I’ll say this much for vampires who don’t fight the urge to score their blood straight from the human’s neck: They sure as heck seem to have better senses of humor! Or at least that seems to be the case when you compare witty bad-boy Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder, pictured) to dishy-but-broody bro Stefan (Paul Wesley). Indeed, last night’s fourth Vampire Diaries installment (your regular recapper, Mandi Bierly, had the night off, FYI) started out feeling like a particularly mean-spirited standup routine by a guy who’s been undead (and not exactly thrilled about it) for a good century or so. Exhibit A: Damon getting revenge on Stefan for stabbing him in the chest with a letter opener, then hissing about his damaged shirt: “This is John Varvatos, dude. Dick move.” Or how about Damon taunting his teenage plaything Caroline (Candice Accola) about her love of all things Twilight: “What’s so special about this Bella girl? Edward’s so whipped.” And later: “I miss Anne Rice. She was so on it.” (Your move, Stephenie Meyer!) Yeah, maybe the jokes were a tad too meta by half, but still, amusingly snarky. Not to mention, Damon’s ability to make a funny allows him to seem a little more, well, alive than his occasionally catatonic, always earnest, exceedingly well-coiffed sibling. And that might come in handy now that it’s been revealed that a well-connected group of adults is aware that vampires are back in Mystic Falls, and planning to exterminate ‘em.
Yes, Caroline’s cop mom, Tyler’s mayor and first-lady parental units, and Jenna’s news-reporter ex-boyfriend all came together in the episode’s closing minutes to reveal that at least some folks weren’t buying the old “mountain lion ate my locals” excuse. READ FULL STORY »
It’s all about Mondays and Thursdays this fall, and tonight’s line-up provides yet another DVR conundrum. What to watch? DVR? Skip? Wait for? Aaargh, the whole night is a smorgasbord, so let’s just look at the 8 p.m. slot for now. Jeeze louise, our TV cup runneth over:
Like 
Before we get into the heart of this episode — which was whether or not there’s any humanity left in Damon — I just need to say that I have never felt older watching a CW show than when Mr. Tanner, the history teacher, instructed his students to settle the debate he and Stefan were having on the end date of the Korean War and they all pulled out their cellphones to search the Internet. Do high schools no longer have actual textbooks? I envisioned flipping to the index, saying ‘h-i-j-k-l’ in my head to remember what letters ‘k’ falls between, running my index finger down and across the page, then finally turning to the correct chapter and skimming. I. Am. So. Old.
When 
To celebrate The Vampire Diaries (Thursdays, 8 p.m. ET) scoring 
Ian Somerhalder phoned EW this morning to chat about his role as Damon on 
With 4.9 million viewers, the series debut of The Vampire Diaries became 
