Discovering Buffy
First-person Accounts of How Buffy Followers Came to Watch the Show
Note to scholars: anyone wishing to use the responses gathered here (after the airing of the final episode in the US in May and June of 2003) in order to investigate BtVS fandom has the permission of the editors of Slayage to do so. Please be sure to credit Slayage as your source (the URL should be cited as http://www.slayage.tv/discoveringbuffy/discoveringbuffy.htm).
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I'm a professor of English (teaching literature and composition) at Gordon College in Georgia; I started watching Buffy in the first season. The way I got into it seems kind of blurry and gradual as I look back. I had been writing on good television for seven or eight years at that point, and--though this may sound odd--I'd gotten to feel almost as if I could smell the good ones. The name was what attracted me first--I figured with a name like that, the series would either be wonderful or terrible (I hadn't seen the film). At the time I had just published an essay on Scully and Mulder with my friend J. P. Williams in the X-Files collection Deny All Knowledge, edited by David Lavery (and Jill Hague and Marla Cartwright). J. P. and I would talk about The X-Files over the phone, and we kept talking about Buffy too. I loved the language, of course, and the humor, and the characters, and the social symbolism--and I particularly remember being fascinated in the pilot by the way the camera, instead of cutting directly from sunny Sunnydale to the Master's caverns, went down through the earth; I remember thinking it was like David Lynch's Blue Velvet, when he pulls you through the grass into the ground. I think that may have been the moment that got me. I kept telling J.P. I was just having fun; I wasn't going to write on it. I only write about television series I love--I grade mounds of English papers for a living (some, it's only fair to note, quite good, but still part of the mounds); during the summer and on breaks I write about television. We were heading into May and the deadline for proposals for the fall '98 Popular Culture in the South Conference when I told J. P. I was going to write about Buffy. She just laughed at me; she knew I loved it before I did. And I haven't stopped writing about it since….
Rhonda V. Wilcox |
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| 2 |
I have a BA in Anthropology and now I'm a graduate student of Library Science at UT Austin. (Go Giles) I saw the very first airing of Buffy. I had just graduated from Torrance High (aka Sunnydale High) and was very excited about a new show with vampires, witches and a valley girl. 'Bewitched' had been my favorite show growing up. After watching the first episode I thought "Wow- now this is the show for me!". This was pre-vampire fascination and pre-Anne Rice or LKH for me. I think it amazed me that something that was so fantasy and so well written was on TV. I still feel nostalgic when I see the first episode when Buffy meets Angel for the first time in the alley. I've watched every season since. At the time, I didn't read much in the way of fantasy but Buffy, I believe, led me to reading more vampire and magick fiction. I'm now an avid fan of the genre. And my mom, who never watched TV with me, watched the whole first season of Buffy with me. This was amazing in of itself. A very fond memory among the years of teen angst. Thank you Joss. Elizabeth Wireman-NothwangMasters candidate MSIS (Can I intern with Giles?)UT at Austin Elizabeth Wireman-Nothwang |
| 3 |
I just spent the last hour crying through the series finale of Buffy. It's ironic because that's how I was hooked... the show made me cry. And laugh. And theorize. I did not see the movie when it came out, having been turned off by the title (a common reaction, I think). In 1996, however, I read _Making Things Perfectly Queer_ by Alexander Doty. In his discussion of Paul Ruebens was a description of the never-ending death scene in the Buffy film. I was intrigued, but never got around to renting it. For some reason, I didn't watch the first season of the TV show--despite the rave reviews and the fact that I loved SMG on One Life to Live. During the second season, my then-husband had a weekly evening meeting that left me home alone with the clicker. I started watching regularly in the spring of 1998. I knew I was hooked when I saw that season's finale, "Becoming" parts one and two. Buffy killed Angel to save the world and there I was, sobbing. My husband walked in and laughed at me, crying over a show called "Buffy." I got him hooked on the reruns within a month... My students laugh at me when I refer to Allyson Hannigan as "Willow" not "Band Camp Girl" the way they do. I know it seems silly, but I feel a true loss with the end of the series. Buffy has been an important part of my life for six years. The show never failed to amaze me with its innovation and freshness--think of "Hush" and "Once More, with Feeling." It's no surprise that the show generated so much academic writing, including a paper I wrote. I will always love Buffy and will be secretly praying for a movie--coming soon to a theater near me. Garian Vigil Boulder, CO |
