Is A Part Of
I have another “5Top” list at MSNBC.com: “The Best TV Story Arcs”. Editors Jon Bonne and Gael Cooper were especially indulgent in my quirky taste this time, noting that including “Buffy” on the list instead of the semi-obscure Brit-Com “Black Adder” would have increased its appeal with the target audience (that audience being people who never watch BBC America, I guess). I even wrote a back-up “Buffy” item which they courageously chose not to use:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
TV’s worst dramatic title belonged to the show with some of the best arc-based stories, as it followed the title character and her friends from high school into their 20s with real life problems and real character development (even the show’s centuries-old vampires and demons grew up some), all the time kicking supernatural butt and defeating a different “Big Bad” by the end of each season (sometimes after the “Big Bad” was usurped by an “Even Bigger Bad”). Like “Babylon 5,” Buffy had distribution issues, changing networks from the WB to UPN, and the last episode on the old network left our heroine dead and buried. It took a lot of black magic (with negative repercussions) to bring her back to life, but it fit well into the overall arc of a show that worked on multiple levels.
I’d like to thank ‘my people’ at MSNBC.com for supporting my original creative vision and sticking with my judgment (even though the accompanying on-line poll has Buffy the #1 people’s choice). There should be no such controversy with my next “5Top”. I can’t reveal too much, but one of the items on it is the McDonald’s McRib.
