September 17: The Batman Bright Spot in the TV Wastelnd

        The Batman is set three years after Bruce Wayne becomes Batman so he is still relatively young and inexperienced. The series will tell the stories of how Batman first encountered many of the familiar villains. Last week's premier episode showed how Batman met the Joker. We were first impressed by the animation - it had a unique retro style that we liked very much and technically it was very smooth and detailed (a welcome change from most of the animation for tv out there today). The story was well told - there was a lot packed into half-an-hour. And the tone was excellent - suitably dark for Batman and much darker than we'd expected for Saturday morning: sitting there in the bright morning sunshine we still found the Joker quite creepy. If the rest of the episodes are as good as the first one, The Batman is definitely going to be a show worth watching. So if you're feeling as disappointed in the rest of this season's offerings as we are, we encourage you to turn on your tv Saturday morning and check out The Batman. (The Batman is part of the Kids WB Saturday morning lineup so check your local listings for the time and channel.)

June 25: Animated Buffy Re-animated

        According to an article in the June 20th issue of TV Guide the Buffy the Vampire Slayer animated series, which appeared dead, has come back to life like a vampire rising from the grave. A pilot for the series will be screened for potential distributors next month. Many of the Buffy cast members will be voicing their characters for the animated series, including Alyson Hannigan (Willow), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles). Sarah Michelle Gellar has chosen not to be part of the project, so voice actress Giselle Loren will take over the role of Buffy. Loren was also the voice of Buffy for the BtVS video games. For more information about the animated series, check out this interview with Jeph Loeb over on the BBC website. Loeb says the Joss Whedon will definitely be involved with the series.

        We are happy to hear this news, especially now that Angel has ended. We want to see more of Whedon's work in whatever form it may take. We think that a Buffy animated series could be very interesting. The Batman animated series showed that cartoons are not just for kids - they can be far more sophisticated than much of the live action programming out there. It seems that Joss Whedon has a knack for reviving seemingly dead projects, most recently Firefly which is jumping to the big screen, so we have reason to be hopeful that Buffy will indeed find new life in animated form. Keep your fingers crossed.

April 29: Doors Closed for Angel Series, MOV a Possibility

        In a recent "Watch with Kristin" column on the E! Online website Kristin Veitch praised the efforts of Angel fans to save the show. But sadly she reported that her attempts to find out the current status of the show had turned up only bad news: "the WB suits aren't changing their minds on Angel??Frog net insiders tell me the higher-ups feel strongly that Angel had "limited moneymaking potential," due to limited advertising revenue and what they consider to be a substantial budget. The fan base is clearly devoted, but these bigwigs see little hope of that audience expanding." She said that the "final stake through Angel's heart" was the upcoming remake of Dark Shadows, a vampire series which the suits believe has "vast potential". The column also reported that UPN and FOX have both passed on Angel. Thus, it appears that all the doors have closed and Angel as a weekly series will be gone from the airwaves after the final few episodes air.

        There were a few positive notes in the column. First there were what we consider to be some very classy comments by some of the cast members regarding all the fan support Angel has received. James Marsters (Spike) said, ""It may not have saved the show, but what it does for the entire cast and crew is give us a little pop as we go out. Everyone takes notice that we connected well enough with the audience to give them that passion...And I have to tell you, it feels so good. After all these years of, frankly, battling time and money and always having to give up what you were planning to do and getting frustrated, at the end of it, to see everyone really going out of their way to try and save it, it just feels really, really good. So, big warm vampire fuzzies over here. It really took the sting out of getting canceled." There was also some hopeful news that Angel and the Buffyverse may yet continue although in a more limited form. The column reported that the WB has approached Joss Whedon about doing at least one and perhaps as many as six Angel or Buffy movies of the week next season.

        We have been truly impressed by Angel this season and have been enjoying watching things ramp up toward the finale. We will be sad to see this show go, but we're glad that it looks like it will go out on a high note. We're sorry that we don't have better news to report, but we do believe that Joss Whedon is not done bringing us excellent things to watch both in and outside the Buffyverse. We look forward to the Firefly movie and to whatever other treats might be coming. And for now, we will focus on enjoying these next few episodes of Angel even more so because we know they will be the last.

March 26: Buffy will not appear on Angel

        TV Guide online reports that Sarah Michelle Gellar will not be making a guest appearance as Buffy during the final episodes of Angel. Gellar was asked to appear in the second-to-last episode of the series, but she was still working on an upcoming film project at the time the episode was shot. The site reported that Gellar was available to appear in the series finale, which will air May 19th, but Whedon did not want the final episode to revolve around a guest star instead of the series regulars. According to executive producer Jeffrey Bell, the second-to-last episode will resolve the Buffy-Angel-Spike triangle, despite the fact that Gellar will not appear in it. He told tv guide online, "Angel and Spike arrive at an understanding. ??And without her being involved, Buffy's character has come to some sort of understanding, too."

