Which Joss Whedon show do you consider to be the best? I saw the shows when they first appeared. I think Buffy has the best starting seasons, while Angel had the best middle seasons, and Firefly was mostly good all the way through but I didn't care much for Serenity. So I picked Angel mostly because I seem to rewatch it the most on dvd.
Well, I love Firefly. I just finished watching all of Buffy for the first time, and I thought it was pretty good. However, it definitely had a lot of episodes that, to me, just weren't all that exciting. When it was good, it was very good, but it could also be very mediocre. I still have a half season left in Angel, so I will reserve my vote until I finish. However, it looks like Angel might win out.
Firefly was fun and all but I don't think its fair to weigh a half-season against a five or seven year show. Buffy was great at first but its later years soured the deal. Angel is my vote because (after the first season) it was always good and consistent.
This is a toughie, since I love all 3 shows for different reasons, but I'm gonna pick BtVS because it has two of my all-time favorite seasons of anything (Seasons 6 and 5).
Own Angel and Firefly, watched most of Buffy-FIREFLY. Just better characters, IMO, playing upon the experience he built up doing the other two shows....
Well, Firefly was doing much better than either Buffy or Angel after 13 episodes IMO. However, I don't think you can properly compare a 13 episode series with either Buffy or Angel, so I'd go for either of those really. Angel was much more consistent so was probably the better show, but Buffy is the one I like just a teensy bit more.
I'll give it to Angel also; I think it achieved a greater consistency than BTVS did. Firefly, as has already been mentioned, was awfully short to try and evaluate compared to the longer series.
And that's just it. I think people tend to have an overly skewed view of the show because of the way it ended. But, despite what all the conspiracy theorists and "Brown Coats" tend to spew from their bully pulpit, I think there's a much more obvious and mundane reason it was canceled: it was stale, trite, and boring ... and kind of obvious. I never understood why it gets so much attention. (Of course, I think the same way of BSG, but I digress.) And, had the show not been killed the way it was, I doubt it would have lasted past two season, anyway. If it wasn't for that God awfully bad season 4, I might have voted for "Angel." But that just ruins the whole show for me. One of the other Buffyverse threads we had over the past few weeks veered off into dissecting the events of the seasons end. As I was reading the various posts of the plots, I found it more and more incredulous that so many people found that entertaining television. So in the end, it really is "Buffy." While I certianly don't deny it has its fualts, it really presents the complete package. I don't think there's ever been another show made that, over the years, pulled viewers across such a wide and varied range of emotions.
Knowing this board, Firefly will easily win. And as it did on a similar thread last year For me it's like choosing between three children, but on the "as a whole" angle I'd have to say Angel. But the High School era of Buffy will always be what stays with me when I think back to the 'verse in say 20 years time (and that's not to say I don't love s4-7, but s1-3 just is Buffy the Vampire Slayer for me) btw, I was gonna make a thread for this, but I'll just post it here. Remember those rumours Alan Tudyk started for a Serenity sequel, here's him and Nathan Fillion talking about it, bloody funny- http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEvYzA2_YU
My vote's definitely for BtVS. Yes, it completely broke my heart in the last season, and I broke up with it and then got back together with it more often than I should have in S5 and S6. But at its best Buffy is some of the best, cleverest, most enjoyableTV ever made (imo, obv). Buffy's one of only about three shows that I've ever gotten genuinely excited about to the point of considering a new episode airing synonymous with my blowing people off because "I already have plans for the evening". Firefly is fun, but it's only 13 episodes. No idea where it've ended up going.
While the Pylea arc was a little silly it was absolutely hilarious and provided a needed counterpoint to the end of Buffy S5 which was completely dark and gloomy. Plus, it introduced Fred! And I think the hugest laugh the series ever did was when Lorne's head talked to Cordy.
Then how can you accurately judge between the three shows? I choose Angel, because I felt overall Angel was a stronger show. I felt that Buffy's last two seasons outside Once more with feeling where nothing great and in my view drag down Buffy's overall grade. Like others have side I don't think it is fair to compare 14 episode show to a 7 season and 5 season show.