PR is not network running: Did you know Mark Pedowitz is a TVD stan who personally pitched The Originals?

You didn’t know? 

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Pedowitz explained that “Supernatural” may not be the best launchpad for another series.

“You look at [whether the] audience is engaged. You look at that universe – can it actually launch something? ‘Supernatural’ if you decide to do a spin-off off of that, you [question] does it work? Does it incubate the show really well?” Pedowitz explains. “We have a lot of characters on 'Vampire Diaries,’ and they’re all rich, rich characters. Klaus and the Original family gives us an opportunity to do something where we can get more bang for the buck, so to speak.”

At Sunday’s Television Critics Association press tour, CW President Mark Pedowitz held court to discuss some hot topics, including clarifying some questions about “The Vampire Diaries” spinoff. Though the idea of a spinoff about the Original family has been kicking around for a while, Pedowitz said that ultimately, he and Warner Bros. TV President Peter Roth brought the idea to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.

“The genesis of that came from a conversation with Warner Bros. and Peter Roth at the time. I’m a big believer if you have something that’s working and you can incubate [it], it’s a good way to get pilots on the air,” Pedowitz told reporters. “Kevin Williamson said ‘Let Julie take a run at it, it’s her vision.’ … We’re basically going to go and focus on the Original family.”

As we’ll learn in the April 25 episode of “The Vampire Diaries,” Klaus (Joseph Morgan) was one of the founding fathers of New Orleans, making the bustling city the perfect backdrop for a new show. “The [lead] character will be Klaus,” Pedowitz confirms. “Hopefully some of his siblings will come along. Klaus is just a great character and the Original family has such great dysfunctional family dynamics, we felt that was a great way to take the show.”

…It hasn’t yet been determined whether “The Originals” will include flashbacks. Pedowitz says that the intention is to set it mostly in contemporary New Orleans. While, tonally, it will fit with “The Vampire Diaries,” the New Orleans setting will give it a new different flavor.

When Mark Pedowitz joined The CW as president in 2011, he binged two of the network’s shows before starting: Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, with the latter having then aired two seasons.

Now, as TVD wraps its run after eight years, Pedowitz sees the show as having helped shape his network at a time when it wasn’t particularly known for being a genre-friendly home.

“A show like Vampire, which is on the air eight years and for a period of time I would say kept the lights on … Vampire was very intrinsic to what The CW became,” Pedowitz tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Binging TVD gave the executive a sincere appreciation for the show that has been evident in the way he’s spoken about it over the years. After his binge, “I was in awe with Julie [Plec] and Kevin [Williamson] and the whole cast and crew did in the first two years of Vampire,” he said. “They took what could have been a teenage angst show and made it so much more: It was a love triangle. It was a love of two brothers. It was all of these characters that represented [so many different] things. Also, I believe at the end of year two was the introduction of Elijah’s character that comes to year three for Klaus.”

He paused. “I’m doing this from memory, by the way.”

Essentially, The Vampire Diaries bridged the gap between what The CW was known for after its formation from The WB Network in 2006 — young, teen-friendly, soapy shows a la Gossip Girl — and the genre haven it is today with shows like iZombie, The 100 as well as a roster of DC Comics shows like The Flash and Supergirl.

“This show basically captured what was working for The CW and continues somewhat. What started as a young female-skewed show with all the elements of the supernatural … became more than just a teenage show,” Pedowitz said. “It became a genre show that was appealing to an audience that worked for it. It helped us as we re-crafted [into] what The CW is today, which is a broader network. It’s rooted in broadcast. It’s rooted in genre. It’s rooted in serialized programming. But we understand the genre works. We understand serialized programming works. Vampire did a terrific job and it sustained itself for all those eight years.”

Pedowitz’s main mission the year after he started at The CW was to broaden the network’s target demographic. “We purposely went out starting in '12 to broaden the audience base, because we realized that if we became too niche, it would be difficult for The CW to survive in its present form,” he said. “Vampire was broad enough in what it did that it fit what we were trying to get to with Arrow or at the end of the day Flash, or even Jane [the Virgin], in terms of it being high in concept or genre. In this case it was genre with a little bit of high concept to it.”

But that doesn’t mean the network didn’t dabble in genre before. “It had Smallville. It had Supernatural. It had Vampire,” Pedowitz pointed out. “But it also had 7th Heaven. It had Gossip Girl. CW became more defined in the early part of its 10-year history from Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries appealing to a young female audience. It became very defined.”

Today, Pedowitz keeps a note on his desk that he uses to explain what the network has become. “We’re a high-concept flash genre, whether it’s comedy or drama, serialized programming. Some elements were procedural, but they’re not the driving force. As long as we stay in that world, our shows may or may not work, but they fit us better. When we try to venture outside that world for whatever reason, we cannot bring the audience that we hope to bring on any platform.”

When it came time to end The Vampire Diaries, Pedowitz said the decision ultimately fell to co-creator Plec. “I believe Julie, [Warner Bros. Television president] Peter [Roth] and I had a conversation over the summer. We all sat together and we asked Julie what she thought, where we were at, how we all felt. You have the issue of actor’s deals coming up and everything else that goes with it,” Pedowitz said. “Julie felt — and we support her completely — that she had hit the end of those stories. She sadly came to that place with great remorse. But Peter and I were backing her. … She was comfortable with ending it because she knew how she wanted to end it. We supported her.”

