Buffy At 20: EP/Writer Jane Espenson Chooses Her Best And Worst Episodes

To mark the 20th anniversary of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series premiere, TVLine spoke to a few of its key players. First up: writer/co-executive producer Jane Espenson.

Buffy Summers started slaying on TV 20 years ago today. And to celebrate that, we thought we'd go to one of the people who put the quips in the heroine's mouth.

Jane Espenson wrote for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" for much of its run, eventually rising in the ranks to the role of co-executive producer. And while she penned plenty of Ms. Summers' lines, "Buffy was the hardest, because she was the most nuanced," Espenson tells TVLine. "It was always fun writing the more peripheral characters. I love Anya, Jonathan, Andrew, et cetera, because they can have more focused points of view. But a more central character like Spike is perfect, because he's nuanced, but he still has strong outlier opinions — because, evil."

Espenson joined the then-WB series at the start of Season 2 and stayed until the series finale, which allows her to reflect on how Joss Whedon's vampire-drama-movie-reboot went from teen drama to pop culture touchstone in the space of seven seasons. "The atmosphere was most changed by decreasing amounts of Joss as he started splitting his time with 'Angel' and then with 'Firefly' and beyond," Espenson says. "But the whole time, we felt that we were doing something of quality, that we were accomplishing something important and aiming high. That never changed."

Also: "The writing was the king the whole time," she adds. "We were more likely to shut down production while we wrote than we were to rush the writing to fit the production schedule. That was a rarity then, and now."

We asked Espenson — whose extensive TV resume also includes "Game of Thrones," "Once Upon a Time," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Gilmore Girls" — to think back on her time with the Scoobies.

Keep scrolling for her thoughts on her best and worst episodes, favorite lines, and more.

Season 3, Episode 6

"The first one I wrote," Espenson says. "I was so thrilled to be on the staff."

Espenson says she'd go back to the Season 3 hour "and replace some jokes" now. "The stoned teacher's little rant at Willow ('You're a tree,') is very obvious, and there's a joke about the Hellmouth's fingerprints that's just forced and unclear," she says. "When I watch this episode now I feel the effort behind the joke writing. This is one of those occasions where applying a bit more work to it would make it look easier."

Season 3, Episode 11

"I missed the tone on my first pass, had to redo it all."

Season 4, Episode 3

"Every single scene had something special: funny or emotional."

Season 4, Episode 8

"Thanksgiving leant itself to lots of seasonal wordplay. I laughed a lot while writing... I was very lucky to be handed many great scenes to write. I very much like the big Thanksgiving attack in 'Pangs,' with the bear and everything. 'You made a bear!'"

Season 4, Episode 17

"I love a big concept episode like this one."

Season 6, Episode 12

"Same problem as 'Gingerbread,' but years later. I had to completely rewrite it, to achieve the tone we were going for."

Season 7, Episode 16

"Oh, man. Writing for Tom Lenk. This isn't work. This is play."

Season 7, Episode 7

"I should mention that there are a number of great scenes attributed to me that were actually written by Joss [Whedon]. This is common in TV, where the showrunner polishes all the episodes — the clock tower scene in 'Earshot' is the biggest example. And the entire Buffy/Vampire interaction in 'Conversations with Dead People' is Joss, although Drew Goddard and I got the credit."