17 Classics TV Shows [BTVS & ATS]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Joss Whedon began his iconic TV career with this mash-up of teenage high-school soap opera and bad-ass horror monster movie — but, you know, classier. Adapted from the far cheesier (and Whedon-scripted) 1992 feature film, Buffy starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as the titular slayer, the show's literally-fighting-your-demons ethos made it a ripe and emotionally rich metaphor for high school and early adulthood. By the show's seventh and final season, it had more than one TV critic hailing it as the best scripted television series, ever.

Angel (1999-2004)

This Buffy spin-off starred David Boreanaz as a private-eye vampire cursed to live his life with a soul, thereby morally incapable of embracing his inner demon, i.e. biting any human neck that came his way. Darker, harsher, and, at first, more episodic than Buffy, the show lasted five seasons until The WB rather unceremoniously cancelled it.