Buffy -

In the late '90s, Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn’t just change television; it sharpened its teeth on the tropes that preceded it and tore them apart. On paper, it was a B-movie premise: a blonde cheerleader in a dark alley being hunted by a monster. But Joss Whedon’s stroke of genius was flipping the script—the girl wasn't the victim; she was the thing the monsters feared.

proved you could tell a terrifying story with almost no dialogue. In the late '90s, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

While it excelled at "Monster of the Week" procedural beats, Buffy was fearless with form. In the late '90s