title: Ben Simmons

text: Simmons returned to the team on 11 October 2021. On 19 October, Simmons was thrown out of practice by Rivers due to declining several times to substitute into a drill and was suspended by the 76ers for one game, the team's season-opener against the New Orleans Pelicans, due to conduct detrimental to the team. Simmons had previously been fined $1.4 million due to his absence from four preseason games, missed practices, on-court workouts, and meetings. After Simmons told the 76ers his absence was due to a mental health issue, team officials stopped fining him, but later resumed the fines after he continued to refuse to cooperate with them. Due to the repeated fines for missed games, Simmons became the most-fined player in NBA history, with reports suggesting he had surpassed $10 million by the end of 2021. In January 2022, the 76ers reportedly had limited their fining of Simmons in response to him attending team meetings and counseling sessions, but continued to dock him for missed games. Simmons subsequently filed a grievance to recoup nearly $20 million in salary withheld from him by the 76ers, and the two sides settled in August 2022 for an undisclosed amount.


title: Ben Simmons

text: On 10 February 2022, Simmons was traded, along with Andre Drummond, Seth Curry, and two future first-round picks, to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for James Harden and Paul Millsap. On 21 March, Simmons was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back. On 4 April, Nets head coach Steve Nash ruled out Simmons for the remainder of the regular season and the play-in tournament. On 21 April, Simmons reportedly planned to make his season debut in Game 4 against the Boston Celtics during the first round of the playoffs. On 24 April, with the Nets facing a sweep to the Celtics, the Nets announced that he would not play in Game 4 due to back soreness. The Nets lost the game, eliminating them from the playoffs. On 5 May, he underwent back surgery.


title: Ben Simmons

text: Simmons made his preseason debut on 3 October 2022, putting up six points, five assists, and four rebounds in a 127–108 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons made his regular season debut on 19 October 2022, putting up four points, five rebounds, and five assists before fouling out in a 130–108 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.


title: Ben Simmons

text: Simmons represented Australia at the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Championship at age 15, helping the team win a silver medal. Simmons' tournament highlights included a 26-point, 10-rebound, 5-steal outing against the Czech Republic. A year later, after participating in the Australian Boomers camp ahead of the Sino-Australia Challenge, Simmons made his senior debut for Australia in the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship against New Zealand. He subsequently scored four total points in the two-game series and was a part of the gold medal-winning Australian team.


title: Ben Simmons

text: In July 2014, Simmons was added to the Boomers extended squad for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup; however, he was later cut from the squad as he did not make the final 12-man roster. In August 2015, Simmons signaled his intentions to represent Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics and said he was aiming to win a medal. In April 2016, Simmons decided to not join the Boomers for the Rio Olympics in order to concentrate on preparing for his rookie season in the NBA. On 15 May 2019, Simmons confirmed he would represent Australia in the 2019 FIBA World Cup and multiple exhibition games against Canada and the United States. In July 2019, Simmons announced that he would not play for the Australian national team in 2019, citing "professional obligations".


title: Ben Simmons

text: In October 2017, Simmons made clear his intentions to represent Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; however, he withdrew from the Australia Olympic squad in order to focus on improving his shooting skills for the 2021–22 NBA season.


title: Ben Simmons

text: In the summer of 2018, Simmons' brother Liam resigned his position as assistant coach at the University of California, Riverside, to work with Simmons on improving his shooting game. The decision to hire his brother as his shooting coach was not without controversy or criticism. His sister Emily, a former member of the Washington State University women's rowing team, who has worked for Klutch Sports since 2014, is married to former NFL player Michael Bush. His godfather, David Patrick, was an assistant coach at LSU and was a part of his sole season there and is currently the head coach at UC Riverside. A cousin of Simmons, who had attended the 2016 NBA draft, was killed in a hit-and-run on 25 June 2016 in New Jersey.


title: Ben Simmons

text: In November 2016, Simmons was featured in the Showtime documentary film "One & Done", providing an insight into his time as a one-and-done college player, as well as exploring his and his family's thoughts on the NCAA and the NBA's "one and done" rule. On 7 June 2016, Simmons signed an endorsement deal with Nike. Simmons is a supporter of the Essendon Football Club, an Australian rules football team in the Australian Football League.


title: Ben Simmons

text: On 3 October 2020, Simmons announced his endorsement for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the 2020 United States presidential election. Over the 2021 Christmas holiday, Simmons reportedly became engaged to British television personality Maya Jama. In August 2022, the couple reportedly ended their engagement.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 17 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, and dancer. Born and raised in Cheltenham, she became a backup dancer for numerous famous musicians after moving to London at the age of 17, and made her own musical debut with "EP1" (2012).


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett's debut studio album, "LP1" (2014), reached number 16 on the UK Albums Chart and number 30 on the US "Billboard" 200. It was also nominated for that year's Mercury Prize. She then released the EP "M3LL155X" (2015) and took a four-year hiatus, after which she released her second studio album, "Magdalene" (2019). After signing with Atlantic Records, she released the mixtape "Caprisongs" (2022). Her work has consistently garnered acclaim and has been described as "genre-bending", drawing on various genres including electronic music, trip hop, R&B, and avant-garde.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Tahliah Debrett Barnett was born in Cheltenham on 17 January 1988, the only child of an English mother who was a dancer and gymnast and a Jamaican father who was a musician. Her mother also has Spanish ancestry. She was raised by her mother and stepfather, whom she described as a "jazz fanatic of English, Spanish, Jamaican, and Egyptian descent", and did not meet her biological father until she was 18. Barnett grew up in Cheltenham and later described it as being "kind of in the middle of nowhere". She attended St Edward's School, a private co-educational Catholic school for ages 11 to 18. Her education at the school was funded by an academic scholarship. From a young age, she undertook opera and ballet lessons and took part in several St Edward's School productions.


title: FKA Twigs

text: At age 16, Barnett started making music in youth clubs. At age 17, she moved to South London to pursue a career as a dancer, and enrolled at the BRIT School. After changing her focus from dance to music, she transferred to Croydon College to pursue an education in fine arts. She worked as a backup dancer in music videos by artists such as Kylie Minogue, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, Taio Cruz, Dionne Bromfield, Jessie J, and Wretch 32. She was a backup dancer for Jessie J in her 2010 video for "Do It like a Dude", and appeared again in her 2011 video for "Price Tag". She also appeared in the video for Dionne Bromfield's song "Yeah Right". In 2011, she appeared in a two-minute BBC comedy sketch titled "Beyoncé Wants Groceries", in which she was a backup dancer in a supermarket. At age 18, she began working with local record producers to try to find her own musical sound. Around this time, she wrote the song "I'm Your Doll" and ended up producing a lot of what she called "really bad demos". For a time, she worked as a hostess in a strip club and also sang periodically at The Box in Soho.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In August 2012, Barnett was photographed for the cover of "i-D" magazine. She became known as Twigs for the way her joints crack. She added the initialism FKA to her name when another act called the Twigs – twin sisters active and recording since 1994 – asked her to change her stage name. Several sources have claimed that the "FKA" stands for "Formerly Known As", but Barnett has said in multiple interviews that the letters do not stand for anything in particular: "[I]t's just a collection of letters. I was gonna be like FK1 Twigs…or AFK Twigs…I just wanted a selection of letters that sounded quite kind of masculine and strong. FKA just worked. It doesn't stand for anything, it's just capital letters."


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett self-released her music debut, "EP1", on Bandcamp on 4 December 2012. She posted a video for each song on her YouTube channel. In August 2013, she released the video for her first single, "Water Me", it was directed by Jesse Kanda. That same month "The Guardian" profiled Barnett for their "New Band of the Day" feature, describing her as "the UK's best example to date of ethereal, twisted R&B." Barnett's second extended play, "EP2", was released through the Young Turks record label in September. It was produced by Barnett and Arca. "Pitchfork" gave "EP2" a rating of 8/10. In December, she was nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2014 prize, and was chosen by Spotify for their Spotlight on 2014 list. Barnett was then featured on "Billboard" 14 Artists to Watch in 2014.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In April 2014, Barnett appeared on the cover of "The Fader" for its 91st issue. She began writing for her first studio album during a period of "self-hatred", which she considers "quite normal" for a young person. On 24 June, she released "Two Weeks", the lead single from her forthcoming album, alongside a video. Barnett then directed and guest-starred in the music video for "Ouch Ouch" by rapper Lucki Eck$; she also produced the track. The second single, "Pendulum", was released on 29 July.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Her debut studio album, "LP1", was released on 6 August through Young Turks. The album received widespread critical acclaim and placed high on several year-end critics' lists. "Time" gave a positive review, saying that Barnett has "made that transition to one of the most compelling and complex acts in R&B", and later ranked it, as did "Clash", #1 album of the year. She then announced a world tour starting on 2 October at The Dome in Brighton, East Sussex and ending on 3 December in Orlando, Florida at The Social. That same August, Barnett was signed to London-based production company Academy Films as part of their A+ roster. On 20 August, she uploaded three videos to her YouTube channel which she directed: a video titled "Wet Wipez", starring the London dance crew of the same name; a video titled "tw-ache", which is a remix of the "EP1" song "Ache"; and a video for the Lucki Eck$ track "Ouch Ouch", which she also produced.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In September, "LP1" was revealed as one of the nominees for the 2014 Mercury Prize. The same month, Barnett performed on BBC's "Later... with Jools Holland". In October, "Video Girl", the third and last single from the album, was released alongside a video a few days later, as well as an advert for Google Glass which Barnett directed. She made her US television debut on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on 4 November.


