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Meet the destructoid Team >>   Conrad Zimmerman
Conrad Zimmerman's blog
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Destructoid's head of video operations. An avid player of tabletop and video games throughout his life, Conrad has a passion for unique design mechanics and is a nut for gaming history. Conrad organizes and produces video content for the site (including Sup, Holmes?, Office Chat and Saturday Morning Hangover) and is a regular host on Podtoid.

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Last week, I appeared on an episode of Podtoid. At some point in the proceedings, Jim Sterling made some comment regarding Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was shocked when I professed to have no particular interest in the series, as we are of course required to like all of the same things. And because I'm the sort of person who'll give a try to just about anything that isn't commonly distributed via injection or inhalation, I agreed that I would give it a shot.

Well, I'm seven episodes in and Jim's a jerk for provoking me into it now that I've realized what I'm in for. There's seven seasons of this? Am I obligated to watch the spin-off? Oh, the things I do to satisfy that luscious vessel of man-gravy.

So far, there have been a few genuinely entertaining moments, usually short bursts of clever dialogue, but it also feels like it's faltering a little bit in its balance between camp and cool and it's not quite working. Then again, I've been led to understand that the Joss Whedon requires a little time to get cooking. Seven seasons and millions of fans suggests that it finds a groove eventually and I expect I'll be rolling right along with the fun halfway through season two. In the meantime, it's not terribly exciting.

Any predictions on when in the series this transitions for me from feeling a little bit like a chore to feeling like an imperative?
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I didn't like Buffy back when it first aired. But recently I took to watching it on Netflix. I ended up watching the entire series within a month or so. I loved it.

Season 1 has kind of a slow start, but I feel it really picks up around Season 2. And as far as Angel goes, I watched the first season and I haven't watched any more since. It's not terrible, but I didn't feel it was nearly as good as Buffy.
The third season is probably the highlight of the entire series. It works up to a definite climax there and slowly peters out after that with occasional flashes of brilliance.
Probably. Definite. *facepalm*
Oh Mr. Moustache. Nice to see ya in the trenches. Buffy wasn't my thing back then. No interest at all. Curious if anyone responds about when it gets better. Might give it a chance.
I sat through all of Buffy for similar reasons, but it never really got great for me. However, Angel, the spin-off, is utterly fantastic. You don't even really need to watch Buffy to enjoy Angel, and somehow, when the characters crossover to Angel's show, they're a lot more interesting. The tone of Angel is more adult and mature (and it should be for a show about redemption, and the complicated nature of good and evil).
Joss is usually inherently camp. There's a lot of good moments, but be prepared!

I always thought Angel was better anyway.
You're starting with series one, I assume. Yeah, series two gets more interesting, series three knocks it out of the park. If we're watching series three and have met the Mayor and you still don't like it, then you can safely say you're done.

Please keep up updated!
Joss Whedon is one of the only guys I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

To be honest, I have always thought that he maybe projects his own personality a little too much on his characters from time to time, or that the campy element is pushed to the limits. But I have never found any of his work hard to watch and that includes Buffy.

Definitely not my favorite show, but there are some episodes which are definitely worth watching; like the one where the demons make everyone silent and take peoples hearts.
Toot. (my gf loves Buffy. Get ready for a dip in quality in the later seasons. There's also a continuation comic book now as well.)
Here's the thing, dude. The whole appeal: Sarah Michelle Gellar. She is fucking ADORABLE and has the cutest nose ever. That ALONE makes it all worth it.
Oh, and it does get really good.
I only watched the occasional episode and never did catch the entire series. :(

Good luck with that though! I do think that people get much more out of a series by watching the entire series on DVD rather than trying to follow them on TV (especially with all the breaks and schedule changes).
"Series one"

Oh Jim. You so British.
You have to at least get to the mayor.
I'll need to get to this series too one of these days. I watched the odd episode back in the day but never religiously.
I found Buffy was interesting due to the side characters while Buffy herself was pretty boring. However, this is no surprise as Joss Whedon is terrible at writing bad ass female protagonists despite how much he loves them. Or maybe the problem is I started watching it as a 26 year old adult male that could care less about how this bad ass that gets to fight vampires with super strength is depressed because she can't date Boring McStudenstein the high school quarterback.

The side characters are what make it interesting. Perhaps this is why I stopped watching at Season Four, where the primary focus is more on Buffy and less on the other characters again. This is also where Angel began, which was a much more interesting show...for the first three seasons. Then David Greenwalt left (WHYYYY?) and Joss kept finding different people to take over, which screwed with the tone and the story until it was a big mess. Season Five, the final season of Angel, picks up again and has a decent enough ending. Not quite up to the potential of the rest of the first three seasons, though.

I can't comment on seasons five, six or seven of Buffy. Haven't finished season four, honestly have no impetus to do so.
Like said above, if by season 2 / season 3 you don't like it, just stop.
Never really watched Angel however, I don't think you have to. Unless you fall in love with Angel or something.
I just started watching the series for the first time about a month ago. Season 1 is mostly useless I've discovered. 2 is a lot better, and from what I've seen so far 3 continues the upward trend.
As the others have said, do start watching Angel once he leaves Buffy. Angel ends up becoming the better show with much better antagonists, characters (R.I.P. Andy Hallet) etc. Then the cross-over episodes are really quite neat. Have any more modern shows ever done this?

Don't just quit Buffy once you finish with Season 3. Otherwise, you'll miss some of the more classic episodes like "Hush" and "The Body". Buffy only really, REALLY starts to get terrible during season 6, even though that's the season with the musical episode, which is astounding.
Buffy's first season is rough, but it's worth sticking with it. Things get better around season two, and I'd say that the best part of the series is from halfway through season two through the end of season three. That doesn't mean that the rest of it isn't also great, but as I'm only halfway through season six, I can't comment on the rest, other than noting that the third season is definitely the best.

And hey, if you enjoy Buffy and want to keep watching it but don't think it will keep your interest for the whole seven-season run, the last episode of season five is a wonderful stopping point, since it was the last new episode shown on the WB before the series moved to UPN.

Your enjoyment of Angel will depend entirely on how much you like the character. I've stuck with it into season three because I like what Joss Whedon does, but David Boreanaz is only really fun to watch when he's hamming it up; unfortunately, the whole "vampire with a soul" bit tends to make him pretty lame. He gets better as the series goes on, but for me, it's never hit the highs seen in Buffy and other Whedon productions. My progress on that series has slowed to a crawl, so I don't know much about season four and five.
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