Ranking Joss Whedon's Projects - From Worst To Best
2. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was what first put Joss Whedon on the map as a major genre showrunner to watch. Based on his significantly less successful screenplay from the early 90s, it took the common horror movie trope of the beautiful blonde damsel in distress and turned it on its head.
Buffy was a feminist icon, proving that girls could fight monsters and worry about boys in the same day (even in the same conversation, as audiences frequently saw on the show). With a unique sense of humor coupled with a total willingness to go to some seriously dark places, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a generation-defining program that ran for an impressive seven seasons and ushered in an entirely new era of youth television.
It proved that genre shows had a place on TV, and could appeal to mainstream audiences if made correctly. It launched the careers of some amazing actors (even Prince Oberyn from Game of Thrones appeared on Buffy), and even at its absolute worst (Beer Bad comes immediately to mind), it was still smart, engaging television.