        We are disappointed that Buffy will not make an appearance on Angel as had been rumored for quite a long time now. We would have liked Gellar to be there to help properly resolve her character's relationships with Angel and Spike. Since we don't know the details of Gellar's commitment to the film project we can't comment on whether she chose or was forced to pass on the guest appearance, so we'll just leave it that we are very disappointed at the news.

        We are glad to hear that Whedon will still attempt to address the relationships between Buffy, Angel, and Spike before the end of the series. And we'll just have to believe that he'll be able to do a good job of it despite the handicap of not having the Buffy character in the episode. We are still sad to think that Angel will be ending, but we're going to do our best to enjoy all the final episodes to the fullest.

February 19: Angel cancelled by the WB

        We are sad to report that the WB has officially announced the cancellation of Angel at the end of this season. Here is the press release from the WB website:

For the last seven years Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have been cornerstones of our network. The sum total of the work done on those shows has produced some of the proudest moments in our history. Like some of the great series that are leaving the air this year, including Frasier and Friends, the cast, crew, writers and producers of Angel deserve to be able to wrap up the series in a way befitting a classic television series and that is why we went to Joss to let him know that this would be the last year of the series on The WB. We have discussed continuing the Angel legacy with special movie events next year, which is still on the table. In a perfect world, all of these details would be completed before this information went to the press so that we could be definitive about the show's ongoing future. But in any case, we did not want to contemplate this being the last year of Angel without giving the show the option of crafting their own destiny for this character and for this series. David Boreanaz continues to be one of the finest, classiest and friendliest actors we have had the pleasure to work with and we hope that the relationship furthers from here. The same can be said for all the actors and producers on the show.

        We are disappointed at WB's decision to cancel Angel, especially since we feel that this has been one of its strongest seasons yet. The Wolfram and Hart arc and the addition of Spike seem to have given the writers and cast a lot to work with and they have produced some excellent episodes. We do give WB credit for having the decency to announce the cancellation early enough to allow Whedon to end the show properly in the remaining episodes - and we look forward to seeing how he will do it - but the decision itself still makes us angry and frustrated. We see it as another sign of the decline of television. Since WB claims to understand that Angel has been a cornerstone series for them and a program whose quality they can be proud of and yet they are still canceling it, we can only assume that this is a purely dollars and cents decision on their part. We suspect that by canceling Angel, a moderately expensive show produced by an outside party (FOX), they can make space for some cheap in house programming (read "reality" tv) which will make them more money than Angel even if it gets no critical acclaim and brings in significantly fewer viewers. We certainly won't be there to watch it. With the cancellation of Angel it seems more than likely that there won't be any reason to tune into standard network tv at all next year.

        We are once again brought back to the thought that has been one of the few sources of hope for us in recent months - the idea that the future of science fiction and fantasy in the visual media may soon arrive in the form of direct to DVD projects which cut out the need for tv networks entirely. In such a future there would surely be a place for talented creators such as JMS and Joss Whedon who have been poorly treated by the networks.

        We'd like to leave you with a quote from Whedon's post to the BronzeBeta Forum following the announcement of Angel's cancellation:

Remember the words of the poet:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn."

        We're glad that Whedon traveled down those unexplored roads and we thank him for taking us along for the ride. We hope that in the future we will be invited to share many more such wonderful journeys with him.

December 9: Firefly and Buffy DVD's Out Today

        Just a quick reminder that the Firefly DVD boxed set hits stores today. This set contains all of the produced episodes of the series (including three which were never aired) in their proper order and in widescreen. It also includes a whole bunch of extras. If you want to hear more about the set, check out the interview with Joss Whedon over at Science Fiction Weekly.

        Also, released on DVD today, the Buffy season 5 boxed set. All together, that's a lot of quality tv to entertain you during the coming cold winter nights. Enjoy!

October 30: Tru Calling tonight with Hudson Leick,

        Just a quick reminder that the new supernatural series, Tru Calling, starring Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) premiers tonight at 8 pm ET on FOX. Tonight's episode will also star another actress who may look familiar to many of you, Hudson Leick, who played Callisto on Xena: Warrior Princess. After Xena, Leick took 2 years off from acting, but she hopes that this appearance on Tru Calling is just the first step in her return. She told tvguide.com, "The same casting agency that hired me for Tru Calling [handles] Angel, and I really want to play a vampire. So anything is possible". We think Hudson would make an incredible vampire, so we hope she gets her wish. We look forward to seeing her tonight and hopefully she'll pop of in many more genre shows in the future.

