Having finally wrapped up my summer long meandering watch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 7 (!) seasons, I figured it was only appropriate I shared some of my thoughts on the series.
Buffy started out initially as a better than average monster of the week series. Which would have been fine if the seemingly always brilliant Joss Whedon (creator, and, for most of the series run its, showrunner) hadn't had bigger things in mind. Blending genres, including drama, comedy, martial arts, horror, and, in one notable and memorable instance, musical comedy, the series quickly proved itself to be one of the smartest, funnest, and (just) best series on television. Asking methodical, thoughtful, and meaningful questions and fostering an intelligent and passionate discourse on everything from gender and sexuality to community and identity. And this was in the days when the internet was still a peculiar novelty to most people, and yet it still managed to draw an insane number of people to fansites and message boards. This discourse and these questions were all asked through Whedon's signature feminist lens and critique.
And although it faltered in later season (though, in my opinion, not as much as some of its detractors claim), it still continued to reach creative and intellectual peaks that other series could only look wide eyed and never even hope to achieve. In its much belied and often hated (even diehard fans are not wholly taken to it) 6th season the series produced "Once More With Feeling", its much talked about musical comedy episode, which is arguably the best episode the series ever did. Whedon wrote original and wonderful music that was organically introduced, spoofed genres and allowed the characters to openly express their opinions, having far reaching ramifications for the rest of the season.
So, in what some say was its worse season, the series still achieved its creative peak. But that's the sort of series that Buffy was. Never being content taking the easy way out of situations. Letting tensions and problems stew, and be explored from all angles before letting them come to an end. But more importantly, the series never forgot to do justice to its characters; never failing to take them seriously. Buffy was never about the big fights. The best scenes were of people talking just before going off to save the world from apocalypse. And because you cared about the characters and understood what was at stake for them and because they had been humanized (even the villains), it allowed you be more invested in the show and the characters.
Yes, Buffy was a flawed series (particularly after its 3rd season), but Television is a medium that often produces flawed shows. And despite its flaws, Buffy continued to be entertaining, smart, and relevant even after 7 years on the air. And the series was often such high quality that it continues that thoughtful discourse in Academia where the series is studied under its own category of Buffy Studies (seriously, it's a legit thing). The series is also widely regarded as one of the most influential tv series of all time. Many of the shows writers got there start on Buffy,where they learned the tricks on the trade. Buffy writers have gone on to do everything from Mad Men to Glee, from Game of Thrones to Spartacus. Battlestar Galactica. Homeland. 24. Fringe. Lost. If it's good and on television, it's probably got a writer who got their start on Buffy on it. And the number of people who cite Buffy as an influence on their series is astounding. Dead Like Me, Joan of Arcadia, Teen Wolf, Vampire Diaries, Doctor Who, Torchwood. Buffy made people realize shows about people saving the world on a regular basis could actually be quality television, and its legacy continues to be astounding.
So a lot of this probably doesn't seem like my thoughts but just me stating facts and nifty trivia about the series, but the simple matter is that I'm impressed that a tv series was capable of what Buffy did. And I think it earned everything it's achieved. The more interesting thing is that Buffy hardly got nominated for Emmys or many awards in general. The fact of the matter is that really great shows often get overlooked. Almost every drama these days follows the format The Sopranos established, but The Sopranos lost out most years at the Emmys to The West Wing. And most comedies these days follow the format that Arrested Development established, but it lost out two out of the three years it was nominated. In fact, Buffy wouldn't have survived with the ratings it had if it had been on any major network. It was on the WB, and Buffy's ratings were actually impressive for the network, even though paltry compared to ratings on ABC, NBC, and Fox. The WB in general has produced high quality shows. With lower budgets, but more loyal fans, writers are forced to be more creative, inventive, and dedicated to their series, and that produces greater quality programming. Veronica Mars, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Grounded For Life, Smallville. They're all really, really good series, but have garnered/did garner minimal attention and that's a shame. Try not to let them and other quality shows be another Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a great but flawed, and under-watched but highly influential, series.