| 4 |
David, for years now I've been watching at least the first episode of any new program on TV that sounded interesting. Naturally, that leaves out the myriad sitcoms about fat, bald guys with gorgeous wives. In any event, that's how I found episode 1 of Buffy and was forevermore hooked. I'm 67 and a retired businesswoman living in San Jose, California. I hope my stats don't knock your survey demographics out of the ballpark. Jan Walters |
| 5 |
I am director of development at the Erikson Institute in Chicago, Illinois. I have always been a fan of popular culture and studied Communications in college and graduate school. I am a 32 year old, very recently divorced, female. And I am at a time in my life where I am starting over. As long as I can remember, I have had an interest in stories of vampires and the powers of witches and the world beyond the one in which we live in. I happened upon Buffy, simply by surfing the cable stations one night, my roommates were out and I had the TV to myself. The show caught my interest, I watched an episode and I was hooked. I have religiously watched the show ever since the first season. At first, my interest was simply due to the theme of slaying vampires, but as time went by I became more and more intrigued with the writing, the foreshadowing, and of course the character of Buffy. I feel as if I grew up with Buffy. When I first started to watch the show I was green, fresh out of school and trying to find my place in the world. I was working in social work and felt my mission was to save the world, but didn't exactly know how. Much like, Buffy. She knew what her mission was, but was learning as "she goes." And while she slayed vampires, fought demons, and saved the world from yet another apocalypse, she also graduated high school, started college, found first love and lost it, lost her mother, became the major bread winner and mother to her younger sister, experienced a lustful relationship, fell into a depression, and became a woman. Real life issues. She was my role model for the last seven years. I may not fight vampires, but like Buffy have experienced the pain of growing up and finding my own way. As much as she got knocked down, she always came back fighting. Which is a theme that everyone can incorporate into their lives. Although, the show is ending, my analysis into the character of Buffy and her world is ongoing. I know as I continue on my journey through life, I will probably stop and ask myself, "how would Buffy handle this?" Jenifer A. Vargo Director of Development Erikson Institute |
| 6 |
After spending 17 years in a dead end job I enrolled at a local university to complete my education. I teach a course on the Modern English Novel, I have completed my PhD thesis at the University of Durham within two years and am currently looking for teaching work in Japan. I came to Buffy via my 13-year-old son who, despite being an avid Newcastle Utd supporter, insisted on missing the last 15 minutes of the game to watch BTVS. I was appalled but, very begrudgingly I let him, and it became regular viewing for us. When I was giving private tutorials on Literary and Cultural theory to undergraduates I started using BTVS and Angel to illustrate everything from Marx to Lacan and they responded very positively. Chris Walmsley |
| 7 |
I am in academic administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago. My background is in theatre and opera, but after I received my Master's in Cultural Studies at the University of East London in '97, I "retired" from performing. The first I recall hearing about Buffy was in the summer of 1998 when my neighbor declared the hour of 8-9 on Tuesdays sacred to this t.v. show. I watched the episode "Anne" (not one of the strongest) that Fall, and though I hugely enjoyed the sight of this diminutive blonde woman kicking major vampire/demon butt, I felt lost plot-wise and let it drop. I tried again, though, in the Spring of 1999. This time I was hooked. I bought the "Watcher's Guide," I started taping the episodes, and then buying the DVD's. I even have refrigerator magnets! And I began talking about the show to anyone who would listen (even if they didn't *want* to listen). It has been a remarkable ride, participating in the Wheedonverse--I've laughed and I've cried and I've loved the twists. Tracey Wise |
| 8 |
