Any Buffy / Joss Whedon fans out there? I'm two episodes away from finishing the series, and must say I'm rather sad. Also been watching Firefly, and it's FANTASTIC. Whedon is, I'm convinced, a true genius. Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog had me in tears.
The early seasons were really good but the show got diluted toward the end. The end will be pretty good but not a fan of the final season. Same with Angel, show started off okay then got good but WB messed with Whedon to much and ruined the final season.
Every show has its sweet spot and I'd say you're right on. If anything else more 2 and 3. The whole magic/drug addiction/rape/death/depression/Dawn/Doublemeat Palace later seasons didn't go down as smooth for me. They needed to take these characters somewhere past high school though so I don't disagree with Joss' direction. It got dark, but we already had Angel for that. Buffy at its best was refreshing and left you in a great mood. Maybe by seasons 5 through 7 (2000-2002) Joss himself was spread a little too thin with Buffy, Angel and Firefly in production simultaneously? Then again the last seasons brought us the Musical ep, more Spike. It wasn't bad, in fact much better than most shows when they reach a 7th season. They pulled the plug not a moment too soon. Id rather be watching Dr. Horrible and Firefly than season 8+ of Buffy with puffy Nick Brenden. Avoid the comics because they're not like watching the show and not canonical. If you're going for a Buffy comic Fray was good. Kind of Batman Beyond but with Buffy.
I came late the game with Whedon's shows. Liked Angel More than Buffy but Buffy was very entertaining too. I caught Angel from the beginning when they ran all the shows on TNT; couldn't believe I missed that show on its initial run. Dollhouse was actually good towards the end. Don't have to talk about firefly; that ish was fantastic.
Buffy is probably my favorite show of all time. Some say Angel was better. While I think Angel is good, it is a couple of notches below Buffy to me. Firefly did not get enough of a chance to surpass Buffy. It was really solid for what is there, but it is less than a full season. I disagree with those who dump on later seasons of Buffy. Sure there are a few stinker episodes, but that happened in earlier seasons as well, as it will with any show. There were also a lot of great episodes and great arcs in those later seasons, like the silent episode, the musical, the Xander and Anya arc, the evil trio, Andrew's redemption, etc. I would say season 6 ranks up there with any of the other seasons.
Hate to bring this thread to the gutter, but it wasn't just the clever writing that hooked me on the show. Sarah Michele Geller, Charisma Carpenter, Michele Trachtenberg, and Eliza Dushku? That's surpassing Charles in Charge for best casting honors.
Seriously. I watched this show when it was on but can't recall any of the plot. never got into the plot but was always intrigued by Geller and Carpenter. Heeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooo nurse!(s)
That's too bad - Season 3 was the apex. Season 2 lost its way a bit as they went "Scooby Doo" with all those non-vampire "goosebumps" episodes. The fascinating thing for me watching this show was learning how the character developments so closely (intentionally) mirrored the actors as they grew up and changed. Disheartening in S&M Gellar's case (splintered apart from cast and got tired of obligations to the show) and sad in Xander's case (became real life depressed alcoholic). The dialogue on the show sharpened to A++ level the last few seasons.
we loved buffy, altho like any long running show (even the wire and homicide) it had it's ups and downs. firefly/serenity is likewise fantastic, although the beginning was tough to follow, and end was a little disappointing. best scene? embiggend because saffron demands hi-def: Spoiler <iframe width="1280" height="750" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wNs21BiFA4Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Indeed! Probably NSFW Spoiler <a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/89/charismacharismacarpent.jpg/'><img src='http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1183/charismacharismacarpent.jpg' border='0'/></a>
To be honest I don't remember which season I stopped on, I assume it was 2 seasons in. Angel and all that mess had started and ended, along with his spin off, not sure where that happened.
