The Great Buffy Rewatch

So as I mentioned earlier today on my blog, Warner has announced they are definitely going ahead with their idea of a movie based on Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer... that will not be set in a high school, nor will it have any of the original cast, nor will it have Joss Whedon attached. I'm really hoping it's a ill-timed April Fool's joke. And so today, with all of the Buffaholics walking around in sad stupors and bemoaning how in an age of Twilight and neutered vampires, people are forgetting the show that started it all, I'm here to announce that... WE HAVE TO GO BAAAACK!!!

No, not to the island, but... to Sunnydale! Yes, folks, I'm announcing the Great Buffy Rewatch!!

[Cue fireworks, the brass band, and the Buffy theme.]



OMG, look at young Willow with the long hair! And chubby-cheeked Buffy! And young Giles! And and and... Oh man, I'm giddy already. ;)

While many of you have been bugging me to do a Lost Rewatch in light of the series finale, I think Matt and Justin have been doing an excellent one already (by the way, I'm going to be joining them in a couple of weeks to recap the season 1 finale in light of the end of the series, so keep checking them out!)

In the summer, when people were asking me to do another one, I was thinking I'd rather focus on something else, and I made an off-the-cuff remark about a Buffy rewatch. And then a bunch of people jumped on that idea. "Oh no," I thought. "One hundred and forty-four episodes? Could I do it??"

No. No, I couldn't. But... with a little help from my friends I could! So a few weeks ago I was trying to figure out a way out of my conundrum, and a tiny, dim lightbulb went on over my head and I thought... "Oh my god, I could make spaghetti for dinner! That will solve the problem of us not having any chicken in the house!" And then as I was making spaghetti, a second, brighter lightbulb went on over my head and I thought, "Wait, what if I recruited guests to help me out with the Buffy rewatch?"

And luckily, I know a TON of people who are Buffy fans. So I began sending out notes to the academics and scholars I'd met through Slayage, many of whom have written Buffy books of their own. But, in keeping with the paper I presented at Slayage where I was basically arguing that anything that academics could do, bloggers could do... um... their own way, I decided I needed some other people. So now I've recruited some novelists, poets, pop culture bloggers, other writers of TV companion guides, and even a sports writer to join in the fun.

So here's the sitch: if you're a fan of Buffy, this is for you. If you've ever wanted to watch Buffy, this is for you. I'm giving you lots of time to get that box set (hint: buying the individual seasons is actually cheaper than the entire box set... go figure), go out and get a companion episode guide to all of the seasons (I would HIGHLY recommend this one, or this one, or this one), and start watching, and the Buffy watch fun will continue for the entire calendar year of 2011.

Now, if you watched Buffy live, like I did, then you remember Tuesday nights were Buffy nights (I still think of them that way) so every Tuesday a post will go up that will cover off that week's episodes. It will either be written by me or one of the many guests that I've recruited to join me on this venture (there are just over 20 on board so far). If it's a guest, I'll introduce them at the top of their column, and then let them go. They'll discuss Buffy in their own way, and I might jump in with a few words of my own at the beginning or the end. And many of them have written books, so I hope you check out their work if you like what they've written.

I'm very excited about this, and I hope you are, too!! We'll be starting on the first Tuesday of the year, January 4, and I'll be covering those episodes. I'll be posting a full schedule soon, and please join us.

If you have never watched Buffy, now's the time to do so. You all know how much work, time, and effort I've put into Lost, and yet Buffy still holds the place closest to my heart, even after all these years (and all those Lost books!) So come and find out why with a fantastic group of people who will keep you entertained all year.

UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot to mention this when I posted this last night, but I've been discussing with the contributors the idea of spoiling vs. not spoiling. My thinking is that people will keep the top part of their posts spoiler-free, just focusing on the episode at hand, and if they're going to pull in future episodes, they'll do so at a certain point with a warning in advance. However, I also didn't want to limit the way they approached the episode (for anyone who's seen Restless, for example, it's prescient of many things to come). So if their entire post pulls in things from future episodes, then I'll write my own piece at the top that is spoiler-free so the n00bs will have something to read that won't spoil them. That way if this is a first watch for you, rather than a rewatch, you'll have the option of reading ahead to see what's to come, or holding back and not spoiling yourself. Don't worry... I'll take care of ya. ;)

I'll be posting the full schedule shortly.