OPINION
The Fallout

So Buffy The Vampire Slayer has had its glorious ending, and now the summer rerun season has begun. So now what? Where are our favorite actors and writers heading?

Well, the first answer that comes to mind is Angel. That's right. If you're a Buffy fan yet to jump onto the Angel bandwagon, now is the time. With the loss of Buffy, next year Angel will take its place as my favorite show. A great show in its own right, Angel has at times equaled Buffy's brilliance in the past four years. This year, as Mutant Enemy's foremost project, Angel is bound to blossom as the best show on TV.

In addition to all of that, look for some of Mutant Enemy's finest writers and actors to join the Angel ranks. For instance, fan favorite James Marsters is signed for a full 22-episode season reprising his role as badass-with-a-heart-of-gold Spike, even despite his apparent death in "Chosen", Buffy's series finale.

On the writing side of things, Joss Whedon Himself has decided to take a renewed interest in Angel and may even write and direct an episode or two. Also, the neo-Joss, Drew Goddard has decided to join the writing staff of Angel for season five, something that excites me to no end, as some of the best Buffy episodes of season seven ("Selfless", "Conversations With Dead People", "Lies My Parents Told Me") were penned by his masterful hand.

Also, the fantastic David Greenwalt, who left to create the intriguing (and swiftly cancelled) Miracles at the end of season three of Angel, is set to return for season five in a very heavy role.

One great Buffy writer that is not expected to join the Angel staff is Jane Espenson, who wrote wonderful stuff like "Earshot", "A New Man", "After Life", and "Storyteller". Espenson is joining the writing staff of Amy Palladino's wonderful series Gilmore Girls, a show that I have been taping during Buffy for the past two years. Espenson's quirky style and sophisticated punch lines should be a perfect fit for the equally quirky and sophisticated Gilmore Girls.

Another fantastic writer that is heading off to work on a non-Mutant Enemy series is Marti Noxon (she of "Wild At Heart", "New Moon Rising", "The Prom", and "Villains"), who is set to exec-produce the brand new series Still Life. Still Life, which sounds awfully similar to Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones, is about a deceased member of a family, looking back on the family from the afterlife. It sounds interesting, and where Marti Noxon goes, so goes my nation, so I will be watching Still Life when it debuts mid-season.

Eliza Dushku, who we all know as Faith, who can be seen this summer in the horror flick Wrong Turn, is also working on a pilot called Tru Calling, which sounds action-packed. It's on in a pretty rough timeslot (Thursday's at Eight), but I'm hoping it does well simply because Ms. Dushku is really a very good actress and I'd like to see her do well.

And what of the regulars?

Sarah Michelle Gellar, our heroine, and the best television actress since Mary Tyler Moore, will be squandering her considerable talents this summer filming Scooby Doo Too: Monsters Unleashed opposite a CGI dog in front of a blue screen. How fun. Seriously, I can't imagine a worse film to kick off Ms. Gellar's post-television film career. After that, though, things look to get better. She's doing a romantic comedy very aptly titled Romantic Comedy that should be out in 2004 and is already getting some very good buzz. I look forward to that one, but I refuse to subject myself to another Scooby movie just to see one of my favorite actresses.

As for Alyson Hannigan, she'll be reprising her role as band-geek-with-a-heart-of-gold Michelle in this summers third helping of American Pie: American Wedding. As I write this, I'm beginning to become upset at how one-dimensional these characters are. I'm used to seeing these actors play such nuanced, emotional characters. Depression.

Anthony Stewart Head is becoming the proverbial gentleman of leisure, though he will be working on BBC television and is also due to film a small part in a film later this year.

Michelle Trachtenberg is perhaps the busiest of any of the Buffy actors. She'll be working this year both on the big screen and the small screen. She's filming a teen comedy this summer called "The Ugly Americans" in which she has a major role. It doesn't sound too good, but I'm glad little Dawnie is getting in some good work. She'll also continue hosting "Truth Or Scare" for the DiscoveryKids network. Fantastic (with drawling sarcastic voice).

