As moving and significant as it was, I had my reservations about how The Vampire Diaries went off into their wonderfully short winter hiatus this year, with “Stand By Me.” It was well-written and -acted, cathartic and transitional and important, but what comes next could be a very slippery slope. Taking away yet another human character will have its consequences for sure, but taking away the humanness of Elena, a trait upon which this series is driven, could be a grave mistake.

And from what I saw last week, that’s exactly what it is. I’m not sure I’ve ever considered an episode of The Vampire Diaries to be horrible (sub-par, maybe), but “Bring It On” was a complete train wreck.

The good news is that nothing lasts for long on The Vampire Diaries — it’s a quick-moving storyline filled with twists and turns — so they should be able to right this sinking ship fairly easily. Here’s what needs to happen to fix this potential disaster. …

Klaus and Haley have no chemistry.
I understand that The Powers That Be are setting up The Originals spin-off (of which Haley will surely be the weak link), but there are several problems with the Klaus/Haley storyline. First of all, the only reason fans love Klaus is because of the humanness he shows when he’s pining over and/or wooing Caroline (it’s not his twisted, Grinch-like grin). Don’t even get me started on what will become of TVD and the Caroline/Klaus dynamic when Klaus jumps ship to the spin-off. And don’t even tell me that Caroline should go with him, because she shouldn’t.

While it’s looking like Haley will be a descendant of the original werewolf bloodline, and that’s cool and all, save it for the spin-off and get her out of Mystic Falls. We have limited time with Klaus and Caroline, Tyler’s out of the picture for right now, so let’s play, people. There’s nothing more appealing than Caroline wrestling with her divided feelings.

Tyler is integral and so is Elena’s human side.
I’m not sure what drives The Powers That be to send Tyler off every spring, but it’s getting old. He’s been an important part of the story throughout the seasons, and he’s still integral in my book.

But here’s the real storyline that needs to be mined: Tyler’s an orphan now (granted, he’s also 18) — both of his parents and his uncle have been killed — does he need to shut off his humanity? No. So why does Elena? She’s been through the wringer, for sure, and she’s lost a few more people than Tyler has … but shutting off her humanity is definitely not the answer (as evidenced by the horrendous “Bring It On”). Over four years, Elena has proven how strong she is — why can’t the Salvatore brothers stop trying to save her, control her, shelter her? This is all just a little too close to the Twilight crap now. No one wanted to turn off Tyler, so stop treating Elena like Bella … she’s stronger than that, and unlike Bella, she doesn’t want a vampire man to dominate her.

I’m sure Tyler is the answer to helping Elena regain her humanness. It can’t be one of the Salvatore brothers, because that would negate her inner strength and independence. Once and for all, Damon and Stefan need to see that they don’t have to baby Elena — she can take care of herself.

More Matt on my screen.
Listen here, TVD writers, and listen good. I’m on board because of the juxtaposition of humanity and supernaturals. I don’t want to watch a show that’s filled with vampires and werewolves and super-human fight scenes. The struggle of the supernatural characters with their human side and how to make peace with their blood-sucking side is a big draw, believe it or not. Watching how the humans reconcile themselves to the strangeness in Mystic Falls is crucial. What would Sunnydale have been without Xander?

Matt is probably one of the most important characters on The Vampire Diaries right now, and sadly, he has to do his important work without Jeremy. He not only shows us that humanity can find a way to survive the supernatural catastrophes in Mystic Falls, but that without humanity, it would surely crumble.

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Something that The Vampire Diaries does so well is to make each episode stand out in some way, even though it is a serialized drama. There’s no “case of the week” to fall back on for structure, but the writers take that extra step to make sure there’s something special about each episode, through the character interactions, reveals, themes running through the episode or whatever gems they decide to gift us with each week.

“Memorial” was a shining example of a thematic approach. You could argue it was all about juxtapositions: the dead versus the living (or the undead, as the case may be with most of our characters), real morning versus symbolic mourning, the old versus the new and the loner versus the team. Likely there were many more, but these stood out for me.

