The Office and 25 TV shows that were never supposed to be hits

15. Buffy The Vampire Slayer (The WB/UPN)

Series run: 1997-2003 (7 seasons/144 episodes)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer was a twist on the old horror movie concept of “blonde girl always get killed in a dark alley.”

Buffy, who was a little blonde girl portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar, was not going to be that girl. Instead, she turned into a kick-butt slayer of vampires, and it morphed into a big hit for The WB (rest in peace J. Michigan Frog).

Being on The WB actually was one of the reasons why it was so successful.

At the time Buffy premiered, The WB was growing into one of the top networks on television, and it was a serious concern at the “Big Three” networks that this upstart network would grow to rival the big boys. The network hit things out of the park with their dramas, from Charmed to7th Heaven.

So, Buffy couldn’t have come in at a better time, but there was concern that the series would get lost in the shuffle of some of their more popular shows. Also, there was a problem with its budget, which was so tight that they couldn’t even film the first 12 episodes of the series on a soundstage.

They filmed it in a nondescript warehouse.

So, yea, nearly the entire first season of Buffy was filmed on the cheap, but by the end, it produced rating gold for The WB, and it quickly rose among the ranks as some of its best shows.

The budget would eventually grow, and the show grew right along with it, even becoming a pop culture icon even to this day. Then, in 2002, The WB transferred the series to then-UPN, and ratings, naturally, suffered, and it was canceled after season seven.

Buffy continues to fight vampires on syndication to this day.