25 Best Fantasy TV Series, Ranked Worst to First
By Shawn Lealos
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel
Arguably, the most unlikely fantasy TV series of all time has to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Originally, a schlocky B-level horror comedy starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry, that movie’s writer Joss Whedon convinced The WB to take a chance on a TV version of the story five years after the film came and went. What resulted was a fantasy TV series that changed everything about the way monsters and demons were portrayed on the small screen.
Former soap opera actress Sarah Michelle Gellar signed on to play Buffy Summers, a teenager moving to the town of Sunnydale and learning that she has to weigh being a high school student with the job of being the Chosen One, the one true vampire slayer. It also doesn’t help that Sunnydale in on top of a Hellmouth.
What makes Buffy work so well is that it takes the dynamic of the Scooby Gang, which is Buffy and her friends, and has then deal with real-world situations and conflicts while fighting monsters and demons. The show also approaches death and betrayal in a way that few young adult TV series ever considered before.
Angel was the spin-off series, and while it was not as overwhelmingly successful as Buffy ratings-wise, it has a strong fanbase that considers it the better of the shows. In Angel, the vampire with a soul that Buffy fell in love with moves to Los Angeles and starts an agency that helps people in need of assistance due to demons and monsters.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer lasted seven seasons and had 144 episodes, ending with a tidy conclusion that tied up the entire tale. Angel only lasted five seasons, with the final season truncated. A total of 110 episodes aired and Angel had one of the most interesting and bleak endings of any fantasy TV series.