The articles are arranged in chronological order, with the most recent articles first.

The WB began doing questionnaires with its stars at TheWB.com in April 2000. Alyson was the first queried.

Buffy's Alyson Hannigan takes a stab at the premiere edition of The WB Questionnaire

What was the last book you read?

High Fidelity

What is your favorite movie?

Being John Malkovich

How would you use three wishes?

World peace, homes for kids’ animals, more wishes

What was your very first job, acting and non-acting?

Print ad for Delta, babysitter

What superpower would you like to have?

To know anything someone needed to know but not be cocky about it

What would you be doing if you weren’t acting?

Working with kids or animals

What trait do you envy in others?

Organization skills

What is your typical breakfast?

Eggs, turkey bacon, toast, sometimes pancakes w/bananas and blueberries

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

People who are always mean to other people

If you could play any role ever written, which would it be?

E.T.

If you could have lunch with anyone, who would you choose?

Deepak Choprah

What’s hiding under your bed?

Scrabble, one slipper, stuffed bunny, phonebook

What do you value most in your life?

My loved ones

Do you draw any inspiration from a particular actor or actress?

Yes

Who would be your desert island companion?

My boyfriend

If the world were to end tomorrow, what would be the last thing you’d do?

Marry my boyfriend

Mercedes, Porsche, Jeep, or minivan?

Jeep

Favorite music?

Macy Gray, Ben Lee, Sting, Queen, Beck, Lauryn Hill

What’s the one thing in the world you’d like to change?

There should be a law that there’s a pajama day every few weeks

Who was your first crush?

Elroy Jetson

What was your first kiss like?

It was nice

Does anything frighten you?

Yes

Name one of your vices.

Miami Vice

Name your greatest virtue.

I don’t take up much space

Use one word to describe yourself in a personal ad.

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

The day after the race, the results were posted in a full article at UltimateTV.com. From April 16th, 2000 - Remember, don't read this if you want to be surprise at the outcome when the race airs on ESPN and ESPN2!

Josh Brolin Wins 24th Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race

LOS ANGELES (UltimateTV.com) - Twenty-two years after his father, James Brolin won the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in Long Beach, son Josh Brolin achieved the same feat.

Brolin, who can be seen tonight on CBS' "Picnic" , outshined 17 other celebrity and professional drivers including George Lucas, Ashley Judd, John Elway and Alyson Hannigan ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer")

Finishing second was "Young and the Restless" star Joshua Morrow, who pushed Brolin around the race circuit and ran a solid race.

Former Formula One racer Derek Daly won in the professional category.

The final standings for the field are:

Overall Winner: -------------- Josh Brolin - 18:26 minutes

Celebrity Category: ------------------ 1. Josh Brolin (18:26) 2. Joshua Morrow (18:29) 3. Don Simons (18:30) 4. Dutch Mandel (18:54) 5. Jon Shirley (18:55) 6. John Elway (19:00) 7. Rod Brewster (19:01) 8. Melissa Joan Hart (19:11) 9. Cliff Cummings (19:26) 10. Alyson Hannigan (19:27) 11. Ashley Judd (19:29) 12. George Lucas (19:30) 13. Dallas Raines (DNF; lap 5)

Pro Category ------------ 1. Derek Daly (18:32) 2. Shaun Palmer (18:34) 3. Robin Yount (18:44) 4. Lyn St. James (19:02)

Toyota raised more than $120,000 for "Racing for Kids," a national fund-raising program to benefit children's hospitals in Long Beach, Los Angeles and Orange County. The race will be broadcast in its entirety on ESPN, Sunday, April 30 at 2:30 p.m./11:30 a.m. EST/PST

In April, Alyson's diary (This One Time at Race Camp) debuted at E!Online. Make sure to catch the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race April 30 at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN OR May 11 at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Buffy's Best Bud Spins Out with Lucas, Judd and Brolin

When Alyson Hannigan put the pedal to the metal for the 2000 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, she brought us along for the ride. Before the Pro/Celebrity Race, Alyson, the star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and American Pie, kept an exclusive journal for E! Online during her five-day training session way up in the Southern California desert. So, how did Alyson fare when she went wheel to wheel with stars like Ashley Judd, George Lucas, Melissa Joan Hart, Josh Brolin and John Elway? Read on to find out...

