ian somerhalder

Full disclosure, spoilerhounds -- I don't watch 'V,' 'Fringe' or 'The Vampire Diaries' (two of them are on my DVR, I swear!) so you'll have to forgive my ignorance in the following bullet-point recap of all three panels; I have no idea of character dynamics (or even names, without the help of IMDB) but I'll attempt to make the round-up as coherent as possible, and you can correct my ignorance in the comments if you so desire.

Though, after the panels and meeting some of the pretty cast members at the Warner Bros. party last night, they've all moved up on my must-watch list!

Needless to say: SPOILER ALERT.

Let's jump in with 'V' ...

The CW's breakout supernatural hit 'The Vampire Diaries' not only has a strong cult following in America but also in Europe, as TV Squad discovered when speaking with stars Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder at the 2010 Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

Sitting down as a trio, the stars spoke to the press about social media, their adoring fans, their enjoyment of period piece work within the modern show and crossover potential. There's plenty of life in this undead show, which returns this fall for a second season.

(S01E20) "You're back on Bambi blood, and I'm a badass big brother again. All is right in the world." - Damon to Stefan

A jealous brother, an evil uncle, and a trusting girlfriend all played into this episode of 'The Vampire Diaries.' We also got some flashbacks that revealed more of the Salvatore brothers' backstory and why Damon hates Stefan so much. Although, really, if he hated him that much, he wouldn't have organized the rescue mission to extract Stefan out of the vampires' farmhouse lair. Maybe he did it more for Elena than anything else.

And is it just me, or are Damon and Elena getting awfully chummy lately? I'll answer my own question: yes, they are.

(S01E19) "I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother." - Stefan

Stefan may think he's the good brother, but despite his best efforts to stay that way, he's going dark. He can't deny his true nature, and drinking human blood just brings that boiling up inside his soul.

(S01E18) "Have I entered an alternate universe where Stefan is fun?" - Damon

Somewhere in the last few episodes, things have shifted on 'The Vampire Diaries.' Now Damon seems like the good vamp (well, sort of; how fun was it to see his face when Uncle John came back from the dead?), while Stefan is going dark. I don't mind seeing Stefan go dark, because, frankly, he's a little boring being so virtuous all the time.

But he's not going willingly, that's for sure. He's trying hard to detox, but that drink of human blood last week -- Elena's blood -- gave him a wicked hunger that is not easily satisfied. Is there a 12-step program for vampires?

(S01E17) "I'm not gonna turn someone who learned everything he knows about vampires from Netflix." - Anna to Jeremy

There's a storm brewing, not only in the weather, but also those 25 cranky vampires in the farmhouse outside of town. By the end of this episode, there were a few less vampires there, not to mention the owner of the house.

Damon and Alaric made a great badass team, even if Alaric was ticked enough about the whole incident to slug Damon after it was all over. And everything that happened helped to further my fascination with (the still not-dead?) Frederick, especially after Pearl told him they can't live by revenge and need to have better control over their emotions. We can see how well that worked for him.

(S01E16) "I have 400 years on you, little boy. I'll rip you from limb to limb, and you know it." - Pearl to Damon

Just another average day on 'The Vampire Diaries' -- Matt and Caroline on a double date with Elena and Stefan. Or as Stefan put it, "a nice evening out with friends ... as in ... fun."

Let's face it. There's not going to be any fun for anyone on this show, especially with those 25 restless vampires in the farmhouse -- or as I like to call it, the vamp compound -- outside of town.

There's a vampire war brewing, and nothing anyone says or does is going to stop it. And thank goodness for that, because it promises to be really entertaining for us.

(S01E15) "Is there a problem? Did you find her? What's going on?" - Woman's voice on the other end of the cellphone Elena picked up after the mystery guy was hit by the truck

Well, I did what we talked about in the last review and re-watched the earlier episodes of 'The Vampire Diaries' leading up to this one. I think it helped, so I appreciate the discussion we had.

