While I think Buffy should have ended at season 5, my low opinions of seasons 6 and 7 were no doubt formed in part because I watched it on DVD in quick sessesion rather than on television as it aired. You don't have time to digest the episodes and since a week hasn't passed everything is fresh in your mind so it sometimes seems repetitive. I don't know if I'd be so harsh had I watched those seasons when it originally aired.
I don't remember much of season 6, but I do recall both Buffy and Angel as being prime examples of shows whose writers were downright allergic to the proliferation of mobile phones that was happening in the real world at the time. Even once they could no longer find any excuse not to equip their characters with them, they'd be forever running out of battery or unable to get signal.
Looking back, it's astonishing to me how quickly cellular phones went from being rare sights to ubiquity. The Blair Witch Project came out in 1999, and a few short years later I heard people argue it was completely unrealistic that none of them had cell phones. In 1999? I didn't know anyone in my group of friends, we were in our early to mid 20s, who had a cell phone. Most of the people I knew who had a cell phone were in their 40s.
I used to think I didn't like most anime because it was poorly translated or dubbed. Nope. Turns out most of it is just garbage. Don't get me wrong, I actually like some anime, like Cowboy BeBop, but I find most of it to be pretty bad. Even with Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunner I had to look past some of the common conventions I see in anime to enjoy the story.
It could be hugely regional. There were still large swathes of the US where you wouldn't get a signal.
