--- title: Joss Whedon and Buffy: A Reminder of Their Early Pop-Culture Feminism description: The first episode of 'Buffy' aired on Mar. 10, 1997 canonical: https://time.com/3722132/buffy-debut-1997/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-10T14:00:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:46.570Z article:section: History og:title: Joss Whedon and Buffy: A Reminder of Their Early Pop-Culture Feminism og:description: The first episode of 'Buffy' aired on Mar. 10, 1997 og:url: https://time.com/3722132/buffy-debut-1997/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62e7457e12978012/698780fc0b72e32f9c6dddde/buffy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cast of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joss Whedon and Buffy: A Reminder of Their Early Pop-Culture Feminism twitter:description: The first episode of 'Buffy' aired on Mar. 10, 1997 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62e7457e12978012/698780fc0b72e32f9c6dddde/buffy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Proof That Joss Whedon Was Ahead of the Pop-Culture Feminism Curve  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 10, 2015 2:00 PM UTC  The Season 1 cast of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' The Season 1 cast of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'Fotos International / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 10, 2015 2:00 PM UTC Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn’t a new character when the TV show of the same name premiered on this day in 1997 — a [poorly reviewed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1992-08-10/page/81/) movie version had come out five years earlier, and creator Joss Whedon’s desire to do it again and do it right quickly became part of the _Buffy_ creation mythology. Nearly two decades later, it’s easy to see that doing _Buffy_ right wasn’t just a matter of improving its casting, creative freedom and sense of humor. In addition to all those aces, Whedon — now a [bona fide blockbuster builder](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/09/12/joss-whedon-talks-shield-superheroes-and-secrets-i-guess-im-just-not-very-good-at-reality/) — was also an early comer to the socially conscious, feminism-friendly attitude that has [redefined](http://time.com/3181644/beyonce-reclaim-feminism-pop-star/) the pop-culture landscape in more recent years. Need proof? Just look at a feature about teen-centric television that TIME ran a few months after _Buffy_ took to the airwaves as a mid-season replacement. The piece called _Buffy_ “the most talked-about show to have debuted in the past months” and included an interview with Whedon, who was forthright about his stake (no pun intended) in the show’s feminist cred: --- > “” --- **_Read the full 1997 article, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Bewitching Teen Heroines](http://time.com/vault/issue/1997-05-05/page/86/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3722132/buffy-debut-1997/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3722132/buffy-debut-1997/"},"headline":"Proof That Joss Whedon Was Ahead of the Pop-Culture Feminism Curve","datePublished":"2015-03-10T14:00:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:46.570Z","description":"The first episode of 'Buffy' aired on Mar. 10, 1997","url":"https://time.com/3722132/buffy-debut-1997/","keywords":["Living","feminism","Television","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62e7457e12978012/698780fc0b72e32f9c6dddde/buffy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62e7457e12978012/698780fc0b72e32f9c6dddde/buffy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cast of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'","caption":"Cast of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'","creditText":"Fotos International / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3722132/buffy-debut-1997/","name":"Proof That Joss Whedon Was Ahead of the Pop-Culture Feminism Curve"}}]}] ```