Disaster narrowly averted

After a brief period where we thought greed and ego would stop the Daleks from being included in the new Dr. Who series, the BBC is now reporting that they've settled their dispute with the Terry Nation estate and the Daleks will indeed be a part of the new adventures of Dr. Who. (Thanks to Gravity Lens for the tip.)

More Clone Wars... a LOT more

I really enjoyed Cartoon Network's Clone Wars microseries of twenty 3-minute episodes, and while it may be cliched or too easy to say that it was much better than Lucas' recent efforts in the Star Wars universe, sadly it doesn't make it any less true.

Naturally, I was very happy to learn (from Gravity Lens, natch) that Tartakovsky is making a five-hour Clone Wars miniseries. Should be great!

EDIT (11 June 04): Looks like Jeff's correction in his comment below has been confirmed by Variety by way of Sci-Fi Wire. There will be five 12-minute episodes totalling one hour, not five 1-hour epidsodes.

The 9th Doctor...

...has been chosen. He's Christopher Eccleston, who appears to be a wise and exciting choice.

Apparently other fans agree as well. One of the comments stated: "I must agree he is an excellent choice to play the Doctor, the last thing I wanted was another Peter Davison!"

And how!!

We Angel fans ROCK!!

This is beyond cool.

Once again, to support the cause, go here.

Cartoonish... in a good way

Can I get a "hell yes"?

How about an "it's about time"?

Thanks, AnimatedBliss.

Join the "Save Angel" campaign

What can I say? We love this show. It was hard enough to lose Buffy, but now Angel?

Here's one way to help (or at least feel like you're helping).

And here's another.

Keep my Wesley and Spike on the television, where they belong!

Dust to dust - deconstructing Angel

Mike at Silent Corner posted a link to a WB press release stating that the current season of Angel will be its last. This is pretty disappointing, since it is, in our opinion, the best show on television.

The premise for Buffy the Vampire Slayer was very clever - take the simile that high school is like an endless parade of horrors, interpret it literally, and then convert it back to a metaphor for the modern high school experience. Joss Whedon, the show's creator, may have been inspired by Jeph Loeb's significantly less successful attempt at this trick in 1985. (Jeph, buddy - love the comic books and the consulting work you do for the WB on Smallville, but the filmography is a little weak.)

If Buffy's a metaphor for how hard it is to grow up and become independent, then as its spin-off, Angel has been a perfect companion piece - what do you do once you are grown-up? Rather than focusing on school and young adulthood as its parent show did, Angel can be seen as a metaphor about one's career. Season one saw Angel, the vampire who is (mostly) unique because he has a soul, struggle to make ends meet and get his paranormal detective agency off of the ground; currently in season five the members of "Team Angel" are dealing with the consequences of their own success - they've got a greater ability to influence the things that are important to them, but at a cost of needing to delegate. With very limited ability to dive in, get their hands dirty, and work on solutions themselves, the characters are conflicted - have they sold out the dream of their life's work (helping the helpless), or have they simply become more pragmatic? I'm guessing that constantly wondering if evolving from a plucky, "resourceful because you have to be", hands-on worker to someone who influences direction through negotiation and politics is either progress or compromise resonates pretty well with people's experiences in their careers, and it's one of the many levels on which Angel works for me.

Angel also has the built-in appeal of Whedon's rich Buffy mythology - vampires and other demons, slayers, champions, et al. - for the long-term fans who have learned its intricacies over the years. While I've railed against the WB for making a Batman show without Batman in it before, the fact that Angel is the WB's stand-in for noir antihero archetypes in general (and Batman in specific) is also a big selling point for me. Think of the parallels: Angel and Batman - detectives who do their best work at night, serving justice in the hopes of assuaging their guilt about living when so many others have died. Wesley and Alfred - the improbably helpful Brits who help their hero find his center; Cordelia and Oracle - adoring associates whose unique talents are a source of useful information; early Gunn and Robin - hard-luck sidekicks; season 5 Gunn and Lucius Fox - men who run the business so that the hero is able to focus on their true mission; the newly-acquired Spike and Nightwing - capable heroes in their own right, yet following too closely in the primary hero's footsteps to see eye-to-eye with them... the list goes on and on. If Buffy and friends were the "Scooby gang", then Angel's ensemble is definitely the "Bat-family".

