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".
Daniel Gillies
Since 2002, Gillies has worked in Canadian and American film and television – at times simultaneously. Before landing lead roles in television series, Gillies landed guests spots on television shows such as "Masters of Horror", "NCIS", and "True Blood". In 2010, he was cast on the hit The CW drama "The Vampire Diaries" as Elijah Mikaelson. In 2013, CW created a successful spin-off of The Vampire Diaries chronicling the lives of the first (aka "the Original") vampires. Gillies' once recurring part as Elijah from The Vampire Diaries became a lead part in "The Originals." A potential nightmare existed for CW since Gillies was already under contract to play the playboy-ish Dr. Joel Goran in the supernatural series, "Saving Hope." Saving Hope initially aired in the US on NBC, but the series was not renewed although it continued to run in Canada. He continued both shows. In 2012, Gillies wrote, directed and starred with his wife Rachael Leigh Cook in "Broken Kingdom".