I'm not sure if I'm the oldest Buffy addict extant or not, but at 71 I'm probably one of the most 'geriatric'! I'm a retired English teacher with a PhD in Literature, and have done a fair amount of free lance writing on writers such as Willa Cather, Ole Rolvaag, Laura Ingalls Wilder, August Derleth, and others, but have always loved pop culture as well. Perhaps because I've always enjoyed young people, I was totally addicted to BEVERLY HILLS 90210, and when it left the air, I was ready to move on to new territory. For some reason, I had resisted favorite critic Robert Bianco's (USA TODAY) rave reviews of BUFFY, but when FX started running the show every night, from year one, I decided to see what the fuss was about. I was hooked right away, and have been proselytizing ever since! What a funny, intelligent, insightful, and just plain FUN show! I love Willow and Spike the best, but they are all terrific, and I'm very glad that we can keep them with us via DVD now that the show is ending. Alison Wilson |
| 9 |
I am a 36-year-old librarian at Stanford University. I discovered Buffy in 1998. Two of my close friends had watched it from the beginning and kept raving about it. I thought, "Why would I want to watch a TV show about teenagers?" I had never seen the movie (still haven't). The first episode I saw was "Surprise." I was hooked immediately. Kay Teel |
| 10 |
Buffy premiered when I was 8 years old. I was in third grade, and I used to watch those cartoons on the WB everyday after school. And there would be commercials for 7th Heaven and that show Savannah, which Buffy replaced. Anyways, I remember the ads for the season premiere looked kinda creepy, and there was always that message the WB puts before an episode airs, I think it went "Tonight's presentation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is intended for our adult and teen audiences and may be too intense for younger viewers"(I never took that seriously), which I kind of miss nowadays 'cause UPN doesn't air it. Anyways, soon after the premiere there was Buffy reruns on the WB on Sundays, so I don't know exactly when I discovered Buffy, but I think "The Witch" was my first episode, probably. I was obsessed from then on, as were my friends, and we formed this "Buffy Summers Club" in fourth grade, which lasted like 2 weeks. And for every Buffy epi my friend and I would call each other over the phone over each commercial break and go "Omigoddiduseewhathappened?" My friends eventually drifted to other WB shows (I'll never understand what they saw in that cheap rip-off Charmed, and why they thought Buffy was too "old") but I never strayed from my Buffy ever since. And now I'm 14, and I've spent half of my life with Buffy around, and I honestly don't know how I'll survive 3 more years of high school without my weekly Buffy fix (although Angel is good and all, I don't love the characters like I love the Scooby Gang). Anyways, enough babbling. Hope this helps! It's only two hours and fifty minutes from when the finale airs! Jessica Wu |
| 11 |
I am currently a senior English major at UC Davis. My parents and I watched genre TV together throughout my youth. We had rented the Buffy film and were far from impressed, so when we heard about a TV showwe laughed at the idea. In my junior year of high school, my best friend started telling me how great Buffy was, mostly describing Spike's lines and Buffy's sacrifice in "Becoming, Part 2." It turns out my mom had videotaped the episode "Angel" earlier on, after seeing advertisements about the Buffy/Angel relationship, but hadn't kept up with it. Thanks to my friend's comments and my mom's earlier interest, she decided to tape an episode in the summer of 1998, as we watch all TV on tape delay so as to avoid commercials. It was "Phases," and although I didn't even know who Willow was or what the plot arc was, I was fascinated right away. We picked up most of the first two seasons on reruns that summer thanks to the WB's very clever strategy of first season reruns on Monday (or Wednesday?) and second season reruns on Tuesday, and we've all watched the first-run episodes ever since. Carl Walker |
| 12 |
My name is Jason Winslade and I'm an adjunct faculty member of the English Department at DePaul University in Chicago, while finishing my PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University. When the show began in 1997, billboards promoting the show were everywhere on the El platforms. I remember thinking to myself, what an odd movie to turn into a series! But seeing as genre television was sparse at the time, with a mediocre Star Trek Voyager and a waning X-Files, I decided to check it out when I happened to turn it on one night. The first episode I saw was "The Pack". Being unfamiliar with the characters, I was unaware of the implications in the episode, but when I started to see what was happening on a metaphorical level, things began to click. The dodge ball scene really hit the episode's theme home. As I continued to watch whenever I could actually find an episode, I was entranced by the emotional truth of the "high school is hell" metaphor, and found myself drawing parallels between Xander and my own high school experience. I've stuck with it ever since, eventually writing essays on Buffy and occultism (including one in Slayage), my area of study, and teaching it in my classes, sometimes to the disbelief of my students. Jason Winslade |