Still, even with the infusion of Spike into the cast due to Buffy's cancellation, this season of Angel has been difficult to watch. This is not because of the radical change in setting from the previous four seasons, which many fans have complained about. Taken as part of the progression of the underlying theme of the show (as discussed above), I think it's brilliant and makes a lot of sense. The real shortcoming of this season is that all too often, we're given very little in terms of character development or interaction to care about. Whereas in previous seasons the strengths, weaknesses, and banter among the supporting cast has been critical to the atmosphere of the show, season five sees them as little more than props. In fact, during last week's episode ("Why We Fight"), they were LITERALLY props, on display in the atrium of Wolfram & Hart as mostly inanimate objects to be saved by Angel. In other words, the problem has been at the surface - the soul (no pun intended) of the show is still intact, but the storytelling just hasn't been able to capitalize on it. Maybe this is due to network interference in the creative process - season four was basically one giant story (which, other than taking a little longer than necessary to get to the point, was incredible) and as a result, the network "powers that be" said that the current season needed to be more accessible to people who flipped on an episode midseason - but as a viewer, I guess I don't care what the excuse is.

If this is the best that Whedon and company can do (or are allowed to do) with their property, then maybe it's best that we let Angel go quietly... all the better to remember how good the show was and could have continued to be.

Favorite TV (2003)

Some of our favorite TV in 2003 wasn't from 2003 - or wasn't TV at all. We were introduced to .hack//SIGN and Cowboy Bebop - both of which we adore - thanks to the miracle of Cartoon Network, and the BBCi's Dr. Who - Scream of the Shalka should have been on TV, but wasn't.

Favorite TV (2003) | Last year's list

12. Law & Order: SVU (seasons 5/6)
11. Samurai Jack (seasons 2/3)
10. Scrubs (seasons 2/3)
9. Clone Wars Microseries (season 1)
8. The Wire (season 2)
7. CSI: Miami (seasons 1/2)
6. The Shield (season 2)
5. CSI (seasons 3/4)
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 7)
3. Smallville (seasons 2/3)
2. Justice League (season 2)
1. Angel (seasons 4/5)

COPS vs. cartoons

An open letter to the TV industry:

I'm a sucker for a good story. It doesn't matter much what it's about as long as it can pique my curiosity and/or my imagination. Stories about heroes following through on their duties to protect the innocent could have decent potential to accomplish that goal. Still, there's enjoyable ways to tell those stories and then there are ways that irritate me to no end.

I'll take those in reverse order. COPS, which I blame for mutating the concept of cinéma vérité into the steaming pile of poop that is the "reality TV" genre, is a perfect example of a television show about good people doing work I respect. That doesn't mean I wouldn't need to be physically restrained, drugged, and then have someone nail my eyelids to my forehead in order to watch it. I can read the fucking newspaper, thank you very much. What's next? Cops taking a crap? Cops doing 60 hours of paperwork because they had to touch a suspect to restrain him?

I understand the propaganda value of police shows in general (and COPS in specific), both domestically and internationally. Thanks to the miracle of syndication, criminals all over the US can see how the police always catch and punish you if you do something wrong (and, as a corollary, "regular" citizens can be made to feel safe). One noticeable exception: Miami Vice, which showed you that as a drug dealer, you would have the finest material possessions and countless beautiful women to tend to your every whim up until the time your life was abruptly ended by more bullets than were fired in the Spanish-American War - or possibly via helicopter rotor-induced decapitation. And internationally - well, you've got to love it when people in other countries are asking why they aren't being Mirandized or allowed to make a phone call/see a lawyer after they get arrested. [Note to conspiracy theorists: THAT is the impact of a globally dominant American pop culture.] Yes, I'll even concede that there are people who watch COPS as some kind of twisted ego boost - "now I can feel better about myself because at least I'm not a wifebeating crackhead!"

