Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although they are separate and otherwise unrelated productions. Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner under his production tag Mutant Enemy Productions.

The series premiered on March 10, 1997, on The WB and concluded on May 20, 2003, on UPN. The series follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a succession of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers, or the "Chosen Ones", are chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang" – a reference to the animated franchise Scooby-Doo that features a group of friends solving mysteries together.

The series received critical and popular acclaim, and is often listed among the greatest television series of all time. Original airings often reached four to six million viewers. Although lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox), these ratings were a success for the relatively new and smaller WB Television Network. Despite being mostly ignored by major award programs like the Emmys, the series was nominated for the American Film Institute Award for Drama Series of the Year, Gellar was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her performance in the show and the series was nominated five times for Television Critics Association Awards, winning once in 2003 for the Television Critics Association Heritage Award.

The success of Buffy has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including novels, comics and video games. The series has received attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series. Buffy was part of a wave of television series from the late 1990s and early 2000s that featured strong female characters, alongside Charmed, Xena: Warrior Princess, La Femme Nikita, Dark Angel, and Alias. The series, as well as its spin-off series, Angel, and extensions thereof, have been collectively termed the "Buffyverse".