Ok, Buffy Fans, have at me

[Vallikat]

I have tried a few times to watch Buffy. Tried and failed. Not because I couldn't catch it one of the 800 times it's on TV. But because I find it just to be really bad TV viewing. The acting is bad. The scripts are bad. The effects are bad. Bad.

It's not that I have a problem with it conceptually. I can buy that this is a group of not entirely human (or completely not human) teens who have to deal with the fact that there are vampires and demons living among us, most of which are not the good guys. That's fine. I don't have any problem dealing with it on that level.

Beyond that, forget it. Sarah Michelle Geller is just not attractive enough (IMO) for me to get past her extremely bad acting. Maybe that's because I'm old enough to remember when she was Kendall on All My Children. But I gotta' tell ya', kids, I have tried and simply cannot seem to like this show.

So anyone care to help me out and tell me why you like it? Maybe I'm missing something.

[Mummu]

[...]So anyone care to help me out and tell me why you like it? Maybe I'm missing something.

Sorry cant help ya there, dont like it either.

[Tarryk]

I've only seen maybe 2 episodes ever, and neither all the way through.

The good point is that Joss Whedon's humor style always cracks me up, the funny moments were REALLY funny.

The bad points: Everything else about the show pretty much sucked (yes, definitely including the acting by the main cast).

My opinion, of course.

Firefly is the only series Joss has done that has any merit to me.

[Ashval]

I'm afraid I can't help ya out either, Valli. I couldn't stand the show.

[Boinky]

Never saw it other than ads for it. Also not really familiar with Mr Whedon but have heard enough from people who's opinion's I trust to assume he's fairly talented.

[Vallikat]

And here I thought I would be alone.

[Meenstreek]

I've got some friends that can't get enough of it.....they were all dying trying to get their hands on the final that just came out on DVD a couple months ago. So I figured it might be pretty good.....NOT. I thought maybe it was just the first couple episodes that sucked and I watch the entire first season. I figured since I watched the first 2, might as well finish it. I basicly wasted that time in my life, and will never get it back....*runs off crying*

[Gridfan]

Buffy (and Angel too) is just a fun teenish horror romp.
It never tried to be anything else, look at it that way, and it's a ok entertainment

Personally I'd have made it a lot darker, and a lot less sillier though.

[Suue]

I always loved watching Angel. Never cared for buffy though.

[Aameul]

I'm really surprised that nobody has chimed in saying that it's OMG THE BEST SHOW EVAR because I know there are people who think that way. Not me, though. I think it was really bad and supremely overrated.

I had a friend who was convinced that it was the best show on television. Poor, delusional girl.

[Vallikat]

I'm really surprised that nobody has chimed in saying that it's OMG THE BEST SHOW EVAR because I know there are people who think that way. Not me, though. I think it was really bad and supremely overrated.

I had a friend who was convinced that it was the best show on television. Poor, delusional girl.

I'm very surprised as well Aameul. I wouldn't have started this if I didn't anticipate that very thing. I know the Buffy fans are out there. It survived several seasons and I too have known people who couldn't live a week without it. I guess then, that I should be glad that the Buffy fans have not found their way to this forum.

I do have to say though that I have watched a few episodes of Angel and found it to be better. Still not a great show. But better.

I have not, however, seen a single episode of Firefly (or is Firefly the movie and Serenity the show? well you know what I mean). Anyway, I do intend on getting my hands on the DVD and giving it a shot. The trailer for the movie looks very cool.

[Mummu]

I had a friend who was convinced that it was the best show on television.

thats farscape!

[Tacz]

I had a friend who was convinced that it was the best show on television.

thats farscape!

Pff!! Go Stargate!

[Ms.Ice]

Thie show has always intrigued me. Not because i find it interesting, not at all. i agree that it is bad.. just bad.

But... i have several friends who are like Buffy "followers". They would meet up for parties to watch the show together. And their blogs are continuous Buffy banter. The intriguing part is the friends who are "into" buffy, also happen to be some of my most accomplished, educated, respectable friends. So i always have wondered. What IS it that makes this show sooo amazing to them.

The phenomena only deepened at Uni. i took a Philosophy course and the topic was "The Philosophy of the Matrix". i took it because the topic seemed interesting, but moreso because the Professor was exceptional. She was georgeous, about three years older than me. She specializes in feminist philosophy and earned her doctorate from Welsley.

And she is the most crazed buffy fan i have ever met!!! People are studying Buffy as philosophy now, and writing books. She introduced us to the inner world of educated Buffy fans and educational sites dedicated to the study of Buffy o.O

All that being said i still dont like, and i have always left like there must be something wrong with me... that i just dont "get it".

Could i be too stupid for Buffy?

*boggles*

[Boinky]

I had a friend who was convinced that it was the best show on television.

thats farscape!

Pff!! Go Stargate!

Pfft! Babylon 5 & Sports Night

quit getting this thread off-topic with all that Buffy stuff

[Tarryk]

All that being said i still dont like, and i have always left like there must be something wrong with me... that i just dont "get it".

Could i be too stupid for Buffy?

*boggles*

Not at all. I have an exceptionally high IQ (and I'm betting so do you), and I can't stand the show.

It's more applicable to generalize: TV Show fandom is usually (I almost dare say ALWAYS) run by exceptionally intelligent people. It's something for people to latch on to that brings them together that involves something less serious than their real life.

In that light, you could say that fandom IS a serious business for intelligent people. My sister Kayten, for example. Brilliant person who doesn't take too much to serious existentialism so much as she'd rather focus on the existential application of a certain show that she's devoted to or a great movie she saw. I'm the same way in many aspects.

