Happy Birthday Buffy!

I'll be the first to admit it, back in 1997, when I heard they were coming out with a Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show, I laughed. I saw the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie at the theater and I was really hopeful, but it left me less than impressed. It can be really hard to harness the combination of horror and comedy and make it work. So I imagined the TV show would end up being goofy and not last very long. Needless to say, I didn't watch it. I was in college, working two jobs and didn't have time to watch much TV. However I ended up driving my baby brother to school, so I'd have to wake up early in the morning. The only thing on TV that was worth watching at 7am was reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I knew the characters and it ended up making my morning routine enjoyable. At the time it was still airing new episodes, so I made sure I caught up and saw ALL of them. Now I have every season on DVD and it's my go-to when I want some background TV on at home.

 It goes without saying that I need to celebrate Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 20th anniversary. It's my absolute FAVORITE TV show, even after all these years. No other show has ever compared ~ monsters, action and whitty comedy ~ count me in! It's a shame it only lasted seven seasons and Supernatural is on thirteen. (Yeah, I wrote about how I'm plowing though it ~ in the middle of season 3 right now. You can read my thoughts so far here.) Buffy is an inspiration, so I'm going to share with you my top 20 reasons (in no particular order) why I love it and hopefully, if you haven't watched it, you'll give it a chance like I did.

1. Anyone can be a fighter and fight the good fight, even a little blonde girl.

2. If Billy Idol and David from The Lost Boys had a baby it would be Spike.

3. There's a singing episode called "Once More with Feeling".

4. There's a silent episode, that's pretty creepy called "Hush". It's Emmy nominated.

5. Willow, Buffy's best friend, is the first portrayal of a lesbian on US TV!

6. Fashion ~ the 1990s style ~ Willow's bad sweaters ~ Xander's Hawaiian shirts.

7. Buffy works at Doublemeat Palace at one point, and I really feel that everyone should work in food service at least once.

8. The slang on the show has become part of the real world vocabulary. For example, nouns become verbs, adjectives become nouns. i.e. The Wig = the creeps. Used in a sentence, "You gave me the wig." Can also be wiggins, major wig etc.

9. The special effects are sometimes laughable, but you have to remember this isn't a movie, it was a mini movie on EVERY WEEK. I'd say that's still impressive.

10. Anya, Xander's girlfriend, is my spirit animal. She fears rabbits and I fear of butterflies. (I don't want to talk about it.)

11. There's werewolves too. Even though I'm an Anya, Oz is my favorite character.

12. There's messy life stories going on, and lots of metaphors for real life that people can relate to.

13. Buffy's mom dies in "The Body" episode and doesn't come back, well not permanently. You'd think with a show where Buffy always wins the fight, there would be no tragedy. Yes, likeable characters get killed off.

14. Xander in a speedo. (You just have to watch the episode for that.)

15. The bands that play at the Bronze for the most part are real bands, and truly the soundtrack for 1990s alternative music. The Breeders, Aimee Mann, and Cibo Matto are some examples.

16. The acting is good.

17. Without Buffy there would be no Hunger Games, or even Jessica Jones.

18. It subverts expectations with plot twists. Check out the Halloween episode "Fear Itself", it's my pick for best plot twist. You have to watch it through to the end though!

19. Buffy's an empowering feminist leader that fights many misogynistic monsters, some in the form of men.

20. Buffy gives the greatest inspirational speeches. Here's a sample of one toward the finale of the show.

Finally, I hope that the Buffy inspired line of clothes coming out from Hot Topic this year is cool and not just repros of Willow's pink fluffy sweater...