It’s all Buffy love!

I have to disagree somewhat with your note at the end, though. It is true that the supporting characters in Buffy were more interesting and multidimensional than Buffy herself, but I would argue that that was at least partly because some of the other actors were simply better than Gellar, who has never really gotten past her roots as a soap opera actress. Angel, however, was very much about Angel’s character, and he goes through quite a lot and, I would argue, changes because of it. The return of Darla and the subsequent birth of Angel’s son had a significant impact on him, as did his son’s return as a teenager. So, too, did Angel’s time in a box at the bottom of the ocean, his time in Pylea, the death of his friend Doyle, and his complicated feelings toward Cordelia. You could argue that he didn’t go through a dramatic transformation like Willow becoming gay, Wesley becoming hard-boiled and bitter, Cordelia becoming less of a snob, etc.; but he went through a lot, and it always seemed to me that the show Angel was centered more on the character Angel than Buffy was on the character Buffy.

Finally, I have to point out your one glaring omission: Giles. Buffy could have come off as a bit too silly, especially in the first couple of seasons, if it weren’t for Giles. He gave the show its footing, he grounded it–and the other characters–when all around him was chaos. In the last couple of seasons, his relationship with Buffy was very touching as he essentially filled-in for her absent father. He was there for all of her rights of passage, from first love (and killing said love) to prom to graduation to losing her mother. Giles was the bedrock upon which Joss built this wonderful show, and you should be ashamed of yourself for not giving him a prominent place on your list. For shame!