The TVD Musketeers

Tealey, Simone and Jason have been chatting about The Vampire Diaries for over a year now. And the best part is that they let you listen in!! They have some of the best analysis and speculation and most fun discussions found on the subject. You can keep up with all of their podcasting adventures at http://salvatorecouncil.podbean.com/ and be sure to follow them on Twitter: @SalvatoreCast. In the mean time, check out their super fun answers to my questions below:

How did you all meet?
Tealey: I met Simone on one of the TVD fan boards. I’ve been meaning to do a TVD podcast, and at the time she was interested in starting up a fancast and was looking for a co-host. It was perfect timing really, so I put my hand up - we chatted and got the ball rolling. In the beginning, it was just Simone and I – but then we met Jason and asked him to join us. And here we are now.
Jason: I believe I met Simone at a TVD VRO show and IHeartTVD recap show.

What made you decide to podcast about TVD?
Tealey: I’ve always been a fan of LJ Smith’s work, and TVD is no exception. To be honest, even though I’m a bit of a TV/film junkie, I’ve never been so immersed in a series as I am with TVD. I guess I wanted to do my part in supporting the series and its fandom. There is a lot of work that goes into running a website, and since there were already a few totally awesome fansites out there, I wasn’t really interested in creating another one, especially if I knew I couldn’t give it my all, time-wise. However, I felt like I had to find an outlet to discuss and share my passion/enthusiasm for the series, so I decided that a podcast was the way to go.
Simone: I’ve got to give credit to the cast of Imprint and Mugglecast who gave me the inspiration to create a podcast. I’ve always wanted an outlet of my own to talk about anything and everything I wanted and with all the shouting at my TV and prediction-making I did during TVD I figured it was best to channel all those thoughts and put them out there so I made it a mission to find (a) cohost(s).
Jason: I was approached by Simone around last May I believe and she thought it was awesome that a guy loved The Vampire Diaries and was very informative and passionate about the show just as any other fan. So I was like, sign me up girl!

What has been your favorite episode to podcast about so far?
Tealey: This may sound corny, but I’ve seriously enjoyed every episode that we’ve recorded thus far. It’s always delightful when we have a special guest on, because we mix things up a bit. Our interviews with Vee (from Vampire-Diaries.net), Michael Jaegers (background actor for TVD), Chrissy Calhoun (author of Love You To Death) and Jim Halterman (Entertainment Reporter) have been some my highlights.
Simone: Plan B, hands down. Looking back at Episode 15 Life Gives Us Lemons, I had an awesome time with Tealey being able to break down every single aspect of the episode from acting to plot. The format that we used to recap the episode, while too time consuming to use for every episode, was essential to talk about Plan B. I remember being in awe during the whole episode. I still to this day can’t recall exactly what it is but to me it just seemed everyone on set stepped up their game by 10 for that episode hence us having to break it down so thoroughly. Plus I believe this was the episode where I hummed to Tealey and no one had a clue what music I was talking about which will forever go down as one my stupid moments on the show.
Jason: This is such a HARD question. I literally am thinking as I am typing this at the moment…hmmm. However, I’m just going to pick a few. I absolutely loved when we did a lot of episode recaps in one recording last summer and I loved talking about “Friday Night Bites”, “The Turning Point”, and “Under Control”. Right now “Know Thy Enemy” is probably my favorite recording because we discuss a lot of theories and go through a lot of points from the episode.

What has been the most difficult episode to talk about?
Tealey: Definitely the Season 1 Finale. I’m still mourning Anna’s death.
Simone: The Descent broke my heart while watching, literally. I don’t cry while watching TVD; I’m an avid fan and all but its not like real life where you can change it so whatever the writers want to do they’ll do and I try to calm myself knowing this. BUT Lauren Cohen’s death scene just wrenched my heart OUT of my chest. When Lexi died I was pissed, for weeks. When Anna died I was resentful, for months. When the writers killed off Rose I irrationally balled, screamed and cursed and I knew it would be hard to talk about that’s why I had to make Episode 21 “No Hate”.
Jason: I would say talking about the episode when Tyler left town with Jules. It was really difficult to talk about him leaving for me. I’m a huge Michael Trevino fan and my heart was absolutely broken when I saw that happen. Honestly, I was thinking “OH MY GOD…They’re pulling a Buffy!” (By that I mean how Oz left town and came back eventually, but left town AGAIN.) Hopefully that won’t be the case.

If you could have anyone guest host a podcast with you, who would it be?
Tealey: Michael Trevino and/or Matt Davis. I can just imagine how hilarious and insane it would be. I’m going to also throw in Robbie Jones (from HellCats), so you guys can hear Simone fangirl.
Simone: A tie between Michael Jaegers (who I love) and Vee/Red (who are like a laugh bomb for me)
Jason: I seriously can’t pick one! I would have to say TVD_Chloe of twitter though. That would be really fun.

TVD Person you’d most love to interview?
Tealey: Oh, this is a toughie! I would love to interview any of the cast members, writers and producers. But if I had to choose, it would be Michael Trevino, Matt Davis, Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.
Simone: LJ Smith
Jason: Handsdown Michael Trevino!