title: FKA Twigs

text: On 7 November 2014, producer Boots announced he was working with Barnett on her third EP. The video for "Glass & Patron", the first song released from this EP, was posted on her YouTube channel on 23 March 2015; it was directed by Barnett. In February 2015, she performed Congregata, a theatrical "coming together" and choreographed performance that visualised "the story of my life while making this album" at the Roundhouse in Camden, London. On 15 May, on her Instagram account, she posted a picture of men posing with jackets on that had an image of Barnett's face from the "Papi Pacify" video with Barnett captioning the pic "coming soon... <3", hinting at either merchandise or "EP3"'s alleged release in the summer. During an interview with "Complex" released in June, she stated that she had changed the title of the EP to "Melissa", and that it would be released within two months. She confirmed it would include the songs "Glass & Patron", "Mothercreep", "I'm Your Doll", "Figure 8", and "In Time".


title: FKA Twigs

text: The EP, stylised as "M3LL155X," was released on 13 August 2015, containing all five announced tracks and accompanied by four videos, which were directed by Barnett herself, featuring pregnancy, sex dolls, vogueing and Michele Lamy. The title of the EP reads as "Melissa" and is named after the artist's "personal female energy". The record met critical acclaim.


title: FKA Twigs

text: On 18 February 2016, Barnett debuted a new song and music video titled "Good to Love". The song premiered earlier at "Soundtrack 7", her seven-day residency at Manchester International Festival that took place in July 2015. She also performed the song on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on 24 February. On 9 July, Barnett debuted a new stage show called "Radiant Me²" at Moscow's Lastochka Festival, where she unveiled three previously unheard songs.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In August 2016, the dance film "Soundtrack 7" was premiered. Directed by Barnett, the film was created, performed and filmed on-site across seven days at Manchester International Festival in 2015. She later did advertising work directing, narrating and starring in a television ad for Nike, and dancing in Apple's advertisement for HomePod, thus gaining worldwide visibility.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett appeared on A$AP Rocky's album "Testing" in 2018, featuring on the track "Fukk Sleep". On 24 April 2019, she released the single, "Cellophane", her first release since "Good to Love" in 2016. In September, Barnett announced that her second album, co-produced with Nicolas Jaar among others, would be titled "Magdalene", supported by second single "Holy Terrain" (featuring Future) on 9 September. On 7 October, she released the third single, "Home with You", and announced that the album would be delayed until 8 November. The fourth single, "Sad Day", was released on 4 November.


title: FKA Twigs

text: "Magdalene" was released on 8 November 2019, as planned, and received universal critical acclaim. The album ranked No. 1 on four year-end lists ("The A.V. Club", "Clash", "Now", and "Time") and in top-five of seven other lists. The same day, film "Honey Boy", in which Barnett played Shy Girl, had a commercial premiere. The movie received positive reviews from critics.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In August 2020, she appeared in an OnlyFans-inspired music video for the song "Sum Bout U" with rapper 645AR. The video for "Sad Day", directed by Hiro Murai, premiered on 28 August. In September, Barnett received 4 nominations for the 2020 UK Music Video Awards, "Sad Day" won later the best cinematography in a video.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In October, Barnett took part in a virtual chat on the Grammy Museum's Programs at Home series. During the chat, she revealed that she was "just finishing" a new album that she made largely in collaboration with Spanish musician and producer El Guincho, and with other collaborators, many of whom she met for the first time via FaceTime calls. In November, British singer Dua Lipa hosted a livestream concert, titled Studio 2054, in which Barnett was invited to play as a guest. The two teased an upcoming collaboration, titled "Why Don't You Love Me", during Barnett's performance.


title: FKA Twigs

text: On 25 January 2021, Barnett announced the single "Don't Judge Me", featuring North London rapper Headie One and producer Fred Again, to be released the next day alongside a video co-directed by Dutch-Ghanaian director Emmanuel Adjei and herself. The same day, she took part in a podcast episode with Louis Theroux and discussed her previous known relationships and an upcoming album, stating "It was all via the internet...I have more collaborations and features on this album than I ever had before." In February, she described the album as a "going out" record, and revealed it would feature collaborations with Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema, British hip-hop up-and-comer Pa Salieu. A few days later, Barnett, interviewed by British actress and screenwriter Michaela Coel, revealed that she had changed the undisclosed, original title of the upcoming record due to a well-known artist titling a non-musical project the same thing. In an interview with "Vogue" in May, Barnett revealed the album does not have a set release date, but wanted to release it in the northern summer of 2021. In July 2021, Barnett directed the music video for Koreless' "White Picket Fence" single.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett joined the official FKA Twigs Discord server in September 2021, and shared details about the upcoming record. Barnett confirmed the project to be a mixtape, and listed El Guincho, Koreless, and Arca, as well as new collaborators American hip-hop producer Mike Dean and Canadian pop producer Cirkut, as producers for the project. She additionally teased a collaboration with Swedish rapper Yung Lean on Instagram.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett released the single "Measure of a Man", featuring British rapper Central Cee, on 18 November 2021, which appears as part of the film soundtrack for "The King's Man". "Tears in the Club" featuring Canadian singer the Weeknd was released on 16 December. The song was her first release under Atlantic Records and served as the lead single from her mixtape, titled "Caprisongs", which was released on 14 January 2022. "Caprisongs" also includes appearances from Pa Salieu, Daniel Caesar, Rema, Jorja Smith, Unknown T, Dystopia and Shygirl. Barnett was awarded Godlike Genius at the 2022 BandLab NME Awards in March, where she also performed "Meta Angel", and "Tears In The Club". She additionally featured on Yung Lean's "Stardust" album in April.


title: FKA Twigs

text: On 16 June 2022, Barnett released "Killer", the lead single to her upcoming third studio album. The song is about "the risks that you take for love" and how "the effects of heart break can define one's trajectory much more than the beauty of the love itself". Barnett debuted the song live during an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. The "Killer" music video, featuring Barnett performing choreography with Arón Piper on a beach in Portugal, was directed by Yoann Lemoine and released on 20 July 2022.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Possessing a soprano vocal range, Barnett's music has been described as "genre-bending", drawing on a variety of styles, including electronic music, R&B, trip hop, choral music, industrial, and avant-garde. In her songs and music videos she incorporates elements of afrofuturism. Karen Vintges, of the University of Amsterdam, described Barnett's performance style as "porno-chic", and said it "refuses to conform to standard norms of heterosexual beauty". In her collaboration with 645AR she explored the artistic value of sex work.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Her work has been compared to that of Tricky as well as Kate Bush, Janet Jackson, the xx, and Massive Attack. Pitchfork writer Philip Sherburne compared her breathy vocals and the electronic production style of "LP1" to Ciara, the Weeknd and Beyoncé. "The Wall Street Journal" described her as "an heir to futuristic R&B muses like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott and others under the progressive sway of producer Timbaland." "Variety" wrote that her music was "darkly avant-garde, aggressive and atmospheric", adding that her "scorched earth-soul of 2014's "LP1" and 2019's "Magdalene" positioned her as a cross between Billie Holiday and Siouxsie and the Banshees", with a production style like Lee Scratch Perry's. According to "Slate", "her sound is uniquely her own – melismatic falsetto over beats that are equal parts spooky and soothing". In 2020, "The New York Times" noted: "in recent years, Twigs, now 32, has begun to harness her pursuit of avant-garde innovation and technical virtuosity toward a deeper exploration of pain and insecurity", making wider comparisons to Janelle Monáe, Fiona Apple, Solange, and Lana Del Rey. In terms of her relationship to fame and adoption of different personae on the stage and in her music, Simon Critchley aligned her alongside David Bowie.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett said: "I am not restricted by any musical genre. I like to experiment with sounds, generating emotions while putting my voice on certain atmospheres [...] I found my own way of playing punk. I like industrial sounds and incorporating everyday life's sounds like a car alarm." She has been associated with the alternative R&B tag, though she herself has rejected the R&B label as related to her race:It's just because I'm mixed race. When I first released music and no one knew what I looked like, I would read comments like: 'I've never heard anything like this before, it's not in a genre.' And then my picture came out six months later, now she's an R&B singer. I share certain sonic threads with classical music; my song 'Preface' is like a hymn. So let's talk about that. If I was white and blonde and said I went to church all the time, you'd be talking about the 'choral aspect'. But you're not talking about that because I'm a mixed-race girl from south London.


title: FKA Twigs

text: The first singers who influenced Barnett were Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Marvin Gaye. When she started composing songs, she wanted to reproduce music she liked: "every bit of music that I made sounded like a pastiche of Siouxsie and the Banshees or Adam Ant. But through that I discovered myself". In an interview after being shortlisted for the 2014 Mercury Prize, Barnett cited "Germfree Adolescents" by X-Ray Spex as her favourite album of all time.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett began dating English actor Robert Pattinson in September 2014, and they later became engaged before ending their relationship in mid-2017. As a result of their relationship, she received racist and sexist online abuse.


title: FKA Twigs

text: In May 2018, Barnett revealed via Instagram that she had undergone surgery to remove fibroid tumours from her uterus in December 2017. She described her experience as "living with a fruit bowl of pain every day" and saluted the bravery of other women living with the condition. In July 2020, she revealed in an interview that she had gone vegan after discovering that a diet including animal products was exacerbating the symptoms from her tumours.


