Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) are Buffy’s best high school friends, privy to her “secret identity.” Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) is Buffy’s Watcher, a member of the Watcher’s Council, educated to train and assist Slayers across time. As the series developed and the characters moved through high school and into college, other key allies (affectionately known as members of the “Scooby Gang”) emerged, many of them played by women. Sunnydale High’s lead cheerleader became unwillingly involved with Buffy’s inner circle (Cordelia Chase, played by Charisma Carpenter); Buffy’s mother found out that her daughter is the Slayer while she was still in high school (Joyce Summers, played by Kristine Sutherland); and another Slayer emerged in the third season (Faith, played by Eliza Dushku). In college, Willow began to date a female witch (Tara, played by Amber Benson); Xander became engaged to a former demon (Anya Emerson, played by Emma Caulfield); and Buffy suddenly had a younger sister (Dawn Summers, played by Michelle Trachtenberg). Other key characters included male romantic interests in high school for Willow (Oz, a werewolf played by Seth Green) and Buffy (Angel, a vampire with a soul played by David Boreanaz), and male romantic interests for Buffy in her college years (Riley Finn, a government soldier played by Marc Blucas, and Spike, a vampire and former enemy played by James Marsters).

The show also became a hit because of its blend of generic modes. While technically classified as a drama by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Buffy defies genre conventions. To begin with, Buffy Summers repeatedly holds her own in the most formidable of well-choreographed fight scenes. Buffy also incorporates aspects of fantasy/science-fiction with its use of demons, vampires, prophetic dreams, multiple realities, and magic. (For example, Buffy’s sister was created by religious monks; “she” was originally pure cosmic energy of great power.) The show also has a strong comic streak. Relying heavily on verbal witticisms (“When the apocalypse comes . . . beep me”) and creating humor out of situations as diverse as dating in high school and battling fashion-savvy evil goddesses in college, Buffy is rife with smart humor even as it develops intensely melodramatic and serious plotlines.

Buffy has pushed the television format to its limit in a number of unusual episodes. An especially notable episode was “Hush” (in the fourth season), which was conducted purely in silence for 28 minutes. The sixth season featured “Once More With Feeling,” a musical episode, which featured the cast members singing and dancing.

This combination of a strong female hero, a stalwart ensemble cast, and a defiant blend of genre characteristics helped make Buffy an industrial and critical success as well as a cult favorite. Critics praised the acting (Sarah Michelle Gellar was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1999) and the writing (the show’s creator and initial head writer, Joss Whedon, earned an Emmy nomination in 2000). Joss Whedon in particular has been singled out for creating a “teen show” that is distinguishable from other teen shows on the WB because of the intelligence with which it addresses topics relevant not only to teenagers but to adults as well. (The median age for Buffy viewers is 29.) The show has addressed how divorce affects children (“Nightmares”), date rape (“Reptile Boy”), relationship violence against women (“Beauty and the Beasts”), men stalking women (“Passion”), the ramifications of sexual intercourse (“Innocence”), high school violence (“Earshot”), and the death of a parent (“The Body”).

Buffy has also been praised by lesbian, gay, and bisexual organizations for its representation of a lesbian relationship, which began in the show’s fourth season. While the series had already addressed teen female sexuality through the sexual relationship between Buffy and Angel (and to a lesser degree between Willow and Oz), when the Scooby Gang broke down and reformed in the first year after high school, the writers introduced Tara. After Willow and Oz broke up, Willow became involved with Tara through a Wicca group on their college campus. By the fifth season the writers were finally allowed by the WB network to depict an on-screen kiss (“The Body”); and when the series moved to another network (UPN) for its sixth season, Willow and Tara were clearly a sexually active couple (“Once More, With Feeling”). Without ever becoming a show that was “about” lesbians, Buffy nevertheless became the first prime-time series to feature a lead lesbian character in an open and committed relationship since ABC’s Ellen.

Buffy’s move to UPN in the fall of 2001 and the furor it caused indicates how much of a cultural phenomenon the show had become by its sixth season. Buffy’s strong WB ratings and marketing ties (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, and Seth Green have been in financially successful films since Buffy began, and the series has spawned comic books and novels) prompted the WB to use the series as an anchor show for many of its subsequent hits, such as Dawson’s Creek and Felicity. As the show began its fourth season on the WB, it anchored a spin-off featuring Angel and Cordelia (Angel). Buffy and Angel remained together on the WB through Buffy’s fifth season; and then suddenly, in early spring of 2001, a bidding war erupted between the WB and UPN for rights to Buffy (which is produced by FOX).

The “issues” were largely financial, although “loyalty” was often bandied about in the press as a factor as well. Buffy, after all, had helped to solidify the WB as a viable network both critically and financially. The show had struggled with a tiny budget for its first five years, even as its stars and writers were becoming increasingly marketable both on television and in the movie industry. However, the WB network would not match UPN’s bid. Buffy was forced to move to UPN amid rumors that star Sarah Michelle Gellar would break her contract if this shift occurred (a rumor helped in no small way when, in the WB finale of the series, Buffy Summers died). More importantly, UPN was a smaller network than the WB, reaching fewer major markets and available in some major cities only via cable or satellite. This move also split Buffy from its spin-off, Angel, putting an end to crossover promotions. In spite of the move, both shows did well at their respective networks.

During Buffy’s seventh season, the producers and cast announced that they the show would conclude production at the end of the television season (spring 2003). Fans anticipated eagerly “the big finish” and watched throughout the season as Buffy and her friends dealt with the return of an ancient enemy known as “The First,” a pentultimate form of evil that sought to end the world. Potential Slayers throughout the world were dying as The First sought to end the Slayer line, and Giles began bringing those who were still alive to Sunnydale, where Buffy began to train them for a final battle. Viewers learned more about how Slayers were created (unwillingly, through the force of men too cowardly to fight evil themselves) and had a full season to ponder the ramifications of Spike the vampire now having a soul, like Angel did. Willow struggled to recuperate from having murdered the killer of her lover, Tara (in the sixth season), frightened to use her magic skills for fear that she would become murderous again. Xander struggled to come to terms with having broken off his engagement with Anya the year before. With the Scooby Gang in such disarray, the apocalypse seemed imminent. Indeed, when Faith returned to Sunnydale to help the potential Slayers, Buffy’s friends and family turned on Buffy, and she left them to face The First on their own.

In the end, however, Buffy discovered the way in which to best The First—a strategy that fit the history of the series as a TV show about female empowerment. With Willow’s Wicca skills and the collective force of the potential Slayers on hand, Buffy defied the rules of her lineage and Willow cast a spell that allowed Buffy to share her Slayer powers and strength; all the potential Slayers became actual Slayers (and Willow became a goddess). “Every one of you, and girls we’ve never known, and generations to come...they will have strength they never dreamed of, and more than that, they will have each other. Slayers. Every one of us,” Buffy explained in the finale (“Chosen”).