Favorite TVD character Book and/or show (if it differs):
Tealey: My favorite characters in the book – Meredith, Matt and Damon.
My favorite characters on the show – To be honest, I love them all. Each character delivers something special to the show and the cast is fantastic in bringing the characters to life. In the TV series, they have time to explore each character in depth, and thus, there is more character development. Each character is multidimensional - we see their strengths and flaws, and they are relatable. I think this is one of main reasons why so many of the characters on the show are loved universally by fans.
Simone: Anna. Let’s just say I had my Anna phase (minus the whole vampire-with-entombed-mom-thing) meaning I too had a boy best friend whose name ironically started with J and who was irresistible to me despite reasons to NOT like him. There’s your little juicy Simone tidbit for today 
Jason: I haven’t read the books. However, Tyler Lockwood on the show is an absolute “Dream Boat”! Tyler is definitely my favorite because I feel there is so much potential with his character that hasn’t been seen yet. They need to pursue the bromance between Tyler and Jeremy.

Favorite TVD show moment:
Tealey: I have to say the return of lil’ Miss Katherine at the end of S1 ;) John would probably disagree – but the girl did come back in style (albeit somewhat gruesomely)! I also enjoyed the flashbacks scenes. Damon’s 1864 hair is priceless.
Simone: Umm… wow, brain officially hurting. I guess I’d have to say the moment that pops out is Damon compelling Rose’s dream in The Descent. I’ve mentioned already that this was a hard scene to take but at the same time from an aspiring screenwriter’s POV, the writing was brilliant. I hate (with extra loathing on the side) the fact that she died but I do have to give props for how they chose to do it. The moment was truly beautiful. I guess you can say as a fan I hated it but as a writer I was dumbstruck so it was a bittersweet scene I’ll never forget.
Jason: How could you ask this hard question? LMAO! I honestly would have to say when Tyler went up to Matt before he left town. It was a really emotional moment for him to say good bye to his best friend and tell him the truth about how he felt about Caroline. I actually wish they did more with that scene and made them hug or something more. I mean these two were so close in season 1 like brothers and I hope that will be brought back. Matt is alone and Tyler is his best friend so hopefully we will see more of a connection between the two before the end of season 2.

Favorite TVD show song:
Tealey: Metric’s ‘Help I’m Alive’, Cage the Elephant’s ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ and Alex Band’s ‘Only One’.
Jason: The song that played when Tyler left town with Jules. Sorry, the title slips my mind.[The song is “Family Tree” by Matthew West ]
Favorite episode:
Tealey: Season 1 – Children of the Damned and Isobel, Season 2 – Masquerade and Know Thy Enemy.
Jason: This is super hard for me to answer. However, I absolutely love “Let the Right One In” I swear upon every higher power I’ve probably watched that episode 50+ times. Not even joking. It’s just so brilliant! I swear it could have possibly been a finale it was that dam good. Another favorite as of now would definitely be “Know Thy Enemy” I mean did you see that episode? It was freaking insane! I felt like I was in Inception or I was watching the anime Naruto and I was trapped in some spell!

Hopes for the future of TVD:
Tealey: I have faith in the cast and crew and believe they will continue to deliver the goods ;) This show has so much scope and with the talented writing team, anything is possible. I look forward to seeing what TVD has in store for us over the next few weeks and I hope the series will continue to build on its successes and draw in a new generation of TVD fans.
Jason: Lord! Let me keep it real! Okay! They definitely need to figure out who Bonnie is. At this point I’m confused as a viewer because it seems to me Bonnie has turned into the character “Storm” from X-men. I mean, she absorbed the powers (which wasn’t believable to me by the way) of (100?) dead witches and the only thing she did was change the weather and make leaves float? I want to see real magic from Bonnie. I wanted her eyes to go pure black and start a earthquake - throw a ball of energy at a tree or something. I mean, let’s be real. Every witch on Buffy The Vampire Slayer was the real deal. I’m really wondering what is going on when it comes to the CGI and contemplating what powers Bonnie should have as a witch on The Vampire Diaries.
They need to do something different from the mind mojo and make it more believable. I also hope that the Tyler/Jeremy bromance happens and the Bonnie/Jeremy relationship, which feels completely forced, ends. Bonnie/Jeremy is one of the most random relationships I’ve ever seen in the history of TV shows. I mean they had no scenes together in season 1 and all of a sudden now in season 2 they like each other, especially when Luka came into the picture? Bonnie needs a man not an emo boy who just decided to get a haircut and shop at Abercrombie and Fitch all of a sudden to impress her.
And do these kids even go to school anymore? They need more school scenes, and make Jenna a stronger character – in particular, a parental figure. Jenna can’t just keep leaving the house whenever something goes wrong. It’s time for her to step up and take control of the household. Also, please introduce more diversity into a show – i.e. a gay (male) character to the show! It would be totally amazing to see. The reason why I stated “gay male character” is because I would love that personally and I would find it interesting to see someone hit on Tyler Lockwood LOL! Just kidding! However, I would love to see that character introduced and how good the role would be.

Message for the TVD Fandom:
Tealey: Thank you guys so much for your support – we really appreciate it and you don’t know how much it means to us. I’ve met so many great people through TVD, and it really does feel like we’re one huge family. Please keep supporting LJ Smith, the show, the cast and crew and each other! xx
Simone: I’ve talked to a lot of you guys and I love you all and thank you for making this fandom such a family. And lets face it guys, we all have our issues in life sadly and there’s no need to create even more with people on the internet. If someone has a difference in opinion, turn the other cheek PLEASE. Make twitter, and facebook, and imdb, etc. more pleasant and bearable.
Jason: My message for the TVD fandom: Please don’t stop watching the show just because a ship may not happen. The reason I bring this up is because it’s such a huge topic among the fandom. Sadly, it has gone as far as (some) fans attacking the show’s writers and it is absolutely uncalled for. A little respect goes a long way.