title: FKA Twigs

text: Barnett met American actor Shia LaBeouf on the set of the film "Honey Boy", and they dated from mid-2018 to mid-2019. She filed a lawsuit against him at Los Angeles Superior Court in December 2020, accusing him of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress during their relationship. In his response, LaBeouf stated he had been "abusive" to himself and those around him "for years" and that he was "ashamed" and "sorry to those [he] hurt". He later denied all allegations made by Barnett.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although the events of the film are not considered canon to the series. Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner under his production tag Mutant Enemy Productions.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The series premiered on March 10, 1997, on The WB and concluded on May 20, 2003, on UPN. The series narrative follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers, or the "Chosen Ones", are chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang" – a reference to the animated franchise "Scooby-Doo" that features a group of friends solving mysteries together.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The series received critical and popular acclaim and usually reached between four and six million viewers on original airings. Although such ratings are lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox), they were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network. Despite the fact that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was almost entirely ignored by major award shows during its run, the series was nominated for the American Film Institute Award for Drama Series of the Year, Gellar was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her performance in the show and the series was nominated five times for Television Critics Association Awards, winning once in 2003 for the Television Critics Association Heritage Award.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The success of "Buffy" has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including novels, comics and video games. The series has received attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series. "Buffy" is considered to be part of a wave of television series from the late 1990s and early 2000s that feature strong female characters, alongside "", "La Femme Nikita", "Dark Angel", and "Alias". The series, as well as its spin-off series, "Angel", and extensions thereof, have been collectively termed the "Buffyverse". A second spin-off of the series was being developed for television, with Monica Owusu-Breen as showrunner, before being shelved in 2022.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the "Slayer", one in a long line of young women chosen by fate to battle evil forces. This mystical calling grants her powers that dramatically increase physical strength, endurance, agility, accelerated healing, intuition, and a limited degree of precognition, usually in the form of prophetic dreams. She is known as a reluctant hero who wants to live a normal life. However, she learns to embrace her destiny as the vampire slayer.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Buffy receives guidance from her Watcher, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). Giles, rarely referred to by his first name (it is later revealed that in his rebellious younger days he went by "Ripper"), is a member of the Watchers' Council, whose job is to train and guide the Slayers. Giles researches the supernatural creatures that Buffy must face, offers insights into their origins and advice on how to defeat them, and helps her train to stay in fighting form.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Buffy is also helped by friends she meets at Sunnydale High: Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon). Willow is originally a wallflower who excels at academics, providing a contrast to Buffy's outgoing personality and less-than-stellar educational record. They share the social isolation that comes with being different, and especially from being exceptional young women. As the series progresses, Willow becomes a more assertive character and a powerful witch, and reveals she is a lesbian. In contrast, Xander, with no supernatural abilities, provides comic relief and a grounded perspective. It is Xander who often provides the heart to the series. In season six, he becomes the hero and, in place of Buffy, he defeats the "Big Bad". Buffy and Willow are the only characters who appear in all 144 episodes; Xander is missing in only one.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The cast of characters grew over the course of the series. Buffy first arrives in Sunnydale with her mother, Joyce Summers (portrayed by Kristine Sutherland), who functions as an anchor of normality in the Summers' lives even after she learns of Buffy's role in the supernatural world ("Becoming, Part Two"). Buffy's younger sister Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg) is introduced in season five ("Buffy vs. Dracula"). A vampire tortured with a soul in return for horrific deeds committed in the past to many, including a young gypsy girl and her family, Angel (portrayed by David Boreanaz) is Buffy's love interest throughout the first three seasons. He leaves Buffy after realizing he will never be able to give her a normal life. He goes on to make amends for his sins and to search for redemption in his own spin-off television series, "Angel". He makes several guest appearances in the remaining seasons, including the last episode.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: At Sunnydale High, Buffy meets several other students besides Willow and Xander willing to join her fight for good, an informal group eventually tagged the "Scooby Gang" or "Scoobies". Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), the archetypal shallow cheerleader, reluctantly becomes involved. Daniel "Oz" Osbourne (Seth Green), a fellow student, rock guitarist and werewolf, joins the group through his relationship with Willow. Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte), Sunnydale's computer science teacher, joins the group after helping destroy a demon trapped in cyberspace during season 1. She later becomes Giles' love interest. Anya (Emma Caulfield), a former vengeance demon (Anyanka) who specialized in avenging scorned women, becomes Xander's lover after losing her powers and joins the group in season four.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In Buffy's senior year at high school, she meets Faith (Eliza Dushku), the other current Slayer, who was "called" forth when Slayer Kendra Young (Bianca Lawson) was killed by vampire Drusilla (Juliet Landau), in season two. Although Faith initially fights on the side of good with Buffy and the rest of the group, she comes to stand against them and sides with Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) after accidentally killing a human in season three. She reappears briefly in the fourth season, looking for vengeance, and moves to "Angel" where she voluntarily goes to jail for her murders. Faith reappears in season seven of "Buffy", after having helped Angel and his crew, and fights alongside Buffy against the First Evil.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Buffy gathers other allies: Spike (James Marsters), a vampire, is an old companion of Angelus (Angel) and one of Buffy's major enemies in early seasons, although they later become allies and lovers. At the end of season six, Spike regains his soul. Spike is known for his Billy Idol-style peroxide blond hair and his black leather coat, stolen from a previous Slayer, Nikki Wood; her son, Robin Wood (D. B. Woodside), joins the group in the final season. Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) is a fellow member of Willow's Wicca group during season four, and their friendship eventually turns into a romantic relationship. Buffy becomes involved personally and professionally with Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), a military operative in "the Initiative", which hunts demons using science and technology. The final season sees geeky wannabe-villain Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) come to side with the Scoobies after initially being their captive/hostage; they regard him more as a nuisance than an ally.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" featured dozens of recurring characters, both major and minor. For example, the "Big Bad" (villain) characters were featured for at least one season (for example, Glory is a character who appeared in 12 episodes, spanning much of season five). Similarly, characters who allied themselves to the group and characters who attended the same institutions were sometimes featured in multiple episodes.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, whose suburban Sunnydale High School sits on top of a "Hellmouth", a gateway to demon realms. The Hellmouth, located beneath the school library, is a source of mystical energies as well as a nexus for a wide variety of evil creatures and supernatural phenomena. In addition to being an open-ended plot device, Joss Whedon has cited the Hellmouth and "high school as hell" as one of the primary metaphors in creating the series.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Most of "Buffy" was shot on location in Los Angeles, California. The high school used in the first three seasons is actually Torrance High School, in Torrance, California, the same high school used for Beverly Hills, 90210. The show was initially very dependent on location shooting, because the production budget allowed for few permanent sets to be built. In Season One this was limited to the interior of Sunnydale High (the library, hallways, and classrooms), Buffy's bedroom, and the Master's underground lair. Starting in Season Two, more permanent sets were built, including the full interior of Buffy's house, Angel's mansion, and Giles's apartment, as well as extensions to the high school set (the addition of a dining hall and commons area). A driveway area near the gated entrance to Fox Studios was transformed into a graveyard. In Season Three the Sunnydale "Main Street" was constructed on the backlot, which would be a staple location for the rest of the series. When the show transitioned to college in the fourth season, the hallway sets from Sunnydale High were remodeled to appear as the interior hallways of UC Sunnydale.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Some of the exterior shots of the college Buffy attends, UC Sunnydale, were filmed at UCLA. Several episodes include shots from the Oviatt Library at CSUN. The exterior of the mansion where Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla lived was Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" is told in a serialized format, with each episode involving a self-contained story while contributing to a larger storyline. Each season's storyline is broken down into season-long narratives marked by the rise and defeat of a powerful antagonist, commonly referred to as the "Big Bad". While the show is mainly a drama with frequent comic relief, most episodes blend different genres, including horror, martial arts, romance, melodrama, farce, fantasy, supernatural, comedy, and even, in one episode, musical comedy.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The series' narrative revolves around Buffy and her friends, collectively dubbed the "Scooby Gang", who struggle to balance the fight against supernatural evils with their complicated social lives. The show mixes complex, season-long storylines with a villain-of-the-week format; a typical episode contains one or more villains, or supernatural phenomena, that are thwarted or defeated by the end of the episode. Though elements and relationships are explored and ongoing subplots are included, the show focuses primarily on Buffy and her role as an archetypal heroine. Gellar described the show as "the ultimate metaphor: horrors of adolescence manifesting through these actual monsters. It's the hardest time of life."


