Editorials
Grab Mr. Pointy and Celebrate Because “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Turns 20 Today!
Once upon a time, an unknown screenwriter named Joss Whedon wrote a screenplay for a horror comedy film called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His screenplay focused on a Valley Girl named Buffy Summers who discovers that she is next in a line of slayers and that it is her destiny to fight and kill vampires. In 1991, he sold the script to Dolly Parton’s(!) production company Sandollar, where it was eventually filmed and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Filmed on a production budget of $7 million, the film ended its run with a domestic gross of $16.6 million. While not exactly a flop, it didn’t make nearly as much money as Fox was hoping for. The final product was also significantly different than Whedon’s original script (he envisioned it as a horror movie about an empowered woman as opposed to the straightforward comedy that the movie turned out to be), so he decided to turn it into a TV series, which premiered 20 years ago today on The WB. That series, also named Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is widely considered one of the greatest television series of all time.
The origins of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a television series started when Sandollar President and CEO Gail Berman approached Whedon about turning Buffy the Vampire Slayer into a series. She would go on to be an executive at Fox, and be one of the show’s biggest supporters. After writing and partially funding a 25-minute pilot, he shopped it around and eventually sold it to The WB Network. Taking the idea of high school as a horror movie, Whedon crafted a timely, relevant and important series that is still being taught in college courses today.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on March 10, 1997 (do you feel old yet?). Whedon’s original idea that spawned the character of Buffy Summers was to take the stereotypical blonde bimbo that always died quickly in horror movies and have her become the hero. Ironically, Sarah Michelle Gellar would go on to be that very girl in horror films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2 and The Grudge films. In BTVS though, she was Buffy Summers, a smart, resourceful teenage girl that just so happened to be in charge of saving the world all the time.
As many of you may already know (and if you don’t, stop reading and go start watching the series on Netflix right now), every season of BTVS revolved around a “Big Bad.” Be it The Master, Angelus, The Mayor, Adam (blech), Glory, The Trio, Dark Willow or The First, every season was defined by its villain, and the theme of the season was usually correlated with the villain as well. The heart and soul of the series belonged, of course, to its quartet of main characters: Buffy (Gellar), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Together, those four characters formed a bond with viewers that is still felt to this day. When you’re watching BTVS, you feel like these characters are your friends. Sometimes I still that way.
The storytelling was always one of the strongest aspects of the series, with all of the credit going to the writers. There were many writers, but the most well-known ones today would be Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon, David Fury, Steven S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard. These writers were able to make even the most outlandish plot work. I mean, this is a series that introduced a sibling to the main character in its fifth season as if she had been there all along (it makes sense, I promise). You don’t just do that unless you’ve got some bomb-ass writers on your team. It’s a shame that Buffy the Vampire Slayer never got the awards attention it deserved. The series was frequently written off because of it’s silly name and premise, but anyone who actually watches it knows how good it is and that it is able to connect with viewers on an emotional level more so than many other shows have been able to.
Speaking of people not taking the show seriously, I always have trouble getting people into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Has anyone else had this problem? It’s a little easier to convince people to watch it now because of Netflix. It’s more accessible now than it was 10 years ago so more people are finding it by happenstance, but it used to take all my willpower to get people into the series. Not helping matters is that the first season and a half of BTVS hasn’t exactly aged well. It’s not that it’s bad television (and the first season finale, “Prophecy Girl”, is one of the show’s stronger episodes), but it doesn’t quite have the same hook that the show has in the fourteenth episode of the second season, once Angel becomes Angelus. I always tell people to stick with it until that moment, because that moment is the show’s hook (and if that doesn’t get you, then “Passion”, the seventeenth episode of season two, certainly will).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer helped establish The WB as a major player in the network battle. While it was never able to compete with the shows on ABC, CBS or NBC, it was always in the Top 5 rated shows on the network. Unfortunately it also cost a lot of money to produce, so at the end of its fifth season BTVS was moved away from the WB. Like its heroine who (SPOILER ALERT) died in the fifth series finale, the series was resurrected on rival network UPN. Unfortunately it never recaptured the ratings glory it had in its third season, its highest rated season. By the time the series ended on May 20, 2003 (again, feel old yet?), it had earned the second lowest ratings out of any of the seven seasons, ahead only of its first. Still, thanks to DVD sales and Netflix, the story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has continued in the form of comic books. It’s unlikely we’ll ever get a true revival of the series, but at least we can be thankful for what we have.
So help us celebrate the 20th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of the greatest television shows ever made. What are some of your favorite episodes? Which moments made you cry the most? Let us know in the comments below!
P.S. Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins Harris is the best character to ever grace a television screen. That is a fact and therefore not open to debate.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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