Despite all that, depicting actual, disconnected, random events in mind-numbing detail isn't storytelling - it isn't even entertainment. It's simply arbitrary. What the hell happened to narrative structure?

In contrast, this past weekend's episode of the Justice League animated series (another TV show about dispensing justice) was pretty far out there - a Lovecraft-ian homage of the "Ow, you're stepping on my pineal gland" variety (the episode was even entitled The Terror Beyond) and featured a tentacled Elder God named Cthulhu (oops, I mean Icthultu) and his many bizarre, nightmarish minions. And truly, who else could give voice to the not-so-subtly-named Icthultu other than Rob Zombie? That was some damn inspired casting, if you ask me. Throw in Dr. Fate and Solomon Grundy and you have a really strange and interesting trip - one with (gasp!) a beginning, middle, and end. Even Superman - not too far from an Elder God himself - had a well-written part; he didn't forget that his eyes can shoot lasers, for starters. It wasn't original - not to mention that the underlying treatise on faith was a bit strained - but damn, it was good fun.

Cartoons, fantasy, science fiction - these formats and genres are appealing to my desire for well-crafted stories. Adding elements of the unreal to a story (or at least not artificially constraining it with the burden of realism) increases the chance that it will intrigue and engage me. It's a hint that there's been some thought given to the telling and to the value of the story itself instead of an uninspired cycle of alternately lurid and boring facts. Reality is full of the mundane and unnecessary - what in the world would make you think those things are essential ingredients in the overall recipe for a good story?

Dark Shadows

Sci-Fi Wire is reporting that the WB, who apparently can't get enough vampires, has ordered up a pilot for the third incarnation of Dark Shadows.

The Flash coming to the WB - sort of

Sci-Fi Wire has a story about a live-action Flash TV show, which honestly doesn't sound that interesting at this stage.

According to the article, it seems that the premise for the show (a Gotham City college student who can run so fast that he can move forward or backward in time) is only very loosely based on the DC Comics character, with no regard for the character's history.

I'm all for re-imagining continuity and character histories for the purpose of a better story, but why call the show The Flash if you're not going to draw on the strengths of the character's mythos? This is synergy gone bad for AOL Time Warner - you'd think they'd have learned from last time.

Long, long ago...

Ok, there's been a lot of Star Wars synergy in my life recently, and I knew I had to post about it when I saw the Illinois license plate "JEDIKGT" on the drive into work this morning.

First, I have to say that the recently released Jedi Academy demo that Reid posted about over on his weblog is really polished. Say what you want about Jedi Knight and Jedi Outcast, the third time's a charm. This went from "who cares" to "Desiree and I will kill many people in team Free for All - it is our... destiny."

Desiree's desire to play a shooter - a genre she only very seldom gets into - is no doubt inspired by the amount of fun she's having with Knights of the Old Republic - she finally got started on it and is loving it (a sentiment I'm sure she'll expound on by commenting on this post). She's somewhere between half and two-thirds of the way through the light-side story, while I'm a little less than a quarter of the way through on the dark side. (Just to see how the story's different! Honest!)

KotOR is a great reminder of what an interesting setting the Star Wars universe can be for a story, especially when it's not told by a post-RotJ George Lucas. Like, for example, if Star Wars stories were being told by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Samurai Jack?

Cartoon news

As we mentioned in a previous post, there's a rumor going around that Warner Brothers is actively developing a new Batman animated series. We didn't post about the subsequent rumors that it was going to be called Batman Wired, telling stories in an alternate universe that focused on a very young Batman and his use of high-tech gadgets, because it sounded horrible and a blatant excuse to create toys with lots of accessories.

Fortunately, if the rumors are to be believed this time around, the Batman Wired concept has been scrapped, to be replaced by a show simply called The Batman, which sounds like it has more of a Legends of the Dark Knight kind of feel. Whew!