I was struck by the comparisons between the old hunter, Alaric, and the new one, Connor. Granted, we still have a lot to learn about Connor, who right now seems very black and white … but we know what happens to the evils on The Vampire Diaries. Pretty soon, he’ll be falling in love with Bonnie, helping Elena and questioning his effectiveness as a vampire hunter. Right now, though, he’s in the camp that all vampires are bad, and he’s after them with an unexplained vengeance that I’m sure we’ll get the backstory on sooner than later. Alaric started off a bit like this, but quickly joined Team Salvatore. The loner didn’t stay a loner for very long.

Which leads me to the other places loners versus teams were juxtaposed in “Memorial.” Tyler’s speech at the memorial said it all. Tyler has had his moments as a loner, but when he purposefully sacrificed himself for the team — hinting at what he was doing in his speech — it was significant on so many levels. Something tells me we won’t be seeing Tyler as an egotistical loner this season; he’s on board, de-Klaused and along for the ride.

While Tyler was delivering his speech about the strength of a team, Connor was targeting them alone. It couldn’t be done — he couldn’t bring down the unified team as a loner. Connor’s dealing with something he’s likely not met before and watching him discover this will be a fun ride.

Another perpetual loner is Damon, and he reinforced this fact in the way he mourned for Alaric. He didn’t join in the team balloon ceremony — which was very beautiful and symbolic — but really wasn’t a true mourning of what they’ve all lost. Only Damon, talking to his lost friend Alaric at his grave, truly mourned. And seeing that Alaric is also mourning from beyond the grave was heartbreaking. That was the moment in this episode that made me cry: the moment that Alaric and Damon were having together that Damon didn’t even know about, that Damon couldn’t see his friend and how much he missed him as well.

Juxtaposing the dead and living in that balloon ceremony, though, struck me as a fun shout-out by the writers to what they have become known for: killing off main characters and that no one is safe on The Vampire Diaries.

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There’s always been a loner aspect to Supernatural‘s Dean Winchester, through his martyrdom and warrior attitude, through his “I am meant to hunt and whether I like it or not it’s my duty.” Self-afflicted solitude, in that no one could ever understand what Dean’s life was like or what he was going through. He led the battles and bore the burden, no matter what it took … but he didn’t do it alone. Being a self-induced loner and being alone are two very different things.

When aloneness was focused on as a theme in Supernatural, it’s historically been Sam that was the one left alone. His mother left him in his crib, Jessica left him through the same tragic means, Dean went to Hell and left Sam to fend for himself, Sam was alone in the Hell cage with Lucifer while Dean lived a loving life with Lisa and Ben. Heck, Sam was even left alone from his very self, when his soul was taken away from him.

In Supernatural season 8, it’s Dean who’s getting left alone. Dean was left alone in Purgatory — Castiel ran away from him, Sam didn’t look for him and essentially ran away from the entire hunting life, to fall in love with a dog and a vet, much like Dean did with Lisa and Ben. John’s long gone, Bobby’s gone (for the moment, I’m not convinced yet), Kevin and his mom left because they don’t feel safe with Dean and even Sam is still planning on leaving the hunting life.

In “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?” Dean is starting to get it. He was sarcastically angry with Sam in the season 8 premiere, and I’m not sure anyone really understood exactly why. It felt true to Dean’s character, yet it didn’t at the same time. After seeing how Castiel ran away to leave Dean alone in Purgatory, it’s a bit easier for us — and probably Dean himself — to understand why he was so angry with Sam.

Dean’s never really been alone before. He’s either had Bobby to fall back on, Sam to take care of, Lisa and Ben to be with or Castiel to back him up. Even in Hell, he had a trainer, mentor, torturing partner, what have you. From what we’ve seen of Purgatory, Dean was left by everyone who has always been there for him in some way.

