I liked the original film version of Buffy, way back when, but that was very different from the series (right?). I’ve never seen even one version of the series, but I know a lot of people here like it. It’s just never seemed like something I’d like, but now that I’ve converted to Jossism, I’m rethinking that. Whadaya think? Is it worth it?
Possibly it depends on what you liked about Firefly. 
All three of Joss’ tv series share a lot of elements in common, of course. Witty dialog, check. A tendency to mix a lot of different elements, (grittily realistic suspense, broad slapstick humor, melodrama, big stuntifying action,) and usually succeed in coming up with something that doesn’t seem entirely half-baked… check. Characters that are treated seriously, (when they aren’t being used as comic relief,) and easy to start caring about… check.
Buffy’s a little different than firefly, of course. Generally, I’d say it was a little less serious, less mature all through its run. In the early seasons, a lot was made of the big over-arching metaphors, “High school is hell”, “starting college is hell” etcetera, until that conceit was finally dropped.
Personally, I think ‘Angel’ might be easier for a Firefly fan to start on, it shares more elements in tone and style. And I think Angel isn’t too hard to start watching without having ever seen Buffy… there are a few continuing plot threads that might seem a little confusing at first because they were put in as shout-outs to the Buffy fans, but the writer will always stick in a little exposition to get the new people up to speed.
And… welcome to the cult of Joss. We’ve been expecting you. 
I’d say so. Depending. If what you liked about Firefly was the dialogue and character interactions, you will like Buffy. Joss definitely has a distinct voice as a writer/producer ( and to some extent enforces/reenforces that voice among his writing teams ) and his sameness in that respect is mostly to the good.
However if what you really liked most about Firefly was the setting and “universe”, maybe, maybe not. Depends on your level of interest in the Buffy 'verse.
But IMO the great majority of the people that liked one, would probably like the other. I was a Buffy fan that was initially put off by Firefly, due in no small part ( I realize now ) to Fox’s egregious mishandling of the franchise. Now I’m a big Firefly fan.
- Tamerlane
I liked Firefly but Buffy left me cold. I thought the let’s-kick-vampires stuff was silly, I guess. The fight scenes and plotlines seemed cheesy, and the dialogue wasn’t scintillating enough to make up for them.
Now Dead Like Me…there’s a show.
I *LOVED * Dead Like Me but Showtime dropped it after the second season.
As for the OP, You may have to watch a few episodes of Buffy to decide if you like it, but I would definitely recommend giving it a serious try
I’m firml in the “depends on why you like Firefly camp”, although personally I strongly preferred BtVS. Buffy’s a lot more uneven in quality, but what’s good is really good, and IMHO much better than Firefly. Most of the first season of BtVS is pretty weak, so I wouldn’t recommend starting with, or judging the show by, those episodes. If the surface appearance of the costumes, fX, etc. is important to you, don’t bother - BtVS never put a lot of emphasis in those, and they probably didn’t have the budget even if they’d wanted to.
My parents are hugely into Firefly, but they didn’t much like (season 1 of) Buffy.
I like Firefly much more than Buffy, but I’ve yet to really give it a chance. There have been a few days when I visited friends in college and was perfectly happy watching six or seven episodes in a row while they were at class. I’m considering buying the Chosen Collection (all seven seasons of Buffy), partially because I’ve enjoyed all the Buffy I’ve seen so far, and I basically have faith the Joss’ original show will eventually rope me in as well as Firefly did.
Yeah…another vote for ‘you might’.
Joss has a certain style of dialogue, and most of the writers on his shows match it pretty well (as did his co-writer on the Serenity comic) - if you saw an episode of Buffy and and episode of Firefly back to back, even without knowing it was the same guy who created them, you’d likely be able to tell by the dialogue. I can’t really describe it, but Firefly, Angel and Buffy all have it. It’s ‘Jossian’.
There’s also a similarity in the way the stories run in all 3 series, but it’s less obvious to me than the dialogue.
But the worlds in which this dialogue is happening, and the actual stories being told in this style…they’re not so much the same.
Buffy’s also the lightest of the three series (although even it can get a bit heavy).
FWIW, I love both “Buffy” and the darker “Angel” but cannot get into “Firefly.” Twice I’ve tried to watch the pilot, but twice I’ve fallen asleep. It just doesn’t grab me.
I type this, occasionally stealing glances at the “Firefly” series DVD as it sits on my shelf, mocking me.
Buffy is the best American TV series ever. (NYPD Blue is second; Xfiles and Sopranos are in there somewhere.) Firefly, though, never hooked me. And yes, I tried. Firefly seemed, to me, to be mostly about surface cleverness, with the occasional oblique inclusion of more serious themes almost as an afterthought. Buffy, on the other hand, was about the most serious themes that every human being encounters in the process of living with other people and becoming who you are. Buffy’s some of the greatest literature ever, regardless of medium.
