Convincing a Buffy Hater to Try It Out

[Magician Named Gosh]

I have a brother who is very very Anti-Buffy.
If the word "Buffy" comes out of my mouth in any story he pretty much ignores the rest of what I'm saying. I've tried to convince him that it's awesome but he really don't care (even though I think alot of it is just the fact that he thinks he wouldn't be "super cool" if he watched the show).
I had an idea, and I figured there would be nobody out there who could help me better than the fine people at Slay Alive.
So here is my question to you...
If you had to pick one episode from Buffy or Angel to show someone who thought that the shows were completely stupid, which one would you pick?
Which episode could someone watch and afterward go "You know...that was actually pretty good" even though they started the episode with a negative attitude.
Throw out your thoughts and opinions. Go Go!

[Wyndam]

I would say "Earshot" from Buffy and "City of..." from Angel.

My brother is exactly the same way too. I will probably never get him to watch Buffy, no matter how hard I try. I know he'll love both series if he'd just give them a chance. I got him to watch Firefly, which he loved, and he also enjoys Smallville (which has a similar Freak of the Week structure as Buffy), but I just can't get him to try it out.

[Magician Named Gosh]

Lately he's been watching Laguna Beach.
Come on! You know Buffy has got to be way better.
I'm sure there's better looking girls on that show and all, but what kind of story line is "Lyke Oh My God I went to the beach today and there was a total hottie checking me out. Lyke yeah."

[passionbuffy]

one time i tried with "the body" and it works very well to convince reluctants peoples, but it's a little spoilerish.

i think "the prom" is a good one.

[El Diablo Robotico]

Does he know that "Angel" is a spinoff of "Buffy"? Because "Angel" is more of a 'guy' show, so if you could get him into that, maybe it would peak his interest in "Buffy", knowing that the two shows are connected. And if he doesn't know ahead of time that it's a "Buffy" spinoff, you might be better able to 'trick' him into watching it.

Or, try to get him going on "Firefly", and then if he likes it, drop the bomb that, "You know, this show is by the same guy who created 'Buffy', and there's really a whole lot of similarities between the two."

And I agree with Wyndam about "Earshot". That was the first episode I ever watched, and I think it was a great intro to the show, even tho I didn't follow any of the Angel/Faith stuff (from "Enemies") that Buffy was all obsess-y about. But it starts out funny, it's got some action, and ends with that very dramatic scene between Buffy and Jonathan. It really does a good job of showing off all the elements that make the show great, IMO.

[Whedon Fan]

My brother is the same, well WAS the same. He always loved Firefly/Serenity but he always hated Buffy and Angel that is until he came into my room as I was watching the last episode of Buffy "chosen" and it was just at the bit when Buffy stands up and says "I WANT YOU TO GET OUT OF MY FACE" and then the battle completley kicks off. So he watched the battle and then I moaned at him becasue he kept talking during the battle so I kicked him out of my room, then later on that night he asked if he could watch it because it looked pretty good.

I told him to start from season 1 and then work his way up so he watched Buffy and he asked what happened to Angel so has now watched the whole of Buffy and Angel now. So he is fully converted. I have made my firends into Browncoats as well but they still refuse to watch Buffy. Oh well...maybe one day but right now I'm still really happy to have made my brother into a full whedon fan. (Hint the forum name)

Anyway I'd start him on a very action packed episode with good fight scenes to grab attention, perhaps Passions, Becoming, Graduation, The Gift, Anything with Faith or Dark Willow lol

[slayersarah]

Hush, Buffy vs. Dracula, or Band Candy come to mind for me.

[deathisyourgift]

I know many guys who only know of Joss because of Serenity. They then find out through me that Joss was also behind Buffy. And they are somewhat shocked.

I think a good episode to introduce someone to Buffy would be "Storyteller", it has a character introduction built right in, and it runs the gamut from hillarious--'Welcome, gentle viewers' and 'We are as gods!'--to moody--'I killed him! I listened to Warren even though I knew it wasn't him' I paraphrased haha--and has great jokes in it and the gang's all there. I know it's a S7 epi, but it really captures the many moods of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

From Angel, I think anything from S3 with Fred would be good

I've convinced my friend who was sure he was going to hate the show into actually sitting through an entire season with me and admitting, "Hey, this is really good stuff..I like the way this was blah blah" haha, basically he realized that Buffy isn't just some monster show. It's a well written anti-genre show about extraordinary people just trying to live day to day (or apocalypse to apocalypse).