| 13 |
I am the Property Manager for a supportive, social housing agency which houses people who've been chronically homeless. I am also a single mother of a fearie-like 8 year old daughter, and a student at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. Last but not least, I am the Outreach Coordinator and Youth Co Leader at my Anglican Church. I have lived for decades at a time without a TV at all. If I watched, it was TVO (public), documentaries or North of 60. My friend Janet, whose taste in media is impeccable except for French modernist films, became a Buffy fan and I teased her about it. At some point I condescended to watch an episode with her and my daughter. Faith had switched bodies with Buffy and I was profoundly confused. However, by the time they had it out in the church invaded by vampires, I was seeing the light. BtVS has been the most religious show on TV, crashing through the dead wood of adult modernism, to address the critical questions of Good, Evil and our role in this mysterious, seemingly hostile universe. I taught an original BtVS Lenten Studies curriculum to Youth recently, and I'll continue to do so. Thank You Joss Wheeden, Slayage and cast. Tracey Thomas |
| 14 |
As a banker in commercial real estate, it would seem unlikely that I would be numbered among the Buffy fanatics, but titles can be deceiving. I came to the Buffyverse through another sci-fi TV show called 'Roswell' and internet forums where the philosophy and mythology of 'Roswell' was discussed (magical program for the 1st year and down hill from there). Although aware of Buffy, I had never really watched it but numerous posters, whose intellect and appreciation for good literature I respected, gushed about Buffy and declared Joss Whedon as 'god'. My interest was piqued, I began watching Buffy during the 5th season and have been hooked ever since. After the show was syndicated and FX began running the previous seasons in the fall of 2001, I was able to catch up on the history, making the allusions made during season 6 understandable. The continuity throughout the seasons provides a strong framework for the entire series. It was through the ATPoBtVS web site and discussions held there that I began to check out Angel the Series. My heart is broken with the ending of Buffy. I feel like I am walking around empty! Christine Martin |
| 15 |
My name is Susie Watts and I manage a sports bar in Murfreesboro Tenn. My first experience with the BTVS series was on Thanksgiving day 2002. FX was running a marathon and I was busy cooking dinner to take to work that night for the kids that work for me. I started watching it because there was nothing else on that day. I first noticed Angel and how good looking he is then along came Spike and I was hooked! The dialog is well written and the characters are believable. I soon began watching every day so I could get caught up to date. I now have the hots for Spike and would do him in a minute! I hope FX keeps rerunning the show. Suzie Watts |
| 16 |
I am the Associate Director of Composition at the University of Oregon, where I am currently teaching a unit on _Buffy_ in my composition course. My Ph.D. is in Victorian literature. I was a latecomer to the _Buffy_ phenomenon, since I only started watching it in September of 2001 when it began in syndication on FX. The moment when I really began to like it was, oddly enough, the ventriloquist dummy episode from season one. I remember thinking that the cursed dummy was a tired horror idea and one virtually guaranteed to fail. But as usual _Buffy_ did the impossible, twisting that plot into a clever and funny episode. Plus, the _Oedipus Rex_ tag was priceless. As the seasons unfolded on FX, I grew more and more impressed with the writing, the plotting and the acting. I know that Joss Whedon lists Dickens as an influence, and Whedon's mastery of the grotesque, his ability to blur tragedy, melodrama and slapstick, certainly is reminiscent of Dickens. But _Buffy_ also reminds me of George Eliot, sharing as it does, Eliot's careful, psychological character development, and of Thomas Hardy, with its almost unbearable portrayals of loss in all forms. Speaking of which, I am still actively grieving Tara's death. Bianca Tredennick |
