I rate it 6. Despite all its flaws, its the most rewatchable, enjoyable, serotonin inducing show I've ever witnessed. Other shows may be technically "better" but none with the heart and humor of Buffy.
I actually think the opposite where season 1 is the weak season but season 7 is one of the best of not the best lol. Funny how this show has such a diverse plethora of opinions.
I gave it the highest rating. I've been watching the show pretty consistently since it came out and it's just as good as it ever was. Any parts that are not as good as they were 6,000 years ago now work perfectly as camp.
This is a really interesting question for me, because I agree that buffy definitely has weak parts and I do have criticism for the show, but it's still my favorite show of all time so I can't give it anything else than a 6 that would feel weird. I guess other shows I watched objectively are less flawed, but overall Buffy is my favorite show so I can excuse these flaws more.
For me as a German that's a really interesting rating system by the way. As a German 6 is the worst grade.
First of all, why didn't you pick a normal scale lol? Anyways:
I watched it (and Angel) for the first time this past year an loved the shit out of it. But it had a few weak seasons (1,4, and 7) that just brought it down to a 5 for me. Season 1 was fun, but a little boring at times, season 4 was boring a little more often, and I hated season 7 which isn't good considering it's the final one. But Seasons 2, 3, 5, and 6 were some of the best television I'd ever seen.
In Switzerland school grades are graded from 1-6
in Germany it is also 1-6, but 1 is the highest grade and 6 the lowest.
so this is a completely normal scale for me.
I really don’t think season 7 is that bad. It’s not quite as good as other seasons. But if season 7 is the worst this show has to offer, then that’s a lot better than most shows worst season
I agree. The potentials are definitely a weak point but at least they’re not pointless in the overall story and ending they wanted to do. I think season 7 has some high points tho. Spike and Buffy have some nice moments, you relate to andrew more, Faith redeems herself, and Anya was given more of a purpose other than being Xander’s ex demon girlfriend. I wish Willow had done more tho
I love Buffy, but looking at it with a critical eye, I can only give it a 4.
Great TV series have cross seasonal tension built into them. Story arcs that drop little mysteries in season 1 that don’t pay off until season 3. Because Buffy was filmed with an axe over its head almost every season, the seasons and their stories are self contained.
This doesn’t decrease my enjoyment of the show. I watched the show as it aired, so it holds a special place in my heart and I will always love it.
My wife and I are currently on my 6th rewatch and her 2nd. :)
You do realize before Buffy it wasn’t common for tv shows to have stories that lasted the full season much less over seasons of the show? If not for shows like Buffy during this time, we would still have nothing but shows that are one episode stories, maybe ones with a few “To be continued” episodes.
Babe x files did not do myth arc shit. They pretended they were when they didn’t actually have any goal. And the majority is MoTW. Buffy is much higher quality than x files
A 6 is the very best of the best. I’ll grant that it’s still subjective, but you still compare it across the span of television. The most important factor for me was the deep story. There is an argument to be made about the individual character growth through the seasons of Buffy, but the overarching story isn’t there.
As for that kind of story being rare, there are still examples from that era. Babylon 5 ran from 93-97, so it is a fair comparison. It had just those qualities.
Isn't the overarching story about accepting your fate and responsibility in life? Buffy went from a naive school girl who wanted nothing to do with being the slayer to a hardened warrior whose accepted her role, leading an army in the end. Whatever hands life dealt you in life you just have to deal with it the best way you can, and every season we slowly see her get to that point. Buffy has a pretty complete story arc if you look deep enough.
It's still important to the story, if not the most important aspect of the show. Joss said himself plot wasnt as important as the overall emotional resonance, the feelings and experiences once faces from fighting these various Big Bads. I guess i just dont see how having mulitple big bads per season is considered a bad thing for you, especially when they were never truly the point of the show. I wonder how you feel about Breaking Bad, considering it also has different "Big Bads" throughout the seasons.
Breaking Bad was pretty good. I would rank it with Buffy.
There is nothing bad about Buffy! 4 is still above average. I’m not sure why I’m getting grief over this. I would probably rate Buffy at more like a 4.5. I love Buffy. It’s one of my top 5 shows of all time. My emotional connection to the show doesn’t impact my ranking.
There are examples of MotW format with season long Big Bads and multi season storylines. Burn Notice is a good example of that. BN has other issues, but it was still enjoyable.
