What are your favorite and least favorite seasons? I was on another site and one fan was saying how he thought nothing in seasons 5, 6, or 7 could compare to season 2 or 3, so what's everyone else's opinion? What seasons did you personally love, and what seasons did you think were merely okay?

Five and six were my favorite, actually. I loved two, but overall I didn't like three so much. Five, actually, was my favorite season of all. There was just something about the whole Glory-thing that really was amazing. And I loved how they stretched it out for the entire season. I thought, overall, that season had the best arc. Now, I like individual episodes of season three, but overall...I just couldn't get invested in the Buffy/Angel thing. He turned evil, killed her teacher and fellow students, mentally tortured her for months, and all is forgiven. I was just happy he started kicking ass a little (Bad Girls). My favorite seasons would probably be: Five, Six, Two, Four, Seven, Three, One. And as for Angel, my favorite seasons are Three, One, Two, Five and Four. I know Spike was in five, but I thought the show lost something without Cordelia.

1) Season 5
2) Season 6
3) Season 2
4) Season 3
5) Season 4
6) Season 7
7) Season 1

Buffy:
1. Season Two
2. Season Five
3. Season Six
4. Season Seven
5. Season Three
6. Season Four
7. Season One

Angel.:
1. Season Five
2. Season Two
3. Season Three
4. Season One
5. Season Four

The 5th season of Buffy was my favorite, too.  I don't really know why.  For me it would be 5, 7, 2, 3, 6, 4, and then 1.  I know 6 gave us all the Spuffy sex, but it was definitely not a favorite of mine.  Angel I would say is also the 5th season, then 1, 2, 3, and 4.  I guess I stayed in order with those.  I really don't know that show as well and probably saw every episode only the one time, unless I really liked it.

Season five is my favorite season overall as well too.  It had the best overall arc, starting with Dawn, moving on to Joyce's illness and death, then onto the battle with Glory, and ultimately, Buffy's death.  I wish the writers had let Spike develop his feelings for Buffy differently, but...    Next would be season two, then four, six, and seven.  Season one next and last, season three (there were some really good episodes through the season though). Overall season-wise, I just didn't buy into Angel coming back after all of the torment he put everyone through in season two - it just didn't work for me.  One of the things that drove me *absolutely batty* about the show was the way that everyone dealt with the "Angel has a soul, so he's good" - no one could see how self-absorbed and selfish he was, even with the soul.  He was supposed to be a Champion for the PTB, but he always made the selfish choice -  what was good for him... not what was good for someone else or for the "whole".  And in spite of all of that, nobody on the show ever got past that to see that Angel/us were the same.  

~kimberly 

1.  Season 5 (I'd been waiting for Spike to fall in love with Buffy forever, and Glory was crazy and awesome.  I also loved Dawn, though I didn't think I would.)
2.  Season 3 (the Mayor, a force of pure evil that could have come right out of Leave it to Beaver)
3.  Season 2
4.  Season 4 (would be higher, except for Adam)
5.  Season 1
6.  Season 6 (everyone just seemed so different from what they were in earlier seasons, and the while I wasn't crazy about the nerds as villians, it was yet another excellent opportunity to confront evil as something in humans as well as demons, but they fell back to the soul/no soul thing)
7.  Season 7 (I hated the First as a villian, and the potentials just annoyed me to no end.  Plus, I'm one of the few people that really hated the ending.)

As for Angel:  Season, 2, 1, 5, 3, 4

Hmmm, strange. I like and dislike the same seasons on both shows. 2 and 5 are my favorites, and 4 is my least favorite. Also not a fan of Buffy season 6, but Angel didn't have a season 6 for me to dislike...

I'm too critical to put my stamp of approval on a single season and say it stands above the rest, but season Two is the closest I can get.  Three and Five had some spectacular moments.  Season One was a great introduction to the story, and I wish it had been a whole season instead of half.   Seven is probably my least favorite because it felt like two seasons crammed into one and far too many new characters and gimmicky plots.  I actually disliked much of season Six, but it had some extremely significant moments and some truly spectacular acting in places.  Who didn't love "Once More With Feeling" or Randy Giles? 

