‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Is Still Changing TV 20 Years After Its Premiere

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series hit screens on a barely launched network called The WB in 1997. But at the time, no one knew the impact it would wind up having on pop culture. Or the lives of an entire generation of viewers.

And now, more than 20 years later, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is poised to change the TV landscape all over again…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on the WB in 1997.

It’s a supernatural drama that’s centered on a teenage “slayer,” chosen by fate to fight vampires, demons, and other things that go bump in the night. It’s also about the perils of everyday high-school existence.

It was created by Joss Whedon.

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You know, the guy who directed The Avengers. Wrote The Cabin in the Woods. Created Firefly, Dollhouse, and Angel. In other words, the guy who shaped the film and television world for an entire generation of ‘90s kids.

And it was based on a 1992 film that Whedon wrote.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer film was a fun “pop-culture comedy” starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. It was good, but mostly forgettable. And if you ask any fan, the best thing about it is Paul Reubens’ death scene.

Whedon’s idea for Buffy was rooted in a desire to go against the Hollywood formula.

Whedon originally wanted to tell a story about an insignificant someone who winds up being of great importance. And that lame horror trope of the little blonde girl who gets killed in a dark alley? F— that. Buffy wasn’t about to be that girl.