Buffy The Vampire Slayer

The end of a television era is coming as Joss Whedon puts the final wraps on UPN’s "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It is a bittersweet ending, but one that has allowed the series creator to reflect back on the original goals he set for the series.

"It’s been very close to what I envisioned, except that it grew up a lot more," Whedon recently said during a conference call. "When I started the show, I didn’t know its full potential, because I just sort of had the basic notion of ’It’s tough to make it in high school, and it’ll be funny and evolving and scary and really hit on things that people can relate to.

"I didn’t know how good my actors would be. I didn’t know how long we’d go and how much they’d grow and change and how far we could go with the medium and how much the network would let us do. Or networks, I should say."

Whedon said that the series ended up serving up surprises not just for the audience, but for him as well.

"So did I know I was going to make a musical?" Whedon said. "Or did I know even that Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was going to sleep with Angel (David Boreanaz), and he would go bad? No. It just kept growing."

Will the ending of "Buffy," which comes May 20, be a quick end, or stay true to the theme?

"The basic idea that I think we’re very true to, especially in the last episode, of the empowerment of girls and the toughness of this life, was always there, but it grew beyond my best imagining."