And it’s really a wonderful thing for all parties involved. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki get to take their characters places they’ve never been before. Instead of playing the same characters week after week, these lucky actors have the opportunity to stretch themselves and dig deep to find new aspects of their characters that wouldn’t have been revealed had Dean not been abandoned and had Sam been alone yet again. I don’t have to even point out what a score this is for the viewers.

This is all going to play a greater part in Dean’s bonding with Benny the vampire, seemingly the only soul in Purgatory who had Dean’s back. This relationship could be mined in so many great ways that I can hardly wait to see what Jeremy Carver does with this little nugget. Season 8 — new aspects of our leads’ personalities to explore, a delightfully sketchy new secondary character, brand new character interplay and dynamics to naturally build upon the already-laid foundations. A recipe for success if I’ve ever seen one.

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I’m really on the fence with Elena being a vampire. While it was time to shake up the love triangle dynamics a bit, I’m not sure this was the way to do it. Stefan and Damon subsisted on saving her, Stefan by respecting her choices and giving her freedom and Damon selfishly saving her from herself, sure that his way was the right way. Will these dynamics benefit from the Salvatore brothers no longer having to save their mortal love? I’m not sure they will.

One thing The Vampire Diaries definitely does is keep the story moving along at a very swift pace. While this works well for the OMG moments, I’m beginning to grow tired of it. Because the pacing is so fast, they miss a lot of ripe opportunities to explore character and storyline more in depth. Nothing goes deep and I’m craving that.

For instance, I was thrilled at the end of last season, when it was revealed that Klaus was in Tyler’s body. Well, that lasted for all of two scenes in the premiere, and that’s a huge stone left unturned. Michael Trevino was so good at channelling Joseph Morgan’s Klaus, down to the tilt of the head and the facial expressions. How fun to watch him play Klaus. And to see the dynamics between Tyler/Klaus and Caroline would have made for some really fascinating scenes and interactions. He said “Love” once, she figured it out and that was the end of that. The Vampire Diaries has so many lost opportunities like this one, and we’re missing out on seeing the characters grow and change because of it.

This season, I’d like to see The Vampire Diaries take some real chances with characterization, in dragging out the storylines and character interactions to mine the potential before moving the storylines along. If the writing is solid, and we all know how incredible the acting is on this show, then they’ll only benefit from this new focus. The storyline doesn’t have to change in every episode; it’s OK to play out a particular avenue over several episodes or even the whole season.

Now that Elena is a vampire, let’s slowly and deeply explore the new dynamics between her and Stefan. Let’s thresh out her feelings for Damon, especially now that she remembers everything he compelled her to forget. Let’s watch her struggle with her newfound immortality, while attempting to remain a good person and fending off the bloodlust successfully. Could she possibly become as amazing as Caroline did? She’s clearly a better woman for being a vampire — let’s see Elena rise to that challenge. That would mean she’s got to stop whining, she needs to be strong for everyone in her life, she needs to remain a pillar of constancy for Jeremy. Let’s not have her turn into an insecure  girl driven by her romantic desires only. We know her emotions are heightened now, so it could go either way. A somewhat strong character could be ruined by her selfish, lustful side.

And let’s not see all of this happen in one episode, only to focus on whatever new plotline is introduced.

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Supernatural‘s season 8 started off on the right foot, thanks to a strong episode written by the new showrunner, Jeremy Carver. I went into the premiere with no expectations for awesomeness, just hoping that a great set-up would occur. I never dreamed I’d get a powerful episode and the promise for a great season; so far, so good, Mr. Carver.

The best thing Carver did was to focus on the characters. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed them until I saw this episode and realized that I had been missing them far longer than just one summer. Carver’s gone back to the heart of this show and it feels amazing. Since a whole year had gone by, he seized the perfect opportunity to showcase how both Dean and Sam had changed in that year, based on what had happened to them. We have a changed Sam. A year later, a normal life, no hunting and a love interest, and he’s not the same Sam we left at the end of season 7. He’s lighter, grounded and has a real sense of clarity about him.

