5. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Those who are not Buffy fans would probably consider this a strange sci-fi show about monsters. Those who ARE Buffy fans know that this could not be further from the truth. What could be more universal than a teenager grappling with responsibility while still trying to find her true self? Steeped in a rich mythology, Buffy the Vampire Slayer dealt with issues like friendship, loss, and first loves. It was about trying to gain control in an uncontrollable situation. If anything, the juxtaposition of the outlandish elements against the trials or teenage life only highlighted the every day teenage issues that Buffy and her Scoobies attacked each week. The monsters she faced were blatant metaphors for what she was going through in her life. Furthermore, actions had consequences. Life was messy. Relationships were not cut and dry. Sometimes we are with people and we hate ourselves for it, but they fill a need at that time. Sometimes we skirt our responsibility but it comes back to haunt us. This was perhaps most evident when Buffy's mother died not at the hand of supernatural forces, but from a standard tumor. In spite of all Buffy's power and everything she had faced, she could not protect her mother from life. Family always played a key role in the series, whether it was the family she created herself or a sister that she literally does not know as she was created from thin air. Buffy even acts as a parent herself when she mentors younger slayers as the series progresses. Such an outlandish concept would not have made such a cultural impact if it did not connect with the modern youth on some level. If nothing else, it helped growing adolescents realize that maybe their problems aren't quite as bad as trying to be killed each night simply for who you are.