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In the first few seasons, the most prominent monsters in the "Buffy" bestiary are vampires, which are based on traditional myths, lore, and literary conventions. As the series continues, Buffy and her companions fight an increasing variety of demons, as well as ghosts, werewolves, zombies, and unscrupulous humans. They frequently save the world from annihilation by a combination of physical combat, magic, and detective-style investigation, and are guided by an extensive collection of ancient and mystical reference books.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Season one exemplifies the "high school is hell" concept. Buffy Summers has just moved to Sunnydale after burning down her old school's gym and hopes to escape her Slayer duties. Her plans are complicated by Rupert Giles, her new Watcher, who reminds her of the inescapable presence of evil. Sunnydale High is built atop a Hellmouth, a portal to demon dimensions that attracts supernatural phenomena to the area. A mysterious man, Angel, warns Buffy of upcoming danger. She eventually discovers that he is a vampire cursed with a soul, which prevents him from feeding off living humans. Buffy befriends two schoolmates, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, who help her fight evil throughout the series. Buffy, her Watcher and friends later start to collectively call themselves the “Scooby Gang”. Their first major threat is the Master, an ancient and especially threatening vampire, who was trapped in the hellmouth underground. When he escapes, Buffy defeats him and saves Sunnydale.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The emotional stakes are raised in season two. Vampire couple Spike and Drusilla come to town. A new slayer, Kendra, who was activated as a result of Buffy's brief death in season one, also arrives in Sunnydale. Popular schoolmate, Cordelia Chase, who resented Buffy and her friends, joins the Scooby Gang and becomes involved with Xander. Willow learns witchcraft and becomes involved with schoolmate Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, who is a werewolf. The romantic relationship between Buffy and the vampire Angel develops. But after they have sex, Angel experiences a moment of true happiness, breaking the gypsy curse that gave him his soul, thus reverting him to a sadistic, killer. The evil vampire, famously known as Angelus, joins the other vampires Spike and Drusilla, and he torments Buffy and her friends. He murders multiple innocents and Giles's new girlfriend Jenny Calendar, a gypsy who was sent to maintain Angel's curse. Kendra is murdered by Drusilla. To avert an apocalypse, Buffy is forced to banish Angel to a demon dimension just moments after Willow has restored his soul. The ordeal leaves Buffy emotionally shattered, and she leaves Sunnydale.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: After attempting to start a new life in Los Angeles, Buffy returns to town in season three. Angel has mysteriously been released from the demon dimension but is close to insanity due to the torment he suffered there. He recovers, but he and Buffy realize that a relationship between them can never happen and Angel leaves Sunnydale at the end of the season. Giles is fired from the Watchers' Council because he has developed a "father's love" for Buffy and he is replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Towards the end of the season, Buffy announces that she will no longer be working for the Council. Early in the season, she meets Faith, the Slayer activated after Kendra's death. She also encounters the affable Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who secretly has plans to "ascend" (become a "pure" demon) on Sunnydale High's graduation day. Although Faith initially works well with Buffy, she becomes increasingly unstable after accidentally killing a human and forms a relationship with the paternal yet manipulative Mayor. The rivalry between Buffy and Faith eventually lands Faith into a coma. At the end of the season, after the mayor becomes a huge snake-like demon, Buffy, Angel, the Scooby Gang and the entire graduating class destroy him by blowing up Sunnydale High. At the end of the season, Angel and Cordelia leave the series to star in the spin-off series, "Angel".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Season four sees Buffy and Willow enroll at UC Sunnydale, while Xander joins the workforce and begins dating Anya, a former vengeance demon. Spike returns as a series regular and is abducted by the Initiative, a top-secret military installation based beneath the UC Sunnydale campus. They implant a microchip in his head that prevents from harming humans. Every time he tries to harm a human, he suffers excruciating pain. He begins to fight on the side of the Scooby Gang, purely for the joy of fighting, upon learning that he can still harm other demons. Oz leaves town after realizing that he is too dangerous as a werewolf, and Willow falls in love with Tara Maclay, another witch. Buffy begins dating Riley Finn, a graduate student and US Army Ranger seconded to The Initiative. Although appearing to be a well-meaning anti-demon operation, The Initiative's sinister plans are revealed when Adam, a monster secretly built from parts of humans, demons and machinery, escapes and begins to wreak havoc on the town. Adam is destroyed by a magical composite of Buffy and her three friends, and The Initiative is shut down.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: During season five, a younger sister, Dawn, suddenly appears in Buffy's life; although she is new to the series, to the characters it is as if she has always been there. Buffy is confronted by Glory, an exiled Hell God who is searching for a "Key" that will allow her to return to her Hell dimension and in the process blur the lines between dimensions and unleash Hell on Earth. It is later discovered that the Key's protectors have used Buffy's blood to turn the Key into human form – Dawn – concurrently implanting everybody with lifelong memories of her. The Watchers' Council aids in Buffy's research on Glory, and she and Giles are both reinstated on their own terms. Riley leaves early in the season after realizing that Buffy does not love him and joins a military demon-hunting operation. Spike, still implanted with the Initiative chip, realizes he is in love with Buffy and increasingly helps the Scoobies in their fight. Buffy's mother Joyce dies of a brain aneurysm, while at the end of the season, Xander proposes to Anya. Glory finally discovers that Dawn is the key and kidnaps her, using Dawn's blood to open a portal to the Hell dimension. To save Dawn, Buffy sacrifices her own life by diving into the portal and thus closes it with her death.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: At the beginning of season six, Buffy has been dead for 147 days, but Buffy's friends resurrect her through a powerful spell, believing they have rescued her from a Hell dimension. Buffy returns in a deep depression, explaining (several episodes later) that she had been in heaven and is devastated to be pulled back to earth. Giles returns to England because he has concluded that Buffy has become too reliant on him, while Buffy takes up a fast-food job to support herself and Dawn, and develops a secret, mutually abusive sexual relationship with Spike. Dawn suffers from kleptomania and feelings of alienation, Xander leaves Anya at the altar (after which she once again becomes a vengeance demon), and Willow becomes addicted to magic, causing Tara to temporarily leave her. They also begin to deal with the Trio, a group of nerds led by Warren Mears who use their proficiency in technology and magic to attempt to kill Buffy and take over Sunnydale. Warren is shown to be the only competent villain of the group and, after Buffy thwarts his plans multiple times, the Trio breaks apart. Warren becomes unhinged and attacks Buffy with a gun, accidentally killing Tara in the process. This causes Willow to descend into nihilistic darkness and unleash all of her dark magical powers, killing Warren and attempting to kill his friends. Giles returns to face her in battle and infuses her with light magic, tapping into her remaining humanity. This overwhelms Willow with guilt and pain, whereupon she attempts to destroy the world to end everyone's suffering, although it eventually allows Xander to reach through her pain and end her rampage. Late in the season, after losing control and trying to rape Buffy, Spike leaves Sunnydale and travels to see a demon and asks him to "return him to what he used to be" so that he can "give Buffy what she deserves". After Spike passes a series of brutal tests, the demon restores his soul.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: During season seven, it is revealed that Buffy's second resurrection caused instability in the slayer line which also allowed the First Evil to begin tipping the balance between good and evil. It begins by hunting down and killing inactive Potential Slayers, and soon raises an army of ancient, powerful Turok-Han vampires. After the Watchers' Council is destroyed, a number of Potential Slayers (some brought by Giles) take refuge in Buffy's house. Faith returns to help fight the First Evil, and the new Sunnydale High School's principal, Robin Wood, also joins the cause. The Turok-Han vampires and a sinister, misogynistic preacher known as Caleb begin causing havoc for the Scoobies. As the Hellmouth becomes more active, nearly all of Sunnydale's population – humans and demons alike – flee. In the series finale, Buffy kills Caleb, and Angel returns to Sunnydale with an amulet, which Buffy gives to Spike; the Scoobies then surround the Hellmouth, and the Potential Slayers descend into its cavern while Willow casts a spell that activates their Slayer powers. Anya dies in the fight, as do some of the new Slayers. Spike's amulet channels the power of the sun to destroy the Hellmouth and all the vampires within it, including himself. The collapse of the cavern creates a crater that swallows all of Sunnydale, while the survivors of the battle escape in a school bus. In the final scene, as the survivors survey the crater, Dawn asks, "What are we going to do now?" Buffy slowly begins to enigmatically smile as she contemplates the future ahead of her, ending the series on a hopeful note.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Writer Joss Whedon says that "Rhonda the Immortal Waitress" was really the first incarnation of the "Buffy" concept, "the idea of some woman who seems to be completely insignificant who turns out to be extraordinary". This early, unproduced idea evolved into "Buffy", which Whedon developed to invert the Hollywood formula of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie". Whedon wanted "to subvert that idea and create someone who was a hero". He explained, "The very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it."