Meanwhile, MTV (in part due to the success of its Spider-Man cartoon) has ordered up an animated series based on Blade. Marvel's keeping its dance card full, though - they've got a long list of projects in development.

WB season premieres

The WB will be kicking off the next seasons of Smallville and (of great importance to Desiree) the newly Spike-tastic Angel on October 1st.

Hard to believe that October is only 2 months away... where did the summer go?

Adult Swim

This is just a cursory story I came across on the Chicago Tribune but I thought it worth mentioning anything that highlights Cartoon Network and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. They have some of the best stuff on television right now including:
.hack//SIGN
Samurai Jack
Family Guy
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Sealab 2021
Justice League
And now the Teen Titans.
So make sure you tune into Cartoon Network on July 19th to watch!

Animation for adults

This article (found at the Orlando Sun-Sentinel website but originally appearing in the LA times) has an interesting take on the progress and problems of animation geared for adults. Notably, Paul Dini (one of the driving forces behind Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League) offers this gem: "Why does everything [in cartoons] have to do with singing animals and princesses?"

Comics and TV... the crossover

Not to sound like a testimonial, but TiVo's a great thing for people with crazy schedules (I'm travelling for work again next week). We recently used our TiVo to record the History Channel's Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked, but only just got around to watching it tonight. Eerily, I noticed shortly after watching it that Gravity Lens recently posted some links about the show - as well as a story about Quesada/Gaiman's 1602 press conference.

So, yes, we're behind. In TV-watching (not that we watch more than 4-10 hours a week, depending on the time of the year), in weblog reading, and obviously in weblog posting. It even took me until yesterday to get around to watching this past Sunday's Batman: The Animated Series. Give us a break - we're supposed to be on vacation!

The TiVo, like all really useful technologies, has really nice unintended consequences. Cases in point - while watching B:TAS, we noticed a commercial for - of all things - a new Teen Titans cartoon! Deciding that we ought to set up to record the show while we're thinking about it, we were a bit dismayed when we realized that the show's premiere is still too far in the future (July 19) for us to tell the TiVo to record the whole season. However, as we were mucking around with our recording options, we noticed that season 2 of Justice League starts this weekend - woo hoo! I'll take my Batman where I can get it, especially given the rumors that Jeph Loeb is going to write a JL episode for this season.

Sopranos finale: Just kidding!

David Chase was apparently only joking when he said that Season 5 of the HBO crime drama The Sopranos would be its last. Season 6 is officially a reality.

New Batman

Although I don't normally like to post rumors, this one's good enough to be an exception - superherohype.com is quoting a "source" that says WB is producing a new Batman animated series, this one focusing in on LotDK / "Year One"-type stories taking place early in the Dark Knight's career.

Sounds like fun, if it proves to be true...

PSX... not PSone

Sony has announced a new consumer electronic device called the PSX which has the ability to record live television and store it on a hard drive (like TiVo or other DVRs) but with a twist - it also has a DVD player/burner in it and can play PS1-PS2 games. It is ethernet-enabled, too, although it's unclear if this means that you'll be able to move your digitally-recorded TV shows to your computer this way or if you'll have to rely on the DVD burner for PSX->PC file transport.

PSX... not PSone

Sony has announced a new consumer electronic device called the PSX which has the ability to record live television and store it on a hard drive (like TiVo or other DVRs) but with a twist - it also has a DVD player/burner in it and can play PS1-PS2 games. It is ethernet-enabled, too, although it's unclear if this means that you'll be able to move your digitally-recorded TV shows to your computer this way or if you'll have to rely on the DVD burner for PSX->PC file transport.

Bye Bye Buffy

As many of you already know, last night was the series finale for Buffy. I didn't start out as a Buffy fan...I actually used to tease a friend of mine for watching it (sorry Mike!). But then I actually set down and watched a few episodes and I was hooked. Dan and I have faithfully watched, analyzed and discussed every episode since. We have become ardent Joss fans (sadly had to delete Firefly episodes from the Tivo last night to make room for all the season finales) and devoted Angel watchers (and, speaking for myself, Wesley admirer).

