At the very end, he shakes the president’s hand. Most surreal three seconds of television ever.

Did anyone else, as a teenager, spend a Saturday watching five or six of these dinners in a row on C-SPAN? Al Franken? Garrison Keillor? Etc? I did, and I know Kyle did. We can’t be the only ones.

It’s the penultimate season of Buffy! 

I can’t believe I finished Season Six already. Actually, that’s not entirely true; I believe it. I really threw myself into this one. I decided that it was taking too much time and energy to feel guilty about how much Buffy I was watching. It turns out if I give up the hand-wringing and wistfully staring into space wondering if there was anything going on outside, I can actually watch the episodes faster. This is more efficient in the long run — or so I’ve convinced myself.

And now, here is a Spike action figure:

Please note the mug of blood, the driving goggles, and the kitten. Thank you.

So, I don’t know if I’m suffering from some sort of Buffy-induced delirium, but I rather liked Season Six. It was satisfyingly dark, for a season about a girl who just got ripped out of heaven and forced back into the cold cruel world. The nerds were consistently funny. Buffy got a cute self-loathing-inspired haircut (but who hasn’t?):

And it had the musical episode, Once More With Feeling, a work of genius. As I’ve noted with regard to the increasingly high-profile High School Musical, I think there should be more musical television. I’m kind of surprised no one’s jumped on that idea, especially after the Buffy one was such a hit.

I don’t know what the big deal is about hating this and the seventh season, and I really don’t want to search around and try to find out. The more hate and invective I read on the internet written by “fans,” the more my soul dies a slow death. It’s good. Why do we have to punch holes in it and complain, as if we’d been personally insulted by a show’s decline? Can’t I just be entertained? 

Sure, it’s not the same show it was when it started. For one thing, it looks a hell of a lot better, and we know these characters really, really well. Where’s the bad there? Perhaps she’s saved the world one too many times. And yeah, I’m not pleased by the fact that Giles is out of the picture. But why all the hate? [Seriously, though, that's a rhetorical question. I like the fact that I still like the show. Don't send me a list of reasons why I'm wrong and everything was terrible. Please.] 

Will I still be this peppy after Season Seven? Here’s hoping…