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The idea was first visited through Whedon's script for the 1992 movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", which featured Kristy Swanson in the title role. The director, Fran Rubel Kuzui, saw it as a "pop culture comedy about what people think about vampires". Whedon disagreed: "I had written this scary film about an empowered woman, and they turned it into a broad comedy. It was crushing." The script was praised within the industry, but the movie was not.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Several years later, Gail Berman (later a Fox executive, but at that time President and CEO of the production company Sandollar Television, who owned the TV rights to the movie) approached Whedon to develop his "Buffy" concept into a television series. Whedon explained that "They said, 'Do you want to do a show?' And I thought, 'High school as a horror movie.' And so the metaphor became the central concept behind "Buffy", and that's how I sold it." The supernatural elements in the series stood as metaphors for personal anxieties associated with adolescence and young adulthood. Early in its development, the series was going to be simply titled "Slayer". Whedon went on to write and partly fund a 25-minute non-broadcast pilot that was shown to networks and eventually sold to the WB Network. The latter promoted the premiere with a series of "History of the Slayer" clips, and the first episode aired on March 10, 1997. Whedon has declared in June 2003 that the non-broadcast pilot would not be included with DVDs of the series "while there is strength in these bones", stating that it "sucks on ass".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Joss Whedon was credited as executive producer throughout the run of the series, and for the first five seasons (1997–2001) he was also the showrunner, supervising the writing and all aspects of production. Marti Noxon took on the role for seasons six and seven (2001–2003), but Whedon continued to be involved with writing and directing "Buffy" alongside projects such as "Angel", "Fray", and "Firefly". Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, were credited as executive producers but were not involved in the show. Their credit, rights, and royalties over the franchise relate to their funding, producing, and directing of the original movie version of "Buffy".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Script-writing was done by Mutant Enemy, a production company created by Whedon in 1997. The writers with the most writing credits are Joss Whedon, Steven S. DeKnight, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Drew Goddard, Drew Greenberg, David Greenwalt, Rebecca Rand Kirshner, Marti Noxon and Doug Petrie. Other authors with writing credits include Dean Batali, Carl Ellsworth, Tracey Forbes, Ashley Gable, Howard Gordon, Diego Gutierrez, Elin Hampton, Rob Des Hotel, Matt Kiene, Ty King, Thomas A. Swyden, Joe Reinkemeyer, Dana Reston and Dan Vebber.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Jane Espenson has explained how scripts came together. First, the writers talked about the emotional issues facing Buffy Summers and how she would confront them through her battle against evil supernatural forces. Then the episode's story was "broken" into acts and scenes. Act breaks were designed as key moments to intrigue viewers so that they would stay with the episode following the commercial break. The writers collectively filled in scenes surrounding these act breaks for a more fleshed-out story. A whiteboard marked their progress by mapping brief descriptions of each scene. Once "breaking" was done, the credited author wrote an outline for the episode, which was checked by Whedon or Noxon. The writer then wrote a full script, which went through a series of drafts, and finally a quick rewrite from the showrunner. The final article was used as the shooting script.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" features a mix of original, indie, rock, and pop music. The composers spent around seven days scoring between fourteen and thirty minutes of music for each episode. Christophe Beck revealed that the "Buffy" composers used computers and synthesizers and were limited to recording one or two "real" samples. Despite this, their goal was to produce "dramatic" orchestration that would stand up to film scores.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Alongside the score, most episodes featured indie rock music, usually at the characters' venue of choice, The Bronze. "Buffy" music supervisor John King explained that "we like to use unsigned bands" that "you would believe would play in this place". For example, the fictional group Dingoes Ate My Baby were portrayed on screen by front group Four Star Mary. Pop songs by famous artists were rarely featured prominently, but several episodes spotlighted the sounds of more famous artists such as Sarah McLachlan, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Blink-182, Third Eye Blind, Aimee Mann (who also had a line of dialogue), The Dandy Warhols, Cibo Matto, Coldplay, Lisa Loeb, K's Choice, and Michelle Branch. The popularity of music used in "Buffy" has led to the release of four soundtrack albums: "", "", the ""Once More, with Feeling" Soundtrack", and "".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: During the first year of the series, Whedon described the show as ""My So-Called Life" with "The X-Files"". "My So-Called Life" gave a sympathetic portrayal of teen anxieties; in contrast, "The X-Files" delivered a supernatural "monster of the week" story line. Alongside these series, Whedon has cited cult film "Night of the Comet" as a "big influence", and credited the "X-Men" character Kitty Pryde as a significant influence on the character of Buffy. The authors of the unofficial guidebook "Dusted" point out that the series was often a pastiche, borrowing elements from previous horror novels, movies, and short stories and from such common literary stock as folklore and mythology. Nevitt and Smith describe "Buffy"'s use of pastiche as "postmodern Gothic". For example, the Adam character parallels the "Frankenstein" monster, the episode "Bad Eggs" parallels "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" parallels "The Invisible Man", and so on.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" episodes often include a deeper meaning or metaphor as well. Whedon explained, "We think very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we're writing it... it really is, apart from being a pop-culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode." Academics Wilcox and Lavery provide examples of how a few episodes deal with real life issues turned into supernatural metaphors:


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The love affair between the vampire Angel and Buffy was fraught with metaphors. For example, their night of passion cost the vampire his soul. Sarah Michelle Gellar said: "That's the ultimate metaphor. You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you."


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Buffy struggles throughout the series with her calling as Slayer and the loss of freedom this entails, frequently sacrificing teenage experiences for her Slayer duties. Her difficulties and eventual empowering realizations are reflections of several dichotomies faced by modern women and echo feminist issues within society.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In the episode "Becoming (Part 2)", when Joyce learns that Buffy is the Slayer, her reaction has strong echoes of a parent discovering her child is gay, including denial, suggesting that she tries "not being a Slayer", before ultimately kicking Buffy out of the house.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In 1996, Katie Holmes and Selma Blair were in the running for the role of Buffy. Holmes was too young for the role. Actresses who originally auditioned for the role of Buffy and got other roles in the show include Julie Benz (Darla), Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison), Julia Lee (Chantarelle/Lily Houston), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), and Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall). Bianca Lawson, who played slayer Kendra Young in season 2 of the show, originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia before Carpenter was cast in the role.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The title role went to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who had appeared as Sydney Rutledge on "Swans Crossing" and Kendall Hart on "All My Children". At age 18 in 1995, Gellar had already won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series. In 1996, she originally auditioned for the role of Cordelia. After watching her audition, Whedon asked her to come back in and audition for the lead role of Buffy.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The character of Angel was only supposed to appear briefly in the pilot episode. Nathan Fillion was one of the actors who originally auditioned for the role back in early 1996 for the unaired pilot, which did not end up featuring Angel. When the pilot was due to be reshot in September 1996, scouting for Angel began again, and by chance a talent agent spotted David Boreanaz on the sidewalk walking his dog. He immediately contacted casting director Marcia Shulman, saying that he had found Angel. Fillion would later portray Caleb in the show's seventh and final season, and would also work with Whedon on several other occasions, including "Firefly".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Anthony Stewart Head had already led a prolific acting and singing career, but remained best known in the United States for a series of twelve coffee commercials with Sharon Maughan for Taster's Choice instant coffee. He accepted the role of Rupert Giles.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Nicholas Brendon, unlike other "Buffy" regulars, had little acting experience, instead working various jobs—including production assistant, plumber's assistant, veterinary janitor, food delivery, script delivery, day care counselor, and waiter—before breaking into acting and overcoming his stutter. He landed his Xander Harris role following only four days of auditioning. Ryan Reynolds and Danny Strong also auditioned for the part. Strong later played the role of Jonathan Levinson, a recurring character for much of the series run.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Alyson Hannigan was the last of the original six to be cast. Following her role in "My Stepmother Is an Alien", she appeared in commercials and supporting roles on television shows throughout the early 1990s. In 1996, the role of Willow Rosenberg was originally played by Riff Regan for the unaired "Buffy" pilot, but Hannigan auditioned when the role was being recast for the series proper. Hannigan described her approach to the character through Willow's reaction to a particular moment: Willow sadly tells Buffy that her Barbie doll was taken from her as a child. Buffy asks her if she ever got it back. Willow's line was to reply "most of it". Hannigan decided on an upbeat and happy delivery of the line "most of it", as opposed to a sad, depressed delivery. Hannigan figured Willow would be happy and proud that she got "most of it" back. That indicated how she was going to play the rest of the scene, and the role, for that matter, and defined the character. Her approach subsequently got her the role.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The "Buffy" opening sequence provides credits at the beginning of each episode, with the accompanying music performed by Californian rock band Nerf Herder. In the DVD commentary for the first "Buffy" episode, Whedon said his decision to go with Nerf Herder's theme was influenced by Hannigan, who had urged him to listen to the band's music. Janet Halfyard, in her essay "Music, Gender, and Identity in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel"", describes the opening:


