Buffering the Vampire Slayer
5 Pretzels
Hey Interweb Crawlers! Have you ever been totally in love with a TV show? Like, so in love with it that you never stop rewatching it and you quote it constantly and conduct spontaneous acapella performances of the musical episode so often that you emotionally scar a close friend? That’s how I feel about Antiques Roadshow. There’s just something about a credenza from time gone by that makes my heart beat faster. A girl could really find her knight in shining armoire watching that show.
Just kidding! It is how I feel about Buffy the Vampire Slayer though. I absolutely adore it. Which, frankly, will not be a surprise to you if you’ve read any of my previous blogs. The thing is that although my love is eternal the actual show ended 20 years ago and sometimes it feels like there are no new ways to appreciate it.
When I feel like that I tune into a little podcast called Buffering the Vampire Slayer. It’s a nugget of golden feminist genre loving awesomeness. Jenny Owens Young and Kristin Russo rewatch every episode and then discuss the story, the genius of Harmony, why everyone should have a crush on Giles, and whether Riley is a regular man hunk or a hunk of potato with abs painted on. Every episode is an absolute hoot and what’s great is that the podcast is spoiler free so if for some insane reason you have yet to watch one of the single most perfect television shows of our generation you can jump in and watch it right along with Jenny and Kristin.
Literally everything about this podcast is so much fun. Why, it’s just like a party in your ears. Jenny is a musician by trade and they have crafted a series of insanely catchy jingles for all of our main characters and they play them whenever one of the Scoobies is having a real shining star moment. They have a fashion watch segment starring writer/artist/delightful human Kate Leth. They write a song for the end of each podcast that perfectly sums up the episode of the week and then release a soundtrack for every season. They throw Buffy proms, they raise money for good causes, they came up with the phrase “Smash the Demon Lizard Patriarchy” and put it on a protest sign AND a shirt. Honestly, what don’t they do? Bore me. They could absolutely never.
Jenny and Kristin are such peaches. So absolutely divine that they have manged to snag lengthy interviews with everyone from Armin Shimmerman who played Principle Snyder to Spike himself, James Marsters. Which brings me to the reason that I felt the need to shout my love for Buffering from the rooftops so strongly today. Our remarkable hosts have somehow managed to secure an interview with the truly amazing, seemingly unaging, ball of fire that is Charisma Carpenter. Charisma played the always hilarious badass Cordelia Chase on Buffy and also Angel. To top it all off they release the interview on Charisma’s birthday which just happened to be yesterday. Send her a card or a tweet or an edible arrangement to celebrate it. Charisma deserves all of the love.
Right now the podcast is on summer hiatus but, never fear, they’ll be back in September to start season five. That gives you plenty of time to catch up and listen to all of those truly excellent interviews before Buffy has to face off with Dracula. Go forth and enjoy y’all. You deserve it and Ms. Carpenter is waiting.
Holland + Harper Productions 
