That’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How is it that a program that delves into the consequences of sex, violence, and cheep use of power is not better respected by groups like The Parents Television Council? They rated Buffy the third worst family show on TV.

That’s sad. If their critics are simply sitting there, counting instances of so-called explicit material, then that is what it is. A body count. But what of the nightly news when ranking shows in such a fashion?

Buffy’s storylines share a core set of values and themes that a simple, type-of-scene count will miss entirely. These are great for starting discussions on. They include the power of love, taking responsibility for others and yourself, being a leader, realizing your not the center of the universe, finding time for friends and family admist work demands (naw-I’m not kidding-really!), being a misfit yet still belonging, forgiveness, redemption, life, death, and exploring the natures of good and evil.

Christianity Today, in it’s recent article Don’t Let Your Kids Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer – But you can tape it and watch after they go to bed at least recognizes the quality of the show.

Hatred, vengeance, and witchcraft turned Willow evil, but Xander’s unconditional love showed that no sinner is beyond grace. Moments like this explain why Christians such as myself watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Yep. But watching the show after the kids are asleep can be a missed opportunity. I think if I had children entering that age where these kinds of questions are being asked… well this show provides a great starting point for discussion. No – not for teaching – but for starting discussion. That can be a hard thing to do with just about anyone. And from what I’ve seen, just doesn’t happen enough between parents and kids.

Buffy does all this with plenty of humor, characters that are easy to care about (watch a few shows and I dare you not to relate to one of them), and lots of scary villians. Who could ask for anything more in a TV show?

This post is part of The Buffy Blogburst.

Here go some others to check out:

Silent Running Willow turning to evil and the Arab-Israeli situation?

Charles Kuffner compares Buffy and the Sopranos.

Nick Danger defends the latest season. Probably the darkest yet.

Stacy Sekimori Buffy mp3s.

Kathy shares her Buffy routine.

Again, this post is part of The Buffy Blogburst. Hit the link to get better descriptions, it’s the definitive index, and more posts as the day goes on. Thanks to Meryl for organizing this.