That's my long winded 2 cents.

[darkdahlia]

sometime people just dont have enough imagination left to watch it. Earshot and Restless are good. They're set up similar to horror films so they may creep people out in just the right way to get them interested.

The first season of Angel is the best season to get them to start watching because after that it got a little out there.

[henzINNIT]

It's Smile Time!

Seriously I'd try Angel first. Buffy has a lot of sissy connotations that Angel doesn't.

Conviction is a great introduction episode, even though the weight of the juxtaposition won't be apparent to first timers.

[stakey]

Jul 1, 2008 18:24:25 GMT -5 henzINNIT said:

It's Smile Time!

Seriously I'd try Angel first. Buffy has a lot of sissy connotations that Angel doesn't.

Conviction is a great introduction episode, even though the weight of the juxtaposition won't be apparent to first timers.

really...? lol.

conviction is my most hated episode out of both series of buffy and angel...I just cant believe joss penned it. I hate it so bloody much.

[henzINNIT]

Wow. Never heard criticism of that episode before... It's not a particularly special episode but a good one IMO

[buffysmglover]

Jul 1, 2008 15:26:57 GMT -5 passionbuffy said:

one time i tried with "the body" and it works very well to convince reluctants peoples, but it's a little spoilerish.

i think "the prom" is a good one.

I don't think the Prom would have the nice tear-jerker affect though if you watch it without really knowing all the Hell Buffy goes through.

I think Earshot is a good choice like someone said above. Definitly DO NOT show The Body and give away Joyce's death. Big spoiler, not little spoiler. Poor old woman.

One of my favorite episodes that you don't have to have seen previous ones to get is "School Hard". I LOVE it!

EDIT

And I agree with Wyndam about "Earshot". That was the first episode I ever watched, and I think it was a great intro to the show, even tho I didn't follow any of the Angel/Faith stuff (from "Enemies") that Buffy was all obsess-y about. But it starts out funny, it's got some action, and ends with that very dramatic scene between Buffy and Jonathan. It really does a good job of showing off all the elements that make the show great, IMO.

Well put!

EDIT AGAIN

Anyway I'd start him on a very action packed episode with good fight scenes to grab attention, perhaps Passions, Becoming, Graduation, The Gift,

Are you kidding? Might as well just throw in Chosen and REALLY get those spoilers going.

[hitnrun017]

I agree with Earshot. Like El Diablo, it was the first episode I saw. I've managed to get two people to go watch the show by showing them Earshot. A great mix of comedy, drama, suspense and action.

[Danner]

Well, the first Buffy episode that I showed my sisters was 'Phases'. (It happened to be the one I was watching at the time.) They seemed to be pretty intrigued, and one of them actually became a fan.
If I had to choose an episode, I would definitely pick 'School Hard' from Buffy, and 'City Of' from Angel. They both have a great amount of action, and what the latter lacks in comedy, it makes up for in wonderful David Boreanaz-ness.

[artiswar]

Restless. Make em watch that so they think the entire series is Brian Lynch, then they'll grovel at you for an hour about how stupid they were to think your show was dumb.

(deathismygift, best avatar ever!!)

[Emmie]

It does seem like guys like Angel a bit more than Buffy. And I'd say girls like Buffy more. So trying Angel first sounds like a good idea.

[BenTaylor3907]

I agree with everyone that put Earshot. My brother Andrew is the same way, so I asked him to watch Earshot. He started liking Buffy after that. He wasn't into it as much as me because I'm somewhat obsessed. He just watched a couple episodes here and there but at least he appreciated it. And for some reason all the kids in the neighborhood watched Chosen since it was the series finale of Buffy like their lives depended on it, even though they weren't a fan of the show. So Earshot is great! IMP.

And for some reason, my other brother Chris thought I watched Sex and the City since I watched Buffy. WTF?

[Magician Named Gosh]

Jul 1, 2008 20:28:29 GMT -5 BenTaylor3907 said:

And for some reason, my other brother Chris thought I watched Sex and the City since I watched Buffy. WTF?

What? You mean you didn't hear about the big Buffy Sex in the City spin off show? C'mon Man...

[alycat7]

I've tried for years for my friends to like Buffy. The only episode that they always seem to like is Chosen. And that's only because Anya dies.