And with AtS, I actually liked it all equally except the Connor/Jasmine story line.  If I could just pluck bits of that whole story arc out I'd have been pretty happy.  That puts season four at the bottom, but I actually really enjoyed much of the character progression in that season except for Cordelia (which I suppose makes sense since it turned out not to be her).  Despite the fact I didn't like Angel on BtVS at all, I really liked AtS.  Everything about it.   So much so I don't think I can rate the seasons aside from putting four at the lowest point.

Nika you and I are on the same wave length just swap Buffy s3 and 4's places and its the very same.

Despite the fact I didn't like Angel on BtVS at all, I really liked AtS. Everything about it. So much so I don't think I can rate the seasons aside from putting four at the lowest point.
You know, that's really true for me, too. I dislike season 4 for the same reason, and the only thing that really puts 2 and 5 a cut above is that 5 had Spike and 2 had a lot of karaoke. (I'm easily amused.) Well, I'm also not really a fan of the Holtz/Sahjhan stuff, which make season 3 less enjoyable, but overall I think Angel was a lot more consistent than Buffy. I can pick out a lot more individual episodes of Buffy, because Angel just blended together and flowed while Buffy was often choppy and uneven.

With Buffy, every season has some stand-out episodes, but every season also has terrible, terrible clunkers. The seasons that are my favorites are the ones that I think were the most consistently good (usually because they had a really good season arc tying them together). Some of the best episodes, though, came during (IMO) the worst seasons - Something Blue, Hush, This Year's Girl/Who Are You, OMWF, Tabula Rasa.

i don't think that i could pick out a singular season either. but i will say that the glory season was proly the best. i am slightly amazed that buffy made it as far as it did cause season one was sooo freakin' bad. it had a few good eps. ...none that i can think of right now, but over all it kinda blew. with that said i liked almost all of angel as a whole, minus the jasmin parts, but i understand why all that happened. (if you didn't know, i read somewhere((dont ask where i dont remember)) that it went that way cause mrs. carpenter got preggo and they were trying to find a way to hide it and the story line just got way out of hand and many of the shows cast  and crew thought it sucked but it was on the screen before they had a chance to salvage it and just ended up digging the whole bigger in attempts to save it.) i think that my fav eps are proly the ones with faith or spike, cause they were just super witty. i think my all time fav scene is from crush. at the end when spike trys to go in but is locked out. the acting in that was phenominal, the look on his face, swear to god made me cry the first time i saw it.

I also have to go with "each season had its great moments" and excellent story arcs – so that I don’t have a favorite season. What I do have is the season that I find particularly satisfying for the powerful emotional and dramatic content – Season Six and the Buffy-Spike relationship, especially the splendid performances from James Marsters and SMG is part of the series that  will always stay in my heart and mind. However, "Beneath you" and "Dead Things" "The Body" and "The Yoko Factor" along with climax of the Acathla-Angelus Cycle are probably part of my top 10 highlights of the entire series.

I had a very great dislike of Angel in the early series, but loved him as Angelus – and I really loved AtS throughout their run. I do like Season 5 most because of putting the AI at Wolfram & Hart and the strong emotional pull content that all the characters had to live through – I loved how the returned Lindsey for that season.

hey Legen -

just have to say that I love your signature quote - interesting icons as well -

i like to stay so fresh and so clean clean :)

but overall I think Angel was a lot more consistent than Buffy. I can pick out a lot more individual episodes of Buffy, because Angel just blended together and flowed while Buffy was often choppy and uneven.

