How was the hype in the old days...

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...when Buffy was a new phenomenon and Joss Whedon was writing TV history, week by week.

The stars big on magazine covers and talkshows / nightshows....

The critics praising the whole concept behind the show.

"What would Buffy do" becoming a slogen for young girls growing up.


I totally missed that time, so it would be interesting if you could share your experiences / impressions (if there are any...)
 
Puffy said:
...when Buffy was a new phenomenon and Joss Whedon was writing TV history, week by week.
The critics praising the whole concept behind the show.
"What would Buffy do" becoming a slogen for young girls growing up.
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None of that was happening. Or at least not in the US. From my experience it really wasn't praised when it was on the air.. maybe the last few seasons, but it was largely ignored. The whole 'What Would Buffy Do' movement didnt start until the show was off-air. Only a few episodes ever got praise and Whedon was not, by any means, a household name, let alone perceived as writing TV history week by week..
 
I'm afraid I don't remember an awful lot of hype in England surrounding the show either. There were Buffy posters, calendars and similar things for sale in the shops so it did make an impact but not a massive one. It was mostly watched and enjoyed by the people who liked it and ignored by everyone else.
 
Ok, so it was more an "insider thing" for the (few) DIE HARD Fans.

And all the chorus of praise was written afterward.

To be honest, its kind of disappointing, but also sounds realistic.

So, Buffy was a niche product.
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
It still is a niche product.
Just about all of the hype was on the internet, and a whole lot of the fans, myself included, didn't discover the Buffyverse until late into the series. One of the things that greatly increased the popularity of the two shows was that they went into syndication about the time that Season 5 was airing, so a lot more people got to see the earlier episodes in the early afternoon. I could come home from work and watch two episodes, back to back, Monday through Friday, then watch the new episode every Tuesday night.
 
The Bronze said:
It was mostly watched and enjoyed by the people who liked it and ignored by everyone else.
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And the same still stands.

I'd say I knew more people that said they "hated" the television programme when it was airing, than people who enjoyed it. Even now, I still know plenty of people who regard Buffy (the show) as laughable, and only very few people who absolutely love it.

My other half was one of the "haters" of BTVS - I'm trying to get him to watch it all on a rewatch with me currently. He still thinks it's a ridiculous programme (his words) the same as he did when it was on TV. (Although we've just started the first few episodes of season 6 and I think he's mildly impressed with the darkness of it so far. I think he may like the balls of season 6, Tara getting shot/Dark Willow/Warren's death).
 
GwenRaiden said:
Even now, I still know plenty of people who regard Buffy (the show) as laughable, and only very few people who absolutely love it.
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Me too...sadly. 🙁

Its nearly impossible to convince people, that Buffy is a quality show and not just kind of a joke.

When it comes to movies or TV shows, Buffy may be the most prejudged (in a negative way) of all times.

P.S
And to be honest, in the past, I also prejudged Buffy negative, without seeing a single episode. 😉
 
Puffy said:
Buffy is a quality show
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But see, I don't think it IS a quality show. It is a good show that does some things extremely well, but there are far too many inconsistencies for me to call it a quality show. I think if you sell the show on 'it is a fun quirky show with amazingly witty dialogue' versus 'its a quality show' you might get more people to buy into it. To me Buffy IS a joke and was always meant to BE a joke. That is the beauty of it.
 
Mr. Pole said:
To me Buffy IS a joke and was always meant to BE a joke. That is the beauty of it.
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I could agree on that beauty thing but not on that joke thing. The joke potential and the dialogues, ok.

But what is with the metaphors and the shakespear aspect?

The most academic dissertations (when it comes to movies/shows) are about Buffy.

So, quality, based on a genius like Joss Whedon, is the fundament of the show...I guess. 😉
 
Mr. Pole said:
I think if you sell the show on 'it is a fun quirky show with amazingly witty dialogue' versus 'its a quality show' you might get more people to buy into it.
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I'd have to agree with that. Definitely in the early seasons anyway. Fun and quirky isn't what a lot of people look for in a show though, eg my worser half. He's very into realistic, dark, "adult" TV shows, think The Sopranos, The Wire, etc, so it's a hard sell for him. The shows I've mentioned DO have intelligent, witty dialogue though, and that is definitely something he appreciates in BtVS and Angel (especially Giles' and Spike's lines).
 
Going back to the OP's question, the show was regarded as a teenage angst show, similar to others but with vampires. Once it got going and Angel came out, there was plenty of watercooler discussion at work about whether the latest Angel episode was better than the latest Buffy episode (and frequently it was). But the show did not get all that much acclaim at the time it aired. The fact remains, Buffy and Angel were the only good shows on TV at the time. It was not as controversial as you think - people who would have been caught up in the controversy (such as the first lesbian couple on TV on what was considered a teen show) weren't actually watching.
 
Ethan Reigns said:
people who would have been caught up in the controversy (such as the first lesbian couple on TV on what was considered a teen show) weren't actually watching.
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But I think as far as that goes it was more due to the fact of all of the faux lesbian kisses that predated it. It was a common occurrence at the time to have a straight female kiss and make out with another female. I think Buffy got lost in the shuffle. I also think it would have been much different and would have been an issue if it were Buffy instead of Willow.
 
Buffy Summers said:
I didn't know a single person IRL who watched the show besides me.
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Same here... the funniest thing is a year after the show ended a friend mentioned she watched it and I asked why she didnt say something sooner and she said no one else watched it so she never talked about it. So you MAY have known someone that watched it.
 
Same, I didn't meet someone else who watched as religiously as I did until I was in college, and the show was over by then. I had known people - or person, really - who used it as their 'there's nothing else on TV right now' show, but stopped in S5 because she said it was 'too confusing' for a casual viewer. Whatever.
 
Different people from around the world, allways the same story.

Its a hard job, being a Buffy Fan. 😉
 
Considering I was about 5yo when the show came out, I don't remember much 😛

I do remember seeing the last season of AtS being aired though, but no one I knew watched that.
 
I watched it with my best friend religiously when it was on air, or the first few seasons at least. I know a few people at my school watched it but no one was really an out and out fan of it. But it was rather poorly recieved here (Sweden) so I actually started subscribing to some French teen mags just to get some Buffy coverage. Hehe. It got a bit more popular when the show was off the air and they showed it on an afternoon slot every day. Although horribly enough they would make cuts in the episodes to make them more appropriate, i.e. you wouldn't get to see stakings etc... I couldn't even watch them like that and I doubt it created a lot of new fans.
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
Whaddya know! the French are good for something afterall.
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