As Buffy the Vampire Slayer turns 20, Joss Whedon talks revivals

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiere on TV, and of course as a result of that, now also marks the time in which everyone is talking about how much they miss the original show. It was beloved when it was on, and in many ways we think of it as the precursor to so many great programs that are now on The CW. It helped to define great WB television, and it also made a star out of so many different people — including Joss Whedon. He became one of the most-known showrunners in the business because of his work crafting the show.

In an era where so many remakes do happen, it does make some sense for people out there to want more. However, Whedon himself doesn’t seem to be altogether bullish on the Buffy prospects here. In general, he may not be as excited about the idea of bringing shows back as many other people are. He had a great conversation recently with The Hollywood Reporter, and here is what he had to say on the subject of bringing shows back through the lens of this one:

“…I see a little bit of what I call monkey’s paw in these reboots. You bring something back, and even if it’s exactly as good as it was, the experience can’t be. You’ve already experienced it, and part of what was great was going through it for the first time. You have to meet expectations and adjust it for the climate, which is not easily. Luckily most of my actors still look wonderful, but I’m not worried about them being creaky. I’m more worried about me being creaky as a storyteller. You don’t want that feeling that you should have left before the encore. I don’t rule it out, but I fear that.

Personally, we don’t see the show coming back just because it’s too far gone, and the whole idea of the show was originally high school. We’ve also found some other revivals (Gilmore Girls excluded) to be a little bit of a letdown as of late. 24: Legacy is missing something (it’s not just Jack Bauer), and while part of The X-Files were good, ironically the episodes written by creator Chris Carter were the worst of the bunch.

On this 20th anniversary, we salute Buffy for everything that it was … but if we want to watch it, we feel like it’s best at this point to just bust out some of the old DVDs.

Do you want to see more Buffy the Vampire Slayer still? Share in the comments below! (Photo: WB.)