Parade Magazine has a brief interview with Alyson Hannigan in today's issue. I'd post a link, but the on-line version isn't complete, or, rather, it's barely summarized. There's a great picture of her in it.

There's a great picture of her in it

Is there another kind of AH?

I definitely agree that the idea of the "ARC" took over after season 4. One of the reasons I adore season 4 is, despite what I consider a craptastic arc (and I realize Lindsey Crouse may have to shoulder some of the burden for that), they managed to pull off SO many good episodes. There were a few that were solely "initiatve/Adam" episodes, but even some of those (The Initiative, The "I" in Team) were pretty good.

I guess my biggest reason for denigrating 5 over 6 and 7 is that, great - the villian is a god. Can we make her a little more scary? Or something. If they'd revealed earlier on that she wasn't always Glory, without necessarily revealing who her alter-ego was, it would have gone a long way towards quelling all the "why is she just sitting around doing nothing?" issues.

But then again, I would have made Riley the Glory host, and that she only got free after he pulled his chip out in "Primevil". But that's all part of my season 5 re-vamp that I've been working on.

Seriously, though - even the devout Riley-haters among you would have found the HSQ ten times higher if Giles had killed Riley instead of Ben. I doubt he would have tried to sacrafice Dawn the way Ben did, but that would have made it more tragic. I suspect Riley probably would have begged Giles to finish it because Buffy definitely couldn't have.

Is there another kind of AH?

There was that one magazine shot (FHM?) that made her look like the Joker a few years ago. But generally, pretty photogenic.

Cordelia: When she shows up at the prom in the dress Xander bought for her, I think. It's certainly her most hopeful and dignified moment.

This is good, but I think the situation of impending poverty and lack of college options makes this bittersweet at best. (Of course, most of the moments are like that in the ME universe). Somone upthread mentioned that Cordelia really didn't have that many happy moments in her life. Maybe when she was elected May Queen in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight".

Giles: At the end of Checkpoint. His little girl had grown up, and he'd made his point.

I thought about this initally, but the moment had to be fleeting (again), since the fact that they were going up against a god would have put Giles' into "worry" mode pretty quickly. Although by that time, I think Giles had a pretty strong belief in Buffy's ability to overcome any obstacle. At the beginning of "Spiral", when Buffy and Dawn showed up after running away from Glory, I think Giles said "I knew you could beat her" or words to that effect (I'm too lazy to look up the exact words today).

And if she's wrong, the world ends and so does Dawn.

(re: Buffy diving off the tower) Dawn was still there and could jump if Buffy wasn't successful, so it wasn't a risk in that fashion. I still believe that her Slayer Intuition gave her the clarity to realize her course of action would work.

Joyce - when Buffy's SATs came back and were good and she thought that Faith could take over the slaying and her daughter could go to college and live a normal life.

Yes, this. This is good. The perfect moment for Joyce. (I never counted "Band Candy" moments for either Joyce or Giles because those were drug-induced.)

I never counted "Band Candy" moments for either Joyce or Giles because those were drug-induced.

I've had many happy drug-induced moments. IJS.

Until season 6 there was always something for me to enjoy in even the weakest episode. A funny line or two, some pitch perfect character note, a moment of grace. I don't know if I got crankier or if less care was being taken, but since season 6 I've had several episodes that just left me cold and unsatisfied.

I don't know, it seemed like the general consensus hated Doublemeat Palace and I thought that one was pretty funny. Then again, I am the girl who was also amused by Beer Bad, because as always even the worst Buffy is among the best.

Until season 6 there was always something for me to enjoy in even the weakest episode.

Reptile Boy.

For me, it was mostly the acting that changed. It didn't help that they also forgot how to light, direct and edit the show, but I doubt the waning production values would have been as noticeable if the acting had been up to par.

Until S6, the actors all seemed for the most part like they wanted to be there. It wasn't just that S6 was writted dark and gloomy, it didn't look like any of them were having any fun making the show anymore. And S7 was even worse in that regard -- the only performances I could watch without cringing were TL and EC. (I think because EC knew she wasn't coming back for an 8th season whether there was one or not, and TL because he'd only been playing the character for a year.) But the rest of them just looked so tired, and JM's Scenery Chewing Of Overcompensation For Everyone Else's Lethargy didn't help.

Reptile Boy.

Had Giles saying 'You were almost eaten by a giant snake. The phrase 'let this be a lesson to you' are a tad redundant.' and Xander saying 'Someday I'll be rich and powerful and when that day comes they'll still be better than me." - paraphrased, of course, but the first is funny and true to the character, and the second showed me something of the depths of Xander's soul.

It took very little to make me happy. That's why it surprises me that I could find so little joy and/or truth from parts of season 6 and 7.