Watching Buffy for the first time & hoping to avoid spoilers question

[James Cole]

Re: Watching Buffy for the first time & hoping to avoid spoilers quest

Just finished the first season. While 2-3 of the episodes were somewhat mediocre, this is one of the strongest first seasons of any genre show I can think of (well, not counting the ones canceled in their infancy). Probably the only other show that had such a strong first season was NuBSG.

They did a good job too of balancing the vampire episodes with stand alone MOTW eps and maintaining continuity between them. Certainly a lot better than The X-Files where many episodes just didn't count in the long run. I thought the She-Mantis ep and internet demon ep were kinda weak (but I liked the techno pagan character), and the hyaena pack ep was uneven but had a strong closing to it. But each of these were better than the similar X-Files eps.

Another thing that struck me was how Sunnydale was standing in for Santa Barbara. I've spent several months in Santa Barbara over the past few years so I noticed the reference shots.

Looks like this is a keeper. And since I have the R2 version, the last 4 seasons of the show will be in 16:9 widescreen.

Well, now on to season two. Thanks to everyone for their input on the show.

 

[Kryton]

Re: Watching Buffy for the first time & hoping to avoid spoilers quest

Well, (and it's not really a spoiler) Xander's entire family is a bunch of ultra-dysfunctional drunks, more or less.

But his dad was played by Sgt. Wojohowicz from Barney Miller, so that was cool.

Max Gail, really? I don't remember that.

Hmm...after research I must have misremembered it. A shame...he'd've been a great Xander dad, IMO.

Guess I was busy respecting the cruller and taming the donut. That's still funny, right?

 

[Kryton]

Re: Watching Buffy for the first time & hoping to avoid spoilers quest

This thread sent me back to look at a few episodes. Here's a snapshot from Season 6's "Once More With Feeling" which was a triumphant effort for episodic television, IMO.

So they obviously were never afraid to self-reference or, for that matter, self-efface. When was the last time you saw a newspaper front page without a photo above the fold?