Over the last couple days, I watched the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, which I had not seen since it was originally in the theaters. It confirmed my suspicions: there was absolutely nothing in this effort which even suggested the possibility of the greatness that was to come on TV.
I remember seeing the billboards for the TV show pop up, and being befuddled. Some very serious looking billboards, advertising a TV series that appeared to be based on a film that had not been particularly popular and which had run through its concept well before the film was done.
Next time you see the programming department at a TV network producing a show which seems like it should have been blatantly A Bad Idea, remember this: making a TV show out of the Buffy film was blatantly A Bad Idea.
Only it wasn’t.
If you were the TV exec, would you have known the difference?
