If you want to watch "Buffy"

If you want to start watching "Buffy" and are not immediately sold, I'll help you fast-track the first two season of the show.  I know many people who have told me they want to watch the show and have been told to by many people, but that they have difficulty with it.  The show is nearly 20 years old and works with formats that television has moved beyond.  It has some valid criticisms, many of which Joss Whedon tries to address in later seasons and in later works.  It was important for its time and continues to be important in the issues it raises and the conversations it helps young people navigate.  So, I'm going to use this space to help you watch the show, if you like, or to help you watch it and talk about it with your young people.

Here are the essential episodes of the first season:

"Welcome to the Hellmouth"

"The Harvest"

"Angel"

"Prophecy Girl"

I will fast-track the show here.  Each week, I'll post videos for one episode, by which I mean: one video on the "fast track."  I'll also post videos for the episodes I recommend that you skip, which will recap the episodes and its themes for you.  If you are not fast tracking the show, there may be multiple episodes for the week.

That is the speed at which I'll be progressing through the first two seasons.  There will be some episodes I will give "maybe" votes to, which means I think they are skippable, but that I recommend you watch if you are enjoying the show.  While some episodes and characters are not indispensable for the ongoing plot of the series, they will be referenced later.

So: go ahead and watch "Welcome to the Hellmouth", if you want.  I'll post some videos on Monday.