Day 1

Morning: Okay, I'm scared. When they asked me to do this a few months ago, I thought, How fun! But I think I may be in over my head. I've decided to do this during a very long, very exhausting Buffy season. Maybe it's too much. I've got scripts to learn and scenes to practice--now I have to put all that aside and learn how to do this?. Plus, have you seen how fast those little cars go? How am I supposed to do that?!

I'm in a classroom at the Willow (love that name!) Springs Raceway, in the desert just outside Los Angeles. The head instructor, Danny McKeever, is teaching us the important stuff, like how to shift, how to turn and--my favorite--how to avoid getting killed. I'm trying to cram it all into my brain, so when I get out on that track, I don't flip my car like Donny Osmond did last year.

Today, it's pretty much just John Elway, the instructors and li'l ol' me. I guess everybody else will be here next weekend. I'm actually glad it's just the two of us, because I'll get a lot of personal attention. I need all the help I can get!

Noon: I'm strapped into my Celica, which is blue and fluorescent yellow-green. I'm so scared I'm going to mess up. I mean, it's one thing if you're learning horseback riding, but, uh, driving a race car is a little different. You gotta pay attention, or you could be in big trouble. Okay, here I go!

I'm picking up speed, and my car is screaming at me. I can't believe how loud it is! My heart's pounding. I'm clutching the wheel with all my might and bracing the sides of the car with my knees. This is so cool! It's like a Six Flags ride without the side rails.

Okay, John Elway is already kicking my ass. Crap!

Afternoon: Whew! I survived my first set of laps. John lapped me a million times, but that's okay--I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing.

Skidding is so much fun! I've got an instructor in my car, and we're on the "skid pad." I speed up, he throws on the brake, and we spin around superfast. It's so cool, but I don't recommend doing it right after lunch.

Evening: It's time to turn in the car, and I can't even describe how exhausted I am. This driving stuff is hard work--mentally and physically.

I'm starving, so my boyfriend--he's up here with me--and I are hitting every fast-food restaurant in Lancaster. I'm not kidding. We've ordered from three different places, and I'm scarfing it down. Race training makes you famished.

Day 2

Morning: I feel like I've been hit by a truck. (Not that I ever have been hit by one, but I imagine this is what it feels like.) My knees ache. My neck aches. Every muscle in my body aches.

This morning, there's a class on how to pass someone safely. Like I'll ever need to know that.

Great. Danny's telling us our necks are going to be really sore, because the high speeds pull our heads back. He says that when NASCAR racers go 200 miles an hour, it feels like three really big people are standing on their heads. I turn to John and say, "You must be used to that!"

Noon: We're out on the track, and once again, John laps me. Ugh. I don't think I'm doing very well.

Afternoon: I just lapped John Elway!

Sure, it was after he lapped me twice and crashed, but whatever. It's still a lap! (Don't worry. He didn't actually crash, he just went off the course.) Anyway, I feel much better now. He veered off into the dirt and screeched to a halt. I stuck my tongue out at him, which felt really good. That's about as vicious as I get.

Evening: I'm so exhausted. They've basically piled as much information as they can on us, and we're not only supposed to retain it but to apply it on the track. And now, as if my brain weren't full enough, I have to go home and learn a Buffy script. We shoot tomorrow.

Anyway, training was fun, but, hopefully, next weekend, my knees won't be so bruised, my hands won't be so tired, and I can apply everything I've learned. I've learned a lot--I'm just too tired to do any of it.

Day 3

Morning: Yesterday, I was strapped into a harness taping a Buffy episode. Now, here I am, ready to get strapped into my car. Even though it's so tiring, I can't wait to get out on the track.