Dean remains his damaged self, but with a new hint of something stronger. Season 7’s Dean could have broken at any time. This Dean, after a year of war in purgatory, seems better off for it, if that’s possible. He’s stayed true to himself, though, in the way he’s hard on Sam, to the point of being hypocritical. When Sam was in a Hell-box with Lucifer, Dean made a happy life with Lisa. Why is it not OK for Sam to have a love life when he thought Dean was dead? If the positions were switched, Dean implied that he would have looked for Sam,  even though that’s not what they agreed upon. Liz isn’t sure this piece of the premiere is ringing true for her. She thinks that “Sam would’ve lied and said he looked for Dean, even if he didn’t, because he’d know how it would sound to Dean.”

Wow, I love what they’ve done with Kevin. He’s still Kevin, but less naive, using his smarts to outsmart the King of Hell — now that’s some forward progress. An likes “the fresh addition of Kevin” and noted that the title of this episode, “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” is also a novel and a film “about a mother’s increasingly out of control serial killer child. Is that foreshadowing? And for which character?”

Keith was thrilled “to see Crowley appear so early in the season, because that’s a good indication that we’ll be seeing more of him.” And we can all agree that more Crowley is a fine, fine thing. He also liked Kevin one-upping Crowley; Crowley standing in the field with goats, realizing he was duped by the new prophet, was just a hint that we’ll be seeing Crowley seeking revenge, more so than just snapping Kevin’s girlfriend’s neck.

Liz mentioned that Carver shouldn’t cater to fandom, but in the premiere, he found the balance between being true to the characters and tossing a few nuggets to the fans. We’ve got the Impala back (and Dean’s comments about it smelling like dog), Sam’s back on his laptop, researching, just like the old days (which is such a good move — we know Sam’s more naive than Dean and always will be, but he is smart). I think adding Benny, another potentially strong secondary character, is also for the fans. Carver knows how we love the ever-waning sidekicks of the Supernatural universe; from Ash, Jo and Ellen to Bobby, Chuck and Castiel — why wouldn’t he add a vibrant new pal to the fold? An thinks that Benny will “clearly get out of control, despite Dean’s best intentions,” but I’m OK with that. Sam and Dean have aligned themselves with the likes of Ruby and Meg, so I’m all for another shady sidekick.

Carver hit every note in his first episode as Supernatural‘s new showrunner. Dare I say I’m giddy to discover what the rest of the season has in store?

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I have this weird thing about season premieres. After waiting for months for a favorite show to finally begin airing new episodes again, I am inevitably disappointed with the premiere episode. I don’t know if this is because nothing could possibly live up to my expectations, but I always seem to have a ‘now that that’s out  the way, we can get into the season’ sort of feel, rather than simply enjoying the episode for what it is.

That said, several of my favorite shows, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, tend to approach their first episodes of the season like that, so maybe it’s exactly the way I’m supposed to feel. So this season, I’m heading into Supernatural expecting just that — an episode that sets the tone for the season, but doesn’t necessarily knock my socks off.

What will the tone be for Supernatural‘s season 8? If Jeremy Carver can work some magic as the new showrunner, I’m hoping for several of my favorite things about Supernatural to be ever-present this season:

Humor balancing out the darkness
I can’t think of a show that does this better. Supernatural can go to the darkest places, like Bobby’s death and Dean’s utter hopelessness and somehow infuse them with some of the funniest scenes and quotes on television. Let’s go to some dark places surrounding the boys’ separation, and their utter aloneness without Bobby, Castiel and their other sidekicks that have gone the way of death or otherwise. That’s OK with me as long as it is balanced and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Fellow CliqueClack writer Liz agrees, saying “I would love a return to stories and interactions which are lighter, and not always so melodramatically angst-and-doom laden. There are only so many Single Emo Tears I can take in a season.”