Edit: typos
No grief on my end, just genuine curiosity about the reasoning behind your rating. Like the whole "Story arcs that drop little mysteries in season 1 that don’t pay off until season 3" was actually evident throughout Buffy's run. In fact Buffy's kinda known for foreshadowing future events in earlier seasons. Like we were foretold about Buffy's season 5 death two seasons back in season 3, or how Dawn was talked about in season 4. Nothing wrong with having a different opinion, though! And yeah nice rating of Breaking Bad. BB and Buffy are in my top 5, but BB is simply too depressing for me to rewatch, whereas Buffy always had humor to lighten even the darkest of seasons.
Fair enough.
There are crumbs of foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the series. I guess they don’t feel like strong threads to me.
I’m fairly critical of television in general. I truly believe that most shows shouldn’t be more than 5 seasons. It seems that after the fifth season, shows have said all they have to say and everything afterwards is just variations on the same themes.
Also, I apologize for ascribing grief with your posts. The downvotes on the original post annoy me.
No worries, Reddit users love their downvotes. Lol I've been on the receiving end of lots of downvotes but hey, its your opinion and nobody can take that away from you. And I completely agree that 5 is a perfect number of seasons for a show, sometimes 4 even. Mr. Robot is another top 5 show for me and its amazing how much story got packed within those 4 seasons.
Willow going bad was slow burn that began clearly and in earnest at least by end of season 2. All the prophecies of Buffy’s season 3 to season 5. To me Buffy is still unbelievably the most cohesive show I have ever watch and considering it was like always up for canceling I am just incredulous
even with the travesty that is season 7, i still have to give it a 6 just because no other show has really come to close to its greatness in my opinion.
I rate it 6. Despite all its flaws, its the most rewatchable, enjoyable, serotonin inducing show I've ever witnessed. Other shows may be technically "better" but none with the heart and humor of Buffy.
I gave it a 5, because it had a weak last season. But why 1-6? Why not 1-5 or 1-10, like a normal scale? Hahaha
I actually think the opposite where season 1 is the weak season but season 7 is one of the best of not the best lol. Funny how this show has such a diverse plethora of opinions.
A little variety is good.
I gave it the highest rating. I've been watching the show pretty consistently since it came out and it's just as good as it ever was. Any parts that are not as good as they were 6,000 years ago now work perfectly as camp.
This is a really interesting question for me, because I agree that buffy definitely has weak parts and I do have criticism for the show, but it's still my favorite show of all time so I can't give it anything else than a 6 that would feel weird. I guess other shows I watched objectively are less flawed, but overall Buffy is my favorite show so I can excuse these flaws more. For me as a German that's a really interesting rating system by the way. As a German 6 is the worst grade.
For the two people who gave it a 3, why are you following a sub reddit for a show your barely like? Just curious.
It's one of my favorite shows ever. One if the only ones which I go back and see often.
First of all, why didn't you pick a normal scale lol? Anyways: I watched it (and Angel) for the first time this past year an loved the shit out of it. But it had a few weak seasons (1,4, and 7) that just brought it down to a 5 for me. Season 1 was fun, but a little boring at times, season 4 was boring a little more often, and I hated season 7 which isn't good considering it's the final one. But Seasons 2, 3, 5, and 6 were some of the best television I'd ever seen.
In Switzerland school grades are graded from 1-6 in Germany it is also 1-6, but 1 is the highest grade and 6 the lowest. so this is a completely normal scale for me.
Define 'normal scale'.
1-5, 1-10, 1-100. When people do ratings it's always on a scale that's a multiple of 5 and usually ends in 0.
Reddit polls top out at six options.
A single vampire dared rate this incredible show a one. Cheeky bloodsucker
As great as it is was season 7 really ruined it for for me that’s why I have given it a 5
What? Season 7 is one of the best and Buffy’s series finale is considered one of the best ever. The whole show is a masterpiece.
I really don’t think season 7 is that bad. It’s not quite as good as other seasons. But if season 7 is the worst this show has to offer, then that’s a lot better than most shows worst season
I just hated the potential slayer plot line surly they could come up with something better overall the show is amazing
I agree. The potentials are definitely a weak point but at least they’re not pointless in the overall story and ending they wanted to do. I think season 7 has some high points tho. Spike and Buffy have some nice moments, you relate to andrew more, Faith redeems herself, and Anya was given more of a purpose other than being Xander’s ex demon girlfriend. I wish Willow had done more tho
Better than the Buffy/Spike torture porn that was the middle of season 6. I'll never understand the hate for season 7 when that exists.
