John Ritter's Buffy The Vampire Slayer Character Was A First For The Series
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a major moment in vampire media, but the show didn't limit itself to fanged heartthrobs. Buffy fought her fair share of demons and deities, but there was one type of villain that kept popping up throughout the hit series' seven seasons — robots. Probably the most memorable robot in the show is the Buffybot, a robot girlfriend commissioned by bad-boy vamp Spike to quench his unrequited crush. But before Buffybot, the android that started it all was Ted.
Ted is, by all appearances, your run-of-the-mill middle-aged man from suburbia, and he's dating Buffy's mom in the season 2 episode "Ted." He manages to win all of her friends over, but Buffy isn't having it. As it turns out, her suspicions are proven correct — Ted was a killer robot all along.
The robot is played by John Ritter, who was best known for the long-running sitcoms "Three's Company" and, later, "8 Simple Rules." Ritter sadly passed away in 2003, but not before becoming one of the most memorable faces on American television. He was no stranger to the silver screen either — he was featured in off-beat indies like Gregg Araki's "Nowhere," and one of his last roles was in the 2003 holiday comedy "Bad Santa."
Ritter was a huge hit on the "Buffy" set. The cast and crew reportedly had such a pleasant experience working with him that it likely encouraged them to write more robots into the show. The guest star left quite the impression, and some big shoes to fill. In fact, a major celebrity was almost cast as the next robot on the show — but more on that later.
Ted was the first of many robots in Buffy
Despite the campy tone and supernatural subject matter, Ritter was a huge fan of the writing on "Buffy" and admired the way that his episode's narrative gradually unfolded his character's secret. "The first half you think 'Hey Buffy, just relax, give the guy a break' — he's almost too good to be true," the actor explained in a behind the scenes interview for season 2 featured in the DVD extras. "And there's something about Buffy that I think she sees her mom reacting to this guy in a different way and it threatens her, but then there's just something about the guy, he's just too perfect."
The first time Buffy attacks Ted, she thinks she really killed a person. It isn't til later that we learn that Ted is actually an android. For series creator and episode co-writer Joss Whedon, the episode was an opportunity to explore what it would be like if Buffy murdered someone — without actually taking it there. "We were able to get into the issue of, you know, what happens if Buffy kills a guy, a human guy," Whedon added. "And even though, you know, he had revealed himself to be genuinely creepy by that point, it was still a human, and so that was something new for her to go through. To bring him back and show that he was in fact a murderous robot is just fun."
This issue is revisited later through Faith, who accidentally kills a human being (working for demons) in season 3. In both of these episodes, the show managed to avoid compromising Buffy's moral fiber too much while still touching on the thin line between noble slayage and senseless killing.
Ritter was beloved by the Buffy crew
Even though he only appeared in a single episode of "Buffy," Ritter was beloved by the "Buffy" crew. He earned the trust of the series creator, who let the seasoned professional actor inform a lot of who Ted was. "I allowed John [Ritter] to sort of take his persona and just ossify it," Whedon continued, "crystallize it, until it was a joke, where he was like, father knows best, kind of, automaton."
He also earned the respect of the special effects makeup artist John Vulich, the founder of special effects makeup studio Optic Nerve, which brought many of Buffy's beasts to life. Vulich had very fond memories of working with the "Three's Company" star.
"Now, when John came in, he was very nervous about the cast. I think maybe he had gone through one before that wasn't very successful, or he had some qualms about it. At the same time, he was an absolute trooper, and I explained to him how I wanted to avoid something cliche and do something unique and he seemed to appreciate that and actually was willing to go the extra yard as far as all the discomfort that was involved in putting these pieces in and went ahead and did that for us, which I thought that was really good. It's always the sign of a true professional."
The feeling between Ritter and Vulich was mutual — the actor later described the extensive prosthetics as "just as blue ribbon as you can get in filmmaking" in the same behind the scenes special.
The Three's Company star formed a special bond with one Buffy actress
But the person on the "Buffy" set that Ritter made the best impression on was main cast member Alyson Hannigan, who plays Buffy's best friend Willow. You may know the red-headed actress for her role in the "American Pie" film series or the hit sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," but "Buffy" was a breakout role for her. At the start of her burgeoning career, Ritter's kindness went a long way. "John Ritter was the best," Hannigan recalled to Entertainment Weekly. "We would all just hang out in his trailer and be like, 'Hi, John Ritter!' and he didn't care."
Ritter wasn't just tolerant of his young co-star — he even bought the actress a parting gift after he wrapped filming the season 2 episode, she revealed to Buzzfeed.
"I remember, I wore this rubber ducky shirt, and in the episode that John Ritter was in, I was like, 'I love this shirt so much.' Well, John went to wardrobe and was like, 'Can I buy it so she can have it?' And I had no idea, and it was just in my trailer with a note that said, 'John wants you to keep this.' It was a glorious gift just to work with him, but for him to be so thoughtful and considerate and for him to think about, like, "Oh, she really liked that rubber ducky shirt. I'm gonna make sure she can get it," that was beyond."
The next robot on Buffy was almost played by an even bigger star
Ted might have been the first robot on "Buffy," but he certainly wasn't the last. In the season 5 episode "I Was Made To Love You," we meet a second robot in Sunnydale — April. This robot is designed to be the perfect girlfriend to Warren, who later becomes a major villain in the series. April was originally written for a huge celebrity — none other than Britney Spears. However, the popstar was never signed on to act in the series, despite persistent rumors swirling at the time.
"We did hear there was a possibility that Britney wanted to do the show," Whedon told TV Guide in 2009. "We had never seen her act at all. So I was like, well, we'll cover our bases, we'll write a show about a robot, and that way if she can't, we're fine!" Even though the singer never ended up making an appearance on the popular show, the series creator still owes her a lot of creative inspiration.
"The creation of Warren our villain, the Buffybot — it all came from the fact that we thought Britney Spears was gonna be on the show," he continued. "So, happy accidents." Spears actually did "love the show," her press rep reported to TV Guide in 2005, but was unable to shoot the episode due to scheduling conflicts.
The popstar later showed off her acting chops in "How I Met Your Mother," where Hannigan finally got the chance to be her co-star. Although Britney on "Buffy" would have exploded the minds of every millennial girl in America, she still played a part in keeping the robot tradition alive on the show, even without making a guest appearance. As if saving pop music wasn't enough!