How 'Vampire Diaries' isn't a pervy 'Twilight' ripoff

Yeah, the CW's "Vampire Diaries" seems like paint-by-numbers girl-meets-vampire shtick, but showrunner Kevin Williamson assures that his show quickly gets unique.

At the network's press tour session, Williamson said he was worried people would perceive "Diaries" as aripoff (even though the "Diaries" books were launched before the"Twilight" series).

"When I read the first book I was like, 'No, this IS 'Twilight,'" Williamson said. "But when you get to thesecond book, there's a fork in the road and we're getting to that really quick. There's this darkness that lies underneath this town ... it's not a high school show, it's more a story of a small town."

The panel also touched on my vampire craze pet peeve: "Twilight," "Vampire Diaries," etc. are sort of like these statutory rape fantasies where you get guys who are hundreds of years old chasing after high school girls. Shouldn't they at least be lusting after college grads? Aren't they just dirty old men with excellent skin care?

"Diaries" star Paul Wesley explains that his character was denied a teenage life, so that makes it OK. 

"All of a sudden he can have that teenage experience that he's beenlacking for hundreds of years," he said, "it's not like he's putting on a facade, it's not like some pervy thing."

Yeah, uh-huh...