Race camp has officially begun--there are so many people here today. I'm sitting in class next to George Lucas, Ashley Judd, Melissa Joan Hart and Josh Morrow. We all go around and introduce ourselves, and everyone's so modest. George says, "Hi. I'm George Lucas. I'm a car enthusiast...and I also make some movies." Yeah, George. I think maybe we've heard of them.

It's time to get our cars, and I ask for anything but white--I've just had a lot of bad experiences in white cars. Breakdowns, fender-benders. White cars are evil. I get John Elway's car from last weekend, which is very cool because he kicked ass in it. It's black with blue trim.

Noon: I'm strapped in, and it's time to go. I'm turning a sharp corner and...ahhh! I'm losing control. I'm spinning out! Now I'm facing the wrong direction, and cars are zooming past me. This is not good. I'm so frustrated.

Great, now George Lucas is lapping me! He's in big trouble. His daughter, who's a Buffy fan, told him to be nice to me, and I'm going to have to rat him out. He'll regret that. Oh, yes, he will.

Afternoon: Melissa and I are cracking up right now! This photographer was taking our picture, and she's wearing a tank top that says "Boys Cheat." We both started pointing to it on her chest. Then we realized it looked like we were pointing to her breasts. With my luck, it'll show up in a magazine with some awful caption like "Alyson Hannigan doing research for her lesbian character on Buffy."

An instructor is riding with me on my last set of laps, which really helps. I just want to get out of second gear! It's so hard to get up there. I'm also having problems keeping my eyes focused far ahead. I'm either looking right in front of me or in my rearview mirror. I want to see who's passing me.

Evening: Time to go. Today was frustrating because it's so hard to apply everything I've learned. But I loved hanging out with everyone. Ashley Judd is really great, a lot of fun, and Melissa Joan Hart is really cool, too. In fact, everyone is.

No one has an attitude up here, and I think we're all learning a lot from each other.

Day 4

Morning: I'm so sore, I can barely move. I'm in class, and we're talking about the actual race day, April 15. Danny's telling us to drive our own race and ignore what everyone else is doing. I raise my hand: "I just want to know what time I have to turn the car back in." That gets a big laugh. But the thing is, I'm not joking.

Noon: We're spending a lot of time on the track today, which is great. All the things I've learned so far are finally starting to connect. Sure, I'm still getting lapped, but I'm getting better.

Afternoon: Training is winding down early, which is good, because I'm beat. I'm definitely the underdog here--everyone else has been here before. George Lucas, Josh Brolin and John Elway are so damn fast!

Oh, and Ashley's kickin' ass. Her boyfriend is a professional race-car driver, and she's been on her cell phone a lot, probably getting pointers from him. I'm so screwed!

I get to go home now and learn another Buffy script. It's going to be a hard week of taping, because I really can barely move.

Day 5

Morning: This is so much fun! I get to drive the actual race course today. We're in Long Beach, and it's a lot easier than Willow Springs--there aren't any hills. Plus, we're just whipping through city streets, which is such a rush. I love running red lights!

Noon: George is having a rough day. He ran into a wall and basically crunched the metal of his car into the tires. His poor little car had to go away to the shop. And one of the professional drivers put his car into a wall, too. It's all scraped up. So, hey, I might not be the fastest, but at least I haven't ruined any cars.

Afternoon: I think I have an idea who's going to win this thing April 15. Josh Brolin and John Elway are pretty fast, but I think George is the smartest one of the bunch. He hangs back and drives behind people and figures out their weaknesses. We all have the same cars, but if George drives a good race and knows what mistakes people are going to make, he's a shoo-in.

Plus, George has one more advantage: No actor in his right mind is going to beat George Lucas right in the middle of the Star Wars casting.

Evening: I've got to go home and learn my script for the Buffy finale, which we're shooting tomorrow. I'm excited for the big race, even though I'm expecting to lose. If I come out of it alive, I just might do this again next year.