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: But the theme quickly changes: "It removes itself from the sphere of 1960s and 70s horror by replaying the same motif, the organ now supplanted by an aggressively strummed electric guitar, relocating itself in modern youth culture ..." Halfyard describes sequences, in which the action and turbulence of adolescence are depicted, as the visual content of the opening credits, and which provide a postmodern twist on the horror genre.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" first aired on March 10, 1997 (as a mid-season replacement for the series "Savannah") on The WB, and played a key role in the growth of the Warner Bros. television network in its early years. After five seasons, it transferred to UPN for its final two seasons. In 2001, the show went into syndication in the United States on local stations and on cable channel FX; the local airings ended in 2005, and the FX airings lasted until 2008 but returned to the network in 2013. Beginning in January 2010, it began to air in syndication in the United States on Logo. Reruns also briefly aired on MTV. In March 2010, it began to air in Canada on MuchMusic and MuchMore. On November 7, 2010, it began airing on Chiller with a 24-hour marathon; the series airs weekdays. Chiller also aired a 14-hour Thanksgiving Day marathon on November 25, 2010. In 2011, it began airing on Oxygen and TeenNick. On June 22, 2015, it began airing on ABC Family.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: While the seventh season was still being broadcast, Sarah Michelle Gellar told "Entertainment Weekly" she was not going to sign on for an eighth year; "When we started to have such a strong year this year, I thought: 'This is how I want to go out, on top, at our best.'" Whedon and UPN gave some considerations to production of a spin-off series that would not require Gellar, including a rumored Faith series, but nothing came of those plans. The "Buffy" canon continued outside the television medium in the Dark Horse Comics series, "Buffy" Season Eight. This was produced starting March 2007 by Whedon, who also wrote the first story arc, "The Long Way Home".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In the United Kingdom, the entire series aired on Sky One and BBC Two. After protests from fans about early episodes being edited for their pre-watershed time-slot, from the second run (mid-second season onwards), the BBC gave the show two time slots: the early-evening slot (typically Thursday at 6:45 pm) for a family-friendly version with violence, objectionable language and other stronger material cut out, and a late-night uncut version (initially late-night Sundays, but for most of the run, late-night Fridays; exact times varied). Sky1 aired the show typically at 8:00 pm on Thursdays. From the fourth season onwards, the BBC aired the show in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen format. Whedon later said that "Buffy" was never intended to be viewed this way. Despite his claims, Syfy now airs repeat showings in the widescreen format.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In August 2014, Pivot announced that, for the first time, episodes of "Buffy" would be broadcast in high-definition and in a widescreen format authorized by the studio, but not by any of the series' principals. The transfer was poorly received by some fans, owing to a number of technical and format changes that were viewed as detrimental to the show's presentation; various scenes were heavily cropped to fit the 16:9 format, and shots were altered to have a brighter look, often with color levels altered. Other problems included missing filters, editing errors, and poorly re-rendered CGI. Series creator Joss Whedon and other members of the original team also expressed their displeasure.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" has inspired a range of official works, including television shows, books, comics, games, and podcasts. This expansion of the series encouraged use of the term "Buffyverse" to describe the franchise and the fictional universe in which "Buffy" and related stories take place.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The franchise has inspired "Buffy" action figures and merchandise such as official "Buffy/Angel" magazines and "Buffy" companion books. Eden Studios has published a "Buffy" role-playing game, while Score Entertainment has released a "Buffy" Collectible Card Game.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The story line was continued in a series of comic books produced by Joss Whedon and published by Dark Horse Comics, which serve as a canonical continuation of the television series. The series began in 2007 with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" and was followed by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine" in 2011, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten" in 2014, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eleven" in 2016, and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve" in 2018.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In July 2018, 20th Century Fox Television reportedly began development on a television reboot of the series. Monica Owusu-Breen was to serve as showrunner and had been working on the script with Whedon, who was to be an executive producer. News of Whedon's involvement was seen as reassuring by fans, though the extent of his involvement was unclear; other executive producers reported to be involved included Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, and Kaz Kuzui, who were all credited as executive producers for the original series. According to anonymous sources who spoke with "The Hollywood Reporter" and "Deadline Hollywood", the producers wanted the new series to be "richly diverse ... [and] some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing society today" – similar to the way Gellar described the original series as the "ultimate metaphor" for coping with adolescence. The producers intended "for the new slayer to be African American", an example of the diversity they wish to portray. The report from "Deadline Hollywood" cautioned that "the project is still in nascent stages with no script, and many details are still in flux".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: At the time of "Buffy"'s 20th anniversary in 2017, Whedon expressed fear of reboots, commenting that when "something [is brought] back, and even if it's exactly as good as it was, the experience can't be. You've already experienced it, and part of what was great was going through it for the first time. You have to meet expectations and adjust it for the climate, which is not easily [done]." Similar concerns were expressed about the decision to reboot the series, rather than to revive it or further expand the Buffyverse. Reports that the black lead actress was to assume the iconic role of Buffy, rather than having a new character or slayer created, have been met with questions and concerns. Vox noted that "the original series already had multiple characters of color who could factor into an 'inclusive' reboot – including the black slayer Kendra and the 'First Slayer'" – leaving fans wondering "why a reboot has to racebend Buffy, when it could simply focus on a different character". A Twitter message posted by Owusu-Breen on July 26, 2018 was interpreted by media outlets as indicating that the new series would not recast the role of Buffy and instead would focus on a new Slayer. In August 2022, executive producer Gail Berman announced that the series was put "on pause" indefinitely.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The spin-off "Angel" was introduced in October 1999, at the start of "Buffy" season four. The series was created by "Buffy"'s creator Joss Whedon in collaboration with David Greenwalt. Like "Buffy", it was produced by the production company Mutant Enemy. At times, it performed better in the Nielsen ratings than its parent series did.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The series was given a darker tone, focusing on the ongoing trials of Angel in Los Angeles. His character is tormented by guilt following the return of his soul, punishment for more than a century of murder and torture. During the first four seasons of the show, he works as a private detective in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles, California, where he and his associates work to "help the helpless", to restore the faith and "save the souls" of those who have lost their way. Typically, this mission involves doing battle with demons or demonically allied humans (primarily the law firm Wolfram & Hart), while Angel must also contend with his own violent nature. In season five, the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart take a bold gamble in their campaign to corrupt Angel, giving him control of their Los Angeles office. Angel accepts the deal as an opportunity to fight evil from the inside.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In addition to Boreanaz, "Angel" inherited "Buffy" series cast regular Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase). When Glenn Quinn (Doyle) left the series during its first season, Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), who played a recurring character in the last nine episodes of season three of "Buffy", took his place. Carpenter and Denisof were followed later by Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall) and James Marsters (Spike). Several actors and actresses who played "Buffy" characters made guest appearances on "Angel", including Seth Green (Daniel "Oz" Osbourne), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Eliza Dushku (Faith), Tom Lenk (Andrew Wells), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Julie Benz (Darla), Mark Metcalf (The Master), Julia Lee (Anne Steele) and Juliet Landau (Drusilla). Angel also continued to appear occasionally on "Buffy".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Other actors that appeared in both the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" series but as different characters include: Bob Fimiani as Mr. Ward, a head of the Department of Defense in "Buffy" and Glith-roo, a Codger Demon in "Angel"; Carlos Jacott as a demon named Ken in "Buffy" and a different demon named Richard Straley in "Angel"; Jonathan M. Woodward as a vampire and former classmate in "Buffy" named Holden Webster and Knox, a Wolfram and Hart scientist in "Angel"; and Andy Umberger who played a demon name D'Hoffryn in "Buffy" and predator named Ronald Meltzer in "Angel".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The storyline has been continued in the comic book series "" published by IDW Publishing and later "Angel and Faith" published by Dark Horse Comics.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Outside of the TV series, the Buffyverse has been officially expanded and elaborated on by authors and artists in the so-called "Buffyverse Expanded Universe". The creators of these works may or may not keep to established continuity. Similarly, writers for the TV series were under no obligation to use information which had been established by the Expanded Universe, and sometimes contradicted such continuity.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Dark Horse has published the "Buffy" comics since 1998. In 2003, Whedon wrote an eight-issue miniseries for Dark Horse Comics titled "Fray", about a Slayer in the future. Following the publication of "Tales of the Vampires" in 2004, "Dark Horse Comics" halted publication on Buffyverse-related comics and graphic novels. The company produced Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" with forty issues from March 2007 to January 2011, picking up where the television show left off—taking the place of an eighth canonical season. The first story arc is also written by Whedon and is called "The Long Way Home", which has been widely well-received, with circulation rivaling industry leaders DC and Marvel's top-selling titles. After "The Long Way Home" came other story arcs like Faith's return in "No Future for You" and a "Fray" crossover in "Time of Your Life". Dark Horse later followed "Season Eight" with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine", starting in 2011, and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten", which began in 2014. Dark Horse continued to publish "Buffy" comics continuing the story after the television show until September 2018, when it released the final issue of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve", which intended to bring closure to the series. Following the end of Dark Horse's "Buffy" series, Boom! Studios acquired the license to publish "Buffy" comics. Taking a different approach from Dark Horse, Boom! Studios decided to publish a new rebooted "Buffy" series in 2019 with many elements updated to be more contemporary. Boom! Studio's approach to rebooting "Buffy" has been stylistically compared to the "Ultimate Marvel" series by the creators. Joss Whedon is not as involved in the rebooted "Buffy" comic as he was in Dark Horse's continuation, however he did take part in the initial development stages for the series and gave his blessing to the creators.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Simon & Schuster holds the license to produce "Buffy" novels, of which they published more than sixty between 1998 and 2008, under their Pocket Books and Simon Pulse imprints. These sometimes flesh out background information on characters; for example, "Go Ask Malice" details the events that lead up to Faith arriving in Sunnydale. The most recent novels include "Carnival of Souls", "Blackout", "Portal Through Time", "Bad Bargain", "The Deathless" and "One Thing or Your Mother". After a ten year hiatus, two additional novels were published in 2019 and 2020, following on from story threads in the comic book series.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Five official "Buffy" video games have been released on portable and home consoles. Most notably, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" for Xbox in 2002 and "" for GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2003.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The popularity of "Buffy" and "Angel" has led to attempts to develop more on-screen ventures in the fictional 'Buffyverse'. These projects remain undeveloped and may never be greenlit. In 2002, two potential spinoffs were in discussion: "" and "Ripper". "Buffy: The Animated Series" was a proposed animated TV show based on "Buffy"; Whedon and Jeph Loeb were to be executive producers for the show, and most of the cast from "Buffy" were to return to voice their characters. 20th Century Fox showed an interest in developing and selling the show to another network. A three-minute pilot was completed in 2004 but was never picked up. Whedon revealed to "The Hollywood Reporter": "We just could not find a home for it. We had six or seven hilarious scripts from our own staff – and nobody wanted it." Writer Jane Espenson has teasingly revealed small extracts from some of her scripts for the show.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Ripper" was originally a proposed television show based upon the character of Rupert Giles portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. More recent information has suggested that if "Ripper" were ever made, it would be a TV movie or a DVD movie. There was little heard about the series until 2007 when Joss Whedon confirmed that talks were almost completed for a 90-minute "Ripper" special on the BBC with both Head and the BBC completely on board.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In 2003, a year after the first public discussions on "Buffy: The Animated Series" and "Ripper", "Buffy" was nearing its end. Espenson has said that during this time spinoffs were discussed, "I think Marti talked with Joss about "Slayer School" and Tim Minear talked with him about Faith on a motorcycle. I assume there was some back-and-forth pitching." Espenson has revealed that "Slayer School" might have used new slayers and potentially included Willow Rosenberg, but Whedon did not think that such a spinoff felt right.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Dushku declined the pitch for a Buffyverse TV series based on Faith and instead agreed to a deal to produce "Tru Calling". Dushku explained to IGN: "It would have been a really hard thing to do, and not that I would not have been up for a challenge, but with it coming on immediately following "Buffy", I think that those would have been really big boots to fill." Tim Minear explained some of the ideas behind the aborted series: "The show was basically going to be Faith meets "Kung Fu". It would have been Faith, probably on a motorcycle, crossing the earth, trying to find her place in the world."


