The Buffy The Vampire Slayer Dirty Talk That Freaked Out A Network
Back before it was remade into the CW, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the most popular shows on the WB network. Once the show became a pop culture phenomenon, it helped to boost the network’s reputation while bringing in coffins full of money. In an ironic twist, however, Buffy the Vampire Slayer freaked the WB out due to its language…specifically, the title character using the word “sl*t” in the first episode.
Trouble From The Start
This story about Buffy the Vampire Slayer getting in trouble due to its foul language comes to us courtesy of showrunner Joss Whedon. On the first season DVD (we all held onto these sets because of the fun menus, right?), Whedon provided commentary for “Welcome to the Hellmouth,” the series premiere. According to him, use of the word “sl*t” was a “big issue” for WB, and it wasn’t the only word that got them in trouble.
Timing Is Everything
In episode 4 of the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer season, a character uses the word “virgin,” and this was more language that made the network nervous. While they “didn’t like” the latter word, it was “sl*t” that created “a big controversy.” However, the exact reason for this controversy may surprise you.
Even before being rebranded as the CW, the WB wasn’t an overly prudish network. However, like all networks, they wanted to restrict more risque material to certain time slots. Generally speaking, shows that aired later at night had more flexibility when it came to what characters say, but the network was concerned about Buffy the Vampire Slayer using certain language explicitly because they didn’t know at first when the show would air.
Scheduling Semantics
As Whedon explains, “They didn’t know what time-slot we’d be in, they didn’t know what kind of a network they were, and they didn’t know how far we could go.” In other words, the network wasn’t just arbitrarily trying to curtail how Buffy the Vampire Slayer used language, and they clearly didn’t keep Whedon from including words like “sl*t” in the show. However, Whedon still thought their reaction was ironic because, as he put it, “we did imply it’s not great to be a sl*t.”
Making The Right Move
Long-term Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans are probably thinking about all the dirty language the show used over the years, making it ironic that the network freaked out about a word as relatively tame as “sl*t.” However, there’s a reason the network got so chill: the show originally aired at 9:00 pm on Mondays and was soon moved to 8:00 pm on Tuesdays. That was late enough for the WB, like the CW, to take more risks with more than language, which is one of the reasons the show only got bloodier and scarier over time.
Adult Situations Were Allowed On-Air
It may sound a bit crude, but we’re actually quite happy that the various Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters got to use foul words when the story called for it. These were young characters facing life-and-death situations on a near-daily basis, so it makes plenty of sense that they would employ strong language to go with their adult situations. And had the WB tried to censor the writing, we might have gotten an entirely different tagline for that first season: “if the apocalypse comes, bleep me.”