From People online in late February 2000:

Lucas, Judd on Wheels

The Force could be with them: George Lucas, Ashley Judd, Christian Slater and Antonio Sabato Jr. are among the 14 celebrities who will race against four professional drivers in the 24th annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on April 15 in Long Beach, Calif. The 10-lap competition, part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Race Weekend, will benefit Southern California children's hospitals. Judd is no stranger to racing; her boyfriend is professional Indy-car driver Dario Franchitti. Also revving their engines: John Elway, Josh Brolin, Alyson Hannigan ("American Pie," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and model Rachel Hunter. Pro racers include defending champ Shaun Palmer and Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount.

Congratulations to webgirl and my pal Sarah for this lovely Alyson article: http://shewire.chickclick.com/ts/1999-07-09.html

Get thee to CosmoGirl.com & MXGOnline.com and get the back issues featuring Alyson covers and interviews. Can I just say - in this day and age of trashy covers, girl, thank you for being clothed in that rocking CosmoGirl silver dress! I want one of those...

Also check out The WB.com for their exclusive Alyson interview - it went hand in hand with the CosmoGirl interview.

The September issue of YM offered an article on television witches. As transcribed by Danielle. Thanks, Dani!

ALYSON HANNIGAN
Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Power: Although Buffy does the hand-to-claw combat, Willow's spells often help fight evil forces from behind the Sunnydale scenes
Sorcery source: Self-taught from the witch-lore books in the library.

Q: What's the best thing that you've done as a TV witch?
Aly: "When a spell gone wrong ended with Willow having to pretend she was her evil underworld twin. I loved playing Good Willow in Bad Willow's clothing."

Q: Which ability would you most want in real life?
Aly: "To stop time, because it'd be cool not to have to worry about laundry and stuff. My boyfriend and I could just hang out and have fun."

Q: If you could cast any spell on yourself, what would it be?
Aly: "I'd be a fabulous singer. I don't sing in public -- there are certain laws against it."

Q: Name one time you wanted to cast a spell on someone.
Aly: "My first love. When I was 15, I totally pined for this guy, but he just wanted to be friends."

Q: If you could create a law with your powers, what would it be?
Aly: "I'd have Musical Day, where you'd say everything in song. You could never kill or rob on Musical Day because 'Please give me your money' just isn't a hit tune."

Q: If you could cast a love spell on any Hollywood stud, who would it be?
Aly: "My boyfriend. He's a musician, and I'd just cast a spell to keep us together."

Q: Who fascinated you more in The Wizard of Oz -- Glinda or the Wicked Witch?
Aly: "I've never been one for fashion, so the Wicked Witch's shoes just didn't interest me. But Glinda had the love of the Munchkins -- she rocks!"

Q: Have you ever felt you were developing a witch sense in real life?
Aly: "Oh, I can make my couch float, but levitating furniture's no big deal. I've been doing *that* since I was three."

The above picture is from Aly's article in US magazine. Transcripts from that article as well as Entertainment Weekly's American Pie interview, Alyson's "Alyson Wonderland" I've always said that! Woo-Hoo! TV GUIDE Cable Edition article, Alyson's MXG MoXie Girl fall 99 cover story, etc are coming soon!

In the March/April edition of YM, there was an article called "Geek Chic", discussing Aly's various roles of late.

Alyson Hannigan has so much fun with nerd roles that it almost makes you wanna dork out. Here, she dishes on losing her cool.

YM: Did you at all identify with your American Pie character?

AH: Michelle's the band geek. I was in band in junior high, except it wasn't considered a geeky thing. But I never felt like I fit in at school. Michelle doesn't even realize she doesn't fit in!

YM: How'd Buffy's Willow shed her geek shell?

AH: For two and a half years, she's been best friends with Buffy, who's not the most popular, but she's definitely the coolest. So knowing that Buffy wants to hang with her is definitely a big confidence boost.

YM: Why's Xander into such different types -- first Cordy, now Willow?

AH: He's just a walking hormone! He just realized "Oh, Willow's a girl! I could be attracted to her!"

YM: So Willow won't ditch Oz for him?

AH: No -- Oz is rad.

YM: Who's your type?

AH: Probably a combination: Oz's intelligence and Xander's humor, with Giles' accent thrown in.

YM: Would you ever fall for a geek?

