Joss Whedon is responsible for some of the most memorable TV of the past 20 years -- between "Buffy," "Angel," "Firefly," and "Dollhouse" -- and here's the pick of the litter:

25. "You're Welcome" ("Angel," Season 5)

Although "Angel's" fifth (and, regrettably, final) season is one of its strongest, we still seriously missed the presence of Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia, who was left in a coma at the end of the fourth season when Carpenter left the show. Cordy's return -- revived, she says, by the Powers That Be to help a wayward Angel (David Boreanaz) rediscover his inner hero -- proved a perfect farewell to the character, with a killer final scene that served as a bittersweet grace note to the show's 100th episode.

24. "Conversations with Dead People" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 7)

In separate sequences that never overlap, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), and Andrew (Tom Lenk) are visited by dead people from their past, each with an uncanny knack for knowing how best to press their psychological buttons. The heady break from "Buffy's" usual format (for one, no Xander!) proved a thrilling booster shot for the show's seventh season momentum, and boasts a most incisive take on its heroine, via a Sunnydale-High-alum-[censored]-psych-major-[censored]-vampire: She has an inferiority complex about her superiority complex. Naturally.

23. "The Zeppo" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 3)

The perfect Xander (Nicholas Brendon) episode. Feeling like a useless liability to the Scoobies as they battle back yet another apocalypse, the Xan man stumbles into his own adventure when he runs afoul of an un-dead jock, gets his cherry popped by a hot-to-trot Faith (Eliza Dushku), and finally finds his mojo in time to, yep, save the world. Best of all, the rest of the gang are never the wiser -- well, except for the whole getting-groiny-with-Faith thing.

22. "Epitaph One" ("Dollhouse," Season 1)

This curio -- an episode that was shot to fulfill a DVD boxed set commitment, but never aired in the U.S. -- posits a mad future in which the personality-imprint tech that the Rossum Corporation pioneered has been unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, resulting in a populace who have misplaced their true selves. Through the eyes of a rag-tag band of post-brainocalypse survivors (led by Felicia Day), Whedon and Co. reconceptualized the show in a stroke, and placed every that happens in the "present" in a new perspective.

21. "Smile Time" ("Angel," Season 5)

Yeah, yeah, some fans absolutely loathe this episode, but, come on: Angel gets turned into a felt-faced puppet. He fights other, evil puppets. He fights Spike (James Marsters), and wins. It's brilliant. Get over it.

20. "Restless" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 4)

Instead of the usual epic, apocalypse-averting season finale, Whedon chose to end the uneven fourth season with a phantasmagoric peek into the dream states of Willow, Xander, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), and Buffy, whose sleep is haunted by the First Slayer they conjured in the epic, apocalypse-averting, penultimate episode of the season. Visually lush and trippy, it reestablished that this genre show was really and truly a deeply affecting character drama with a delightfully bent sense of humor. Watch out for the cheese man!

19. "The Wish" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 3)

"Buffy" meets "The Twilight Zone," with a dash of "Psycho." When Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, vengeance demon Anya (Emma Caulfield) -- in her "Buffy" debut! -- makes it so, plunging Ms. Chase into an alternative universe in which über-villain the Master still lives, Xander and Willow are vamps, and Angel is their simpering torture toy. And just when you think it can't get any more deliciously dark, Willow kills Cordy halfway through the episode. Then Buffy shows up, and it gets even darker. Awesome.

18. "Out of Gas" ("Firefly," Season 1)

Whedon shows have all been about disparate people who find family where they least expect it. This episode tells parallel stories: flashbacks to how Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) first built the crew of Serenity and how a broken part left the ship crippled and forced Mal to rely on the "kindness" of strangers. Between the two, we see just how far Mal will push his people, and how much he needs to have them close.

17. "Man on the Street" ("Dollhouse," Season 1)

The first season of "Dollhouse" was a hit-or-miss affair -- it started well before going steadily downhill (the low point was the pop-star-background-singer debacle) -- until this Whedon-scripted episode. Not only does Patton Oswalt nail the role of the tech gazillionaire who shows Agent Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) how obsessive he's become in his pursuit of Echo (Eliza Dushku), but the episode ends with a revelation that sheds a whole new light on both the Dollhouse, and "Dollhouse." "There are three flowers in a vase. The third flower is green." Boom.

16. "Seeing Red"/"Villians" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 6)

We are who we are in the fullest when we're experiencing either absolute joy or abject misery. For Willow -- who'd gone down the rabbit-hole of magic addiction and found her anchor in Tara (Amber Benson) -- the death of her beloved thanks to a stray bullet revealed the raging fury at her core. Dark Willow became the Big Bad of the sixth season, and her path of wanton destruction was both cathartic and devastating.

15. "Passion" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 2)

Until this episode, "Buffy" viewers operated under the assumption that the show would behave like every other genre show before it: No matter how bad things got, no one "important" would actually die. That all changed when the newly evil Angel snapped the neck of Giles' budding girlfriend Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte), and then placed her body on Giles' bed, surrounded by rose petals and candlelight. Suddenly, all bets were off, and fans were shocked, grief-stricken, and completely riveted.