| 17 |
I recently took early retirement as an IT systems analyst for a large oil company due to company merger. I live in Houston Texas, and am single and female. I saw the original 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' movie years ago as a TV rerun, and found it amusing but not life changing by any means. I've always enjoyed the vampire mythology in fiction and movies, but moved away from that as I 'matured'. A friend at my church confided that she had become a huge fan of two shows, BtVS and Angel. I couldn't understand as we were members of a very conservative denomination, which frowns on vampires, werewolves, witches and such but I watched a single episode of each show soon after, from curiosity. The BtVS episode was 'Wild at Heart' and the Angel episode happened to be 'In the Dark'. They shocked the heck out of me. But something in the stories, the language, the ideas, didn't leave my mind, and when FX advertised they would be running BtVS from the beginning, I decided to tape the first few episodes and try to see what the big deal was. I was hooked from the beginning. The bond among the Scoobies was beautiful and the stories were clever and the characters so real. I soon felt these people become part of my family of friends. The ideas exploded in my brain and changed my outlook and opened my mind. I'm now so thoroughly a fan I attended a Buffy convention in Cleveland just to meet James Marsters, who did not disappoint. I am mourning the end of BtVS as much as I have mourned the death of 'real' friends. But they will live on, in DVDs and thankfully, Spike will 'rise again' on 'Angel' next season. Patti Thompson |
| 18 |
In September 2000, I accepted a job transfer that took my youngest daughter three hours away from her friends and her school. This did *not * go over well. In fact, it was a nightmare for her. And never one to be alone in her feelings, she proceeded to make it a nightmare that included me. Every conversation ended with a shouting match about how I'd ruined her life by taking her from her friends. Every curt nod and curled lip ended in confrontation. My daughter was sixteen and a walking time bomb. Things got so bad that the only time that we were in the same room was when she came into mine to watch Roswell on our small television. The large one had been too big to move in the small truck we'd had to rent. |
| 19 |
I am thirty years old and I am a homemaker. I did not start watching Buffy until a few years ago when I caught Seasons 1-5 on the FX Network. I do not receive UPN in my area so I have been downloading the last two seasons and watching them on my computer. I discovered Buffy at a difficult time in my life. I had just found out that I was unable to have children. At the time, a lot of the sitcoms that I watched regularly were focusing on trying to have a baby or pregnancy. I quit watching. As silly as it may seem, it was simply too hard for me to watch. I started watching Buffy from 6 to 8 on FX and I was hooked. Buffy provided and escape for me. I also thought it was refreshing to see a petite girl (like myself) being able to physically protect herself and be the heroine. Somehow, it made me feel a little stronger. Buffy was and will continue to be an inspiration. She is an icon. Stacy Tallent |
| 20 |
I'm a 38 year old woman from North Yorkshire, England, working as a manager in a national youth work charity. I'm a lifelong Trekkie and a lover of most cult TV. Before the TV series had started (1994? 95?) I'd discovered the Buffy movie on a foray to my local video shop whilst off work with the flu. I wanted something cheerful and undemanding and Buffy fit the bill; it became my trashy video rental of choice whenever I was feeling low. Because I'd liked the movie so much I watched the TV series from the start. I enjoyed it and watched regularly, taping it if I was out. However, I didn't become a real fan until the episode Hush. I was amazed by the number of ways Joss Whedon managed to use the idea of silence, and it really made me revise my opinion of the quality of what I was watching. Later milestones were our first sight of Dawn - I remember mentally checking if I'd missed an episode - plus The Body and Once More with Feeling. I watch on UK terrestrial TV so I'm currently heading towards the end of Season 6. Looking forward to more milestones. Frances Wardley |
| 21 |
I first heard about Buffy in my home country, Latvia. I think the year was
1998 and the magazine for teenagers heavily promoted new TV show freshly bought from America. Pictures of cute blonde girl and stupid title Buffy
Against Vampires /in Latvian/ did not hook attention of history major with interests in mythology and international relations , that is me.