AH: Sign me up -- I'm there! I've always had crushes on the awkward guys: they grow up to be the hot ones.

Alyson and Seth graced the cover of the April 1999 issue of Twist magazine. Here is the accompanying article.

Buffy's Killer Couple: As you might imagine, a conversation with Willow and Oz could get pretty hairy. Alyson Hannigan and Seth Green play a couple on TV, but in real life, they're great friends too. To see how well they get along, we let them interview each other. Look out! They go way back...

Seth: So, I've known you for a long time.

Alyson: You were 14 and I was 13...I remember the first time I saw you. My mom and I were driving into the 20th Century Fox studio, and you were passing by and I went, "That's the kid from Amazing Stories!" [It's a series from the '80's that Seth guest-starred on.] Say, who's your favorite Spice Girl?

Seth: I think this is common knowledge--Ginger Spice, definitively. But she's not a Spice Girl anymore...So tell me about your new movie, American Pie [opening May 28]. I read the script. It was really funny.

Alyson: My character's definitely different, I had a lot of fun with her. She's a super band geek, who's pretty much obsessed with band camp. It's all she talks about. What's up with your new movie, Idle Hands? [It opens April 23.]

Seth: Well, it's nothing like any of the horror movies that are out now. It's more like Beetlejuice, where it's kind of scary because everyone's taking everything so seriously and the subject matter's so out of the ordinary--but it's very funny. Funny and scary.

Alyson: I can't wait to see it.[She notices ponies on the street below.] Why didn't we get a pony ride?

Seth: We'd break those ponies. They'd be like, "I'm used to carrying 30-pound kids, do you mind?"

Alyson: How much do you weigh?

Seth: Like 115, maybe.

Alyson: That's the size of two kids.

Seth: [laughing.] The size of an average third-grader. That's the funniest thing, when our fans--who are like 12 to 18--come up to me. The bulk of the kids I meet are, like, 10 times taller than me. They're like, "How are you doing? I'm in third grade."

TWIST: Do you guys have any other interaction with the fans? Isn't there a huge internet following?

Alyson: I'll log on to the posting board every now and then.

Seth: Yeah. Me too. There's access to the [Buffy] posting board on the set, so when I have, like, four hours downtime, I'll go upstairs and sign on and be like, "What's up kids? I'm bored." Thank god I had that typing class in ninth grade!

TWIST: What are some of the most common questions you get?

Alyson: [Immediately] "Where's Buffy?"

Seth: "Will you get Sarah Michelle to go out with me?"

Alyson: This little kid--he was 9--asked, "Can you hook me up with Sarah?"

Seth: That's at least cute. I get the 20-year-old guys who are like, "Yo dude. Can you get Buffy's ass over to my house?" I'm just like, "First of all, you're disgusting. Second of all, no."

TWIST: Who's your favorite WB star?

Seth: Michelle Williams, and Selma Blair [Zoe, Duncan, Jack, and Jane] is my runner-up. She's awesome.

TWIST: Seth, is it true that Breckin Meyer[from 54] is your best friend?

Alyson: He has two best friends and they're both superstars, 'cause he's a star whore. [Laughs] The other one's Ryan Phillipe.

Seth: It just so happens that these two guys and I met and then we all started working a bunch. We're all so dedicated, we inspire each other.

TWIST: How'd you meet them?

Seth: Breckin and I kept running into each other at auditions. Then he met Ryan at an audition for Man of the House and brought him to my house asking if we could keep him. Now you're getting personal.

Alyson: How did you feel seeing Ryan and Breckin in their shorts in 54?

Seth: [deadpan] The best thing was that I got to see some of the cut footage where they had a big makeout scene--let's just say I have that tape in my private collection. [laughs]

Alyson: This has got to be the oddest interview... Which is your favorite toe?

Seth: The second from my big toe. You know what I mean? My pointer toe.

Alyson: You said the second from the big and there are five. You do have five toes, don't you? Oh my god. He doesn't have five toes! [For the record, he does.]

Seth: What's your favorite record?