14. "I Will Remember You" ("Angel," Season 1)

Thanks to the blood of a Mohra demon that makes Angel a human again, Buffy and Angel finally get to experience a day of true happiness. Well, until said demon makes quick work of the newly mortal Angel, and our hero makes the beautifully agonizing choice to turn back time to the way things were rather than watch Buffy ultimately kill herself saving him. In a way, the episode exposed the problem that dogged the show from the start: Without his beloved, Angel and Angel were never quite completely whole.

13. "War Stories" ("Firefly," Season 1)

What feels like a light-hearted character piece -- Mal and Wash (Alan Tudyk) get into crazy adventures! -- shifts into a dark, torture-y examination of what makes Serenity's captain a singular leader of men. As Wash and Mal fall under a sadist's knife, Mal engages his pilot in a hilariously insightful argument over Zoe's (Gina Torres) affections -- simply to keep Wash angry enough to stay alive. Plus, we get the first glimpse of the killing machine River Tam (Summer Glau) was tweaked by the Alliance to be.

12. "Chosen" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 7)

And so it comes to an end, with perhaps the biggest bang in "Buffy" history. Sunnydale itself buys it as Buffy and her army of slayers save the day, one last time. Not as emotional as "The Gift" or as brazen as "Angel's" "Not Fade Away," "Chosen" still gives you the warm-and-fuzzy-and-tearies you want from a finale.

11. "Jaynestown" ("Firefly," Season 1)

"Jayyyne! The man they call Jayyyne!" The "Firefly" crew discovers a town in which their ne'er-do-well muscle Jayne (Adam Baldwin) is a folk hero, replete with a catchy song about the (unintentional) good deed that won the lug his Robin Hood status. It could've worked as simply a gut-busting gag, but we also get a trenchant study of what happens when a true scoundrel is suddenly treated like a warrior, and finally sees just how small his own greedy heart really is.

10. "The Gift" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 4)

Sacrifice is an essential part of the hero's journey -- the very act of placing one's own well-being on the line to protect someone else's. For all of Buffy's dangerous exploits over the years, we're never led to believe she walked knowingly to her death. But that's exactly what she did when Glory (Clare Kramer) and her minions planned to sacrifice Dawn to hasten the apocalypse. If "Buffy" hadn't been picked up by UPN when things soured with The WB, this would've been the series finale. And it would've been a fitting send-off to the girl who saved the world... a lot.

9. "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (Act Two)

The first act of the Neil Patrick Harris-led musical hooked us, and the last act delivered a mighty powerful final punch. But it was the second act of Whedon's groundbreaking internet venture that served up a faultless fizzy cocktail of fabulous songs, real pathos, and devious super-villainy.

8. "Graduation Day, Parts 1 & 2" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 3)

In which a demonic mayor is kept from ascending, Faith is rocked to her core, Angel leaves Sunnydale for good, and Buffy leads the Scoobies, and her entire senior class, to victory. It's also the season finale that marked a turning point for the show itself: with high school in the rear-view mirror, "Buffy" became a more serious, adult venture. Here is where the show put away childish things and grew up.

7. "Not Fade Away" ("Angel," Season 5)

Emotional goodbyes, prodigious arse-kickings, beloved-character demises, Spike throwing down at a poetry slam -- the "Angel" finale does a perfect job of distilling the show down to its very essence. When the walls come tumbling down, when the Biggest of Big Bads sends troll armies and giants and dragons, our stalwarts stand fast. As Angel says, "they're not there to be beat...they're there to be fought." And that is what makes a hero.

6. "Once More with Feeling" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 6)

A dancing demon unleashes a hilarious hex upon Sunnydale: Everyone sings out their inner-most fears and desires as if they're in a hit Broadway show -- and shazam!, we've got ourselves a "Buffy" musical. From throwaway ditties about dry cleaning to Anya's lyrical worry that she'll "get so worn and wrinkly that I look like David Brinkley," it's an hour (and change) of melodious television so massively satisfying that we still can't quite believe Whedon was able to get away with it. But we're thrilled to pieces that he pulled it off.

5. "Our Mrs. Reynolds" ("Firefly," Season 1)

First there's the peerless scene in which Capt. Mal Reynolds' crew delights in the discovery of the woman to whom Mal had been unwittingly married. Then there are all the great, Whedon-penned lines, like "Remember the sex we were planning to have, ever again?" Or, "Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." And there's the actress who so memorably played Mal's scheming bride: Christina Hendricks, currently working it as Joan on "Mad Men." Such great, firing-on-all-cylinders TV is all too rare -- indeed, it's a bittersweet reminder of what could have been, had "Firefly" been allowed to live.

4. "A Hole in the World" ("Angel," Season 5)

Death comes often in the Whedonverse -- but even when that death is devastating, it's usually quick. When Winifred Burkle (Amy Acker) was chosen to be the corporeal host of a god older than time, her demise was long, painful, and lingering. (And Acker astonishes as the girl who walks with heroes and still can't be saved by them.) As Spike stares, hopeless, at what should've been salvation, he sums it all up: "There's a hole in the world. Feels like we ought to have known."

