series

With vampires all the rage with the kids these days, it makes sense for The CW to get into the vampire romance business. Luckily there was another series of vampire books they could turn into their series, The Vampire Diaries. Produced by Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson, this is not just another teen drama. While it is about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire, Williamson said the show is more about small town secrets than high school romance.

"The town wakes up to [the vampires] relatively quick and tries to do something about it," Williamson said. "We don't know exactly who is it in the town, who are these people that figure it out. We have a character coming in, in a couple of episodes that is another series regular that steps in and he comes with an agenda."

Even the concept of the diary is a bit quaint to modern day kids. "A lot of people write journal on a computer now, but Elena's mother is the one who gave her that journal and explained to her the importance of journaling. So she writes in her journal. It is a connection to her mother. It is really a nice way to sort of open up a story, begin a story and close a story. It is a really great bookend.

The show is sort of in Williamson's old stomping grounds. Dawson's was a flagship WB show, and Diaries airs on the combo-network The CW. "When I was working with The WB when it was just beginning, and it was just sort of starting out and there was like this enthusiasm and excitement, that kind of exists with The CW so it energizes me. So am I having a great time. They have been great. So they have been very supportive of the show and so it is nice. They kind of create a whole family environment. It is nice, they are still a small network. I do really well with a roomful of people as opposed to a lot of cooks in the kitchen, so it has been very intimate."

Vampire Diaries premieres September 10 on The CW.

'The Vampire Diaries'

Four months after the tragic car accident that killed their parents, 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev, “DeGrassi: The Next Generation”) and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen, “Everwood”), are still adjusting to their new reality. Elena has always been the star student; beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends, but now she finds herself struggling to hide her grief from the world. Elena and Jeremy are now living with their cool-but-overwhelmed Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning, “Smallville”), who is doing her best to be a surrogate parent.