The big thing to me this week was the storyline revolving around Elena's mother -- who she is, what happened to her, and the mystery surrounding whether she's alive or dead. More after the jump.

(S01E14) "Spirits talk, Mr. Salvatore, and so does my granddaughter. You are no friend to us. Now get off my porch." - Sheila to Damon

Well, finally! Finally we get to that darn tomb and see what's in there (lots of scary souls). At the beginning of this episode, I was going to complain about how 'The Vampire Diaries' has been a lot of talk and not much action lately. But at least we got the tomb scene, and Sheila's awesome witch powers. Still ... is it just me, or has the show leveled off a bit on the excitement factor?

(S01E13) "You know, I really like this whole menage a trois threesome thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it." - Damon to Stefan and Elena

Interesting episode of 'The Vampire Diaries,' with the flashbacks showing the relationship of the Gilberts and Salvatores back when women wore hoops and guys wore watch fobs. What's really fun is seeing Nina Dobrev play the wicked vampire chick from back in the day. Such a departure from her present day Elena, who's all about the common sense.

(S01E11) Yay! The Vampire Diaries is back, and they covered a lot of stuff in this episode. More questions, a few answers, new relationships, more sinister stuff. We picked up right where we left off in the previous episode, with Elena driving tearfully away from Stefan after seeing Katherine's picture, getting into a car crash and seeing an unknown person approaching.

At first, I thought it was Damon, but he arrived a second later to pull her out of the car. There's something satisfying about seeing Damon speeding down the road in a muscle car with Elena in the passenger seat. She doesn't really fit into the whole damsel-in-distress thing. I mean, she's her own person, but yet you can feel that there's something between her and Damon.

This year offered plenty of hot and steamy TV moments, but some of the best featured hunky, half-naked guys. It was like an instant party for all of us female viewers out here, whether you're into sexy vampires, rough-gem bikers, or scrappy high school football players.

But rather than savor these moments all by ourselves, we've put together a round-up to share them with the world. Although they're numbered from one to 10, we think all of these guys are equally sexy. See if you agree with our choices.

We're thrilled that HBO has renewed 'In Treatment' for a third season. In two seasons, it has proven to be one of the most compelling experiments in dramatic television. A lot of that has to do with the stellar -- and Emmy-nominated -- work by Gabriel Byrne, who plays psychotherapist Dr. Paul Weston.

The show was based closely on the Isreali series 'Be Tipul.' That program only lasted for two seasons, which means that season 3 of 'In Treatment' will be its first foray into wholly new territory. To this point, much of the dialogue, relationships and all of the patients were based on their Isreali counterparts, with minor variations. Now, the writers will be taxed with creating everything from scratch.

With that in mind, we decided to help out by scouring through the channels to find 10 television characters who desperately need treatment from Dr. Weston.

Happy Thanksgiving! It's that time of year when we reflect on all the good things in our lives, and of course, my thoughts turn to TV. Let's take a look at a few things on the tube that make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Sexy vampires. Oh my, we got lots of them this year. The Twilight Saga: New Moon's got nothin' on TV vampires. Eric Northman and Bill Compton from True Blood are definitely at the top of my list. Pictured is that hunk o' steamy vamp himself, Eric, a.k.a. Alexander Skarsgard in real life. But we also got those lovely Salvatore brothers on The Vampire Diaries. Elena certainly has some high-class problems, doesn't she? Steadfast Stefan or bad-vamp Damon? They both have their particular gifts.

What happened on this week's 'Vampire Diaries' season 1 episode 10, 'The Turning Point' -- in 100 words or less.

Logan's a vampire! We'll find out whether he's still alive after getting staked by Alaric Saltzman. Mayor Lockwood tries to goad Tyler and Jeremy into fighting after they butt heads over Vicki. The mayor is acting weird.

Stefan and Damon save Caroline from becoming Logan's dinner. And those vampires in the church? "There's another way to break the spell," says Logan.