Anyway, after all the laughs, there was a very somber feeling in the house last night, knowing we were losing Spike, Xander, Giles, *sob* Anya, Willow and Buffy (and let's not forget Andrew!). It was truly a great show.

And I'd like to argue that last night's episode had one of the best truly geek moments in TV history. What can possibly beat watching Giles' dwarf fighter facing Trogdor the Burninator in a game of late night D&D?

Here's an interview with Joss as he discusses the end of the series.

Hey, did any of you know that Giles' (Anthony Stewart Head) brother is Murray Head...the guy who brought us the fun 80s song One Night in Bangkok?

Well, it was a good ending and I'm looking forward to watching the episodes over and over again on DVD.

Convergence

Convergence - which most people think of as the consolidation of home entertainment (tv, movies, music, games, etc.) and information (computing, Internet, etc.) technologies - is becoming more and more of a reality, regardless of whether or not it's a good idea.

Sony is leading the charge - they are building IM capabilities into the Playstation 2, and they're teaming with IBM and Toshiba on the "cell" processor, which may serve as the basis for the PS3 and seems to have the potential to serve as the basis for a wide array of internetworked consumer electronics. Only Sony has the breadth of hardware (computers, game consoles, home theater components, etc.) to really see this convergence thing through. This positions Sony very well not only for making a single device that acts as the "digital hub" for a household (to use a phrase coined by another major convergence player, Apple) but also the "spokes" to be attached to that hub.

And what about Apple? If you believe Steve Jobs, then their iLife strategy has put them "so far ahead of anybody, it's not funny." Clearly, they've done more tactically than Sony has - iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and of course iTunes at the bleeding edge of the portfolio - but Sony has a leg up on Apple in the strategy department. After all, an install base of 50 million PS2s (scroll down to the 15 Jan 03 press release) really sets Sony up for the long haul.

Microsoft won't go out with out a fight, though. Their moves into pervasive computing with WinCE and the palmtop PocketPC are clear (even if the mobile phone portion of the plan is a bit murky), but their acquisition of WebTV, development of the TiVo-esque UltimateTV, and even the Xbox itself shows that Microsoft is definitely interested in having their software appear on consumers' TVs. Adding DVR and other multimedia functionality to the Xbox, as has been widely rumored, is yet another step down this path.

As great as it all sounds, general purpose hardware/OSes/software have historically never fared as well as a system of purpose-built technologies that have a well-understood way to interact with each other. The fact that you're reading this post over the Internet is probably the best example of discrete technologies communicating via standard protocols to achieve the ever-elusive concept of synergy - a whole that's more than the sum of its parts. The true aim of convergence, in my humble opinion, should be to bring open protocols (either new or existing) to consumer electronics - not to try to build a single "set top box" that is all things to all applications.

Smart money is on a redefinition of the home network - TiVo's Home Media Option upgrade has the right idea by adding TCP/IP capabilities to their DVRs via a USB ethernet interface - not the all-in-one approach that has tried and failed so many times. I'll take communication over consolidation any day.

WB to renew Angel

All I can say is... woo hoo!

Sci-Fi Wire is relaying a report in Variety that states that the WB will renew Angel for another season. As if that weren't enough, they also go on to say that James Marsters (Spike) will be joining the permanent cast (probably due to the many death threats Desiree's been planning to make if they didn't let him), many other Buffy characters are likely to guest, and Joss Whedon will write and direct several episodes.

I firmly believe Angel is one of the most entertaining shows on TV, so I'm happy to hear it!

Oh, the pain!!

Well, last night Dan and I hunkered down to a much anticipated episode of Angel. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't watched it yet, but suffice to say it was leading up to a hell of a conclusion. We sat there, riveted to the screen when all of a sudden, Dan Brokaw cuts in with news of yesterday's attack of opportunity in Iraq.

ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Needless to say, we missed the rest of Angel.

