Can you believe that Buffy The Vampire Slayer is marking its twentieth anniversary today? I clearly remember being in college, reading a rave review of it in the (paper edition) of the Los Angeles Times, deciding to tune in, and then watching literally every single episode onward. For a while, in the dark ages of the internet when everyone had email but before anyone was recapping everything at all times, my friends would email me and be like, “what happened on Buffy last night?” and I would send back a detailed and amusing re-counting of events. I remember thinking, “I am really good at telling people what happened on TV. I wish that was a job.” AND HERE WE ARE.
But more than just providing a useful outlet for my snarky fan urges, Buffy brought us so many good things: the National Treasure that is Sarah Michelle Gellar (about whom I, of course, already knew thanks to her bravura, Emmy-winning turn as Kendall on All My Children, and also her work on the terrible/great Swan’s Crossing); Joss Whedon; the WB and its teen-centric programming, which never would have survived without the popularity of Buffy, Dawson’s Creek, and — sigh – Seventh Heaven, and without which we would never have had The CW and all its teen soap wonders; an answer to the question, “whatever happened to the nice British man in those International Coffee commercials;” and, most of all, tangible proof that a television show about a teenage girl who liked boys and clothes and lipgloss (and jokes about bad outfits; in the pilot, she stops before staking a vamp to note that he’s “dressed like DeBarge”) could also be a show where that self-same girl saves the world, over and over again, thanks to her own strength and smarts and friends. Thanks for being awesome, Buffy. Next year, we’re gonna hit the best bars in town. Forget about the Bronze. Nothing good ever happened there anyway.
To celebrate, FOX has given us a 20th Anniversary prize pack to give away to one of you! It contains a Buffy coloring book (so soothing, coloring), two Buffy t-shirts, a Buffy comic book (I hear people are very into the Buffy comics), and a pin.
The Task: I am, as ever, going to pick the winner by random draw. But to keep it fun, please comment and tell us your favorite Buffy moment.
The Rules: All entries must be posted in the comments of this post by 9 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday. FYI, if this is the first time you’ve commented here, the system will automatically kick you into comment moderation, but don’t worry, I will rescue you. (Prizing courtesy of FOX. Open to residents of the United States only. Thank you!)