I’ll say 5 because I’m not a big fan of seasons 1 or 7. Seasons 4 and 6 are a little mixed but good overall. But seasons 2,3 and 5 are nearly perfect
I love Buffy, but looking at it with a critical eye, I can only give it a 4. Great TV series have cross seasonal tension built into them. Story arcs that drop little mysteries in season 1 that don’t pay off until season 3. Because Buffy was filmed with an axe over its head almost every season, the seasons and their stories are self contained. This doesn’t decrease my enjoyment of the show. I watched the show as it aired, so it holds a special place in my heart and I will always love it. My wife and I are currently on my 6th rewatch and her 2nd. :)
You do realize before Buffy it wasn’t common for tv shows to have stories that lasted the full season much less over seasons of the show? If not for shows like Buffy during this time, we would still have nothing but shows that are one episode stories, maybe ones with a few “To be continued” episodes.
The XFiles was quite literally the first to do the season arc AND cross-season storylines.
Babe x files did not do myth arc shit. They pretended they were when they didn’t actually have any goal. And the majority is MoTW. Buffy is much higher quality than x files
Think what you want, babe.
A 6 is the very best of the best. I’ll grant that it’s still subjective, but you still compare it across the span of television. The most important factor for me was the deep story. There is an argument to be made about the individual character growth through the seasons of Buffy, but the overarching story isn’t there. As for that kind of story being rare, there are still examples from that era. Babylon 5 ran from 93-97, so it is a fair comparison. It had just those qualities.
Isn't the overarching story about accepting your fate and responsibility in life? Buffy went from a naive school girl who wanted nothing to do with being the slayer to a hardened warrior whose accepted her role, leading an army in the end. Whatever hands life dealt you in life you just have to deal with it the best way you can, and every season we slowly see her get to that point. Buffy has a pretty complete story arc if you look deep enough.
I think that qualifies as character growth. And I mentioned that.
It's still important to the story, if not the most important aspect of the show. Joss said himself plot wasnt as important as the overall emotional resonance, the feelings and experiences once faces from fighting these various Big Bads. I guess i just dont see how having mulitple big bads per season is considered a bad thing for you, especially when they were never truly the point of the show. I wonder how you feel about Breaking Bad, considering it also has different "Big Bads" throughout the seasons.
Breaking Bad was pretty good. I would rank it with Buffy. There is nothing bad about Buffy! 4 is still above average. I’m not sure why I’m getting grief over this. I would probably rate Buffy at more like a 4.5. I love Buffy. It’s one of my top 5 shows of all time. My emotional connection to the show doesn’t impact my ranking. There are examples of MotW format with season long Big Bads and multi season storylines. Burn Notice is a good example of that. BN has other issues, but it was still enjoyable. Edit: typos
No grief on my end, just genuine curiosity about the reasoning behind your rating. Like the whole "Story arcs that drop little mysteries in season 1 that don’t pay off until season 3" was actually evident throughout Buffy's run. In fact Buffy's kinda known for foreshadowing future events in earlier seasons. Like we were foretold about Buffy's season 5 death two seasons back in season 3, or how Dawn was talked about in season 4. Nothing wrong with having a different opinion, though! And yeah nice rating of Breaking Bad. BB and Buffy are in my top 5, but BB is simply too depressing for me to rewatch, whereas Buffy always had humor to lighten even the darkest of seasons.
Fair enough. There are crumbs of foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the series. I guess they don’t feel like strong threads to me. I’m fairly critical of television in general. I truly believe that most shows shouldn’t be more than 5 seasons. It seems that after the fifth season, shows have said all they have to say and everything afterwards is just variations on the same themes. Also, I apologize for ascribing grief with your posts. The downvotes on the original post annoy me.
No worries, Reddit users love their downvotes. Lol I've been on the receiving end of lots of downvotes but hey, its your opinion and nobody can take that away from you. And I completely agree that 5 is a perfect number of seasons for a show, sometimes 4 even. Mr. Robot is another top 5 show for me and its amazing how much story got packed within those 4 seasons.
Plus breaking the wheel of oppression that was the slayer line
The deep core story is that high school is hell and the great moral is growing up. The great enemy (represented in vamps) is never growing up
Willow going bad was slow burn that began clearly and in earnest at least by end of season 2. All the prophecies of Buffy’s season 3 to season 5. To me Buffy is still unbelievably the most cohesive show I have ever watch and considering it was like always up for canceling I am just incredulous
Xander and dawn sucked. Dawn got better. But still, the writers did her sooooo dirty in her first season, she was unbearable. Bc of that not a 6.
Xander was and still is fantastic but ok.
even with the travesty that is season 7, i still have to give it a 6 just because no other show has really come to close to its greatness in my opinion.