Not dated , except


In the UK Channel 4 has just loaded the entire series. I've not seen Buffy since it first ran and I may well be out of touch here but it doesn't seem to have dated as many shows do - except no mobile phones! It just struck me in a episode where a quick call could have saved a lot of grief. I'm not a big fan of mobiles - rather carry a book than stare at a tiny screen - so maybe I was even slower than usual here but once noticed it's glaringly obvious.

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I'm watching it for the first time after hearing it about it over the years and wondering what the big deal is.

It's actually pretty good even after all these years. It's engaging enough that I've made to season 4 and currently plan to watch it to the end of the series. It is better than so many other shows I've seen, whether they're recent or not. It doesn't have the highest budget or production values, but it gets by on the strength of its storytelling and the character dynamics.

It's definitely a kid's show with a kid show's suspension of disbelief, and I don't just mean when it asks you to accept the existence of supernatural beings and magic. For instance, if members of the school's swim team begin turning into swamp things, the swim coach's main concern wouldn't be how is he going to win the next swim meet with two members down. But you accept it. It's not trying to be super-real like Better Call Saul. I'm surprised by how much suspension of disbelief that the shows asks of you and succeeds in getting and not turn off the viewer.

For a kid's show though, it sure has a lot of kissing and sex scenes. I've never watched shows of this kind before about young people in relationships and love triangles. It's not my thing. I assume shows like today's Riverdale or Beverly Hills 90210 back in the 90s are/were like this, but I've never seen those either. I don't know if this is normal or not, but it seems excessive.

The lack of cell phones do stand out though. No one is calling or texting each other. No one on campus is walking and fixated on their phones. If feels charmingly quaint that way.

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It was a teen show but with adult themes and was very big at the time. I remember talking about it in the office and seeing it discussed on TV.

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I was watching some old episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" and it looked so dated!
Mobile phones sure would have come in handy in a couple of instances!

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