I went to grad school at the University of Texas in 1996 and 1997. In March of 1997, Buffy premiered, and honestly, while the title of the series made me laugh, I watched most of the first season while in a frenzy of library science paper writing, and wasn’t impressed.
After grad school, I got a twelve-month professional job in a southern state, and mostly sat alone in the closed stacks cataloging rare childrens’ books. I was deeply into Babylon 5 at the time, and shared my thoughts about the show with an online feminist sci-fi discussion group that had sprung up spontaneously from a deeply sexist Star Trek forum. (It’s now 2024, and my feminist sci-fi group is still together.)
Right around the time I was settling into a professional library management job in Virginia, Buffy got really, really good, and I started writing about it, again sharing my thoughts with that same online feminist group. Those thoughts started turning into reviews. Angel was spun off, and I started reviewing it, too. At some point, I realized that the Buffy/Angel web sites I liked had no reviews, and I started offering. And three of those sites said yes. They’re gone now. When the biggest of those sites (TVTome) changed to TV.com and tossed me out, I started my own site (billiedoux.com).
Anyway. Long story not actually shortened, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was so complex, daring, witty, clever and melodramatic that I had to write about it. Before, I had written two and a half novels and tried half-heartedly to get them published. Buffy moved me from failed novelist to a somewhat successful reviewer. I had found my calling. And that’s why Doux Reviews is here.
Would I have gotten into reviewing if Buffy hadn’t existed? Possibly. I don’t know. I do know that my Buffy reviews are my oldest and possibly my least professional, that Buffy has retained an audience and achieved cult status, and that many of my online friends are here as readers or even writers because of this particular show.
After moving to Los Angeles in 2001 (for a professional job), I attended many Buffy/Angel celebrity events. I met Joss Whedon at a political fundraiser, got autographs from many of the Buffyverse stars at a comic shop in Santa Barbara, saw James Marsters sing at 14 Below. I even found my way to a location filming in a cemetery and got thrown out when the crew realized I didn’t belong there.
And here I am, more than twenty years later. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show, ever. Plus it completely changed my life. I’ll always be grateful.
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Wow! I would have bet a lot of money that this was number one. Will be very interested to see what beat our beloved Buffy.
ReplyDeleteYou may live long and prosper enough to see it.
DeleteSame! This feels like an upset even. I had totally expected this to be #1! In my headcannon, I will put it on #1.
DeleteWondering which one will be non-headcannon #1. I'm going to guess Supernatural, but would be fine if #1 turned out to be given to the staff of Doux Reviews.
ps. In several of these retrospectives, there's been references to reviews on sites that no longer exist (the reviews or discussions sometimes being lost, if my memory serves me well). Might some of those sites still be around via web.archive.org?
FrankQ, every review/article I've ever written (about television, not library science) is here on Doux Reviews. My Babylon 5 stuff was short and I didn't keep it, and the discussion list where I posted it has moved at least three times, so those are gone.
DeleteFrankQ, I may have misread your statement. Were you asking what the sites were? They were theslayer.net, atnzone.com, tvtome.com, lost-tv.com, let me see... alias-tv.com?
DeleteI'm really sorry your B5 stuff is gone. I really love that show and enjoy reading what others think about it.
DeleteI have three questions: What?! How?! What?!
ReplyDeleteI'll bet the switch from the old site to the blog site has a huge impact here, right? If you were able to merge billiedoux.com stats with douxreviews.com stats, Buffy would surely prevail...
Right?
Right?
That's a really good point, Josie. There was no way to count the old billiedoux.com stats, or the stats on the blogspot site before you and I migrated them in 2010. The only way I could put this Top Twenty list together was the count on the show pages. I couldn't possibly have cobbled together the pageviews on every episode. We have over 10,000 reviews now.
DeleteBut I can assure everybody that number one really is number one, and by a huge margin. Doctor Who was over 70K. Buffy was over 100K. The winner was just under 150K.
