I found the first episode of TVD extremely "meh". I'd give it a C- at best. All of the Elena crap is horrible.
I found the premier of The Originals...not much better actually. I thought there was too much nothing going on in the front end of the episode. The Guerrera Werewolves amounting to nothing, while pleasing, is ultimately pretty dumb considering how they were built up in Season 1. Also, "I've been sitting because someone the werewolves have the stake"...*3 seconds later* "Lol no they don't let's rock brother" was extremely dumb. C+
I still love Klaus and Elijah so I will continue to watch but I'm finding that characters not named Elijah or Klaus are just really lackluster. There's intrigue because of Mikey boy and Esther tha gawd though. I really wish they would have found a way to keep Kol's original actor though, the replacement Kol and Finn are just meh compared to when they first appeared in TVD.
As for TVD's second episode...color me surprised. It was significantly better than the first episode. It brought back a lot of what made TVD S1-3 great; mystery, multiple plot lines with intrigue, Mystic Falls history, and characters being badass. Enzo was very refreshing. Take out the Elena+Alaric scenes (seriously, Elena is so annoying) and you have a very solid episode. B.