Buffy - rank the seasons...

[Michael Tree]

I find it difficult to rate the seasons overall, because some of my favorite episodes were during seasons where I hated the overall story arc.

2 - The best overall story arc, best Big Bad, best clever dialogue, and tied for best dramatic storytelling and acting with Season 5. Because of that, I'll forgive it some stinker episodes and truly uninspired monsters-of-the-week.

5 - Glory was probably my seconld least favorite Big Bad (after Adam), but this season had several of my favorite episodes (The Body, Fool for Love, and Shadow, the episode that actually turned Riley into an interesting character), and felt the most coherent to me.

3 - Unlike many of the other Big Bads, the Mayor wasn't actively irritating, but he wasn't especially interesting either. I have mixed feelings about Faith (largely because I work in a psychiatric hospital, and meet people like her all the time). Not a great season, but not a bad one either, just a good solid one).

1- Sure it was silly, and didn't have the great drama that later seasons had, but it was the first one, and had some of the best dialogue in the whole series.

6 - The season started off great, with several dramatic and hillariously funny episodes (the musical, Life Serial, Tabula Rasa), but became far too angsty and despondent. Unlike many, I loved the three geeks and their silly comedic episodes. Warren is probably my second favorite Big Bad, since he was so utterly realistic and horrifying, and Darth Rosenberg was pretty nasty too, particularly while killing Warren.

4 - Did anyone really care about Riley, Adam, or the Initiative? This season had Restless and Hush, two of my favorite episodes, and the first third of the season has some great funny episodes, but that's about it. This would probably be my least favorite season, except that it has a lot of great dialogue, which season 7 lacked.

7 - The final season had some good moments, and got off to a good start, but dragged way too much in the second half of it, which commited the terrible crime of not being funny. The clever dialogue and wit of the final episode made me realize just how much I missed that, and how much this season was lacking. It still had some great episodes (the finale, Him, Conversations with Dead People, Lies my Parents Told Me), and the First and Caleb were interesting Big Bads, but they don't make up for the lack of humor, direction, or even personal drama.

 

[BryonD]

2 and 3

5
1
4

7



6

Though I'll agree that season 6 did have some REALLY good individual episodes. Overall, I thought it was well off the standard. I keep hearing "people seemed to dislike the 'dark' season, but it was important to the story". Sorry, I didn't dislike it because it was dark. I disliked it because there were some many epsiodes that I found boring. (Though you could probably replace "disliked" above with "liked a lot less" as still be accurate.)

 

[el-remmen]

2 | 3 (tied for first)

5

4

6

1

7

 

[Michael Tree]

Sorry, I didn't dislike it because it was dark. I disliked it because there were some many epsiodes that I found boring. (Though you could probably replace "disliked" above with "liked a lot less" as still be accurate.)

That's exactly it, IMO. The "buffy can't adjust after returning" was great... for the first 3 or 4 episodes of it. Buffy and Spike's weird and somewhat abusive relationship was also interesting... for the first 2 or 3 episodes of it. Even the magic addiction storyline was interesting at first, before they turned it into a thinly veiled drug analogy. The stories about the temptation and danger of power were cool, but when it turned into "just say no because it makes you high" it became dull and tired.

The same can be said for season 7. The first couple of inspirational speeches were actually inspiring, but by the 3rd or 4th (or 7th or 8th or 9th) it was just tired. The same goes for the "slayers-in-training are worried and Buffy is acting reckless" subplots. After a while I wanted to shout at the TV "Okay, they're worried! We get it already! Move on to something else for ****'s sake! Sheesh!"

 

[Endur]

2: Spike, Buffy kills Angel, etc.

3. High School Graduation

4: Riley and college

1: Beginning

5: Glory

6: Magic Amok

7. Dismal End

 

[MulhorandSage]

2. The highest peaks: Innocence, Passion, Becoming I/II
3. Not as many peaks as 2, but overall more consistent.
1. A surprisingly underrated season.
4. A season arc that really went downhill once Adam showed up, but some great episodes outside the arc.
5. Some good episodes, but the series was clearly tired at this point.
7. A promising beginning, a good end, and a terrible middle.
6. After Tabula Rasa, pretty much Buffy at its worst.

Scott Bennie

 

[Tyrion]

Here are my somewhat unconventional rankings, from best to worst. You'll probably notice a weird pattern:

1: Strange, I know. While the overarching plot was weaker than other seasons, the comedy was great and the dialogue is some of the best ever written. Even quiet, uneventful scenes in the library, for example, were made incredibly entertaining merely by virtue of the writing alone.

2: Close behind season 1, the unpredictable edge of Buffy was maintained, and deeper plotting and characterization compensated for the slightly-worse dialogue.

3: Just a hair below season 2...not much else to say. More consistent in quality than season 2.

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4: A sharp drop from the heights of the first three seasons, but flashes of brilliance remained. Generally not in the same league as Buffy's previous episodes.

5: The genius of Buffy is weakened. The vast majority of the show at this point was filler. Still, there was some of the old magic.

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6/7: For these seasons, "Buffy" was dead in my opinion. The writing was uninspired and predictable, the dialogue tried to sound like the Buffy of old but lacked all creative punch, and previously-cool characters just seemed flat. For example, Xander and Giles became lifeless dopplegangers of their season 1-3 brilliance.

I would have been happy had the show ended at the end of season 3. Sure, the later Buffys may have been better than most TV, but they weren't the genius that seasons 1-3 (and parts of 4) were.

 

[Harp]

I would have been happy had the show ended at the end of season 3. Sure, the later Buffys may have been better than most TV, but they weren't the genius that seasons 1-3 (and parts of 4) were.

OK, I just quoted the last bit, but I'd have to say that your season rankings were dead on with how I would've ranked them. The first season was just so fresh, and frequently hysterically funny. The next two seasons kept up the tremendous promise made by that first season. After that...my interest waned. As others have said, there were great individual episodes in the subsequent seasons, but they were far more the exception than the rule.

 

[John Crichton]

I would have been happy had the show ended at the end of season 3. Sure, the later Buffys may have been better than most TV, but they weren't the genius that seasons 1-3 (and parts of 4) were.

So you would have rather had them stop after season 3 with no more show? It is unfair by comparison to make that statement because the last 4 seasons were still infinitely watchable and one of the best written shows around. Honestly, if Joss felt it was possible I'd take an 8th season just to see more Buffy. Now that Joss isn't doing 3 different shows at once it would be easy to do another year.

No seasons past 2 & 3 matched up exactly in quality, but I don't see that as a bad thing and would have hated to not have seasons 4-7...

 

[Petrosian]

My ranks... best to worse:

3
5
2
gap
1
4
Gap
6
7

The gaps indicate significant drops between groups.

The series ended IMo at the end of 5. The two latter seasons lost most of what was essential to Buffy. once the characters grew up, it lost a significant edge and the humor just simply died on the vine. Andrew was so well recieved IMO in 7 because he brought a much needed sense of humor back to the show.

All of course IMO.