Why "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was Better Than "Angel"

From the moment I sat next to Joss Whedon at a L.A. restaurant and overheard a conversation about turning 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', into a show, I was stoked. Being in junior high, and watching the movie, I was sure it didn't get any better than cool high school kids, vampires and flashbacks involving wenches. I mean, I went to one of my proms as Buffy, Doc Martins and all. It did get better. "Buffy" was one of the best shows ever made. I didn't think Sarah Michelle Geller, who was a complete unknown to me, could ever be cooler than Kristie Swanson; she was. 'Buffy' had everything a teenager could ask for, hot people, decent, fast paced stories, and a really annoying cheerleader, Cordelia, that we could all love to hate.

The fact of the matter is that the show provided a character for everyone to relate to. I'll go ahead and admit that for me, that was Drusilla, totally insane, but very well dressed, a girl has to look good, as the Slayer herself demonstrated. It can't be easy to kill vamps in leather pants and platform boots. But, I digress. As I was saying, this show was as real as it gets in depicting the horror that is high school, and what comes after; as far as a show goes that has everything from fighting vampires, witches, demons, to sex with vampires, witches and demons. Nice, huh? I thought so, and so did millions of others. Girls wanted to be Buffy, guys wanted to, you know, with Buffy. And lets face it, the villains were awesome. Spike was my personal favorite; tortured Billy Idol looking vamp. He had the swagger, accent, fake as it may have have been, and black trench that Angel, the whipped dog, lacked. Buffy was a great show because it somehow managed to sidestep the cheesiness that seems lately to go along with the subject matter. There were plenty of laughs, but they were created through witty banter and quips that probably went over the head of many, but were appreciated by this geek.