But I do agree about Season 1. Season 1 is good, but the series continued to improve every step along the way. So Season 1 is the least “great” of the series. In Season 1, the actors were finding their characters and Joss was still finding its voice, and the themes were continuing to form.
I say start with Season 1, but don’t put it aside if it sometimes seems thin, or inconsistent; it will continue to get better as the characters mature, and as Joss’s mastery over the “big picture” continues to improve. Meanwhile, watch it for the fun, and for commiserating with the characters in loving memory of how supernaturally hellish highschool was for you, too.
OK, I’ll try it. Just put the first disk of seasion 1 up on my Netflix queue, at the top of the list. I’ll let ya know how I like it.
Someone once said that when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
The same is true of Buffy.
I loved Buffy. One of my favorite shows ever.
I was always up and down about Angel but the last season completely cemented my love for that show. Still, not quite as much as Buffy, but to be honest, I was never a big fan of Angel himself like I was of the other characters, namely Wes, Cordelia, Doyle, Fred, and Illyria.
I was never able to get into Firefly. It just sort of bored me. I tried three different episodes, thinking, well, how would I not love this show? And every time I just lost all interest. It might have been the timing of the series in relation to the other two, and I may have been emotionally burned out by Joss’ work, but when the Serenity movie came out, I still really just didn’t care.
I have a friend who seems to have an inverse love for these three, and she claims my love for Buffy is stronger because I started watching it in the middle of the first season, whereas she came into it in the middle of the series run. I’ve heard other people say the same thing about Buffy and timing, that sort of you had to be there kind of thing.
Huge Firefly fan here who isn’t so thrilled by Buffy. I agree with most of those above me, though - it’s a definite “maybe”, and based mostly on what drew you into Firefly. I like the way Joss writes dialogue and the way he plays with themes, but ultimately it’s the world and the characters that make me really care about a show… and the Buffyverse just doesn’t pull me in the same way that the Firefly 'verse does. Mostly, I’m with what Gadarene said, I guess.
lissener:
Wow. It always amazes me whenever I’m struck by how greatly intelligent people’s tastes can differ. I’m a huge fan of good, well-written, smart television with mature characters and themes and things, just like lissener, and I don’t like any of the shows he mentions above. Not that one of us is wrong, obviously, but it’s just funny to me. (My favorite TV shows include the first few seasons of Homicide, the first season of Sports Night, the first few seasons of West Wing, The Shield, the aforementioned Dead Like Me, and the late and lamented Cupid and Gideon’s Crossing.)
except for a few minutes here and there of random episodes, my first full episode of **Buffy ** was 6.5: Once More, With Feeling. Prior to that I thought “oh jeez, another show based in the supernatural with it’s own laws of how those things works, :dubious: yippee”. But I gave the musical a try, because after all, I love musicals. That was all it took. I spent the next several months catching up on reruns on FX and getting character insights from friends. I didn’t get into **Angel ** til well into season 4, then went back and watched the reruns on cable. the SciFi channel ran a **Firefly ** marathon the week before **Serenity ** opened in theatres. I liked what I saw, but not as much as **BtVS ** or AtS. Maybe because I watched them all at once. I’ll watch them again, one at a time, and you betcha I’m going to rent **Serenity ** on PPV as soon as it’s there.
My list also includes The Shield, Homicide, the brilliant brilliant Cupid, and the first two seasons of West Wing. I thought Sports Night was unrealistically clever; unreal; everybody always said exactly what they wished the next day they’d been clever enough to say. It was Mamet-y; Shakespearey; in its language-over-real-life conceit. Impressive, yes; but annoying in the context. To me. Never saw Dead Like Me, didn’t like Gideon’s Crossing.
Not to derail this thread too much, but I totally agree about Sports Night. I borrowed the DVDs from a friend who loved the show, after another friend told me I’m like a cross between Casey and Jeremy, so I’d have to see it to know what he meant. I think it’s a little too knowingly clever and witty, to the point of being obnoxious. Everyone is way too perfect, way too nice to each other, and there’s not enough drama as a result, because these are The Best People Ever, and they can’t possibly do anything wrong.
My favorite shows are Arrested Development, Buffy, Angel, The Office (both the BBC and NBC versions), The Shield, Firefly, Simpsons (but not in many, many years), South Park, Family Guy, and Scrubs.
Bad idea. You really need to watch the whole(half) season to give it a chance. It grows better each episode, and really doesn’t hit its stride until the last episode of Season 1. After that it ranges from fantastic to merely marvelous. 
There is a reason why Buffy is consistently ranked as one of the best television shows of all time. Try it, you’ll like it!