Had your philosopher-example ended up a fan of SG1, or Firefly, or any number of other good shows, she could just as easily used them as a comparible basis in the study of--whatever she's working on.

Just my thinker workin'.

[epiphonic]

i was priviledged enough to see 7 of the later episodes back to back, and they totally cracked me up.

There are attractive lesbians, people f**k, and theres one episode that was a musical filmed with motion picture grade film. Had NO IDEA that 3 of them were capable singers, holy s**t

it has my vote, but not the BEST SERIEZ OVER OMG vote.

the series that has my OMGWTF vote is Jos Weddon's "Firefly" god thats an incredible series. DAMN.

[Darth Bootay]

I just could never get past the fact that they wrote Buffy as a whiney, special ed bimbo with serious relational issues and poor impulse control problems. And Sarah Michelle Gellar's nose. WTF is with her nose?

Bust basicly, I get irritated whenever I see weakheaded bimbos cast as heroines and rolemodels. Between that and extraordinarily heavyhanded preachiness of the episodes I watched, I just couldn't figure out what it was that my friends loved so much about it.

Of course Evil Willow was a big plus.

LOL

[FoxyJama]

Okay, I've been staying quiet in this discussion because I really am ashamed that I enjoyed Buffy as much as I did. I watched the entire series (on DVD, I absolutely can't follow series on TV, I don't have the patience). I believe that much of Joss Whedon's writing that made Firefly so great was very much the driving force behind making Buffy the success that it was. The trouble is, the story is so vast and interwoven that it's not something you can really see or follow by sitting down to watch one or two episodes. I wouldn't have liked Buffy if I had sat down and just watched "Random Episode 04-06". However, having watched it from the very beginning, I can honestly say that I believe it was a well written concept. No, the acting wasn't amazing, but look at some of the Hollywood movies these days... quality acting isn't something you see often anymore, but humorous dialouge and well done special effects can go a long way towards entertaining (particularly a younger crowd) despite this. That being said, there were a few actors in the show that are very very talented. Occassionally they help fill in the gaps left by those who can't act at all.

I'm not a Buffy fangirl, but I did really enjoy the show. I also enjoyed Angel (the first few seasons, anyway), although it suffered from some of the same general problems in parts.

Also, bravo to Joss Whedon for dealing with an issue that, to this date, I don't think has ever been handled well on TV. When Buffy's mother died, she came home to find her body on the couch, and she didn't know what to do. It was a tragic and very terrifying episode which shot home a very real point that there's nothing supernatural about death when it happens to someone you love in your own home. Too often when a character dies on TV, you see clips of 1) them passing away after a few well chosen last words in the arms of your hero, 2) occassionally clips of the body being placed in an ambulance, and 3) the funeral. On Buffy, my chest constricted as she moved her mother's body to the floor to attempt to resuscitate it, and as she panicked when she didn't realize who she should call, or what she needed to do, and her frustrations with trying to plan a funeral while taking care of her sister and mourning her own loss. That portrayal of the reality of death was one that stayed with me, and something I admired greatly about the show.

(I wanted to admit this, amongst all the proclaimed Buffy haters out there, because until about 2 years ago, I was a lead Buffy hater, and I had seen perhaps part of one episode. I hated what "Buffy" stood for, and the fandom, more than the show, which I had never seen. Now, having seen the entire series, I can say that I appreciated the show, even if the "Buffy Culture" isn't really something I'm into. That, and I realized I was being cowed by the overwhelming negative opinions of the show, and I don't ever want to be afraid to admit my opinion even when it is different from my friends'. I do suspect that many of you that claim to hate the show, like I used to, haven't really given it a chance beyond looking at the fanboys and girls and deciding that it's the pop teen phenomenon you don't want to be a part of.)

What I do find interesting, in review of this entire thread, is that some of the folks that hate the show because of bad acting are some of the same people who LOVED the Matrix, despite the fact that Carrie-Ann Moss and Keanu Reeves do some of the worst possible acting imaginable in that movie. The Matrix is a perfect example of how story, dialogue, and special effects can entertain despite horrendous acting ability. However, among our particular social circles, it's more socially acceptable to be a Matrix fan than a Buffy fan. It's amazing what our social precepts and peer pressure can do to us, looking back on my opinions of Buffy, it happened to me, and it still does.

My opinion is, love it or hate it, as long as you have your own educated opinion. Don't be forced into liking something if you don't. Don't be forced to dislike something because your definition of who you are, or what your social label is, prevents you from giving something new a try.
I swallowed my "this is teen pop culture and as a maturing adult and a liberated woman I shouldn't like it, therefore I won't" and gave it a shot, and I ended up really liking it.

Likewise, I won't allow myself to be pressured into admitting that the Matrix was anything more than Hollywood wrapped eye candy, even if my husband eats, sleeps, and prays to that movie, and everyone in my circle of friends insists that it's the most original idea EVER. (I often wonder if my friends ever picked up a sci-fi book that wasn't a mass produced comic). So Valli, don't feel like you HAVE to like anything, even if you feel like it's a genre that you *should* enjoy.

[Tarryk]

don't feel like you HAVE to like anything, even if you feel like it's a genre that you *should* enjoy.

Smarter words could not be spoken. Well, other than "I like eggs". Depends on the approach, really..

Seriously, that's absolutely right. I don't enjoy Buffy, but that doesn't mean it sucks. It means I don't enjoy it. Anyone who does, is not any greater or lesser of a person, they simply have different tastes. Werd to that. Without different tastes, EVERYthing would suck. And that would suck.