My thoughts exactly.  AtS was definitely a progression in terms of presenting a much more coherent, smooth final product. (Dare I say more sophisticated?)  Buffy seemed to be headed in that direction seasons five, then just fell off the cliff of season six followed by a very weak and silly season seven.   I tend to get a funny eye twitch whenever I try to watch Buffy the High School Counselor.  Without Spike, Anya and wonderful guest stars like Azura Skye, Nathan Fillion and all the faces they brought back from previous seasons I really wouldn't have bothered with the final season.  Xander and Dawn were marginalized to the point of being almost pointless, I never could keep up with all the potentials and the various stereotypes they seemed to be representing.  Gah.  I had better stop now or I'll derail the thread into a season seven rant.

Dare I say more sophisticated?
I've always thought that, at least in terms of subject matter. Buffy, even when the gang grew up, always seemed to be set in that "teenager" mentality, whereas Angel felt more adult right from the beginning. I mean, come on, the big bad was lawyers - you don't get more grown-up than that. :) Plus, everything was more complex - it was fully acknowledged that sometimes demons were good and humans were evil, there wasn't always a good or right answer, and sometimes even the hero slips into the gray area. And the transition from episodic seasons to serial ones was much more pronounced on Angel.

I tend to get a funny eye twitch whenever I try to watch Buffy the High School Counselor.
That bothered me at first, but not so much once it was revealed that Wood knew she was a Slayer, and her getting that job had nothing whatsoever to do with any counseling skills she may or may not have possessed. I disliked the potentials, but I thought it was probably the best season for the Spuffy relationship. With season 7, I often find that although the logic is sadly missing, the episodes work on an emotional level, and sometimes that's what's most important (though it'd be nice if the plot made sense, too).

but I thought it was probably the best season for the Spuffy relationship.

I obviously enjoy the Buffy/Spike dynamic, but I didn't like them together on the show much aside from some brief moments here and there.  Seven was certainly a healthier representation, but from a characterization standpoint I think season five has the best interaction between the two.  There was a great deal of potential in the air left waiting for more after "The Gift" and it could have developed into something epic.  Which is probably why I was so disappointed with six, and ultimately seven, because I can clearly see what might have been.

Yes, exactly!  It seemed like something was building in The Gift, Bargaining, After Life...  and then it went where it went, mainly b/c they decided that Buffy would be very messed up after dying (who wouldn't be, but it could have gone differently).  I suppose they didn't want to do another epic love, they had already done that with Angel and Buffy, and Spike has no soul, so it's wrong, blah, blah, blah...  *goes off to grumble*  But Buffy and Spike had so much potential.  Of course, I don't much like much of season 6 or 7, Spuffy notwithstanding.

It annoyed me that the writers decided Spike needed a soul for the great epic story of becoming a Champion, and so they had to destroy him and make him a total bastard with the excuse of showing he doesn't have a soul first! Season 5 was my favorite, and the progression between Buffy and Spike's feelings were great, and there was so much potential in the first few episodes of Season 6, but then they tore apart Spike's character and what we had already learned about him and how he would act or react, and acted like he didn't really love Buffy, he was just a demon with an obsession and he needed to get a soul for it to turn into real love! I used to totally hate 6 and wouldn't watch it after being disgusted over and over, especially by the degrading, twisted Spike helping to destroy Buffy,  but then I went back and re-watched it all from a perspective of not expecting much, and I saw a lot of good stuff still there.
    So, 5 was my favorite, then 2, then 4 because it had some great episodes despite being barely held together, and 6 because the acting and a few moments that were wonderful, and 3, where I loved Faith and the Mayor, band candy Ripper, and Wesley, but the Angel back from Hell thing weakened it and my respect for Buffy, 7 had a lot of disappointments and plot holes but I could see how they were trying, and lastly 1 because they were so young and the show didn't have as much feeling and real mature story or as strong acting in the characters they didn't know yet.

