The Girl's Got Bite : Unofficial Guide to Buffy's World - Softcover

The Girl's Got Bite is like a lengthy TV magazine special on the wonderful action-drama-comedy show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Because the book is not affiliated with the show, the author, Drew Carey biographer Kathleen Tracy, dwells on quotations from the stars and Joss Whedon, the show's brilliant creator, not quotes from the show itself. About half the book is devoted to synopses and discussions of the first 33 episodes, including bloopers and a sharp-eyed insider's observations, such as the bumper sticker for the rock band Nerf Herder glimpsed inside Willow's locker and the reason Buffy's estranged dad looks so familiar in the ninth episode, "Nightmares." (Nerf Herder performs the show's theme song, and Buffy's dad is played by Dean Butler, who married Melissa Gilbert on Little House on the Prairie.) Tracy spices up the episode guide, and the whole book, with fun facts about vampires in literature, onscreen, and in life. Did you know that nasty Countess Nasdasdy in 17th-century Transylvania actually bathed in the blood of 40 murdered maidens? Or that if Angel and Buffy had a half-vampire baby, it would be called a "dhampir," and would probably take after its slayer mother?

The most interesting stuff in the book is its journalistic history of the Buffy film (starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry) and the very distinct TV show. Tracy gets good, insightful quotes from everybody, most crucially from Whedon, who loathes the Buffy film (for which he wrote the screenplay) and defines the TV show as "The X-Files meets My So-Called Life." He's right.

Kathleen Tracy is an entertainment journalist for such magazines as Globe, Film News International, and TV Week, and the author of several books, including biographies of Kelsey Grammer, Drew Carey, and Ellen DeGeneres. She is a member of the Television Critics Association and is accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America. She lives in Sherman Oaks, California.