stop comparing TV shows to Buffy

• As near as I can tell, it doesn't do fledgling shows any favors.
  
• Buffy ended years ago. Years. At what point will this obsession with crowning a successor end?
  
• If you want to watch a series like Buffy, why not, er, watch Buffy? It's available for home viewing, don't-cha-know.
• The people who ramble on and on about postmodernism (excuse me, pomo) will remind you that it's flourishing these days, Buffy or not. Mixing genres is common, and so is flipping audience expectations upside-down/inside-out.
• Continuing in the same vein, Buffy's uniqueness was not in its elements but in the combination of those elements. A show with hellish stuff in it is not enough to be the "next Buffy". Neither is a show with people who name-drop a wide range of artistic references and generally say comebacks that sound pre-scripted. Neither is a show that compares everyday life to extraordinary premises. Even if a show appears to have parts of the Buffy Secret Sauce, it isn't therefore just like Buffy.
• For TV show comparisons in general, remember that Buffy was (and is) probably compared to shows that aired before it. Comparisons don't communicate what a show is, only its similarities. The point is that, stating the obvious, new shows don't need to be Buffy to be good. Evaluate a show on its own qualities.