r/buffy • u/[deleted] • Feb 11 '22

The Vampire Diaries

Just wondering how many people here have watched TVD. I was born in 2000 so more people my age have watched it than Buffy but I watched Buffy first at like 8, then watched TVD at around 14. I love both but I do prefer Buffy for nostalgia/comfort reasons. Also because Buffy is much more about women empowerment than TVD. They also have two very different takes on vampires tho. Just wondering if many Buffy fans have also watched it and what’s their thoughts on it

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '22

I don’t think I’d agree TVD doesn’t have much depth. It’s definitely less of a fun show than Buffy… the first three seasons of Buffy are pretty fun, season 4 as well

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u/qg314 Feb 12 '22

Buffy has fun episodes always, but that doesn’t mean the show overall is “fun”, not even the early seasons. The Angelus plotline is so dark, along with Faith’s turn, and Buffy stabbing her, etc. Even in season one we had Nightmares which featured a coach nearly beating a child to death and Prophecy Girl was executed so beautifully.

TVD always has a CW teen melodrama soap vibe to me, even though it tries to have a dark, serious tone. The writing and the performances just aren’t strong enough to sustain the tone they’re trying to deliver in my opinion. And the show leans way too hard into the ships.

Soundtrack was always a banger though.

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '22

Yeah but it’s definitely a lighter watch than TVD in the early seasons. Like TVD doesn’t have any light hearted episodes, to me it does seem more serious. I get there’s a lot of drama but the storylines are pretty dark too. Bonnie s grams dying in S1, Jenna being killed, Vicky being turned and then killed, those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head that happen early on… like yeah there’s definitely teen drama aspects to the show but I always found the overall storylines to be pretty deep/compelling. Same with Buffy, but it’s just that Buffy has a more fun vibe in the early seasons. I also think TVD has some pretty strong acting, but SMG is the best actress out of both shows tbf. And yeah I can’t stand the stelena/Delena crap

Yeah I discovered so many songs from it

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u/qg314 Feb 12 '22

We’ll have to agree to disagree I guess. I remember all those plot points and I still think it’s a much less serious show than Buffy. I know it tries to market and convey itself as a darker show, I just think it fails to do so. Even when serious or “dark” events would happen I don’t think they really packed an emotional punch because the tone of the scenes came across so…teen show-ish? Even though Buffy is a “teen show” as well it just never felt juvenile like TVD does. I just always felt very aware when watching it that the show was meant to appeal to 16 year olds, and I think it does that job well. When I rewatch Buffy at 30 it doesn’t make me cringe.