Organic character growth
One thing I’ve always relished about Supernatural is the way the characters grow organically based on what they experience. It’s not been done as well on any show I can think of, except maybe How I Met Your Mother. (Yes, that was the meanest joke ever on the show that has denigrated itself season after season more so than any other.) I want to see Sam change as a result of his aloneness, and I want to see Dean change based on his stay in purgatory. And I want it to make perfect sense. Liz has some things to say about the characters too: “I think Carver understands the characters well enough, and as long as he keeps his eyes on the characters (and off the fandom because that never goes well), he has a chance to get things back on track. … Now that almost all the Winchesters allies are dead, I would also like to see some attention to the development of new secondary characters to fill in the gaps and make the show less claustrophobic.”

The music
My seven-year-old son’s favorite band is AC/DC. Judge me if you wish, but  there is something about those hard-driving beats and simplistic chords that get this family’s heart racing. Last season, I think my favorite part of Supernatural were the recaps at the beginning of the episodes … because that’s one of the few places we got the old cruisin’ music from the first few seasons that was such a signature of this show. Bring it back, Mr. Carver.

Grandiose story arcs? Out.
I don’t need excitement, action sequences, a convoluted story arc with monsters trying to out-do the apocalypse. I want the character banter, the thoughtful plotlines based on the authentic actions of the characters, a slow burn of satisfaction. Liz even suggests some mini-story arcs: “I would like to see more self-contained episodes or perhaps mini-arcs, since Supernatural only has indifferent success with being able to sustain a season-long arc. If they do have a season long arc, I hope it’s better plotted out than the season 7 mashup.”

Favorite characters back
Bobby, Castiel, Crowley — yes please. Or that idea of Liz’s, with the new secondary characters, that could work too.

My faith in Sera Gamble did not pay off, but I can foolishly say I’m doing it again. I’m placing trust and faith in Jeremy Carver to runt his show with the quality and dignity it deserves.

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FOX’s live-action comedies haven’t done historically well. Other than Married with Children and That ’70s Show, only their animated comedies have lasted more than a season or two (OK, maybe three). So is it smart to take the risk this season and build an entire night’s schedule around potentially short-lived half-hour comedies? For FOX, the time is ripe, and they are smart enough to run with it.

Last season saw great success with Raising Hope and New Girl. FOX decided to expand Tuesday nights to an all-comedy block and add two new half-hour comedies, Ben & Kate and The Mindy Project. No drama is going to fill House‘s eight-season-sized shoes and FOX isn’t even trying — a smart move. Sure, there’s The Mob Doctor, but the similarities to House end with the time slot and the hospital setting; FOX is not putting their eggs in that basket, which is proven by the amount of marketing being done for the comedies in comparison with The Mob Doctor‘s promos.

It’s immensely brilliant for FOX to build on current successes and not try to carbon-copy past hits. Hop on over to NBC and you’ll see failure after failure, because they’re trying to recreate the success they’ve had with The Office and it’s just not happening. FOX, on the other hand, is making radical decisions and taking risks, letting the past eight seasons of success go and moving on to what’s working for them now.

Ben & Kate has the perfect lead-in in Raising Hope. While not quite as irreverent as Raising Hope, it is a zany family comedy that I suspect will retain much of the Raising Hope audience.

New Girl is also the perfect lead-in to The Mindy Project. People who love the quirky Zooey will stay around to watch the quirky Mindy. Just an aside here — what is NBC thinking, letting Mindy Kaling‘s show go to FOX, especially when she’s a big part of their only hit comedy in recent years? Or perhaps it’s another point on FOX’s scoreboard, that they swiped what could have been the formula for a possible success for NBC. Either way, the chemistry between Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina will keep the New Girl viewers around, after they delight in watching Jess and Nick’s flirtations.

What’s the secret formula? It’s not putting the two comedies you’re going to let die this season on a Friday night as a lead-in to one of your more successful dramas from last season, that’s for sure. Whitney and Community to lead-in Grimm? Really NBC — do you want Grimm to die too?

Back to the secret formula: pay attention to what is working, and expand on that, add to it and break out of your former successes. If The Office is dying a slow death, it’s time to move on. FOX stopped relying on their House formula, and the focus on the expansion of their successful comedies is a smart move that will pay off.