The producers decided to use a female host. They asked 1950s horror hostess Maila Nurmi to revive "The Vampira Show". Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station sent out a casting call, and Peterson auditioned and won the role. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with the sexy punk/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to look like Sharon Tate's character in "The Fearless Vampire Killers".