October 1: Slim pickings for new tv science fiction,
            Angel season 5 premiers tonight

        Looking over the lists of new programs for this season, there is very little that can be called science fiction, even using a very loose definition of that genre. There are also very few returning genre shows. It looks like it's going to be a pretty barren year for science fiction on television, which brings us back to our continuing speculation about whether the future of science fiction in the audio/visual medium actually lies on television or with alternate distribution schemes such as internet subscription broadcasts or direct to DVD productions. Well, all of that is still in the future, so for the time being we're left with what the tv has to offer. Here's a bit of info on the shows that caught our eye in the listings. Perhaps one or more of them will surprise us and it will be a good year after all.

NEW SHOWS:

Tru Calling
Thursdays at 8 pm ET on FOX, premiers October 30th

Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) stars as Tru Davies, a young woman working the midnight shift in the city morgue. One night, Tru is shocked when one of the corpses asks for her help. The next morning she discovers that she is reliving the previous day over - the day when the victim in the morgue was murdered. Only Tru knows what is about to happen and so it is up to her to prevent the murder.

Tarzan
Sundays at 9pm ET on WB, premiers October 5th

After his parents die in a plane crash, Tarzan (Travis Fimmel) grows up alone among the apes and other wild animals of the African jungle. After 20 years, Tarzan is captured by his wealthy uncle (Mitch Pileggi - Skinner from The X-Files) and forcibly returned to the family's home in New York City. Other cast members include Sarah Wayne Callies as Jane, an NYPD detective on the homicide beat, and Lucy Lawless (Xena) as Tarzan's aunt.

Jake 2.0
Wednesdays at 9pm ET on UPN, premiered September 10th

A geek working at the National Security Agency is accidentally infected with top secret nanites which turn him into a superhero with super strength and healing powers and the ability to interface with machines.

RETURNING SHOWS:

Angel
Wednesdays at 9pm ET on WB, premiers tonight October 1st

Look for a lot of changes in this season on Angel as Angel and the group take over Wolfram and Hart. There will be a new full time character crossing over from Buffy (if you don't know who it is yet, I'm not gonna spoil it now) and also guest appearances by other Buffy cast members including Sarah Michelle Gellar. If you don't mind a tiny bit of spoiling, check out Joss Whedon's letter over at the WB site encouraging folks to check out the new season. Perhaps with Whedon's attention, the show can reach the level of consistent quality which it has thus far failed to attain.

Jeremiah
Fridays at 10pm ET on Showtime, premiers October 10th

Jeremiah finally returns for a second season on October 10th. Sean Austin (Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings) will be joining the cast. He will play Mr. Smith, a "quirky, colorful" character who will be Kurdy's new partner.

September 4: Firefly movie a go!
            genre series on DVD

        The Hollywood Reporter had some great news for Firefly fans today: Universal Pictures, which recently acquired the rights to Firefly from 20th Century Fox Television, will be releasing the Firefly motion picture. Joss Whedon will be both writing and directing the movie. Production on the film will start in the first quarter of 2004.

        We are extremely happy and more than a little amazed that this movie is going to be made. We have heard more times than we can mention that there would be a movie spun off from a successful tv show only to have it never materialize. For Firefly to actually go to the big screen after being cancelled half way through its first season is just unprecedented. We believe that with Whedon as both writer and director, the Firefly film is going to be great. We hope that it will be a big success and show FOX how foolish they were for canceling the series so quickly. Perhaps the movie will even pave the way for Firefly to return as a series so that Whedon can complete whatever plans he had for the characters and the universe.

        One more note from the Hollywood Reporter article: Mutant Enemy president Christopher Buchanan said that fan support for the series has been very strong. He noted that the Amazon.com presale of the Firefly series DVD sold out in only 24 hours. We suspect that this is the explanation for the strange message which currently comes up if you try to order the DVD set on Amazon.com. We also suspect that the strong presale numbers for the DVD may have helped make the movie deal a reality. We have been pleased about the trend toward putting out complete DVD sets for tv shows, and this illustrates one more advantage of this trend - buying the DVD's allows fans to show support for series very directly with their pocketbooks. Perhaps this will help other genre series survive or be revived in the future.

        A couple of quick notes about other DVD releases of genre tv series: The Xena season 2 DVD came out yesterday. Initial reviews indicate that the picture and sound quality on this set are a great improvement over the first season set. Also, the DVD's includes commentaries by Lucy Lawless (Xena), Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle) and series producer, Rob Tapert. The Angel season 2 DVD hit the stores yesterday as well. Also note that the Babylon 5 season 3 DVD is in stores now too. (See the B5 News section for more about the B5 DVD set and our feelings about series on DVD in general.)

TV News Archive January - July 2003

TV News Archive September - December 2002