Alyson: The new Ben Lee CD. What about if you could have lunch with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Seth: Somebody who could make a good lunch, I guess.

Alyson: You're deep. I need a shovel. Okay, whatever.

Seth: What did you bring to show-and-tell?

Alyson: I brought my mom after she got hit by a car once.

Seth: Did you really?

Alyson: Yeah, I swear. She got run over by a car. Well, she got hit and flew over the car and broke her leg and had a lot of bruises and stuff. I was like, "This is my mom. She got hit by a car."

Seth: I was like, "This is a quarter that I got from the tooth fairy." And then everyone said, "There's no tooth fairy." and I was like, "You're all liars. Stop lying." That was in 10th grade. A little TOO much information:

TWIST: Ever see another Buffy cast member naked?

Alyson: I saw David Boreanaz naked, but I think everyone's seen David naked.[When his character returned from Hell, he was nude.]...I've seen Sarah naked. When we're changing, the girls see the girls naked--but not like naked naked. You're just changing.

Seth: I saw Nick [Brendon] and David in their underwear. Well, Nick doesn't wear underwear, so I saw Nick's ass.

Alyson: I haven't seen you. I've seen you shirtless. I've seen you in your underwear. [Pauses.] Wait, you got your teeth fixed. You had really crappy teeth and they were all crooked.

Seth: Oh, I know. My teeth were all screwed up. I've been in orthodontics for the last, like, 20 years...I still wear things at night.

Alyson: Isn't that sad that I just now noticed? Hey, what would you be if you weren't an actor?

Seth: I'd probably work a lot harder at learning to play guitar, and then I'd work in a bookstore and have aspirations of being a rock star.

TWIST: Shouldn't Willow be a werewolf by now? How does one become a werewolf, anyway?

Alyson: A scratch.

Seth: Nah. You gotta get bit.

TWIST: How is it that you don't accidentally get scratched or bitten in those passionate scenes?

Alyson: We set a no-biting rule.

TWIST: Any final thoughts?

Seth: I love you, Alyson Hannigan.

Alyson: I love you, Seth Green.

Special thanks to hilary the dingo chick for sending along this next article. It was printed in various newspapers, apparently, and various newspapers gave it various headlines. Some called it, "BUFFY'S' WILLOW NOT IN THE SAME P.R. VEIN AS THE OTHERS" while others deemed it, "DESPITE SNUB, HANNIGAN HAS HANDLE ON "BUFFY'S" WILLOW". Either way, it was written by John Levesque and ran in newspapers in late February and early March, with (c)1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

So much has been made of the strong, independent women of The WB's dramas that it's hard to get through a mass-circulation magazine without running into Sarah Michelle Gellar or Keri Russell or the covenish triumvirate of Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs. Add Carmen Electra to the mix and you get the impression that `strong and independent'' is magazine code for ``sexy and pouty.''

Maybe it's good that Alyson Hannigan, who plays the bookish Willow Rosenberg on ``Buffy,'' gets lost in this pulchritudinous power play. What The WB marketing department is doing with its white-hot (emphasis on white) women is really not very different from what ABC did 20 years ago with ``Charlie's Angels,'' except that some of The WB's shows happen to be pretty good.

Still, Hannigan says her feelings were hurt when Entertainment Weekly magazine didn't invite her to a photo shoot last year that featured Gellar - Buffy of ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' - and a teen's dream team of other young female stars from ``Dawson's Creek,'' ``Felicity,'' ``Charmed,'' ``Hyperion Bay'' and ``7th Heaven.'' The photographer wrapped the women in yards of gauze and placed them in a sylvan setting, achieving new spin on the term ``babes in the woods.''

'`Of course it bothered me,'' Hannigan said of her exclusion from the diaphonous display. ``I was like, well, do they think I'm a boy?''

Hannigan can do the sexy, pouty thing when she wants to. She can also take some consolation in knowing that Charisma Carpenter wasn't contacted by Entertainment Weekly, either. It would seem Carpenter, who plays babe of babes Cordelia Chase on ``Buffy,'' is a slam-dunk choice for such a spread, but Hannigan has a theory about their exclusion.