Nicky Brendon, one of my personal favorites, has signed on to join the cast of a new FOX comedy. I suppose I'll watch it, but I haven't heard much about it.

Emma Caulfield is taking some time off from acting, but you'll see her soon because her movie Darkness Falls made some big bank.

It doesn't look good people. Your best bet is to watch Angel and be a maniacal fan like that show deserves. Other than that, watch your DVD's, watch your FX reruns, give Tru Calling a shot, check out Still Life, and look back fondly on Buffy, because it doesn't get any better than that.

Latest Comments

I can't wait for Spike to be on Angel! I've never really watched Angel but since Buffy's gone (waaaah! stupid scooby doo 2!) I'm gonna need something similar to watch. Especially since they changed the timeslot of Buffy on F/X. Grrr!! How could they do that to me? By the time I get home from afterschool practice, its over! I already sent an email tryin to get em to put Buffy back at the later time. Anyone who agrees w/ me please go to fxnetwork.com and voice your opinion. We're the viewers and we're the reason they get paid so they have to listen to us. I don't know about everybody else but I miss having something to watch when I get home. Anyways, about that whole fave seasons thing a few posts back, my fave seasons of Buffy are as follows:

1) season 2 (intro of spike and dru, angel gone bad, swordfight......does it get any better than that? the only complaint i have is about kendra's accent. cool character, bad accent)

2) season 6 (ive read that alot of people don't like this season but this one was one of the best for me. it was so different from the other seasons. it was all about fighting the inner demons instead of the literal ones and i thought that was a really cool concept. the musical thing was super awesome. plus i was so happy to see spike and buffy finally hook up even if she was way too mean to him about it)

3) season 5 ( this one would have been number 2 but i thought the beginning of it sucked really bad. i mean, cmon buffy vs. dracula? pfft! whose idea was that? but the after the first two or three episodes it got awesome again. heck, ill admit it, i actually cried at the end of the gift. plus i was oh so very glad to see riley finally leave, good god he was boring)

4) season 3 (this one was so cool. graduation day 1&2 kicked serious ass and the prom episode was so great when angel showed at the last minute, tux and all! im not a big fan of a lot of the mushy stuff but that was seriously adorable. i didnt like the mayor though, he wasnt a very cool bad guy)

5) season 4 (this season would have been higher up b/c it had lots of great, great episodes but it pretty much comes down to I couldn't stand riley. i really liked hush and restless though)

6) season 7 (ok, this one would prolly be higher up too if i'd seen more of it but i actually only saw a few episodes from it. and i absolutely hated that spike and anya died. i realize that spike's coming back but anya was, in my opinion, the funniest character on the show)

7) season 1 (i realize this prolly isnt fair seeing as they had no money when they made this season but hey i still dont like it as much. the bad guys were no fun at all and buffy had weird hair.)

ok thats all. now that ive prolly bored you guys to death w/ my opinion. sorry! ill spare you all now and stop typing.

Does anyone else find the next season of Angel a disturbing topic, it's great that the show could be getting a lot of Buffy fans (though I don't get why anyone would watch just Buffy when Angel is just as good and in my opinion better) these new fans may be coming into the show in not the greatest season, I read an article recently where Joss said they would be going back to "the monster of the week," which if you ask em is complete idiocy, I loved that fact that the stories in Buffy and Angel stretched out over enitre seasons and that to see a conclusion you had to watch the whole season. That also gave the characters more development, the way the progressed through the story. Another concern I have is where all all the tough chicks? Buffy was all about feminism and next season of Angel Fred is the only female regular, also that script floatingf around of Spike being a male slayer is bull, total bull, anyone who believed it must be retarded, the fact is that throughout Buffy it had been all about feminism, the slayer itself was created due to violence to women and the fact that they could become the controllers of our fate is a fitting ode to feminism and making Spike a slayer would completely abolish that. I with-hold judgement 'til I see the new season but so far all that I have heard worries me.

