Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the creation of Joss Whedon. Originally done as a fun, but somewhat lackluster movie that Joss did not have full creative control over, Buffy was introduced as a mid-season replacement on the WB. Relocating Buffy (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, replacing Kristy Swanson, the movie Buffy) to Sunnydale, California after her high-school's destruction in the movie, the television series follows Buffy fighting evil and finding new friends in Xander (Nicholas Brenden), Willow (Alison Hannigan), and eventually Cordellia (Charisma Carpenter). Her new watcher (a watcher is a trainer and instructor for slayers) Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) soon finds he has a bit more than he bargained for with the uber-competent but willful slayer. And Buffy's mom Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) slowly becomes intwined in all the slayage. Turns out that Sunnydale is located on a Hellmouth, a mystic portal that draws evil to it, thereby giving Joss and his writers a good reason to bring in all sorts of nastiness instead of just vampires for Buffy to fight. Buffy's life is complicated by falling in love with Angel (David Boreanaz), a vampire (and remember, she's supposed to be destroying those) haunted by the evil he has committed during his immortal life.

Over the course of seven seasons, Buffy gains and loses friends, not the least of which are Riley, a boyfriend who works for a government demon-killing operation; Oz, a love interest for Willow and part-time werewolf; Tara, a later female love for Willow; Faith, an amoral slayer; Dawn, the sister Buffy literally never had; and Anya, fiancee of Xander and on-and-off-again vengance demon.

Buffy faces incredible odds: downloaded demons; The Master (a vampire); Spike and Drusilla (the Sid and Nancy of the vampire set); the Mayor of Sunnydale, Ethan, an old rival of Giles; synthetic and demonic salesmen; witches; various bogeymen; Glory, a goddess; her own friends; geeks and nerds; and The First, the root of all evil.

Although over now, Buffy did spin off Angel, which is still airing on UPN. Angel, now in its fourth season, brings together several Buffy alum in addition to its own cast. In that show, Angel heads a team fighting against a demonic law firm in LA. Buffy can be seen in syndication on the FX network or in DVD collections.

Buffy may be the best television series ever produced. In my estimation it is definitely the best fantasty/science-fiction series ever made and a modern television classic. Buffy was great because it contained characters who you cared about as they changed and grew. The dialogue was witty and clever and sounded like real people. The writers had the lingo down (and created lingo) for young people (see the Slayage link below). Strong female leads took charge and kicked butt for a change while other horror/fantasty conventions and cliches were being turned on their heads too (or perhaps were beheaded). Buffy usually effectively played on viewers' expectations of "what's supposed to happen" in television. (A prime example of this is in Season One where Buffy dies. Another occurs, in Season Three where Faith tries to frame Buffy for the murder of a normal man that Faith accidentally killed. We expect a protracted storyline where Buffy tries to prove her innocence to her friends. Instead, the plot element is dismissed within a few seconds.) Buffy had star-crossed romances and an epic love story with Angel. Like life, everything in Buffy changed, whether viewers liked it or not, and not always in postive ways for the characters. Buffy challenged not only vampires, but those of us who love her and the series. Of course, vampires, demons, and other weird creepy things running about made it pretty cool too.