Just read the news today, oh boy: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going off the air at the end of the season, closing off a seven year run on the netlets. While this kind of saddens me, at the same time I've been way out of touch ever since Buffy went off to college.

I started watching the show near the start of its run, and mostly by accident. One night I was flipping through the stations, came upon it, and thought to myself, "great, more teen twaddle." But I stopped for the cursory moment, planning some sort of mockery that never came. Turned out I liked the show. Liked the writing, liked the acting, liked the darker tone, really liked Sarah Michelle Gellar. Allyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter weren't bad, either. But it really was about the show.

Like many post-collegians who liked the show, there was a certain stigma related to watching. Part came from the movie that preceded the show, and part came from the teen-focus of the WB, making it seem like any show there was suitable only for those not yet legally allowed to drive (unlike those of us who just never got around to it). But I soldiered through, and found soon enough that there were others like me who liked the show. As with many things that aren't well understood, having a growing community of fans made it seem less odd to like the show. I don't mean to make it sound so dramatic, but it was an interesting process to be a part of, even in my very small way.

And then the show just blew up. It never got the sort of ratings of Friends or the top shows, but in terms of cultural (and generational) cachet, you couldn't get any better. Then came the inevitable "slump" (real or imagined, based on how much of a fan- or fanboy- you were) after it became popular. The glamming of the cast didn't help, especially when Gellar's movie career started to go places. So it could be just the right time to wrap it up, rather than try to milk another season out of it (unlike some other shows that are seemingly impervious to the axe).

Even as a nominal fan now, I'm sad to see the show go. I suppose this means we may see new Buffy movies, which would be pretty cool.