The Vampire Diaries

The first season averaged 3.60 million viewers. It became the most-watched series on the network before being surpassed by Arrow. The show has received numerous award nominations, winning four People's Choice Awards and thirty Teen Choice Awards.

In April 2015, lead actress Nina Dobrev, who played Elena Gilbert, confirmed that she would be leaving the show after its sixth season. Dobrev returned to record a voice-over for the seventh-season finale and returned as a guest star in the series finale. In March 2016, the CW renewed the series for an eighth season, but in July of that year announced that the eighth season, consisting of 16 episodes, would be the show's last.

Throughout its run, The Vampire Diaries was generally well received by critics, who praised its acting, character development, emotional depth, and thematic elements. The concepts and characters developed in the series served to launch a media franchise that includes other television series, web series, novels and comic books. The television series The Originals (2013–2018) – which also aired on the CW – was the first major entry in this collection of connected works, followed by a spin-off of The Originals entitled Legacies (2018–2022), which aired on the CW as well. The Vampire Diaries significantly influenced the supernatural teen drama genre, contributing to a surge in vampire-themed media during the late 2000s and early 2010s.