With a wooden stake and perfect hair, Buffy the Vampire Slayer rules the airwaves, my heart, and a whole townful of vampires whose days are numbered. The premise may seem slim, but the show is quickly addictive, with smart, funny characters and a deft touch that actually captures the hideous awkwardness of high school without the smarmy condescension or waterheaded cretinism of most television shows, especially those that some marketing executive thinks will appeal to "the kids."
Since Buffy's high school is literally (and not just figuratively) on the mouth of Hell, the horror series aspect works out well. A perfect match of theme, situation, and characters. The show is quite well-written; if the plots are sometimes a bit conventional, this is something that has been a long problem in the genre. And Buffy does have the power to bring in new plot elements that "traditional, classic" horror has overlooked. For instance, in a recent episode, parent/teacher night at the Buffy's school was easily more terrifying than a quite convincing new vampire boss. Said vampire is nicknamed "Spike" for an old habit of entertaining his victims with the wrong end of a railroad spike before eating them. But I think my stomach dropped farther when Buffy's mom emerged from the Principal's office and said "Buffy, in the car. Now." The vampire attack was a relief ... at least for a while...
The stars are pleasant people that you enjoy spending time with, and whom you can also enjoy watching fight hideous fang-sprouting demons. If you saw the movie, and liked it, you should check out the series. Even if you didn't like the movie, you should still check out the series, because it's much better -- the writer of the movie, Joss Wheedon, is the producer of the show, and says the show is the way he really wanted it to come out. And if you can't abide genre fiction, you should check it out on general principles, and then figure out why you were still reading this page and taking my advice.
In thinking about Buffy seriously for a few minutes (inspired by some of the (initially) surprisingly thoughtful articles I read in a time-wasting web-surf spree), I found that I agree with the general observation that Buffy has the feel of high school correct. As to the comparisons with other shows on the same topic, I can't say -- I loathed high school too much to want to watch any of them. I guess I'm only interested in high schools with fang-sprouting demons -- of the supernatural kind.
One thing that seems to have been missed in the other articles I've read is the wish-fulfillment aspect involved. Sure she has a demanding life, (almost) no-one understands her, and high school is literally one stop away from hell. But Buffy has what every adolescent secretly craves: A good excuse. She has a real reason for feeling that horrible alienation, frustration and tension that define the stereotypical "teen angst." And she gets to save the world, or at least her adopted hometown, on a regular basis and work out her frustrations with a stake, sledgehammer, crossbow, machete or whatever. That's got to be a great tension releaser.
I know a steady supply of monsters (and the chops to deal with them) would have certainly made my own high-school years more pleasant.
The normal wish-fulfillment stuff -- that they all look good, have funny quips when they want them (as opposed to 10-20 minutes afterwards) -- are standard, but having an honest to God reason for feeling like a teenager has got to be the best thing ever.
They're still working on getting the resonance right for the characters, but they've managed to have some dramatically effective moments. Willow's post-traumatic conversation after she finds a bunch of corpses in the school is really moving, as is Buffy's (sotto voce) line "I have a job" after her mother has left saying "If you think you're under pressure, wait until you have your first job." Of course her mother would also be unlikely to understand why Buffy's job can be iconified by a drawer full of stakes and holy water..
And quite frequently, the episodes are scary as well as being Xena-syle exhilarating as Buffy sweeps all opposition before her. Joss Whedon had it right when he said that what's hard is mixing action and horror rather than horror and humor (or even high-shool pathos). But the show is making it work -- Buffy is tough enough and resourceful enough and strong enough to make the action credible, but not so strong or powerful that you can't get an effective chill going (especially since she can't be everywhere at once).
.....and then there are the outfits, too...
Buffy, on seeing a new crossbow: "Hello, flying fatality!"
Giles in conversation with Buffy's love interest, hunk, and vampire: "A vampire in love with a slayer. It's really rather poetic ... in a maudlin sort of way"
Buffy on being asked something esoteric: "Who am I? Knowledge Girl? Explanations are your domain."
The Master (ugly mega-vampire) to Buffy: "But you're dead!"
Buffy: "Yeah, but I'm still pretty,
which is more than I can say for you"
.... fight scene, ending in a dead Master.
The master: "But you died. it was written"
Buffy: "What can I say, I flunked the written."
Naturally there are a ton of Web sites already. I'll point to the official one (lots o' graphics), and the "BVS Web ring" some kind of deal where fan pages all get linked together by topic.
These articles were all surprisingly interesting, and are worth reading.
They came from a very complete fan site.
http://www.tvguide.com/tv/magazine/970512/averjoe.sml
http://www.smgfan.com/b16.htm
http://www.smgfan.com/b19.htm
http://www.smgfan.com/b25.htm