Well, I watch it because Alyson Hannigan is so hot.
There, I said it. Am I shallow?
One word, “Hush” see it, see it again. Fantastical television. It madde a fan out of me.
Disagree 100%. Off the top of my head, SMG gives great performances in Prophecy Girl, Becoming Pts. 1 and 2, The Body, Hush, and others.
Also disagree. The beauty of the show is that it knows very well that it’s not just a serious show or just a campy, witty show. When it’s at its best, the show effortlessly trots through the genres of horror, action, comedy, and drama. The ability of the show to not be defined as a wholely serious or wholely campy show, far from being a weakness, is one of its greatest strengths.
I’m curious about one thing, and one thing only:
Does Amilyn ever finish dying?
You’re not the only one.
I hated the Buffy movie, so I never watched the show until I saw American Pie and fell in love after she broke the lamp.
You may indeed be shallow. :eek:
You are however, definitely accurate! 
Apparently I’m in a minority of actually liking the first episode. I got hooked on the witty dialogue which is really unusual on this kind of shows.
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Let’s just say. . . I’m a friend.
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Yeah, well, maybe I don’t want a friend.
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I didn’t say I was yours.
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But that’s the thrill of living on the Hellmouth! There’s a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage. Pardon me for finding the glass half full.
But then, I may be easily amused.
I must agree, though, that the first few episodes are relatively straightforward. Baddies have to be sniffed out (Scooby Doo-fashion), and then destroyed. About halfway through, the show starts to become more complex, by having characters who are not completely good or bad. And just when you get used to all the slaying as a matter-of-fact thing, the final ep of the first season makes you suddenly realize that it is actually horrible what is going on.
All in all, I found it a very satisfying season. Maybe it is different if you started with one of the later seasons, then you may find the beginning rather simplistic.
I’m with you Tusculan. I liked the movie, so I watched the series from the beginning. Series one is simplistic compared to what comes after, but it was fun and freah, and was written much better than the vast majority of other crap on TV.
[slight hijack]
You know why I’ll always be grateful to Joss Wheadon? BtVS helped me with my nightmares.
I always found myself in nightmares fleeing from the Terrible Monster. After I became a dedicated Buffy fan, I started fighting back. In my dreams, I have all of the slayer moves, too.
Just two nights ago, I was being chased by an evil, bio-engineered alien in my dream. (Product of an evil corss-breeding/cloning experiment, but I digress.) I stopped running, turned, and kicked him in the face. I beat the holy hell out of that evil, bio-engineered alien, I tell you!
Thanks, Joss!
[/end hijack]
I think the BtVS fans who look down at Season 1 are missing the point. Season 1 cements the excellent “High School is Hell” metaphor.
I’d recommend viewing Season 1’s “The Pack.” As Xander says, every high school has some mean kids like that. Where the fun and the horror come in is the logical extrapolation of that basic premise about anti-social mean kids.
In the episode where Buffy and Faith pull a Freaky Friday, SMG blew me away with the subtleties of her acting ability: she nailed Faith right down to her toenails.
Season 2. Watch it. Buy it, own it, use it, make it a part of your life.
Life will never be the same.
(I used to assume it was Dawson’s Creek with vampires. But the noise surrounding it became so deafening, when it went to FX, I decided to give it a try. I was distractable during the first season, but I stuck with it because it was definitely fun. Do the same. Joss Whedon is a genius.)
Interesting you should mention XMen, because a big rumor going around is that Wheadon may be the big mystery writer taking over New X-Men after Morrison leaves.
“I could ride you at a gallop till your eyes roll back and your knees buckle, squeeze you til you pop like warm champagne…”
I don’t think any show is really that great in its first season. The first several “X-Files” episodes came off very clunky, especially in the interactions between Mulder and Scully. I think it takes a while for a group of actors to learn to work together, settle into the characters, get into the groove of the plotlines.
The show didn’t really hit its stride until the second season. I think there was a tone set in “When She Was Bad” that showed a very dark undercurrent in a show that was essentially a comedy up until season five.
A lot of the appeal of the show for a lot of people was the story arcs and strong character development. Unfortunately, the “arc factor” cost the show ratings in the later seasons because a lot of casual viewers would tune in and have essentially no idea what was going on because they hadn’t followed the show from the beginning- references back to S1 in the middle of S5, or picking up in the middle of an arc and the story being lost on them because they hadn’t seen earlier episodes when the plot was developed.
I think a lot of non-regular viewers thought it was a show of stand-alone episodes, so it seemed incoherent. Most people are used to long arcs in more serious dramas like “LA Law” or “NYPD Blue”, but in a show that was as much comedy as drama, it was something of an oddity.
I actually started watching on FX a couple of years ago. The first BtVS ep I ever saw was “Reptile Boy”. I was hooked in a very short time. If I had caught an early S1 episode, I probably wouldn’t have been impressed, but channel surfing by, I caught the opening teaser of that particular episode and was hooked. “So, why is she singing?”
As for Season One- am I the only one here who thinks “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date” is the best title for an episode in the history of television?
OK, guys. I tried all of Season One from Netflix. Just sent off the last disc this morning. I’m officially hooked. I’m either going to run to WalMart this afternoon to see if Season Two is available, or order seasons 1-4 from Amazon ($120). The last episode where SMG said, “I’m 16 years old. I don’t want to die,” made me tear up. The male leads are very easy on the eyes, and I liked how the characters evolved.
I envy you, DeadlyAccurate. Because you have all that greatness ahead of you, waiting to experience. Six more years of a truly great show, and you can devour it as fast as you want, without having to wait a week for each new episode to unfold.
Yep! When I want to hook someone on Buffy, I loan them my tape of “Hush.” It may well be my favorite hour of television ever, with terrifying moments mixed in with hilarious sight gags and a central premise I don’t think had been done before or has been done since on any show.
Daniel
Hoorah, one more down, 5.9 billion to go! World domination is within our grasp.
An aside: This must be the only thread I’ve ever seen entitled ‘Explain X to me’ which wasn’t a thinly disguised excuse for the OP to be smug about how he/she just does not get (ie is much to smart to like) some popular phenomenon.
I always thought the weakest season was the seventh, and that the show would have gone out on top if it had ended after season 5. (Not that season 6 didn’t have some very good episodes). The only episodes in season 7 I really liked, though, were “Conversations with Dead People”, and “Lies My Parents Told Me”
What about Him? I think I’d put that in the Top 10 Buffy eps. ever; certainly the Top 20.
–Cliffy