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Finally, during the summer of 2004 after the end of "Angel", a movie about Spike was proposed. The movie would have been directed by Tim Minear and starred Marsters and Amy Acker and featured Alyson Hannigan. Outside the 2006 Saturn Awards, Whedon announced that he had pitched the concept to various bodies but had yet to receive any feedback.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In September 2008, "Sci-Fi Wire" ran an interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar in which she said she would not rule out returning to her most iconic role: "Never say never", she said. "One of the reasons the original "Buffy" movie did not really work on the big screen–and people blamed Kristy, but that's not what it was–the story was better told over a long arc", Gellar said. "And I worry about Buffy as a 'beginning, middle and end' so quickly. ... You show me a script; you show me that it works, and you show me that [the] audience can accept that, [and] I'd probably be there. Those are what my hesitations are."


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" is notable for attracting the interest of scholars of popular culture, as a subset of popular culture studies, and some academic settings include the show as a topic of literary study and analysis. National Public Radio describes "Buffy" as having a "special following among academics, some of whom have staked a claim in what they call 'Buffy Studies.'" Though not widely recognized as a distinct discipline, the term "Buffy studies" is commonly used amongst the peer-reviewed academic "Buffy"-related writings. The influence of "Buffy" on the depiction of vampires across popular culture has also been noted by anthropologists such as A. Asbjørn Jøn. Popular media researcher Rob Cover argued that Buffy and Angel speak to contemporary attitudes to identity, inclusion, and diversity and that critiquing the characters' long-narrative stories lends insight into the complexity of identity in the current era and the landscape of social issues in which those identities are performed.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Critics have emerged in response to the academic attention the series has received. For example, Jes Battis, who authored "", admits that study of the Buffyverse "invokes an uneasy combination of enthusiasm and ire" and meets "a certain amount of disdain from within the halls of the academy". Nonetheless, "Buffy" eventually led to the publication of around twenty books and hundreds of articles examining the themes of the show from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, Speech Communication, psychology, philosophy, and women's studies. In a 2012 study by "Slate", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was named the most studied pop culture work by academics, with more than 200 papers, essays, and books devoted to the series.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The Whedon Studies Association produces the online academic journal "Slayage" and sponsors a biennial academic conference on the works of Whedon. The sixth "Biennial Slayage Conference", titled "Much Ado About Whedon", was held at California State University-Sacramento in late June 2014.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The popularity of "Buffy" has led to websites, online discussion forums, works of "Buffy" fan fiction and several unofficial fan-made productions. Since the end of the series, Whedon has stated that his intention was to produce a "cult" television series and has acknowledged a "rabid, almost insane fan base" that the show has created. In 2016, Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo began the "Buffering the Vampire Slayer" podcast, recognized as one of the top podcasts in production by "Time" and "Esquire" magazines. In 2017 the 20th anniversary of the show attracted even more writers to create their own adventures of the series' characters.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: The series, which employed pop culture references as a frequent humorous device, has itself become a frequent pop culture reference in video games, comics and television shows. The series has also been parodied and spoofed. Sarah Michelle Gellar has participated in several parody sketches, including a "Saturday Night Live" sketch in which the Slayer is relocated to the "Seinfeld" universe, and adding her voice to an episode of "Robot Chicken" that parodied a would-be eighth season of "Buffy".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" was the code-name used for an early HTC mobile phone which integrated the social networking website Facebook.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In March 2017, in honor of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" 20th anniversary, "Entertainment Weekly" reunited Joss Whedon and the whole cast for their first joint interview and photo shoot in over a decade.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" helped put The WB on the ratings map, but by the time the series landed on UPN in 2001, viewing figures had fallen. The series' high came during the third season, with 5.3 million viewers (including repeats). This was probably due to the fact that both Gellar and Hannigan had hit movies out during the season ("Cruel Intentions" and "American Pie" respectively). The series' low was in season one at 3.7 million. The show's series finale "Chosen" pulled in a season high of 4.9 million viewers on the UPN network.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" did not compete with shows on the main four networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox), but The WB was impressed with the young audience that the show was bringing in. Because of this, The WB ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the series' second season. Beginning with the episode "Innocence", which was watched by 8.2 million people, "Buffy" was moved from Monday at 9:00 pm to launch The WB's new night of programming on Tuesday. Due to its large success in that time slot, it remained on Tuesdays at 8:00 pm for the remainder of its original run. With its new timeslot on The WB, the show quickly climbed to the top of The WB ratings and became one of their highest-rated shows for the remainder of its time on the network. The show always placed in the top 3, usually only coming in behind "7th Heaven". Between seasons three and five, "Buffy" flip-flopped with "Dawson's Creek" and "Charmed" as the network's second highest-rated show.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: In the 2001–2002 season, the show had moved to UPN after a negotiation dispute with The WB. While it was still one of the highest rated shows on their network, The WB felt that the show had already peaked and was not worth giving a salary increase to the cast and crew. UPN on the other hand had strong faith in the series and picked it up for a two-season renewal. UPN dedicated a two-hour premiere to the series to help re-launch it. The relaunching had an effect, as the season premiere attracted the second highest rating of the series, with 7.7 million viewers.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Commentators of the entertainment industry including "The Village Voice", "PopMatters", "AllMovie", "The Hollywood Reporter", "The Washington Post" have cited "Buffy" as "influential", some citing it as the ascent of television into its golden age. Stephanie Zacharek, in the "Village Voice", wrote "If we really are in a golden age of television, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a harbinger." Robert Moore of "Popmatters" also expressed these sentiments, writing "TV was not art before "Buffy", but it was afterwards", suggesting that it was responsible for re-popularizing long story arcs on primetime television.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Its effect on programming was quickly evident. Autumn 2003 saw several new shows going into production in the U.S. that featured strong females who are forced to come to terms with supernatural power or destiny while trying to maintain a normal life. These post-"Buffy" shows include "Dead Like Me", "Joan of Arcadia", "Tru Calling", "Veronica Mars" and "Teen Wolf". Bryan Fuller, the creator of "Dead Like Me", said that ""Buffy" showed that young women could be in situations that were both fantastic and relatable, and instead of shunting women off to the side, it puts them at the center." In the United Kingdom, the lessons learned from the impact of "Buffy" influenced the revived "Doctor Who" series (2005–present), as well as its spinoff series "Torchwood".


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Several "Buffy" alumni have gone on to write for or create other shows. Such endeavors include "Tru Calling" (Douglas Petrie, Jane Espenson and lead actress Eliza Dushku), "Wonderfalls" (Tim Minear), "Point Pleasant" (Marti Noxon), "Jake 2.0" (David Greenwalt), "The Inside" (Tim Minear), "Smallville" (Steven S. DeKnight), "Once Upon a Time" (Jane Espenson), "Lost" (Drew Goddard and David Fury), and "Daredevil" (Goddard, DeKnight, and Petrie).


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: Meanwhile, the Parents Television Council complained of efforts to "deluge their young viewing audiences with adult themes". The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, rejected the Council's indecency complaint concerning the violent sex scene between Buffy and Spike in "Smashed". The BBC, however, chose to censor some of the more controversial sexual content when it was shown on the pre-watershed 6:45 pm slot. In 2003, the show showed girlfriends Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay in bed together, which though not a sex scene was considered the first scene of its kind for a broadcast network series. Later that year, the show featured the first lesbian sex scene in broadcast TV history.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: "Buffy" has gathered a number of awards and nominations which include an Emmy Award nomination for the 1999 episode "Hush", which featured an extended sequence with no character dialogue. The 2001 episode "The Body" was filmed with no musical score, only diegetic music; it was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2002. The 2001 musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" received plaudits, but was omitted from Emmy nomination ballots by "accident". It since was featured on "Channel 4's "100 Greatest Musicals"". In 2001, Sarah Michelle Gellar received a Golden Globe-nomination for Best Actress in a TV Series-Drama for her role in the show, as well nominations for the Teen Choice Awards and the Saturn Award for Best Genre TV Actress. The series won the Drama Category for Television's Most Memorable Moment at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards for "The Gift" beating "The X-Files", "Grey's Anatomy", "Brian's Song" and "Dallas", although the sequence for this award was not aired.


title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

text: It was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards, winning a total of three Emmys. However, snubs in lead Emmy categories resulted in outrage among TV critics and the decision by the academy to hold a tribute event in honor of the series after it had gone off the air in 2003.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on the NBC sitcom "The Carmichael Show" (2015–2017). Her breakthrough came in with a leading role in the comedy film "Girls Trip" (2017), which earned her several accolades—such as nominations for two Critics' Choice Awards—and was included on "The New Yorker"'s list of the best film performances of the 21st century. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for hosting a "Saturday Night Live" episode (2017) and published a memoir, "The Last Black Unicorn" (2017).


