Both fortunately and unfortunately for “Vampire Diaries,” the CW’s new show has premiered this week at the height of the vampire mania surrounding “Twilight” and “True Blood.” Yes, this helps the show find a larger audience, but it also gives way to more comparison among all of the vampire shows and movies.

“Vampire Diaries” follows Elena (Nina Dobrev), a high-school girl who has recently lost her parents, as she tries to put her life back together. On the first day of the new school year, she meets Stefan (Paul Wesley), the mysterious, good-looking “new kid” who makes every girl stop and stare. Of all the girls in the high school, Stefan takes an immediate liking to Elena, who takes an immediate liking to him, too. As the show continues, we see more of Stefan’s vampiric qualities, confirming that he is indeed the vampire love interest on the show (since we are never told outright). His ability to charm the school secretary (or “glamour her” as they say in “True Blood”), his adverse reactions to blood, and his ability to appear and disappear suddenly all point the savvy vampire fan to the logical conclusion.

“Vampire Diaries,” the latest in a recent surge of vampire-related series, has solid acting but occasionally makes some missteps.

Throughout the pilot episode, a few people, suddenly surrounded by fog and crows, are attacked by vampires, throwing viewer suspicion onto Stefan. Obviously, he is not the attacker (he needs to be the romantic lead). As it turns out, Stefan’s long-estranged brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), has also returned to town and has been feeding on the town’s citizens, causing trouble with his “vegetarian” brother (i.e., he feeds only on animals, not on people).

While the new show bears no resemblance at all to “True Blood,” the comparisons to “Twilight” are inescapable. Yes, some of the facts are different, but essentially, the story is the same. Girl meets boy—who unbeknownst to her is a vampire and who is strangely attracted to her—and they fall in love. Of course, the boy doesn’t drink human blood, and, of course, he is able to successfully assimilate into high school without causing too much trouble. At one point, “Vampire Diaries” even uses music that is very similar to the score used in “Twilight,” only increasing the similarities between the two.

This in itself shouldn’t count against the show, but the show certainly does have other issues. The biggest problem is its gimmicky use of journal writing. Both Elena and Stefan write in their journals, which the actors read in voiceovers. Their emotions’ being poured onto the page and then read off end up sounding trite and cheesy. Hopefully in the future, the show can either eliminate these entries altogether or somehow make them less awkward.

Overall, though, “Vampire Diaries” shows potential. The script, except for a few missteps, is clever, and the acting is believable for the most part (minus the fact that Elena looks like she’s 25). There is promise in both the main couple and the supporting characters, which hopefully can help transform the show into something unique and entertaining. While I’m not completely convinced that this show can make it work in the future, it has enough assets to give it a shot.

3.5/5 stars