The Buffy Writers

[partcynic]

One of the most interesting things about Buffy is how well the fans know each writer's distinct style, and how that impacts your enjoyment of the show. Who's your favourite and least favourite writer, and why?

For easy reference, here's a list of all the writers to pen more than 5 episodes, and which episodes they wrote.

Joss Whedon
1x01 Welcome To The Hellmouth
1x02 The Harvest
1x12 Prophecy Girl
2x01 When She Was Bad
2x07 Lie To Me
2x12 Ted (co-written with David Greenwalt)
2x14 Innocence
2x21 Becoming, Part One
2x22 Becoming, Part Two
3x01 Anne
3x10 Amends
3x16 Doppelgangland
3x21 Graduation Day, Part One
3x22 Graduation Day, Part Two
4x01 The Freshman
4x10 Hush
4x16 Who Are You
4x22 Restless
5x06 Family
5x16 The Body
5x22 The Gift
6x07 Once More, With Feeling
7x01 Lessons
7x22 Chosen

David Greenwalt
1x04 Teacher's Pet
1x07 Angel
1x10 Nightmares
2x03 School Hard
2x05 Reptile Boy
2x12 Ted (co-written with Joss Whedon)
3x03 Faith, Hope and Trick
3x05 Homecoming

Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali
1x05 Never Kill A Boy On The First Date
1x09 The Puppet Show
2x08 The Dark Age
2x15 Phases
2x18 Killed By Death

Marti Noxon
2x09 What's My Line, Part One (co-written with Howard Gordon)
2x10 What's My Line, Part Two
2x12 Bad Eggs
2x13 Surprise
2x16 Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
2x19 I Only Have Eyes For You
3x02 Dead Man's Party
3x04 Beauty and the Beasts
3x09 The Wish
3x15 Consequences
3x20 The Prom
4x02 Living Conditions
4x06 Wild At Heart
4x11 Doomed (co-written with Jane Espenson and David Fury)
4x14 Goodbye, Iowa
4x19 New Moon Rising
5x01 Buffy vs Dracula
5x10 Into The Woods
5x17 Forever
6x01 Bargaining, Part One
6x10 Wrecked
6x20 Villains
7x10 Bring On The Night (co-written with Douglas Petrie)

David Fury
2x20 Go Fish (co-written with Elin Hampton)
3x12 Helpless
3x19 Choices
4x04 Fear, Itself
4x11 Doomed (co-written with Jane Espenson and Marti Noxon)
4x13 The I In Team
4x21 Primeval
5x02 Real Me
5x08 Shadow
5x14 Crush
6x02 Bargaining, Part Two
6x05 Life Serial (co-written with Jane Espenson)
6x11 Gone
6x22 Grave
7x08 Sleeper (co-written with Jane Espenson)
7x11 Showtime
7x17 Lies My Parents Told Me (co-written with Drew Goddard)

Jane Espenson
3x06 Band Candy
3x11 Gingerbread
3x18 Earshot
4x03 The Harsh Light of Day
4x08 Pangs
4x11 Doomed (co-written with Marti Noxon and David Fury)
4x12 A New Man
4x17 Superstar
5x03 The Replacement
5x11 Triangle
5x12 Checkpoint (co-written with Douglas Petrie)
5x15 I Was Made To Love You
5x18 Intervention
6x03 After Life
6x04 Flooded (co-written with Douglas Petrie)
6x05 Life Serial (co-written with David Fury)
6x12 Doublemeat Palace
7x03 Same Time, Same Place
7x07 Conversations With Dead People (co-written with Drew Goddard)
7x08 Sleeper (co-written with David Fury)
7x14 First Date
7x16 Storyteller
7x21 End of Days (co-written with Douglas Petrie)

Douglas Petrie
3x07 Revelations
3x14 Bad Girls
3x17 Enemies
4x07 The Initiative
4x15 This Year's Girl
4x20 The Yoko Factor
5x05 No Place Like Home
5x07 Fool For Love
5x12 Checkpoint (co-written with Jane Espenson)
5x21 The Weight of the World
6x04 Flooded (co-written with Jane Espenson)
6x15 As You Were
6x21 Two To Go
7x02 Beneath You
7x10 Bring On The Night (co-written with Marti Noxon)
7x15 Get It Done
7x21 End of Days (co-written with Jane Espenson)

Rebecca Rand Kirshner
5x04 Out of My Mind
5x09 Listening To Fear
5x19 Tough Love
6x07 Tabula Rasa
6x16 Hell's Bells
7x04 Help
7x12 Potential
7x20 Touched

Steven S. DeKnight
5x12 Blood Ties
5x20 Spiral
6x05 All The Way
6x13 Dead Things
6x19 Seeing Red

Drew Z. Greenberg
6x09 Smashed
6x14 Older and Far Away
6x18 Entropy
7x06 Him
7x13 The Killer In Me
7x19 Empty Places

Drew Goddard
7x05 Selfless
7x07 Conversations With Dead People (co-written with Jane Espenson)
7x09 Never Leave Me
7x17 Lies My Parents Told Me (co-written with David Fury)
7x18 Dirty Girls

[jennf10]

And Joss Whedon approved every episode and usually provided a joke or two for them as well. He was very involved in this show.

My favorite was Joss and Marti Noxon. They were great at getting the plot moving and dealing with emotional issues.

[partcynic]

For my favourite writer, I'd probably go with Joss - just scanning his list of eps shows classic after classic (Prophecy Girl; Innocence; Becoming; Hush; Restless; OMWF). However, I do still feel a bit annoyed with him for abandoning the show and subjecting us to the garbage of S6 and S7. For the most part, I also really liked Marti's eps - when she watched the level of angst, she could be quite good, although she lost much of her skill after S4 and wrote duds like Wrecked and Bring On The Night which look bad on her formerly good roster.

Worst writer would be a toss up between Steve DeKnight (many dull, badly paced eps with poor characterisation and non-existant plots) and Drew Greenberg for penning two of the worst Buffy eps ever -Older and Far Away and Empty Places.

Oh, what the heck, here's a list of preference:

1. Joss Whedon
2. Marti Noxon
3. Jane Espenson
4. Douglas Petrie
5. David Fury
6. Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali
7. David Greenwalt
8. Rebecca Rand Kirshner
9. Drew Goddard
10. Steven S. DeKnight
11. Drew Z. Greenberg

[cyclica]

I have never noticed any particular writers' style. I never take any notice of who the writers are, and quite frankly I don't want to know. When I watch a show, I follow the story, and if a particular ep is particuarly well/badly written, I try to veiw it as a good/bad thing in the character's lives. Thinking about the writers or other people 'backstage' just reminds me that it's not real, it's just a show, and that knowing that takes away from the enjoyment of watching. I only really think about writing if something happens that contradicts a previous ep, or when comparing whole seasons to one another (something I can't help but do whenever a series ends).

If I were to pick a favourite writer from the list, it would have to be on the basis of how many of my favourite episodes were written by each writer. And in this case, I would pick Joss, because he wrote restless, hush, the body, and of course the first ever ep. I don't think I could choose a 'worst writer' though.

[jennf10]

I agree with your top five, partcynic.

[kat29]

Joss Whedon has got to be my favourite, the episodes he wrote were consistantly good.

[gumdrop331]

Wow, I definitely couldn't choose, although Joss definitely was good. He did write so many of the classics. Marti was also a fav. The Davids and Jane Espenson were good too. They all wrote the most eps. for a reason...

[druwillow]

I think Joss and Marti too for me they are my favorites. They were very involved with everything.