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish starred in the TBS series "The Last O.G." (2018–2020), executive produced and voiced Tuca in the Netflix/Adult Swim animated series "Tuca & Bertie" (2019–2022), and starred in the crime comedy series "The Afterparty" (2022–present). She released the album "Black Mitzvah" in 2019, for which she won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, making her the second African-American woman to win this prize after Whoopi Goldberg in 1986.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by "Time" magazine in 2018, and "The Hollywood Reporter" listed her among the 100 most powerful people in entertainment in both 2018 and 2019.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. Her father, Tsihaye Reda Haddish, who was a refugee from Eritrea, was of Ethiopian Jewish heritage. Her mother, Leola, was an African-American small business owner, from a Christian family. After Haddish's father left when she was three years old, her mother remarried and had Haddish's two half-sisters and two half-brothers.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Tiffany's sister, Jasmine English, placed 7th in the TV Show, "Claim to Fame", being voted out on August 15, 2022.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: In 1988, while her family was living in Colton, California, Haddish's mother Leola suffered severe brain damage in a car accident. It was believed to have caused Leola's schizophrenia; Haddish said her mother became quick-tempered, abusive and violent. Haddish, then nine years old and the oldest of five siblings, became the family's primary caregiver. It was around this time that Haddish became interested in humor. She said, "If I could make [Leola] laugh and turn her anger into some joy, I was less likely to get beat. Same thing in school: If I could make the kids laugh, they'd help me with my homework and protect me from other bullies."


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: According to Haddish, her stepfather later told her he had tampered with the brakes on her mother's car, intending the wreck to kill Haddish, her siblings, and her mother so he could collect on their life insurance policies. However, the children chose to stay home that day, and the accident was not fatal for her mother.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: When Haddish was 13, she and her siblings were put into foster care and temporarily separated from one another. While there, she used comedy to cope with being with unfamiliar people. When she was 15, she and her siblings were reunited under their grandmother's care. At one point early in life, she was hospitalized with toxic shock syndrome.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: She attended George Ellery Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles and graduated from El Camino Real High School, also in Woodland Hills, where she was the school mascot. She said she could not read very well until high school, but improved when she received tutoring from a teacher. She also got into a lot of trouble at school, despite her award-winning participation in drama competitions presenting Shakespearean monologues. In 2018, Haddish stated that she had been raped at age 17 by a police cadet, which she says led to her aggressiveness in avoiding unwanted advances from men. After graduating from high school, Haddish was homeless, living in her car for a period of time.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: In 1997, after her social worker gave her an ultimatum to attend either psychiatric therapy or the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp, the 17-year-old Haddish opted for comedy as an outlet for her pain. She says that the mentorship from many notable comedians—including Richard Pryor, Dane Cook, Charles Fleischer and the Wayans brothers—helped her discover a passion for comedy that "literally saved her life." She incorporates her life experiences in her sets, finding that it functions as a "safe space" for her.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish was accepted to New York University, but the tuition and her aversion to debt kept her from attending. She later attended Santa Monica College. Prior to her onscreen success, she held a number of jobs, including customer service for Air New Zealand at Los Angeles International Airport and Alaska Airlines. She said she lived in her car during her twenties, in her early days of comedy.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish's first break was a spot on the comedy competition "Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes?" She has appeared on such shows as "Chelsea Lately", "That's So Raven", "My Name Is Earl", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "The Underground", "Nick Cannon's Short Circuitz", "@midnight", "Just Jordan", "In the Motherhood", "Def Comedy Jam", "Reality Bites Back" and "New Girl, and" has starred in movies including "Meet the Spartans" and "Janky Promoters". In 2013, she had a recurring role on "Real Husbands of Hollywood". In 2014, she was cast in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series "If Loving You Is Wrong". She left after the first season for a regular role on the NBC sitcom "The Carmichael Show," where she starred as Nekeisha, the semi-estranged wife of Bobby Carmichael (Lil Rel Howery) for three seasons. In 2016, she co-starred opposite Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key in the comedy film "Keanu" in the role of Hi C.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: In 2017, Haddish starred alongside Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah in the comedy film "Girls Trip". It received widely positive reviews from critics, attaining an approval rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "generally favorable reviews" score of 71 out of 100 from Metacritic. Haddish was acclaimed for her performance as the loud happy-go-lucky Dina, with several critics likening her breakthrough to that of Melissa McCarthy. Katie Walsh of the "Chicago Tribune" proclaimed that "this is Haddish's movie, and will make her a star. It's clear from the moment she hits the screen..." Further, "Girls Trip" grossed over $140 million worldwide against its production budget of $20 million to become the highest-grossing comedy film of 2017. In 2021, Haddish's performance was included on "The New Yorker"'s list of the best film performances of the 21st century. The author of the list, Richard Brody, wrote that "...where most comedians, even improvising, appear to create a persona, Haddish imbues her work with the force of her own experience. If the seventeen-minute speech that she gave at the New York Film Critics Circle banquet in 2018 had been released as a film, it would have made my list, too. Both it and her performance in "Girls Trip", as great as they are, only hint at the power of her inventive imagination."


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: In August 2017, Haddish's stand-up comedy special "Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood" premiered on Showtime. Reviewing the special for "Vox", Caroline Framke stated, "Haddish is just really damn funny, and deserves a recommendation wherever we can give it to her... [She] unleashes hilarious, filthy, and even moving anecdotes to tell the story of her life to this point, without anything holding her back, at long last." Haddish also co-hosted the BET game show "Face Value" with Deon Cole. She hosted the November 11, 2017 episode of "Saturday Night Live", making her the first African-American woman stand-up comedian to host the show; it won her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Her memoir, "The Last Black Unicorn" (written with Tucker Max) was released in December 2017 by Simon & Schuster and debuted at #15 on "The New York Times" best-seller list.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Beginning in 2018, Haddish starred opposite Tracy Morgan in the TBS sitcom "The Last O.G.", her first lead in a sitcom. Her 2018 film roles include a supporting part in "Uncle Drew", and a lead role, opposite Kevin Hart, in the comedy "Night School", reuniting with "Girls Trip" director Malcolm D. Lee. In parallel, she starred in the Tyler Perry movie "Nobody's Fool" with Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, Mehcad Brooks, Amber Riley and Whoopi Goldberg. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $33 million worldwide. In 2018, Haddish signed a first-look deal with HBO and was named one of the 100 most influential people in world by "Time" magazine. In the same year, "The Hollywood Reporter" listed her among the 100 most powerful people in entertainment, and again in 2019.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: In 2019, Haddish voiced Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi in ""; Daisy in "The Secret Life of Pets 2"; and Tuca on the Netflix animated sitcom "Tuca & Bertie", which premiered in May. Also that year, ABC revived "Kids Say the Darndest Things" with Haddish as host and producer. It premiered on October 6 as part of a three-hour family-oriented block of programming. In August 2019, Netflix premiered her new comedy special, "Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready." In each episode, Haddish introduced one of her favorite stand-up comedians in order to give them mainstream exposure. The series included stand-up sets from Chaunté Wayans, April Macie, Tracey Ashley, Aida Rodriguez, Flame Monroe and Marlo Williams. In 2020, Haddish starred in "Like a Boss", the first studio comedy film of the 2020s, for Paramount Pictures, co-starring with Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish was asked to host the 2021 Grammy Awards pre-telecast premiere ceremony, but turned down the request after the Recording Academy said she had to pay her own way. She explained that the academy would not cover her hair, makeup or wardrobe for the three-hour-long event, commenting: "All of that would have to come out of my pocket, [...] I don't know if this might mean I might not get nominated ever again, but I think it's disrespectful. [...] It's like a guy asking you on a date but telling you that you have to pay for it." She won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for "Black Mitzvah", with the news being broken to her in the middle of a taping of "Kids Say the Darndest Things".


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish married William Stewart in 2008. He helped her locate her once-estranged father who walked her down the aisle at their first wedding, which she described as "one of the happiest days of [her] life". She filed for divorce in Los Angeles County in 2011, which was finalized in 2013. She was in a relationship with rapper Common from mid-2020 to November 2021.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish partnered with Living Advantage, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the welfare of foster youth, for her Suitcase Drive for Foster Youth, where she collected suitcases in which foster youth can keep their belongings. She volunteers at the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp. Her She Ready Foundation also helps foster care programs.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish became a naturalized Eritrean citizen on May 22, 2019, while taking part in festivities there commemorating the 28th anniversary of Eritrean independence from Ethiopia. She first visited the country in 2018 to bury her Eritrean father, who came to the U.S. as a refugee, and to connect with her relatives. Haddish has been criticized for her support of dictator Isaias Afwerki, who has been the head of the totalitarian one-party state since its inception. Among other human rights violations, Eritrea has been ranked at the bottom of the Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index and a 2013 report from Amnesty International said there were at least 10,000 political prisoners in Eritrea.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: Haddish, whose father was Jewish, had her bat mitzvah ceremony in December 2019 at the age of 40. Reform rabbi Susan Silverman, sister of comedian Sarah Silverman, officiated.


title: Tiffany Haddish

text: On January 14, 2022, Haddish was arrested in Peachtree City, Georgia, on a charge of DUI, as police suspected she was under the influence of marijuana. Around 4:00 a.m., police received a 911 call of a driver who had fallen asleep behind the wheel on Highway 74. Police located Haddish, driving the vehicle described to the 911 operator, as she was attempting to pull into the driveway of a residence in an Atlanta suburb. She was booked at Fayette County Jail and later released the same day on a $1,666 bond. At the time, Haddish was in the area to take part in filming for "Haunted Mansion".