I read the books 15 years ago, and I was a bit excited and apprehensive about it being made into a TV series with all the liberties that are taken these days. Last night, I watched the pilot. I have a few beefs (missing character and particular character interactions), but mostly I think I was alright with it. It has been update to fit with the times a bit more.
It appears that they are loosely following the story, and that is fine if they are making it into a series. To follow the books, they would have just needed to make a mini-series and been done with it. For a full-on TV series they needed to make many adjustments. I'm a little sad that they are aiming so very hard for the Twilight crowd by throwing the romance factor in right away, but it has the potential to be pretty good.
The acting isn't the greatest, but I have definitely seen much worse. This felt to me like actors that had not yet fit themselves into their characters. It will smooth out with time and become more comfortable for them and it will show through in the series. They have managed to obtain a bit of balance between the almost care-free world of high school and the dark gritty nature of what they can't see and don't know about. That was actually what I was most worried about.
So, from a MAJOR fan of the books (I rejoiced when I realized they were with me instead of another state and started reading them for the umpteenth thousandth time) to the CW....So far, so good. Let's see where they take this and hope they keep true to the feel.
