I discovered the books after watching the show but I didn't start reading them because of the show.  Coincidentally, around the time the show went off the air, a girl working in my lab was reading a book on her lunch break and laughing out loud every few minutes.  I asked her what the heck she was reading and it was (of course) one of the books in the DF series.  She loaned me her copy Storm Front and I've been hopelessly addicted ever since.  I now refer to the series as "the literary form of crack" since it's highly addictive and not snooty enough to be cocaine .  I liked the show okay but I wasn't so impressed by it that I felt compelled to run to my local bookstore.  For me, it was listening to that girl giggling every few minutes that made me think it must be a good series.