And:

Had I been listing TV's Best Episodes of the Decade, a more titanic chore than I have any desire to undertake, both "The Body" and "Once More, With Feeling" would have been in the Top 20 and probably the Top 10.

b!X | December 14, 08:12 CET

I think that placing is about right, although I would probably have put Angel and/or Firefly higher if it were my list which it isn't.

This typo cracked me up though:


Hee. Ahem.

skittledog | December 14, 09:29 CET

LOL.

b!X | December 14, 09:33 CET

I feel sort of the same way as this writer. Buffy is my favorite Whedon show and probably my favorite show ever, and yet my favorite segment of the show is season one from "Angel" on, through to season four's "Hush," i.e. nearly all the stuff from the '90s.

But, although I'm not the biggest fan of seasons five, six, and seven overall, I think a best of the decade list would still have to include the show, for episodes like the two this writer picked (The Body is one of the best episodes of television ever produced), not to mention Who Are You?, Restless, Fool For Love, The Gift, Selfless, Conversations With Dead People, Storyteller, and Chosen, as well as solid second tier but still very good eps like Triangle, Checkpoint, Afterlife, Life Serial, Seeing Red, Lessons, First Date, and Lies My Parents Told Me.

It's tough not to judge Buffy against itself, but even if those last three and half seasons weren't the show's best, they were still some of the best television produced this decade.

[ edited by bonzob on 2009-12-14 10:43 ]

bonzob | December 14, 10:42 CET

This typo cracked me up though:

Willow's abuse of music

Hee. Ahem.

Heh. Now imagining Dark Willow's Rak scene as a 10 minute rant about how much she hates semi-quavers and that Every Good Boy DOESN'T Deserve Football ;).

I'd put it higher I think, even for this decade (2 and 3 are my favourite seasons - not necessarily in that order, depends on the wind direction - but my favourite single episodes almost all come later). Also 'Firefly'. Apart from that, i'm saving myself for the 127 other "Best of the Decade" lists that will no doubt crop up in the next couple of weeks. It's a marathon people, not a sprint.

Saje | December 14, 10:49 CET

I'd go quite a bit higher, but then I'm hugely fond of seasons 5 & 6 (plus lots of late S4 and S7). Nice write-up. Interesting that the writer doesn't like "Restless"--so "Restless"-haters do exist! Heh.

Willow's abuse of music sounds like something Alyson Hannigan was so afraid of she didn't want to have to sing.

[ edited by WilliamTheB on 2009-12-14 11:11 ]

WilliamTheB | December 14, 11:10 CET

Nice to see it included, but I would have put it so much higher. I may rank some of the later seasons lower than 2 and 3 (although 6 is my favourite), there are so many good standalone episodes in those later seasons that I think it fully deserves a place in the top 10. Seeing as the episodes he picks out for explaining the positioning, The Body and Once More With Feeling, are possibly the greatest episodes of television I have ever seen, particularly the former, then 19 seems very low.

Also, I can forgive him missing Angel and Dollhouse, but no Firefly is inexcusable.

Vandelay | December 14, 12:54 CET

So we're gonna spend the final days of this decade calibrating precisely how awesome Buffy was? Awesome.

Pointy | December 14, 13:39 CET

Interesting choices. I have to admit that I can't re-watch The Body - I saw it only once, when it had been aired. But the rest, especially OMWF and Hush are on my list of often-rewatched eps.

Moscow Watcher | December 14, 13:41 CET

If we're going to get best-of-lists saying the same thing posted every day till the New Year then no ^-^.

Simon | December 14, 13:46 CET

Willow's abuse of music sounds like something Alyson Hannigan was so afraid of she didn't want to have to sing.
WilliamTheB

Or something she did in the end of "Under Your Spell".

Brasilian Chaos Man | December 14, 13:54 CET

Abuse of music?
Maybe the writer got confused thinking of Alyson's adventures in American Pie's band camp.


I'm with you Moscow. I acknowledge that The Body was moving and well done, but I never ever re-watch it.

Xane | December 14, 16:12 CET

Hmmm...have rewatched The Body many, many times.

For my money, OMWF is the finest hour (or so) of TV ever, period, paragraph, page, chapter, book.

The writer almost gets it right. It wasn't just that the songs were great (they were) and perfectly written to each actor's musical proficiency, it was that the whole notion of a musical, which is, when you really think about it, completely absurd, was rendered not only not absurd, but utterly necessary for the entire season's arc and all the character development that ensued post-episode.

I'm still and probably forever in awe of it.

Chris inVirginia | December 14, 16:38 CET

What an impressive article. Mr Fienbergs' take on Buffy is refreshing and honest.

zee | December 14, 18:17 CET