To quote our friend Mike, who was in the same predicament: " "Dammit! Couldn't you start the war an hour later!!!!!"

Hopefully we'll at least be able to get an episode synopsis soon. :)

Buffy-related oddness

Normally I don't like to post entertainment rumors here at extrasonic, but this one was a bit too bizarre to pass up. Sci-Fi Wire is running a rumor, originally published in the British tabloids, that David Boreanaz (Angel) has signed a three-film deal to play Superman.

While you're there, check out the poll in the right margin regarding who should be the new lead now that Gellar has confirmed that this is her last season with BtVS - Faith, Dawn, Willow, Spike, or no one (i.e. cancel the series). As of the time of this post, Spike was winning with 43% of the votes, with Faith and Willow duking it out for 2nd place at 24% and 22%, respectively.

Return to the Batcave!

I wasn't aware this was happening. I don't know whether to be frightened or amused. I'm sure I'll still watch it though. :)

Here are some photos. I'm digging Adam West in the smoking jacket.

Oh, and Dan, you might want to bookmark this site for future reference (it's the Batman "Super Hero Hype" website).

No More Buffy :(

We all knew it was going to happen, but here's the official word. I'm just really worried about the possibility of losing Angel as well.

Reality TV, Vinnie style

I guess when Bullet-Tooth Tony hesitated when asked by Cousin Avi to kill a dog in Snatch, he could rely on his natural, dog-loving instincts. You can learn all this and more on Vinnie, an Osbournes-style reality show now airing on BBC3.

In other TV news, Sci-Fi Wire has posted a rumor that a Faith (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) may be getting her own show, depending on whether or not Sarah Michelle Gellar re-ups for another season of BtVS.

Favorite TV (2002)

Here are our dozen favorite TV shows of 2002:

12. The Simpsons (seasons 13/14)
11. The Sopranos (season 4)
10. Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (season 1)
9. Six Feet Under (season 2)
8. Justice League (season 1)
7. Smallville (seasons 1/2)
6. Scrubs (seasons 1/2)
5. The Shield (season 1)
4. CSI (seasons 2/3)
3. CSI: Miami (season 1)
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (seasons 6/7)
1. Angel (seasons 3/4)

Uh...is this healthy?

Ok, not to be obnoxious, but...has anyone thought about the children?!

Imagine, if you will...you're a 5-year-old kid. Your mother leaves the house for a few months and is replaced by someone completely different. Are you going to understand what the hell is going on? No. Are you going to be scarred forever? Most likely.

Someone needs to start being more responsible with these reality shows. You want a show about wife swapping? Fine. But don't do it when children are involved. If you for a moment think such a decision is ok, then you don't deserve those children.

Entertainment round-up

Sci-Fi Wire has a sneak peek at the movie promos that will be airing during the Superbowl on Sunday - several with geek appeal, such as Terminator 3, 60 seconds of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, a possible glimpse at X-Men 2, and the first unveiling of Ang Lee's computer-generated Hulk.

Sci-Fi Wire also has news about actual TV shows, and not just commercials! They've got a minor-spoiler-filled report that Eliza Dushku (Faith) has begun filming her 3 episodes for the current season of Angel, and will soon be filming 5 episodes for this season of Buffy. Keeping with the crossover madness once relegated to the comics world, Willow will guest on Angel as well for an episode, presumably to spend some quality time with her hubby-to-be.

Since it's obviously been a long time since I remembered to read Sci-Fi Wire, I might as well provide one more link from that site: Christopher Reeve is going to be on Smallville.

And, finally, in film / tv news that's not a link to Sci-Fi Wire, various sources now report that the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets DVD will include 19 deleted scenes. Woo!

Damn you Alyson Hannigan!

Much to my sadness, Alyson Hannigan has roped in Alexis Denisof.

I'm still in a state of shock.

Adult Swim

Dan and I (re)discovered Adult Swim on New Year's Eve. The comedy portion is nothing less than hysterical. I thought Space Ghost Coast to Coast was the best but, honestly, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law takes the cake.

