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TV This Week

For ‘Vampire Diaries,’ a little less bite

Long-running CW drama returns without one of its stars

By Louisa Ada Seltzer

October 8, 2015

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vampire Like most people, actors get restless after they’ve been on a job for a while, which means shows that have managed to stay on the air for more than four or five seasons start to see turnover as they age.

That’s the case this season with “The Vampire Diaries,” the long-running CW hit that returns for its seventh season tonight at 8 p.m. without one of its original trio of stars, Nina Dobrev.

She left at the end of last season, and her character, Nina, was written off the show, though she’s still referred to several times in tonight’s premiere.

The big question for the CW is what impact Dobrev’s exit will have on the show’s ratings.

Sometimes a shakeup can be good for a program creatively. It’s easy for plotlines to become stale when the writers are relying on the same characters over and over — there’s only so many times you can break up and bring back together a main couple, for example, before people get tired of seeing it.

“Diaries” is clearly on the downslide in viewership, as are most seven-year-old programs. It’s no longer the CW’s top show, as it was in its early years, though it’s still the network’s No. 4 show.

“Diaries” averaged a 0.7 adults 18-49 Nielsen rating last season, down a quarter from last season, as well as 1.54 million total viewers, off 30 percent.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8
Time	Network	Program	Description
3 a.m.	Crackle	“SuperMansion” (C)	Series premiere. Original stop-action animated comedy series starring Bryan Cranston.
8 p.m.	CW	“The Vampire Diaries” (D)	Season premiere. Damon deals with life without Elena, and Enzo tries to find his role in Lily’s life.
8:15 p.m.	CBS, NFL Network	“Thursday Night Football” (S)	An AFC South rivalry game between the Colts and Texans in Houston.
9 p.m.	CW	“The Originals” (D)	Season premiere. An old vampire friend shows up in New Orleans, making Klaus suspicious
10 p.m.	Syfy	“Haven” (D)	Season premiere. Charlotte and Audrey attempt to remove a mysterious fog that has trapped everyone in Haven.
10 p.m.	MTV	“Ridiculousness” (R)	Season premiere. Rapper and actor 50 Cent guests.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9
Time	Network	Program	Description
12:01 a.m.	Amazon	“Red Oaks” (C)	Series premiere. New comedy set in the ’80s about a tennis player working at a country club.
3:01 a.m.	Netflix	“New Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show” (K)	Series premiere. New animated series from Dreamworks based on the classic cartoon series.
8 p.m.	Disney Channel	“Invisible Sister” (M)	A girl’s science experiment turns her older sister invisible.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Undateable” (C)	Season premiere. The comedy is somehow back for a third season
8 p.m.	CW	“Reign” (D)	Season premiere. Elizabeth and Catherine team up against Mary in Scotland
10 p.m.	Cinemax	“Strike Back” (D)	Series finale. Scott and Stonebridge try to fight off mercenaries in the Swiss Alps.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
Time	Network	Program	Description
12 p.m.	ABC	“College Football” (S)	The Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma in Dallas.
12 p.m.	NBC	“Golf” (S)	Coverage of day three of the Presidents Cup in Incheon City, South Korea.
2:30 p.m.	Big Ten Network	“College Football” (S)	A good Big Ten matchup between Northwestern and Michigan.
7 p.m.	NBC	“NASCAR Racing” (S)	The Bank of America 500 from Charlotte Motor Speedway.
8 p.m.	Lifetime	“The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story” (M)	Yet another TV movie about ’90s hit drama.
9:30 p.m.	Fox Sports 1, Univision	“Soccer” (S)	The U.S. takes on Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup, with the winner earning a berth in the FIFA Confederations Cup
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 p.m.	ABC	“America’s Funniest Home Videos” (C)	Season premiere. The show’s 26th (!) season welcomes new host Alfonso Ribeiro.
8 p.m.	Fox	“The Simpsons” (C)	Patty and Selma try to quit smoking after they find out their dad died from lung cancer
8:20 p.m.	NBC	“Sunday Night Football” (S)	The underwhelming San Francisco 49ers take on the New York Giants
8:30 p.m.	ESPN	“WNBA Basketball” (S)	Game four of the WNBA Finals, if necessary.
9 p.m.	AMC	“The Walking Dead” (D)	Season premiere. The group is still having trouble fitting in in Alexandria
10 p.m.	ABC	“Quantico” (D)	Alex finds out about her father’s history in the FBI.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.