On what date did Buffy the Vampire Slayer first premiere on U.S. television?

On what date did Buffy the Vampire Slayer first premiere on U.S. television? March 10, 1997. The series premiered on The WB with “Welcome to the Hellmouth,” paired in a two-hour launch with “The Harvest.”

Buffy began as a mid-season replacement for Savannah, giving the young WB network a new supernatural drama aimed at viewers interested in horror, teen stories, and genre television. The premiere introduced Buffy Summers, her mother Joyce, Watcher Rupert Giles, and the future Scooby Gang.

The premiere date is sometimes confused with later milestones. The show transferred from The WB to UPN in 2001, and its final episode aired on May 20, 2003. October 2, 2001, was the start of the UPN era, not the series premiere.

The launch also followed an unaired 25-minute pilot made during development. That presentation helped sell the concept, but it was not the first U.S. television broadcast of the finished series. The broadcast premiere began the show's seven-season, 144-episode run.