Ian Somerhalder's pick for best vampire ever

[Midnite]

Did you know that Ian Somerhalder, voted EW's Sexiest Beast by fans this past summer and starring in tonight's Season 2 premiere of Vampire Diaries, is a DS fan?  If not, his appearance on It's On With Alexa Chung that aired on MTV a year ago yesterday, will set you straight.

After the clip from Vampire Diaries, Somerhalder was asked by interviewer Alexa Chung, "Who is the best vampire ever besides Count Chocula?"
Ian:  "Probably, I would say if we would go back to Dark Shadows."
Alexa (dismissively):  "Yeah, really?"
Ian:  "Oh yeah, well it's very old. That's from the 60s, sorry. Yeah, there won't be references that any of us really remember."
Alexa (rushing to next question):  "Why don't..."
Ian:  "Barnabas Collins."
Alexa:  "Much less me. I was probably hiding in England, so..."

Full interview:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwJy_21DVdg


I don't get why he felt the need to apologize to that twit, who is too young to have been around in the 60s, btw.  No wonder her show was canceled.

[Nightfall59]

I always find it odd when people are dismissive about Dark Shadows/and or Barnabas. Even if you weren't alive in the 60s/early 70s, or very young, you must have heard of Barnabas Collins. I doubt if we'd be seeing so many new versions of the vampire story if not for the path he and DS forged and the way viewers embraced it all.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Several of the actors and production people on TVD have mentioned DS in interviews, but this is probably the first time that anyone other than Kevin Williamson has basically admitted they're a fan. (And as we saw in the article that I posted a link to last season that did a side by side comparison of the two shows:

Dark Shadows and The Vampire Diaries

DS and TVD do actually have a lot in common.)

As for some people being dismissive of DS, while it can/does factor into things, it's not just that it's an older story - after all, Dracula doesn't get dismissed simply because it's older. It's more so that DS is a soap, and while things have improved somewhat over the years, soaps still get dismissed out of hand. Though it's mostly by people who've never actually watch them.