Go here for some fun Adult Swim games...including "Carl's Freakin Strip Poker". Woo!

'Birds of Prey' wings to be clipped?

Ok... so you're AOL Time Warner; you own DC comics, you own some music labels, you control a prime-time broadcast network. So you make a TV show to air on your network about your DC comics characters that features music from your record labels. Great idea - but it still has to be good.

The WB is likely not going to renew Birds of Prey, the quasi-Batman-themed show they currently air on Wednesday night, and in fact they may kill it after only 9 of the season's planned 13 episodes. Meanwhile, Smallville, their Superman-themed show on Tuesday nights that also uses the aforementioned synergistic formula, is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (as it were).

Why does one work and the other fail? I'll give you three reasons:

Writing. The writing is better on Smallville, plain and simple. The Superman-as-a-teen premise does make it sort of like a superhero soap opera, but at its best, it has a Buffy-esque ability to use fantastical situations as metaphors for "real life" coming-of-age issues.

Better understanding of the material. Smallville has Jeph Loeb as a "consulting producer." This guy knows comics, having written some of the better limited series (including Superman for All Seasons and Batman: The Long Halloween) of the past several years. Jeph is also the Executive Producer of the Buffy animated series. To the best of my knowledge, Birds of Prey doesn't have that kind of resource to tap - and it shows.

Hero presence. Finally, Superman and Batman are cultural icons, which is what should make them and their mythos such an attractive target for TV show development. The WB's Superman show is about Superman; the WB's Batman show is about... Batman's illegitimate daughter? Now, granted, Ashley Scott is one of the most beautiful women on television, but that still doesn't change the fact that the WB made a Batman show without Batman in it.

I have mixed feelings about seeing Birds of Prey go off the air - on the one hand, it has so much potential; on the other hand, I watch TV shows for their entertainment value, not their potential.

Angel Discussion

And this would be more of a rant than a discussion...

What the HELL is going on with those people???!!!
Are they purposely trying to make things more difficult for themselves?

Honestly. Fred needs to get over herself. Yes, Gunn did a terrible thing, but he did it to save her. He hardly had a choice in the matter and she needs to see it for what it is...a man trying to defend the woman he loves.

I AM SO CREEPED OUT BY CORDELIA AND CONNOR!!
I mean, come on...a few weeks ago she was changing his diaper. No way and no apocolyse in the world would make you want to jump in bed with the person for whom you were just heating up a bottle.
And stop it with the "it's too soon" crap with Angel. You were up there with the Powers That Be begging to come home. At that point you knew what he had done and you still wanted to come home. And, let's not forget that he had NO CONTROL over all of those things he had done before he got his soul.

And you just jump right into the sack with Connor. I cannot believe that hours before you had confessed your love to Angel.
Poor Angel - Seeing your mutant son in bed with the woman you love, and had *just* told you she loved you, while fire is raining from the heavens and you have a gaping wound in your neck....that just can't make for a good day.

Ok, from now on you are no longer Cordelia. I will refer to you as "Pedophile Ho Bag".

But DAMN...didn't Wesley look awesome with those pistols? :) He's come a long way since Head Boy at Watcher School. Get over yourself, Lila. You are *so* jealous of Fred.

Buffy Discussion

Ok. Really I should call this a Spike discussion. I've been increasingly concerned about his bahavior last episode. Was that really him? If so, why was he killing that chick???

Anyway, here's my theory...either she wasn't a human or that wasn't really Spike.

- He still has that chip in his head, doesn't he? If so, we would be seeing him writhe around in pain for attacking a human. So maybe she was a vampire or another sort of demon.
- All episode we witnessed a great deal of deceit. Buffy and Dawn's "mom" warning Dawn about Buffy, fake the heart-attack-chick's ghost pretending to be talking to Tara, etc. etc. So, perhaps we weren't seeing Spike?

Well, those are my opinions anyway.

Dan's Buffy quiz results

How Big of a Buffy Fan Are You?
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'nuff said.