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2001 Fall SF TV Preview: Part II by Kathie Huddleston
From SciFi.com - September 2001
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
At the beginning of last season, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) had been through it all, we thought. Fans everywhere gave a collective groan when it was announced that Buffy would magically gain a little sister named Dawn, but executive producer Joss Whedon managed to pull it off in spades. And when we found out Glory was a god, he had us once again. We were there all the way, even despite the surprise death of Buffy's mom in perhaps too realistic a way, and the horribly tragic events the characters were put through. Whedon gave us yet another brilliant season that led up to an amazing and terrible cliffhanger, where Buffy literally sacrificed herself to save Dawn and the world. So, how the heck does the best fantasy series on television resurrect its hero and move to a new network without missing a beat? Who knows, but whatever happens Whedon won't disappoint us. Last season he let his characters grow up, and at times in the most painful ways. Xander (Nicholas Brendon) asked Anya (Emma Caulfield) to marry him, and Tara (Amber Benson) got her mind back. As Buffy enters its sixth season, Buffy's two-hour season premiere will feature the Buffybot pretending to be the Bufster. What happens after that is super-secret stuff. We do know that the season will see Buffy's watcher, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), return to England, so he'll be on the show only occasionally (Head is working on a Buffy spinoff). Willow (Alyson Hannigan) will become a more powerful witch, Amy will finally get deratted, and the cast will get a chance to sing in an all-musical episode. But most importantly, Buffy isn't likely to stay dead for very long.
The Outlook: Well, the big news was that UPN outbid The WB to snatch up Buffy with a two-year commitment guaranteeing a full seven years of the series, and later picked up Roswell just for the heck of it. UPN promptly scheduled Buffy for its old timeslot and put Roswell right after it, completely reinventing its image and its demographics. With Whedon at the helm and the wonderful cast at hand, the future looks bright indeed. Not many shows have ever been able to go into a sixth season stronger than ever. When all is said and done, Buffy won't just have been one of the best fantasy series on television. It will have been one of the best shows of all time. Emmy voters should be ashamed of themselves for not recognizing what even the regular, non-genre critics already know. To overlook a series simply because the cast is young and the subject matter is fantasy is more than shortsighted. It's a crime. For those who feel left behind and have never gotten to see what everyone is talking about, here's your chance. Buffy goes into syndication this year on FX.
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