3. "Hush" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 4)

Much like "Once More, with Feeling," Whedon uses what could've been a gimmick (a mostly dialogue-free episode) to explore how we communicate -- in this case, how talking only gets in the way. A band of eerie floaty "gentlemen" come to town and robs everyone of their voices, prompting both romance (Buffy and Marc Blucas' Riley, Willow and Tara), and revelation (the secrets of the Initiative and Slayerdom come out).

2. "Innocence" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 2)

Whedon has said this is his favorite ever "Buffy" episode, and it's not hard to see why: After Buffy and Angel make love for the first time, the dreamy vampire with the gypsy curse literally loses his soul, and becomes a true demon once again. It's as primal a metaphor for the terrors of sex as one could imagine, and it showed the audience, the cast, and Whedon himself just how high his little show about dusting vampires could climb. They've never looked back since.

1. "The Body" ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Season 5)

If there's any argument to be made for the short-sighted irrelevance of the Emmy Awards -- which marginalized "Buffy" for the entirety of its run -- this episode should be exhibit A. Expertly written and directed by Whedon, "The Body" is all about the emotional devastation caused by the sudden, tragically natural death of Buffy's mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland). Deft and heartbreaking, "The Body" isn't just the best episode in the Whedonverse: It might be the best hour of television we've ever seen.

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/25-best-whedonverse-episodes--618

I especially agree about "The Body" ... I've always thought it was a sadly ignored episode, and my favorite of the entire BuffyVerse. I think "Buffy" was the best hour-long drama series of the 90's, and "the Body" was it's best episode!

From the moment Angel appeared in the computer lab to where he watches Buffy get the phone call is the most epic piece of tv drama i've ever seen.



I absolutely HATE that episode.

I don't disagree.



Philistine! ...



...

Slots #1 - #15 on this list have to be reserved for the entire series of Firefly, and the movie Serenity. Anything less is unacceptable.

Not sure if it's already there but what about the Angel ep featuring Amy Acker as a green devil



and (1) when Wesley shoots "his dad" (2) when Fred dies and (3) when Wesley dies

One of my favorites is the "Buffy" episode where the gang is going to the "haunted frat house" on halloween, when the frat guys accidentally summon a fear demon. They each have to deal with their fears, until they eventually make it to the attic, which is the source of the haunting. Buffy implsively punches through the summoning symbol on the floor, which summons the demon's true form (instead of ending the spell, as she expected). A hellish light shines from below as the demon rises...and is revealed to be three inches tall. Giles tells Xander to stop taunting the fear demon, because "it's just...tacky." At the end of the episode, Giles finally studies the text describing the demon, and translates the caption under the picture: "demon shown actual size."

^^ "Fear Itself" ^^ Great metaphor for worry exaggerating reality.

I'm a huge Whedon fan and own all the seasons of BTVS and also Firefly/Serenity and Dr. Horrible. I even read some of the half-assed BTVS novels. However, I must confess I was never able to get into 'Angel', even after several attempts - and even though it had Amy and Charisma. 'Dollhouse' may grow on me yet.

These lists are always hard for me. My opinion shifts over the years.

I, too, think "The Body" is at or near the top. Just thinking of Aly Hannigan's or Emma Caulfield's performances can make me sad.

"Passion" left me with a hole in my gut and completely creeped out. Angelus was E-V-I-L. Message received. The series spun on a dime here and took on an immediacy that series TV virtually never achieves.

I do, however, think that "Once More with Feeling" - while it deserves props for chutzpah - is overrated.

"Our Mrs. Reynolds" was side-splittingly hilarious, searingly sexy, and had a great twist. I can't count the number of brilliant lines in it ("Okay! Everybody not talking about sex, in here. Everybody else, elsewhere!") and Christina Hendricks' bare image is forever tattooed in my brain.

My favorite Buffy episode -- "Lover's Walk."

Spike rolls back into Sunnydale and turns everybody's life around. Some of the greatest lines ever, and one of the single best line ever on television:



And who can forget the ending? Every relationship strained or ended, and one after the other we see Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Xander, Angel, and Buffy while sad music plays... then we go to Spike, driving away in his car with the windows painted over to keep out the sun, blasting the volume on the stereo and singing along to Sid Vicious's version of "My Way".

Classic, absolutely classic.

The Great Eight:

"Welcome to the Hellmouth"
Gotta include the first episode

"Witch"
Nice twist

"The Puppet Show"
Nice twist...again

"The Wish"
Not the best, but Emma is cool

"Doppelgangland"
Willow in tight clothes

"Earshot"
"Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own"

"Fear, Itself"
Nice twist again...again

"Buffy vs. Dracula"
Last truly good episode.

Not gonna choose. Just want to give a huge thanks to Joss Whedon for making GREAT TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JOSS IS BOSS!!!

I loved the first couple of seasons of Angel, and I also felt that once Angel left Sunnydale, Buffy (the show) didn't recover.

There was a magical spark in the forced platonic nature of their relationship.