Also... if Connr never existed does that mean Darla never died? GOD i hope so!

In this little posting area u all say what seasons were good and what weren't, well they were all good, I think, and you all should agree, though some have been not as good EVERY season of Buffy or Angel has been good otherwise you wouldn't have watched it

My Favourite seasons:

Buffy:
S5
S2
S7
S4
S6
S3
S1

Angel:
S4
S3
S2
S1
(it has gotten better each year not matter what anyone has to say about it)

As far as Cordelia is concerned:

Come on, Karen, You get why we liked her even if you don't feel the same.

It isn't just that she's beautiful. The Cordy personality from early Buffy was fun, and frequently funny.

And one area that she was successful at was the same as what many people later found to be one of Anya's most popular traits: She told the truth as she saw it and let the chips fall where they may.

I'm not saying I would have stood a chance at dating someone like that as a teen, but God would it have been refreshing to know someone like that.

The Cordy character was kind of written into a corner by Angel s3. Her popularilty with everybody was dropping, and "Saint Cordelia" kinda became an unofficial curse. (BTW, Props to team ME for having Lilah actually call her that. Shows their paying attention to the fans. That and Dawn's Miss Kitty Fantastico line.)

From the interviews and articles I've seen, ME doesn't really have a place to take Cordy. Charisma isn't loving where Cordy has ended up ("I want to get laid or go back to being ditzy. I never thought I would say that. I used to beg for deeper and more poignant story lines, then I got it, and I kind of want to go back." Charisma Carpenter, Femme Fatales, May/June 2003)

That and the fact that she just had a baby. Has, like SMG, not had a break in 7 years, and feels that the ME staff that handled Cordy best are gone...

I'm not lovin it, but I understand Charisma/Cordy not coming back for season 5.

David Greenwalt devoting more time to Angel as a consulting producer (YAY! That's a step down from executive) is not a good thing. He's the MORON behind the Cordelia/Angel relationship. Which is something Joss had immediately shot down when Angel first got his own show. What I now what to know, is who the "genius" *sarcastic cough* is that came up with the Buffy/Spike fling.

Spike for all 22 episodes of Angel Five? Weird. Two souled vamps running together would be like Gunn & Xander on screen at the same time. Repeat much?

The only way this would work for me is if Spike were the Big Bad, and he's not a Big Bad anymore so that can't work. Unless Spike starts fighting for something thinking he's doing the right thing, and Angel has to stop him. I'm thinking what would be perfect is if Spike reacts to how Buffy turned every potential Slayer into a Slayer as inspiration: Spike decides that EVERY vampire EVERYwhere deserves a second chance. He wants them all to get their souls back. ALL of them. At the same time. Just like what Buffy did to the Slayers. Only, he doesn't know how to go about doing that, so he asks Angel for help.

Angel is completely against the idea cuz unlike Spike, Angel's been souled for a whole century. He knows how much it sucks. They also find out what souling vampires en masse entails, and we're not talking walk in the park. It involves a blood ritual, and some people have to die in painful ways, and it involves property damage and going on some quest to get dung from one dangerous creature and body parts from another. It's a big long distressing ordeal to accomplish, with pitfalls and broken promises at every turn.

In short, it involves doing some bad things. Spike decides the end justifies the means, but Angel opposes him, and so for the rest of the season Spike does whatever he finds he has to do in order to accomplish this ritual and Angel does everything he has to do to thwart Spike's success.

Spike and Angel fight, both characters thinking they're doing the right thing. Both seeing the other as The Big Bad. By the end of the season, the audience doesn't even know who's bad and who's good anymore cuz both guys are good, they're just fighting the same battle against evil in remarkably different ways.

Spike and Angel are only fun together when they're kicking each other in the butt. I wanna see them ripping each others heads off. I don't want any male souled vampire bonding. Yuck. I don't wanna see them become friends. It'd be too much like when Spike and Riley got drunk together. BORING. Okay. The part where Riley staked Spike. THAT was FUNNY. But the rest of it was boring.

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