Why, because you don’t like it, these people MUST be saying this in jest?

Well to be fair that snake episode was in 1998 or something

When people call Buffy good, they're not being sarcastic, but they are selling it short.

It is a fantastic show.

What do you consider good tv?

Buffy the Vampire Slater just isn’t Christian enough. I personally prefer Christian Slater.

You're caught up in bad CGI and missing the forest.

There are entire seasons of that show that should be used to teach writing. It's that good.

Buffy is a great fantasy adventure show with witty dialogue, characters worth rooting for, and a heavy dose of camp. It helped change people's perspectives on serialization in television, and featured one of the first lesbian main characters. What it is NOT, is prestige television. They were comfortable having bad cgi because the other option was putting people in giant monster suits. If you can't stand the occasional bad episode or cheesy moment, you probably won't care for it because it's more interested in wild storylines and bizarre character moments than it is in being "high quality."

Basically, turn off your critic hat and you'll be surprised how much it does well. But no, it's not the fucking Sopranos, it's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, they're not aiming for high art.

By the way, I remember the episode you're talking about and that snake is probably one of the worst effects in the whole series. They typically have pretty decent sfx makeup for their monsters and, like a lot of late 90s shows, underestimated how quickly cgi would get dated

Everyone knows there’s one correct objective rating that every piece of art deserves, and so if two people have different opinions on art at least one of them must be wrong. It’s why we have so many “this show is overrated/underrated” and “explain why you enjoy a show I do not” threads here every day.

Im sure some of it is through the rose colored tint of nostalgia, but if you're at all a Joss Whedon fan - so if you like The Avengers and whatever else he script doctored for the MCU - then you'll like Buffy. Like any show, it takes a while into the 1st season to really hit its stride, but by about the 2nd season you grow attached to the characters. I mean the whole premise is fairly rediculous: a teenaged "chosen one" fighting the supernatural, Angel is a vampire with a soul, the council of watchers.. cmon. Its goofy. ITs camp. It doesn't take itself too seriously.

The characters are real and say real things that you or would - again, a Whedon trait. They're just regular people like you or me.. except they have to save the world over and over again every week. There's a bit in the second last episode in S7 where they're waiting for the literal apocalyptic end of the world and no one can sleep so they're playing D&D and drinking Zima and Im like - yeah, I'd be doing that.

I wasn't a Buffy fan until I caught the all-silent episode Hush, and the musical episode Once More With Feeling. You don't need to know the leadups to either, they're one-offs and they're great (I think both won Emmys). Go watch those and see if your mind changes.

And yeah, Whedon apparently is a cancelled bad dude and you shouldn't give him any more money but some of the others get residuals they're good, so I dunno -up to you if you spend money on it or not.

Angel, a spin-off, is a bit more adult, bit darker, takes itself a bit more serious. And sometimes you get turned into puppets which is hilarious. I actually liked Angel a bit more than Buffy, but that's just me.

OH god. The Body. Hush. They Got the Mustard Out. Brilliant.

Yes, grown-ass adults say that. Like me, at 53 damn-near grampa-like, and just done with my Nth rewatch of the whole series.

• where N is a two-digit number

My guy had like 100 typos in here

Buffy is an incredible show

No. Buffy is probably one of the best and most important genre shows of it's era. Complaining about the limitations of CGI on cable television in the late 90's is about the lamest critique you could ever have imo. You are talking about something that is closing in on a quarter of a century and had to fit that CGI budget with 22 episodes of other effects needed for the season.

Anyways Buffy pretty much perfected the 22 episode genre television format. It pioneered a bunch of themes that weren't being touched upon in mainstream entertainment at the time and constantly was pushing the boundaries of the show and experimenting with different styles.

It's also not really a secret that the biggest movie franchise in the world is basically using Buffy style dialogue for all it's films now because the showrunner directed one of the most successful films in the series and they decided that's how everyone is going to talk and react now. Buffy speak is now Avengers speak.

I feel like the dialogue for marvel movies was already set before the first avengers film, if anything I would say iron man set the entire tone of the MCU

The first time I watched it (caught a season 4 episode) I thought it was goofy, and silly. But then I started watching more (went back to the beginning) and really got into the characters, their drama, and the creativity of the show.

You had to have been young in the 90s.

I remember a 1997 review of the pilot and the LA Times pointed out how bad the FX were.

Buffy pretty much invented the serialized drama. It’s an amazing show, and still holds well today. It’s one of the few shows that showed improvement in later seasons (like the amazing season 5). It’s also known for well-in-advance planning. E.g., one character’s descent in darkness was planned maybe 2 seasons ahead!

She was theee worst on AMC. Plastic surgery and badmouthing Susan Lucci

So glad that was the end of Sarah M Gell. She sucks.

[deleted]

Buffy was an excellent series. What the point of coming here and being all negative about people liking it?

Feels like a ''teenager used to todays CGI and vfx standards but hasn't learned to appreciate good writing yet'' post.

Buffy was before my time as well but I did watch a couple of seasons a few years back. It's above and beyond most things on television these days.

This post reeks of teenager used to good cgi and doesn't care about writing. I mean I don't blame OP. The standards today when it comes to writing aren't very high.

My guess is recent shows with great effects lol.

I personally don't like the show - it's just not my genre - but I know waaaaay too many people who love it and rewatch it all the time, so it must have been doing something right.

OP post history is mostly trolling and anti-masking rhetoric.

A week ago they made the stellar post "Is Alien really that good and why?" over in /r/movies and posting articles such as "Yikes. 29 Years Later, 'Hocus Pocus' Has Really Not Aged Well" so I'm pretty sure you're spot on.

Edit: Oh jesus christ, "Halloween/Halloween 2/H20 will always be the true Halloween trilogy" el oh el maybe not a teen, but possible brain injury victim.

Never judge a show by a random episode you caught on tv.

I don't think it's fair to say that a show is bad because of the CGI. It first aired in the late 90's. So of course the CGI for a late 90's WB drama that didn't have a huge movie studio budget isn't going to match up the standards of today. What makes the show great is the writing. It falters at times, but ultimately good outweighs the bad. In fact, I'd consider the "bad" parts of the show to be miles ahead of a lot of what we get today.

The show really perfected the art of long-form storytelling, mixed with standalone episodes. Even most of the standalone episodes feature key parts of the overall arc of the season, making it hard to skip episodes or want to skip the episodes.

Season 1 can be tough to get through, but mid season 2 is when the series really hits it stride and it keeps going and going. The Innocence/Surprise arc from season 2 really sets up the rest of the show. It's single-handily one of the most important parts of the entire series and one of my favorite things to legitimately come from any movie, TV show, book, or storytelling medium. Not to mention the episode Passion in season 2. That is some damn good writing. Season 3 is considered the highest point of the series, though.

Crazy to me that someone can literally catch 1 random episode of a show they've never seen and deem it bad. Maybe give it a shot and you'd be pleasantly surprised. It's a wonderful show!

[removed]