Most television works very hard to keep viewers' minds closed, to provide tried-and-true laughs for weary working folk who need it and to foist upon us cookie-cutter familiarity that allows us to know that the cops will catch the criminals and, when the world gets a little too weird, that someone like Jessica Fletcher will be there to put the world to right.

"Buffy" was different.
And that's why it's one of the few television shows I watch. Now with it gone, the only thing I have left is the Simpsons.