Working in Japan I didn't get to watch Buffy or Angel "live" on TV.  A friend kept pushing me to see Buffy and the base library had season 2 on DVD but not season 1, so I started Buffy with the 2nd season.  I was immediately hooked; it had a great plot with the Angelus storyline. Although I loved the Angel-Angelus/Buffy angst at the time, I chuckle now because even knowing he was just a temporary character, from the first moment Spike came on screen, I'd find myself going back and watching his scenes over and over.  He was the freshest, most mesmerizing character on television!

After that I was able to get hold of season 1 and go back and watch it.  I think the base library did me a favor!  Had I seen season 1 first, I'm not sure I would have ever watched the other seasons.  Same with season 7, if I had not been watching to see if Spike and Buffy would get together and if he and Dawn would ever make up (alas, the writers blew that one!), season 7 wouldn't have held me either; I liked the idea of the potentials becoming slayers, but I found the scenes with them very annoying.  Maybe it is because like James said recently, the writers never got to flesh out the Spike-Buffy relationship that season because they had to spend so much time on establishing the potentials (Another reason to dislike them!  :-)

AtS was wonderful except for season 4 with fake Cordelia/Connor and Jasmine.  I'd stay up all night watching the DVDs because the episode cliffhangars were too suspenseful to turn off and go to sleep.  I loved season 5 because when Cordelia came back for the 100th episode, she brought a brightness that I hadn't even realized was missing until I saw her again.  Then I realized how much I adored her!  And, of course, the Angel-Spike interplay was genius!  Think how great season 6 would have been...sigh...

Dare I say more sophisticated?

I also agree with this, Ats was like The Buffyverse turned into the Jungian Nightmare Dreamscape - especially Season 5 - how I wish that we could have seen the Season 6 on screen - even if the comic format does allow for all the fantastic underworld realm and endless supply of demons, monsters and dragons; it would have been great to have the series completed on television.

I wish that the relationship between Spike and Buffy had been explored with more depth in Season 7 as well as Buffy's turning so dark and emotionally traumatized.  I suppose  the writers and Joss  Whedon just felt that there was not really time to deal with all the darkness that surrounded their series heroine without completely changing her character and the foundation of Buffy as The Slayer.  The series might have turned into Buffy The Slayer vs Buffy the Woman and the time left for the series just could not accommodate anymore exploration of what happened in Season Six and her resurrection.  Too bad, because a lot of viewers did not particularly care for The Potentials and frankly the Willow and Kennedy thing took up a lot of time and was not really important for the ending of the series.  

Where AtS Season 5 devoted the entire season to Angel's  inner demons and his struggle - Buffy was just left with all the emotional trauma she suffered and inflicted.  She did a lot of wonderful things as Buffy the Heroine Slayer, and she did a lot of great and wonderful things for Spike, but without the deeper exploration of her emotional state and the abusive relationship of Season 6, the series ended with a huge gap to the story of the two main character.   Their story does all come together in symbols and metaphor, but it felt incomplete from their human story. 

With AtS, I felt satisfied with the ending - the question of his final act, good or bad,  was left to the viewers to debate and come to their own decisions.

Actually my favorite and least favorite are the same season.  Season 6.  We finally got the Spuffy, but it was so depressing to watch.  It's actually why I went looking for Spuffy fanfic.  I had bought the season on DVD and was hoping to find happier endings for our wonderful couple.

my favorite list goes as follows:
on top it is a tie between S 4 and 7.
S 4 was hilariously funny, and I loved the way Spike was portrayed there, threw me straight into the "poor vampire"sentiment which carried me all the way through the show. And unlike most others (from my impression of it) I also really loved the Initiative.

S 7 has the most adorable fluffy Spuffy scenes, and I also liked the way Willow was done there. (Yes, including her relationship with Kennedy) But the other potentials were kind of annoying.

My least favorite season is S 2. there are some episode there I like, and the introduction of Spike were great, of course, but... i dont know. I guess that S were a little too black and white for me. Xandelia seemed to be the only grey-area, and even that didnt get too deep and messy untill the next season. And then this season is also the one where I noticed the most inconsistencies and such. (which usually hit my nerves