Aww, man! I completely was expecting Buffy as #1. But I understand, this is just hits on the site. Hmmm. What could it be?
ReplyDeleteAs a child growing up in the mid-90s to early-2000s, I always found Buffy and Xena to be reliable sources of campy fun led by strong, stunning women. I binged the show properly during my late teens; though, I can't say the same for Xena.
ReplyDeleteIt's a solid show. Even if certain elements are laughably dated, there's plenty more that still makes an impact. 'The Body' or 'Conversations with Dead People' episodes, for instance. The musical episode was also amazing, and I don't usually go in for musicals. And it went out with a bang. Twice.
It remains one of the only shows about high school/college students I stand by. It also led to Angel, which, in hindsight, helped develop my love for neo-noir.
Logan, I always felt the reason why Buffy works is because the teenage characters are forced to be super-adults. Like in Band Candy, one of my favorites, where the adults are literally turned into teenagers and the teens have to save the town. In a way, that's what happens all the time.
DeleteThat's very true. Buffy (and eventually the rest of the Scoobies) have to grow up a bit faster due to their unusual circumstances. The 'with great power comes great responsibility' line is alluded to more than once, I think. Buffy has many superhero genes, so that also probably factored into my love of the show. Horror and superheroes were my two main obsessions from an early age; Buffy was firing on all cylinders for my younger self.
DeleteOK, first my thoughts on Buffy, then what I hope is a pretty cool Buffy related story. Prior to Buffy, I intermittently watched TV, and mainly for sci fi shows like Star Trek or the like. But for my wife and I, fairly newly married - Buffy was a revelation, for all the reasons that you mentioned here in this post. There was a specific episode in season 2 that sealed it for me - it felt like a season finale cliff hanger, it was so impactful. Faithful viewers know the episode.
ReplyDeleteSadly, it’s never made it to rewatch status. I’ve tried with both my daughters, but the show never clicked for them, and honestly felt dated even to me trying to push them along. Still, there are absolute gems to be watched, like the astonishing “Hush”, as well as “The Body”, and “Once More, With Feeling.” Buffy felt like something completely different at the time, and I’m thankful for how it ushered me into serial television.
Story time! In 1998, my wife and I got a wedding invitation from one of her sorority sisters. Newly married, poor as dirt working hourly jobs at a Florida theme park, we decided that only one of us (my wife obviously) could go. Why do I bring this up? Because the wedding was in California, and the sorority sister was the lead costume designer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And yes, the entire Scooby Gang was in attendance - my wife hung out with Seth Green and Anthony Head at her table, said that Charisma Carpenter and David Boreanaz were wonderful, Nicholas Brendon was about as wild as you would expect. Sarah Michelle Gellar was kind but a bit aloof, Alyson Hannigan was painfully shy. But we have tons of photos from the event and it was an incredible memory for her.
Do I regret not going? Maybe a little… I don’t know. I appreciate amazing actors and what they do to bring us a little moment of respite from real life, but I’ve never been all into the celebrity aspect of it. That said, if I had the opportunity to meet the cast of any show, it would probably be this one. C’est la vie!
DreadPirate, what a great story.
DeleteI did get to meet a lot of celebrities during my twelve years in Los Angeles, and I'm glad I did, just for the fun of it. I didn't move to L.A. for that. It was just a delightful by product. :)
Billie - you run the best darn review site on the web. Those celebrities should have been excited to meet YOU! :)
DeleteIn all seriousness, if I ever lived in L.A., I am certain I would have tried to do the same.
How was Buffy not #1????? I can only imagine that it's either our Winchester boys, or maybe Star Trek depending on how you count the stats. (Entire franchise vs just individual shows.)
ReplyDeleteOut of all the shows and reviews on this site, I associate Buffy with you the most. Maybe it's the shared 'B' names! : )
If I had done it by franchise, the whole thing would have been different. Interesting thought, putting Angel with Buffy, or all of the Star Treks together.
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