Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favourite television show, and when it's at its best I would argue it can only be matched by The Sopranos or The Wire. It's one of the greatest shows ever made, in other words.

So this, the seventh and final season, comes as a huge disappointment. It's like watching an entirely different show which happens to have characters with the same name. The fun, the laughter, the life seems to have been sucked out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And that may seem kind of appropriate, but it's not.

In Buffy season seven the drama becomes melodrama, the characters lose their purpose and the jokes aren't funny.

The plot has Buffy facing "the First", the most powerful villain (traditionally known as the "big bad" by Buffy fans) she's yet encountered.

But the First can't actually do anything except appear as an incorporeal form and taunt people.

Meanwhile, Spike spends the entire season having a nervous breakdown and feeling sorry for himself. Willow spends the season recovering from the nervous breakdown she had last season, and feeling sorry for herself. Giles returns to treating Buffy like a child, for no apparent reason. And Xander has nothing to do at all.

If you're a fan of the show you probably want to see how it all ends, and in fairness the show does have a definitive ending in the final episode. There's no cop-out there.

But it's not enough to save a lousy season of bad television - made all the more disappointing because it follows so many moments of genius in previous seasons.