Surprise! 'The Vampire Diaries' is actually good

The most surprising new show of the fall television season is "The Vampire Diaries."

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's the best new show this fall. But it's the one that has exceeded expectations the most.

And that, no doubt, has something to do with how exceedingly low expectations were for "The Vampire Diaries."

OK, I was pretty much expecting that all of the sucking wouldn't be done by just the vampires on this show.

Much to my surprise, this teen soap opera has been pretty darn watchable. Oh, it certainly has its hokey, over-the-top moments. It's about vampires, after all.

Hey, it's about teenagers. And teenagers have more than their share of hokey, over-the-top moments.

I'll admit that I'm a fan of vampires. When I was a kid — many, many, years ago — I used to race home from school to watch "Dark Shadows." My favorite character? The vampire, Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), of course.

And I was a fan of the 1991 prime-time "Dark Shadows" remake.

As far as I'm concerned, the original, 1979 "Salem's Lot" miniseries is still one of the best made-for-TV horror shows of all time. (The 2004 remake was terrible, however.)