I concluded that this is just another imported american TV drama for teenagers, like Dallas or Bold&Beatiful are for bored adults. moreover, that
Buffy girl had everything I did not, namely blond hair, small waist, was popular and could speak English.I could not relate to her. I did not see the show but I knew I do not like
it.
time passed, I married and moved to Japan. we got a cable TV with Fox channel. still I was annoyed by that Buffy who seemed to get better time slots than my favourite X files. now and then I catched some glimpses from The Harvest, the Superstar, some fighting, some vampires, turn off the teenagar show. my conversion to Buffy happened with Pangs. I watched and marveled, these people were talking stuff! it was funny, ironic, sensative and sarcastic at the same time. and the next episode of Angel just finished me off. thanks to FOX in one year I was able to catch up with 5 seasons of Buffy and that is how far I have seen it. there is no another TV show, movie or a book that has spoken to me so honestly without loosing complexity of life and still giving me a hope. just for the record, in Japan they translated Buffy, The Vampire Slayer as Buffy, the Cross that brings Love /Love Inducing Cross?/ it is kinda complicated to translate it back. Another title is Vampire Killer Saint Buffy. sadly, in Japan BtVS did not catch on with local audience on japanese Tv channel and quietly disappeared after short introduction of the first season. however and thanks to God, they are going to release BtVS season 1-6 DVDs this August in japan. cant wait.... Rasma Yoshida |
| 22 |
How I came to Buffy Or "A Slayer Saved My life"
It was almost two years ago now, July 2001. It all happened because I forgot to get my regular prescription of anti-depressants. Although the medical advice states that you need to decrease your dosage slowly, I completely ignored this and stopped cold turkey. After two weeks of feeling sick and dizzy I went into a full depressive episode. Now the problem is when you are in the black pit of despair, you can't talk to anyone. You don't want to be left alone with your own head because the pressure and misery is too much. Therefore, the Telly becomes your best friend. A good friend of mine persuaded me to go back to my happy pills and while I was waiting for them to kick in She lent me the first series of a little U.S. show called "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". I was hooked after the first two episodes. As it turned out I watched all five series in three weeks. My depression is much better but my obsession with BTVS has remained. I wonder if they make an anti-buffy pill ? Tamzin |
| 23 |
I was three months away from 13 and was in love with the movie. Stayed up late one night and was lucky enough to catch the first episode which caught my attention after having seen the movie. Never turned back. I turn 20 this year, the last year of Buffy and am happy to say it got me through my teenage years 13-20: 1996-2003.
Turnbull Music |
| 24 |
I am a lawyer. I occasionally watched the BtVS TV series when Seasons 1 and 2 were first broadcast in the UK, but was not totally convinced having been desperately disappointed by the 1992 film. However, following a car crash in late 1999 when I sustained a serious head injury, and being confined to the house with little interest in the outside world, I started to lose myself in "Sunnydale". I think the crucial episode for me was Amends (season 3), when I was staggered by the amazing breadth of acting ability displayed by the actors playing Buffy and Angel as well as the intelligence of the script. The emotion of the scene on the hilltop, where Angel attempts to take his life was so powerful it persuaded me that the series was seriously intelligent and worthy. I quickly caught up with Seasons 1 and 2 and continue to enjoy both the BtVS and Angel. The opening episodes of season 6 were particularly personal to me, and the storylines throughout both series have helped me communicate in my cognitive therapy sessions. I don't think anything else has captured my imagination so well. I thoroughly enjoyed the first Buffy Conference in Norwich in October 2002, and health permitting, I will be in Nashville in 2004.
