Day Three

My Favorite Television Program

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that this is favorite television program of all time. In which case, I would absolutely have to go with the first season of Flavor of Love. How could you not love Flavor Flav's classic search for love?

Just kidding. The correct answer is really Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Honestly, when I first started watching in high school, it was simply because I thought that Sarah Michelle Gellar was hot. And I really don't think I'm too far off base in that opinion. But then I started really watching the show and quickly realized how awesome it was.

There are, I'm sure, hundreds of websites out there where people have deconstructed every little thing about Buffy. They cover each individual episode. They cover each season's story arch. They cover how high school is a metaphor for hell and how teenagers face personal demons, while Buffy actually goes out and fights demons.

You have to respect the show just a little though. Think about the origins of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It started out as a really cheesy movie from the 90s starring Luke Perry and Pee-Wee Herman. Who could take that seriously? But then Joss Whedon, the character's creator, came back with his original idea and developed an awesome TV show. This time around, he wasn't forced to turn Buffy into a comedic version of itself. Sure, there are funny moments, but they were worked into the action and the drama kind of seamlessly.

The first two seasons were aired while I was still in high school. For a while, Monday night meant Buffy. And then The WB switched things up and moved Buffy to Tuesday during the major fictional event in which Angel, Buffy's vampire boyfriend, lost his soul and became the big bad for season two. It was kind of heart wrenching to watch Buffy have to learn to hate the person she had come to love most. I may have cried during that season finale. It's been a long time since the first time I saw it though, I can't really remember that far back.

And then season three was upon us. And I was in college. In Bluefield. A town that had no WB affiliate. What was I to do? Luckily I had a friend that was going to Radford University, a college that was a mere hour's drive from my own dorm. So every Tuesday evening, I made the trip to Radford to watch Buffy with Jessica and her roommate, Miranda. I'm pretty sure they even convinced me to stick around for Felicity. I only made those trips during that freshman year.

I was still in Bluefield for the remaining four seasons of Buffy. And Bluefield still had not been deemed worthy to have a WB affiliate. So Dad, being the kind and thoughtful person that he was, would record the show for me. This was back when we recorded things on bulky VHS tapes on something called a VCR. He would send a few weeks' worth of shows on a tape through the mail and, about once a month, I would get caught up on what was going on in the Buffyverse.

As with Back to the Future, I have written about this subject before as well. In fact, I even came up with a top ten list of my favorite episodes. So if you get a chance, check the show out. If you have Netflix, you can watch all seven seasons instantly, as well as all five seasons of its spin-off Angel.