The Vampire Diaries
The series premiere of "The Vampire Diaries" on September 10, 2009, gave The CW its biggest series premiere, scoring 4.91 million viewers. Adding in DVR numbers, the ratings for the premiere swelled to an official 5.7 million viewers. In 2016, a "New York Times" study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "as with several other shows that focus on the supernatural", "The Vampire Diaries" was "slightly more popular outside of cities. That said, the show's fandom has the smallest amount of spatial variation of all 50 shows".
L. J. Smith (author)
"The Vampire Diaries" series was commissioned by Elise Donner, editor of "Alloy Entertainment" in 1990: Smith immediately wrote the scene when Elena, Bonnie and Meredith are decorating the gym and the heroine meets Damon (scene later included in the first novel), while, as for the other characters, she adapted those of "The Garden of Earthly Delights", an adult book she was writing. She chose the setting of "The Vampire Diaries" in Virginia because she has family there and was inspired by the small towns and lifestyles.