What is it about the pilot episodes for vampire series that leave me generally indifferent to them? I’m a sci-fi and fantasy guy from way back, so you’d think it’d be like shooting fish in a barrel for a show about the undead to win me over, but I was underwhelmed when I first screened CBS’s “Moonlight,” and although the feeling wasn’t quite as intense, the sensations were definitely similar after I checked out The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.” More surprising, however, was that my wife – a dyed-in-the-wool fan of both “Twilight” and “True Blood” – felt the same way I did. I had been resigned to the fact that we’d be adding it to the TiVo queue no matter what my opinion of the series might be, but, no, it didn’t earn much more than a shrug from her, either. It’s clear that neither of us are arbiters of taste for the nation as a whole, however, as the show recently took home the award for Best New Drama categories at the People’s Choice Awards.

Hey, fair enough: I gave “Moonlight” a second chance when it came to DVD, and I’ll do the same with “The Vampire Diaries.” When it comes to TV, I’m always ready, willing, and sometimes even hoping to be proven wrong.

Given that I have no particular frame of reference to the goings-on in the show, I’m having to kind of guess what information that emerged during the course of the show’s latest TCA panel is of particular interest to fans, so here’s hoping that you’ll appreciate some of these facts:

Are we going on see the cork being pulled from the church basement bottle, as it were?

“Oh, you mean the tomb?” asked Kevin Williamson, the show’s executive producer. “Well, you know, quite possibly, yes. I mean, that’s the fun of the back nine (episodes). Yes, Damon has an agenda. He’s going to save Katherine. He’s going to do everything possible he can to get to her. And so, yeah, that tomb is still in play.”

When are you going to explore more into the teacher? Is he a Van Helsing-type, or is he a vampire? Because there’s definitely something with him.

“Yes, there’s definitely something with him,” agreed Williamson. “We’re going to have fun. He just sort of has blown onto the scene, and we haven’t had a chance yet to sort of explore his background and stuff, but in the upcoming episodes, we’re actually going to learn more about him. We’re going to see some of what his past was like and what brought him to Mystic Falls, and we’re going to see what his little agenda is…because, you know, everyone’s got a little agenda.”

“We’re going to meet his wife in flashbacks, played by Mia Kirshner,” revealed Julie Plec, Williamson’s fellow executive producer.

Is Vicki really dead?

“Vicki is dead,” confirmed Williamson. “I’m so sorry. She’s gone. However, she will live in spirit and stuff, and it’s going to take a long time for Jeremy and Matt and his family to truly get over Vicki and maybe possibly start learning the truth about what happened to Vicki. That’s something, I think, Jeremy is going to struggle with. Of course, we now have Matt’s mother coming to town, so Vicki will still be talked about, but, unfortunately, Vicki left us. She was our very first vampire casualty.”

Can you give us some hints about how the relationship between Elena and Damon is going to develop and how their interactions will change now that Elena has taken off her necklace?

“Now that the necklace is off, she’s very vulnerable,” said Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena. “In this next episode that we’re going to see, there are going to be a lot more of Damon and Elena. That’s as much as I think I can say.”

“I think that’s fair,” said Williamson. “One of the things that’s going to be really interesting in this upcoming episode is Damon and Elena sort of have some alone time. They have a little bit of an adventure where there’s no Stefan, there’s just the two of them, so we’re going to sort of explore how their relationship develops on its own terms without Stefan there to guide it or get in the middle of it.”

“And then,” added Plec, “to see Damon make the decision of whether he’s going to compel her to go along with him on this adventure or whether she’s going to go along willingly.”

“Yeah,” agreed Williamson. “Is it more important to see if she would come on her own accord? You know, it’s another level to their friendship. It’s one more way to sort of spin that triangle. Right now, it’s Stefan and Elena. That’s the love story. Damon is just there on the peripheral, always.”

“Well, he’s in love with himself,” Ian Somerhalder pointed out…and he should know, given that he plays Damon.

Has Nina kissed Ian yet?

“Off camera,” laughed Williamson.

“The actress Nina Dobrev has kissed Damon,” replied Plec, coyly. “But the character Elena has not. So in the next few episodes, we’ll get to see a little Catherine and Damon, hot and heavy, yummy and naughty action.”

And, lastly, we’ve got a general question, but it’s one which will no doubt interest fans who came to the show from the book series:

How much are you finding that you can stick with the books? And how much are you having to sort of change things around because the show takes on a life of its own?

“You know, the show does take on a life of its own,” admitted Williamson, “and I think the book has always inspired us because, you know, if you’re a fan of the book, you can sort of look at what we have sort of used or what we haven’t or what we’ve taken and sort of turned it on its end. Like, for instance, we’re going into this whole thing of this church and the tomb underground and these vampires that have been desiccated and laying in wait for all these years with Katherine amongst them. That’s not in the book. However, what is in the book…”

“…is Katherine,” finished Plec.

“…is Katherine,” repeated Williamson. “And there’s the tomb under the ground of all these caverns, and there is sort of an element in the book that we sort of expanded upon. So the book has always inspired us, but, yeah, now the show is off and running, so you see a bunch of writers sitting in a room, and we twist and turn everything.”

“Please, God, come up with an idea,” laughed Plec. “Any idea. The script’s due!”

To wrap up, I thought I’d share with you what the various cast members had to say when asked about the types of letters they receive from fans.

Paul Wesley: Very positive ones.
Ian Somerhalder: Really positive, adorable ones.
Nina Dobrev: I get little drawings.
Paul Wesley: Yeah, no scary letters from jail. There’s suggestions. Lots of suggestions, I think.
Ian Somerhalder: There are a lot of suggestions.
Paul Wesley: Like, questions.
Ian Somerhalder: Some of them are all questions. “What’s your favorite color?” But they also really get into…I mean, some of them, when you have time to read them, they are really insightful and really, really sort of heartfelt. I mean, these girls, sort of young teen girls, are so into the love aspect of it that they have so many questions about love. It’s about love. It’s crazy. They’re not confused. They’re just so inquisitive about it.
Paul Wesley: They really kind of look up to our characters for some reason.
Ian Somerhalder: I hope they don’t look up to mine!