>From: The DarkScorpion <lmarjun@calstatela.edu>
>To: buffy@xmission.com
>Subject: USA Today Article 
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>Hello all,
>
>	This was in USA Today. If you have any problems with these
>articles don't write to me, take it up with J. Graham at USA Today.
>	Enjoy!!
>
>
>Title:  'Buffy' slays the odds as well as vampires
>By:  Jefferson Graham
>Date:  March 24, 1997
>Publication:  USA Today
>Page:  4D
>Article:
>
>	Back in 1990, Joss Whedon had an idea for an alternative horror
>movie.  Instead of having monsters attack a cute young girl, the girl
>would attack the monsters.
>	By the time 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' was released as a feature
>film in 1992 with Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry, the film had turned into
>a comedy, which wasn't what Whedon had intended.
>	The film performed poorly at the box office but had a strong
>afterlife in home video.  So much so that when 20th Century Fox pitched a
>TV spinoff to WB, the network said yes.
>	Styled this time as a straight horror show with occasional moments
>of humor, 'Buffy' has turned into a surprise hit in its first two weeks,
>garnering WB's best ratings ever on a Monday.  (It airs Tuesday at 9 p.m.
>ET/PT this week.)
>	'Buffy' hovers near the bottom of the Nielsen TV ratings with a
>3.4 rating (one ratings point equals 970,000 homes).  But in a midseason
>of mostly disappointments, when NBC canceled 'Prince Street' after two
>outings and ABC yanked 'Spy Game' after three, 'Buffy' is the only rookie
>to instantly pop.
>	"We're overwhelmed," says star Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays
>Buffy.  "It did better than we could have ever hoped."
>	Whedon credits the tune-in to a strong advertising campaign by WB,
>the success of the movie on video and the recognizable name of the show.
>	"The title is in your face," he says.  "Which is why the movie did
>so well in video."
>	'Buffy has been described by reviewers as 'Beverly Hills 90210'
>meets 'The Shining,' and Whedon doesn't disagree.  Buffy is a typical
>beautiful California high-school student who happens to have a talent for
>slaying vampires.
>	In the TV version, Buffy's slaying skills are expanded
>to monsters of all kinds.  In upcoming episodes, she'll also deal with a
>huge praying mantis, an Internet demon and a ventriloquist's dummy who
>comes to life.
>	The show's exteriors are filmed at Torrance High School in
>Torrance, Calif., which also served as the setting for the kids of Fox's
>'90210' back when they were in high school.
>	After 'Buffy,' Whedon, 32, did uncredited rewrites on 'Twister,'
>'Waterworld' and 'Speed' and co-wrote the script for the fourth 'Alien'
>movie, 'Alien Resurrection,' due in July.
>	He's planning stories for the second season of 'Buffy,' even
>though WB officially hasn't renewed it.
>	"You have to assume it's going to happen," he says.  "Otherwise,
>you'd be scrambling when the call came in."
>
>
>
>Title:  Gellar really knows the moves
>By:  Jefferson Graham
>Picture By:  R. Cartwright, Warner Bros.
>Publication:  USA Today
>Date:  March 24, 1997
>Page:  4D
>Article:
>
>	Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', has
>set aside her stakes for the season.
>	She's currently in North Carolina filming the action thriller 'I
>Know What You Did Last Summer,' with Jennifer Love Hewitt of 'Party of
>Five.'
>	The 19-year-old actress is best known for her role as Kendall Hart
>on 'All My Children.'  She also played young Jackie Kennedy in the 'A
>Woman Called Jackie' miniseries.  She studied the martial art of tae kwon
>do for four years, which comes in handy during 'Buffy,' since the
>character kicks monster butt.  "I had no clue I would ever use it."  She
>waned to play Buffy because "every actress dreams of doing an
>action/horror/comedy project:  you get to play every emotion."
>	And what did Gellar learn about vampires during the 13 weeks she
>spent making 'Buffy'?  "They suck," whey says.
>
>
>
>The DarkScorpion
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