Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs. The Vampire Diaries vs. True Blood

Original Channel

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The WB and UPN

The Vampire Diaries: The CW

True Blood: HBO

Creators

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Joss Whedon

The Vampire Diaries: Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec

True Blood: Alan Ball

Stars (Season One)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, Anthony Stewart Head

The Vampire Diaries: Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Sara Canning, Katerina Graham, Candice Accola, Zach Roerig, Michael Trevino, Matt Davis

True Blood: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Alexander Skarsgard

Air dates

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: March 10, 1997 – May 20, 2003

The Vampire Diaries: September 10, 2009 - Present

True Blood: September 7, 2008 - Present

Season structure (Season One)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 12 episodes of 43 minutes

The Vampire Diaries: 22 episodes of 43 minutes

True Blood: 12 episodes of 50-60 minutes

Why?

Vampires

The Differences

Origins: The Vampire Diaries and True Blood are based on young adult and adult fiction book series, respectively. Buffy originated in a feature film that was also written by Joss Whedon. While the book-to-TV series stay quite faithful to the books, the Buffy TV series differed greatly from the original movie. Also, this lends a different relationship between the viewers and the shows. Because readers of the books also watch the shows, they have a general idea of what would happen next and the answers to some of the biggest mysteries. If you want them, the spoilers are out there. With Buffy, there was no way of knowing what was coming next, since it wasn’t following a source material. That completely changes the viewing experience.

Graphic violence and sex in connection with humor: As with most premium cable shows, True Blood takes many liberties with its lack of restrictions, using a lot of nudity and blood that is not as graphic on the other two shows, even though violence and sex are a large part of their plotlines. Despite some small moments of tenderness, True Blood seems to approach this freedom with a type of glee, using it in a campy, over-the-top humorous way. Buffy is very humorous as well, but through witty wordplay. The Vampire Diaries uses the smallest amount of comedy of the three, but does insert some humor.

Attractiveness of evil: All shows cast attractive actors to play the vampires and other supernatural creatures. But, once the creatures turn and feed, it’s different. On Buffy, the vampires gain grotesque facial ridges in addition to their fangs. On The Vampire Diaries, it’s a lesser effect, with veins appearing around the eyes. On True Blood, it’s just the fangs. This makes a difference for how the audience feels towards these characters. The scarier they look, the more scared we’ll feel. This probably isn’t due to differences in network and cable, but rather, the evolution of the vampire in pop culture from monster to sex symbol.

True Blood

The Vampire Diaries

Buffy

         

The Similarities

Special female lead: All three shows feature strong female leads who have a special characteristic that makes them more than just your normal young girl. Buffy is a vampire slayer, the Chosen One. She has extra strength and a duty to protect the world. Elena on The Vampire Diaries is a doppelganger, which makes her and her blood valuable to a lot of people. Sookie on True Blood is a fairy with light that is desired by many. They are the main characters for a reason. While Buffy is the strongest physically, they all stand up for what they believe in and fight against evil, yet still succumb to it every once in awhile (see below). Also, all three have suffered in their past and with their family, leaving them even more alone and on their own. Buffy has divorced parents, and her mother dies in the middle of the series.  Elena’s parents died in a car crash, and she suffers other family losses later in the series. Sookie’s parents are dead, and her Gran is killed in the first season.

Love Triangle between good and bad vampires: All three have it. The main girls fall in love with the morally good vampire, then are tempted by the bad one who exhibits signs of goodness: Buffy has Angel and Spike, Elena has Stefan and Damon, and Sookie has Bill and Eric. They are battling evil yet succumbing to a side of it by falling in love.

Extended metaphors: Buffy is a genius metaphor for the challenges of high school, and storylines stood for so much more than what they seemed. She sleeps with her boyfriend, and with a twist on the classic teen girl fear, he turns into a huge jerk. This time though, it’s because he loses his soul and becomes an evil vampire hell-bent on destroying the world. She can fight off any supernatural being, yet her mother dies from the one thing she can’t protect her from: a natural brain aneurysm.
True Blood compares the plight of vampires, newly outed in the US, to the plight of homosexuals and the discrimination they face, with signs in the opening credits that state “God hates fangs.” Take out one “n” and you can easily see.
The Vampire Diaries  doesn’t have as clear of meaning as these two.

Conclusion

Much like Homeland and 24, there are few differences in theme and style. The ones that do exist are more in tone, which lends me to believe it's due to the creative choices by the show runners instead of airing on network or cable TV. Some differences can also be attributed to the evolution of vampires’ place in pop culture. For three distinct shows, they are remarkably similar without feeling like you’re watching the same show.