TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Joss Whedon has had a catastrophic fall from grace, but back when I was in middle school, he gave us one of the first teen-oriented fantasy dramas, the blueprint for all the Charmeds and Supernaturals that came after. Once you heard that wolf howl and the organ notes from the opening bars of Nerf Herder's theme song, you knew it was on:

The show followed Buffy Summers, a seemingly normal California high-schooler. Of course, Buffy was actually the Slayer, imbued with the strength and skill to fight vampires and other evil creatures. Refreshingly, the show started with Buffy already having been the Slayer for awhile, sparing everyone the origin story and getting straight to the high school drama and vampire-hunting.

Buffy was truly appointment television for me, since one of my schoolteachers was also a fan. Every week, we'd discuss the newest installment, especially as the show turned into a soap opera in later seasons. That sort of ritual is rare with modern on-demand streaming (the whole series is on Amazon Prime and Hulu, by the way).

Now, to be frank, Buffy was a mixed bag. Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance still holds up, I think, but the cheesy effects, trite monster-of-the-week plots, and diminishing returns of the various "Big Bads" eventually robbed the series of its vitality.  Some ham-handed handling of hot-button issues didn't help, either (Whedon repeatedly uses the "Bury Your Gays" trope). By high school, I had tuned out of Buffy, but I do look back on it fondly.