`For our show, they (The WB's marketers) promote it as Buffy and Angel (David Boreanaz),'' Hannigan said, ``not as an ensemble show like `Dawson's Creek.'''

She has a point, even though the ``Buffy'' cast is a kick-butt ensemble, certainly one of the best on television. But for three seasons, The WB has been careful to place Gellar out front when promoting ``Buffy,'' which is more or less a no-brainer, given her movie-star looks. Now that a spinoff series featuring Boreanaz's hunky good vampire is on tap for next season, he, too, is showing up more in magazines and on the adoration Web sites.

Not that Hannigan is a weeping Willow by virtue of fan neglect. An Internet check uncovered 10 Web sites devoted to her, including one billing itself as the Alyson Hannigan Idolatry Shrine.

Hannigan likes to surf the Internet, but she is hardly the cyber-genius that Willow is in her quest to help best-pal Buffy keep the world safe from vampires and other demon spawn. ``I could never hack into a security system on the computer,'' she said. `Willow's knowledge is far more advanced than mine.''

And, bruised ego aside, she really doesn't mind playing the whip-smart, geeky member of the group whose fashion sense isn't too haute and whose guy sense isn't too cool. She also doesn't resent playing a teenager.

`I know I'm not going to be playing my age right now,'' said Hannigan, who's been acting since childhood and will turn 25 on March 24. ``I go to R-rated movies and occasionally I'll get carded.''

Hannigan, who grew up in Atlanta, says she's just happy to be on a series that's on the top-10 lists of many TV critics (including this one).

`I can't play a 24-year-old in real life. Nobody would buy it. No way,'' she said. ``The bottom line is, this is a very hard industry to keep your head up in, and I'm completely having fun.''

Like any actor, Hannigan likes it when her character gets to stretch, as happened earlier this season in an episode that introduced Willow's evil alter ego in a sort of dream sequence.

The bad Willow returns Tuesday night in an episode titled `Doppelgangland,'' but this time it's not a dream, meaning the good Willow and the bad Willow appear together in some scenes.

And, for what it's worth, the bad Willow is very, uh, toothsome.

The Jan 30-Feb 5, 1999 issue of TV Guide offered up an article called "With Friends Like These" on the gal pals of three of the "hippest dramas" on current TV. The three women profiled were Amy Jo Johnson from Felicity, Monica Keena from Dawson's Creek, and Alyson herself, under the headline BUFFY's ALYSON HANNIGAN: SOUL SISTER. The article was written by Jennifer Graham.

"We fight the demons," says Alyson Hannigan about her character, Willow Rosenberg, who is ever loyal to the bold and beautiful Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "And, you know, we also hang out at the mall."

Soon a force more insidious than vampires will test the strength of their relationship-a third friend is about to enter the mix. For the odd girl out, that's worse than a stake through the heart. "I was in that situation in high school," says the Atlanta-bred Hannigan, 24 (her real-estate-agent mom, Emily, still lives there; her truck-driver dad, Al, lives in Missouri). "I had two best friends, and they didn't get along. But it all worked out. You realize you can have more than one friend."

After her dogs and cats, Hannigan names boyfriend Levon Webb, a writer and former set dresser for the show, as her best pal now. But if her recent social schedule is any indication, her Buffy buddies have special status: a rock concert with Seth Green (who plays Oz); a Mexican dinner with Nicholas Brendon (who plays Xander Harris); a trip to the manicurist with kindred spirit Gellar.

It's little wonder she is so fond of the show. "I wouldn't trade this part [on Buffy] for anything," says Hannigan, whose credits include the films "My Stepmother Is an Alien," "Dead Man on Campus" and this April's teen-sex comedy "American Pie." "I completely love Willow the most." So, it seems, does Buffy. But will their relationship endure? Hannigan isn't telling. "Remember last year when Angel became evil? You know how that basically changed the whole show? Well, there's another thing like that coming up, but I can't give it away because [the producers] will kill me off." And on this series, it's best to take their word on that.