10 Great TV Shows With Awful First Seasons

10. Buffy The Vampire Slayer

There was once a time that campy supernatural stories made for great TV. Within the same span from the late 1990s through to the early-mid 00s ran the likes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, and of course Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

All encapsulated what made the 90s so cheesy and fun, with Buffy arguably going on to be the most popular. Still to this day the show has a loyal fanbase, equally both excited by its would-be return and outraged by its subsequent cancellation in 2026.

Buffy certainly left an impression, but it is largely the later years that are most fondly looked back on, with season one being the most forgettable of all. It was closer to half a season in reality, boasting just 12 episodes before moving into the more typical 22-entry seasons, and Joss Whedon's creation was far from reaching its peak in that time frame.

In what will be a recurring theme on this list, characters that went on to be incredibly popular were either underdeveloped or missing entirely, the writing was nowhere near as honed as it would become over the years, and it was let down by incredibly shoddy CGI, even for the time. Thankfully things got better very quickly, and though there were certainly some episodes worse than others in the following years, the quality never stooped to season one levels again.