That's not even a contest. Buffy, every day of the week and that is before bringing the spin-off
Angel into the equation. Yes, it started out super cheesy, but by the second season it was starting to really hit it's stride.
Along the way it:-
- Broke stereotypes. From the very first episode, even the first 5 minutes it made a statement of intent, of strong female characters, not just the titular character of Buffy, and this remained true throughout, to the very end.
- Provided a strong female badass heroine who was also a relatable character, which was near enough unheard of at the time.
- Utilized season long storyarcs at a time when the norm was for tv programmes to be very much an episodic basis, with little carrying over from one to the next.
- Featured one of the first same-sex relationships on TV that wasn't just a one-off episode sort of thing, but a major prominant relationship that evolved over a number of seasons
- Was not afraid to take chances, which was pretty rare for the time in what it would handle and try to do. Don't want to go into spoilers about specific episodes, but just to name a few episodes to illustrate this - Hush, The Body, Once More With Feeling & Earshot come intstantly to mind.
- was cheesy fun, supernatural and terrifyingly creepy at times and absolutely pioneering in so many ways.
- Inspired a new wave of tv programmes during it's run, including but not limited to Dark Angel, Alias, Dawson's Creek, Veronica Mars & Lost to name but a few, let alone since.
- Not to mention without Buffy there is no Charmed. End of.
Some of these may not be obvious looking back at it now, but at the time it was groundbreaking in so many ways.
I remember reading an article a couple of years ago that TV as we know it now is essentially thanks to 3 shows.
The Sopranos changed how tv shows are made, but
Buffy changed how the stories are told. And there is a good argument to be made in support of this.
And then there is
Survivor, and all the unscripted drama & reality shows that followed in it's wake, but that is a different discussion.
It deserves it's place as one of the most innovative and progressive shows that have evolved TV since it's inception, alongside shows like MASH or Twin Peaks.
That's a hell of a legacy.
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