Been going through Buffy the Vampire Slayer's early days recently. Had caught the odd episode when it was on during the late 90s and early 2000s because my older cousins loved it. That and Little House on the Prairie. Never really been interested in watching it until very recently. But in the end it probably did kickstart the millennial TV era and influenced a dozen things I've loved in the years since. And as I get into my 30s I find myself leaning more towards 90s and 00s TV, when TV writing was in that sweet spot between "case-of-the-week" episodic storytelling and the more longform serialised style you started to get way more of in the 2010s - which means each episode has its own distinct focus but is still connected to a bigger story and encourages deep investment in the main characters over time.
The first season of Buffy is mental. Really, really has no idea what it wants to be except a show about vampires and creepy monsters for suburban teenagers. It definitely doesn't know about quality control yet. All the quipping and wise-cracking and Whedon-style flippancy really did my head in at first, and the ideas they have for episodes varies wildly in terms of interest and quality. One minute you'll have a cracking episode about a kid whose violent dreams are coming to life in the real world, the next minute you'll be watching an episode about a supply teacher who turns into a preying mantis. I dropped it a couple of times but kept pushing through and eventually made it to the end of season one, which has a pretty fun finish. Plus, I was getting used to the balancing act it was trying to play between dramatic monster show and fun teen high-school drama. So I kept going.
I'm about 3-4 episodes into season two and the quality has already gone up loads, and now I understand the dedication and fascination it generated. The series looks to have found its feet pretty quickly and now I'm really looking forward to seeing where everything goes. I think something it's immediately changed is realising it had loads of interesting characters on the fringes that needed to be brought closer to the centre so we had more people to care about and root for. Buffy's mum, Cordelia, Ms Calendar, Angel, even Principal Snyder - all of them are heavily involved in the episode when Spike invades the school and tries to kill everyone. And Spike, already a much better villain than The Master. It feels like it's finally settled on its tone as well after fumbling around a lot in season one.
Enjoying it.
