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This article contains brief mentions of suicide. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still one of the best fantasy TV shows of all time, it had some weak points that have since been addressed by other series. Buffy \turned several monster tropes on their heads, with demons and vampires fleeing from a pretty high school girl rather than the other way around. Sarah Michelle Gellar's iconic performance as Buffy Summers made her a horror TV legend, and the show set new standards for ensemble casts. Many episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are perfect, but others would not be made today for many reasons. These can include advances in visual effects and a better standard for portraying characters in the LGBTQ+ community. 5 Stranger Things (2016-2025) Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a great example of what can be done with a relatively low budget and a lot of creativity. The best villains in Buffy, like the Gentlemen, are still terrifying even years later, and the practical effects were excellent. While Stranger Things' record-breaking budget produced better-looking villains, it beats Buffy in a major way. Many of Buffy's monsters and adversaries represented an aspect of human pain. In "Out of Mind, Out of Sight," Marcie Ross literally becomes invisible as a result of feeling unloved and ignored. The episode "Gingerbread" is still relevant today, as a metaphor for moral panics that are designed to target marginalized communities under the pretense of protecting children. Stranger Things' "big bad" Vecna is a more powerful metaphor for depression and even despair. Unlike Buffy's monster-of-the-week villains, he is the looming threat over the entire series, which becomes more obvious in a rewatch, with his clock chiming at significant moments. Vecna pursues characters struggling with their mental health, finally reaching Max, in one of the most powerful scenes in any fantasy show. An overarching theme in Buffy might be the teamwork and support she has from the Scooby Gang, but the scene in which Max's friends try to save her from Vecna as her mind is trapped in his world is a clear visual metaphor for suicide. Both Buffy and Stranger Things could tackle heavy subjects, but Max's escape scene was perfect. 4 Good Omens (2019-Present) Good Omens is an extremely faithful adaptation of the book written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. While the legacy of Gaiman has been badly tarnished in recent years, Pratchett remains a legend with a talent for combining social commentary with fantasy. The series is about the unlikely partnership between a demon and an angel tasked with overseeing the apocalypse. Despite Buffy's groundbreaking changes to typical horror tropes, the show had to remain relatively predictable due to its high school setting, with Buffy succeeding at fighting monsters and then dealing with high school issues. Good Omens was mind-bending and unpredictable from one moment to the next, and while some viewers may prefer Buffy's format, Good Omens has another advantage. Aziraphale and Crowley are both immortal beings from the dawn of time. While Aziraphale is an angel and Crowley is a demon, the two have a relationship that has lasted for millennia. They have been through just about every problem imagined, with a relatively equal status, and are constantly looking out for each other despite opposition from Heaven and Hell. A harsh reality that Buffy fans must face is that her relationship with Angel has not held up over time. The idea that a centuries-old vampire can fall in love with a teenage girl while taking care not to become a monster might have passed for romance in the 1990s, but Crowley and Aziraphale have a much healthier relationship despite one being a literal demon. 3 The Good Place (2016-2020) Buffy nearly turned Xander into the big bad twice, and this is not surprising because he was the weak link in the Scooby Gang. While most of the main characters found their strength through discovering powers, Xander barely developed as a character despite appearing in 143 episodes of the show. Buffy's ensemble cast was great, but Xander was often overlooked, letting the team down. Most great shows with ensemble casts work because each character brings a new skill or positive trait to the group. This is something that The Good Place executes perfectly. Each main character is deeply flawed, but has the potential to do good, which is realized throughout the course of the show. This left us truly caring about each one, while Xander was often forgotten. This is not to say that the main characters in The Good Place could not be infuriating, as Chidi's indecision and Tahani's obsession with status often led to them ruining their own happiness. That said, this was a writing decision, as the entire point of The Good Place was personal development, and the show delivered, earning a 97% positive critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Buffy the Vampire Slayer took risks and represented groups that other 1990s TV shows did not, but it is still a product of its time, and virtually every character is white. The Good Place has a much more diverse cast and emphasizes the differences in the human experience, being a much deeper show despite sharing most of Buffy's themes and messages. 2 Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001) The 1990s gave us some fantastic female lead characters, paving the way for better writing and more nuance, especially when it comes to action and fantasy TV shows. While Buffy is arguably the best-known of them, there were many more released around the same time. The success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer overshadowed most of them, including Xena: Warrior Princess. Buffy broke stereotypes by reversing the most common roles in horror TV shows, but Xena also challenged the typical approach to female characters. Xena is a warrior princess with a dark past who is seeking redemption by fighting for the greater good and protecting the innocent. This makes her more comparable to characters like Angel rather than Buffy. Xena's character arc was extremely unusual, as this is a storyline that would usually be given to a male character. Both she and Buffy have great fighting skills, but Buffy always looked like a teenage girl. While this can be empowering, showing that you don't have to look like a typical warrior to be strong, it also highlights a flaw in representation in the 1990s. Most 1990s TV shows with female fighters still had them conforming to a more delicate standard of appearance. As Xena: Warrior Princess was created as a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena was allowed to look like a warrior. While she was also given a love story with Gabrielle, this never defined her character, while Buffy's love interests often formed major plotlines. 1 Wynonna Earp (2016-2021) Buffy the Vampire Slayer defined much of 1990s culture, and while it had some minor flaws, one major one caused fan outcry. The "bury your gays" trope was pervasive in TV shows until relatively recently, and this is when gay characters are killed off as soon as they either come out or form a relationship. Tara's death is a classic example of this playing out. Tara and Willow's relationship was the best romance in Buffy, and Tara's tragic death was the catalyst for the popular "dark Willow" storyline. However, killing a character who was in a rare positive representation of a same-sex relationship was not a great writing decision, and the supernatural Western Wynonna Earp gave us a much more satisfying relationship years later. Wynonna Earp almost became the next Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as the lead characters are similar. Wynonna is tasked with sending the spirits of outlaws her ancestor Wyatt Earp killed back to hell. The romance between Wynonna's half-sister, Waverly, and Nicole was canon from the beginning and a significant part of the story, and the showrunner, Emily Andras, promised they would survive. In a direct parallel to Tara's death, Nicole is shot, but survives because she's wearing a bulletproof vest. Despite many deaths and painful moments in Wynonna Earp, Nicole and Waverly have a complete and fulfilling arc, with the two marrying at the end. Willow and Tara's relationship was pioneering, but Nicole and Waverly offered a better and more fulfilling future for same-sex love stories.
