<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> List of The Vampire Diaries episodes </Td> </Tr> <P> The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural horror romance television series created by Kevin Williamson based on the novels of the same name by author L.J. Smith . It was officially picked up for the 2009--10 season on May 19, 2009 . It premiered on September 10, 2009, on The CW and received the highest ratings for a series premiere in the networks history scoring 4.91 million live viewers . </P> <P> The series focuses on the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, that is charged with supernatural history . It follows Elena Gilbert portrayed by Nina Dobrev as she begins to get over her parents' death and two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, portrayed by Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, respectively . Kayla Ewell portrayed Vicki Donovan for the first seven episodes until her character was killed off . Matt Davis was later cast as a history teacher in a recurring role to fill the void . He was later upgraded to series regular status . The season concluded on May 13, 2010, comprising 22 episodes . </P> <Ul> <Li> Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert (22 episodes) / Katherine Pierce (4 episodes) </Li> <Li> Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore (22 episodes) </Li> <Li> Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore (22 episodes) </Li> <Li> Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert (21 episodes) </Li> <Li> Sara Canning as Jenna Sommers (16 episodes) </Li> <Li> Kat Graham as Bonnie Bennett (16 episodes) </Li> <Li> Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes (17 episodes) </Li> <Li> Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan (17 episodes) </Li> <Li> Kayla Ewell as Vicki Donovan (7 episodes) </Li> <Li> Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood (11 episodes) </Li> <Li> Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman (12 episodes) </Li> </Ul>

How many episodes are in season 1 of the vampire diaries