Personally, though, Pedowitz will miss TVD. “The network and myself personally will miss it tremendously. I am a fan of the show,” he said. “I view the show as a fan. I have seen all the episodes.”

‘The Originals’ producer Carina Adly MacKenzie has signed her first pact with the studio.

Warner Bros. Television is investing in Carina Adly MacKenzie.

The young writer has just inked her first development deal, signing a two-year pact with the studio behind The CW’s The Originals and Roswell.

MacKenzie, a former television journalist, cut her teeth on the Vampire Diaries spinoff. After starting off as a writers’ assistant, she was promoted to writer and story editor on the Julie Plec drama. After adding an episode of The Flash to her growing list of credits, MacKenzie was promoted to producer for the final season of The Originals (which returns April 18).

This season, MacKenzie landed a script order — her first — for a reboot of Jason Katims’ alien drama Roswell at The CW. The reboot with an immigration twist was picked up to pilot and added Plec as an exec producer and director — her first pilot directing gig — and recently wrapped production in Albuquerque.

thank you @flyingfish1 for digging out the Zap2It links ;)

1x01| 8x16

The final season also will be a shortened one, consisting of 16 episodes. The show returns Oct. 21 at 8 p.m

damon and elena appreciation week

The night that my parents died, I blew off family night so that I could go to some party. I ended up getting stranded, and they had to come pick me up. That’s why we ended up in the car at Wickery bridge and that’s why they died. Our actions are what set things in motion. But we have to live with that.

Change , It’s a scary word or at least I used to think that Because it means new beginnings, New beginnings with a future that was unknown But change is necessary , Necessary for you to grown and to learn and to better yourself because everything in life comes to an end and as this chapter in my life comes to an end I look back on it with a grateful heart and a smile. These were 6 incredible years and I’ve had the pleasure of sharing with all of you guys.  We wouldn’t be here without you. I wouldn’t be here without you.

My nerves are made of s t e e l And I’m sweating r u s t L i g h t n i n g in my eyes

                                                      There’s a storm in my b l o o d

“Roadtrips work well for us.” requested by trueloveisdelena

You were by my side when I needed a friend, You made me laugh, made me dance.

It even rains in the summertime, honey But I’ll keep you dry Plenty of room under my umbrella For those brown eyes

“Elena + dancing on the bar in 5x16″ requested by blackbellsandredroses

This right here is one of the most fascinating aspects of TVD–doppelganger issues. In this moment, Elena is impersonating Katherine impersonating Elena. Who is Elena? She has to burn her diary filled with Elena’s words and now stained with Katherine’s. But, which words are really hers? Which belong to Elena? She’s just a copy of a copy of a copy. Nothing real. Nothing of value. She’s worse than nothing, worse than just a cheap copy, in her mind–cheap copies don’t bring death to the people around them. How much of Elena’s words, how much of them can she really own? Her body is unoriginal. People don’t even notice when her mind, actions, and words are Katherine’s. Is there anything to hold onto? Anything real? Anything she can really call hers? Her diary isn’t even hers any more, and maybe her thoughts and mind aren’t hers either. She burns the diary, it’s become habit by now to burn things or herself.

Damon should have been the one to notice. In this world where nothing is real, they find each other in the darkness, in between moments and places, and forge something real. You don’t need to put on an act in between places. Their moments are improvised, theoretically unimportant, but they become so important for them and that place, in between places, becomes so important–roads (also porches and other in between places). Journeys. There’s no epic, romantic spot or perfect moment where they declare their love. No. It’s always messy and complicated. It’s this wonderful, strange thing where someone declares their love and the other says that’s the problem. It’s not “oh my god, yes, you’re my hero.” No. It’s always beautifully messy and complicated with no right answer. It’s not love at first sight. It’s Damon seeing Katherine’s face in 1x14 and letting it save him until Elena becomes something separate from Katherine to him (who knows when? eep such great, nuanced writing that we don’t know), and I think it’s because for the first time probably EVER, Damon finds understanding (she’s not excusing him or anything, but accepting him), and Elena is the girl who hugs him in the darkness in between places even though he doesn’t deserve it after all he’s done. And, Elena, for the first time probably EVER, feels free to just be herself…whatever that means…this is huge for a girl who is scared she’s only a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. And she can scream at Damon that he should have noticed. And she can scream at him that she needs him and she can scream at him that she can’t stop loving him. And she can be weak and strong and everything she is because Damon will always love her and he will never leave her. It’s one of the only things she feels is true and real in 5x16. She probably feels that’s more real than herself.

In literature and psychoanalysis, they say doppelganger issues spring from saying things are “anti-I” which is one reason why SE is such an unhealthy ship. He calls her the anti-Katherine says she’s the opposite of Katherine, so Elena has to repress those Katherine like qualities around Stefan. Not so with Damon.

DE could never have something normal or perfectly healthy. They’re too broken for that. Elena needs someone around her to make her feel real and make her feel okay for not being the anti-Katherine. Only Damon’s ever done that for her. She’s beyond words for him as he is for her. Words are small, stilted things. They’re not good enough for either of them. “Damon is Damon,” Elena says. And, while that’s a silly thing on the surface, it’s important to Elena. Because, I think it’s only around Damon where she feels like “Elena is Elena.” Not the anti-Katherine and not just a doppelganger. Just…that lovely mess that Elena is……..our warrior princess who is also damsel in distress like. Selfish, selfless, genuine, manipulative, a mess of things just like every person on the planet is whyyyyy noooooo she’s just the best and i’m going to miss her so muchhhhh…… :(