Karl Tripp |
| 25 |
My husband watched Buffy for years. I was busy in the evenings so the only impression I had of the show as I rushed out of the door was a rather silly programme with a lot of actors pretending to be high school kids running around a lot. Oh yes, there was this little blonde person who talked too much and kicked her legs in the air.
Then two years ago one summer I was sick with a migraine all day and consequently laid up on the sofa in the evening. On comes "Buffy", a repeat of the second series so I lay there and watched it because I felt so rotten and really didn't care. Afterwards I thought actually that show's not that bad so I watched it the next week - and the next. By then I was hooked, lost forever.
I went out and bought all the boxed sets of videos so I could catch up on what I'd missed. Now I go to all the conventions I can, here in the UK or in the States.
The only other show that had such an impact on my life was Star Trek. I am in my forties, I am a politician and Deputy Mayor of my town. I have two grown up sons - who never watch Buffy. Wendy Thompson |
| 26 |
I am a cubicle drone for a cell phone company by day, an aspiring writer with a passion for film and reading by night. I'm 24 years old and still attempting to figure out what to do with this chunk of time known as my life. I think I had mainly heard about Buffy due to the fact that I subscribed to Entertainment Weekly, and they often had praise for the show scattered throughout their magazine. I felt the same way about the show that I felt about another complicated genre show known as The X-Files: "oh, that sounds pretty interesting, but I've already missed a couple of seasons and it's too late to start now." I hate starting in the middle, and didn't have any other fans around to help me get caught up if I did.
The show was always on my personal radar, but I didn't start watching it until September of 2001 when FX started running it in syndication. I watched every episode in order, and was so hooked and in need of a bigger dose that I started watching season 6, though chronologically I was still back in season 2. The first episode of the season I saw was 'Once More, With Feeling', and a true obsession was born. The show has truly changed my life, but that's an entirely different story for an entirely different time. Let's just say I'm now a big nerd and very proud of it. Donnie Williams |
| 27 |
I am Melissa Ward But on the Internet I am known as Sarafina aka Gifted Spike For a living I am the Price Scan coordinator for a local grocery store, a mom, student (getting my pre-pharm AA) and wife.
I actually started watching from episode 1 season 1 when my husband who was enamored by the movie(Ugh!) thought it might be interesting.
We caught the commercial promos and decided to check it out.
He so hates when I bring that point up because he so sick of hearing about Buffy right now he actually hooted out loud when it was over.
Until he found out I could go to Cons....and Spike was moving to Angel. <> Melissa aka Sarafina aka Gifted Spike |
| 28 |
I am a 39 year old stay-at-home mom. Almost two years ago now I started taking in Angel whenever I would remember that it was on, thinking that a show about the paranormal - a life-long fascination of mine - might be kind of neat, and of course I enjoyed it immensely (even though I have a life-long near-phobia of vampires - don't ask). I was also staying up late weeknights to watch the very bad movies that Canada's Space The Imagination Station shows at midnight and noticed that Buffy was on in re-run right after the end of those movies, usually some time between 1:30 and 2:30 am. I thought perhaps I should maybe watch it at some point considering that Angel was a spin-off from it, but never really got around to watching it until one night, restlessly channel surfing after my requisite bad movie, I stumbled onto the scene from the season 4 episode where Spike is trying to bite Willow but can't because of the chip in his head. It was so funny, handled so hilariously by both actors, and the thought of a vampire not being able to feed so intriguing that I stuck out the rest of the episode; I was impressed, and started trying to watch it when I remembered it was on. Soon I was watching it every night and taping it when I would be out late Thursday and Friday nights. Finally at some point I realized I could a) watch the re-runs on Space earlier in the evening (at 8:00 pm weeknights) and b) watch first-run eps on a local station and that sealed my fate. I was completely caught up on everything up to season 5 by February of last year and have been watching the new eps weekly since about then as well.
I am getting caught up on Angel these days with the DVD releases and it's still one of my most favourite shows, but BtVS has become a true passion in my life, one that I enjoy immensely and never get tired of. Sharon Vernon |