Saturday, February 21, 2004
Well, I guess it's not really a surprise that "Angel" has been cancelled. The ratings over the last couple of years haven't been great, even by The WB's standards, and getting moved around the schedule is rarely a sign that a series is performing well (although "Charmed" is perhaps an exception to this, as it's managed to survive The WB shifting it from one night to another on an almost annual basis).
Ultimately the end of "Buffy" probably meant that "Angel" was doomed to end either this year or next year, certainly the likelihood of it making it to 7 seasons diminished once the parent show was off-air.
The WB not picking up "Buffy" for seasons 6 and 7 probably hit the show as well. In one way, it meant that the crutch of cross-over stories and characters was largely kicked away, which meant that "Angel" had to stand or fall on its own two feet - arguably a good thing as the show was then surviving on its own merits rather than being propped up by "Buffy". On the other hand, it was now having to rely on another show to deliver it a lead-in audience - with hindsight splitting up the two shows after season 1 of "Angel" might have been one idea worth considering. Cross-promotion and cross-overs would still have been possibly, but "Angel" wouldn't have been relying on "Buffy" to deliver it a ready-made audience.
But that's all conjecture. What does seem certain is that after this May there will be no more "Angel" - at least as a regular series. Of course, there's the obligatory "save 'Angel'" campaign, but without wishing to piss on anyone's fireworks, what's the point? The network don't want it, and while picking up "Buffy" gave UPN a level of credibility (if not the viewers to accompany their expenditure), I can't see them picking up "Angel". Beyond that, there's always cable networks I suppose, but do we really want to see "Angel" staggering on in a post-network world a la "Sliders"? Let the writers, producers and actors send it out on a high, and enjoy the repeats and DVDs.
In fact, I suspect that some of the cast aren't that disappointed, apart from the loss of regular work. They've been playing these parts for at least three years (in the case of Fred) and upto eight (in the case of Angel) - that's a long time to play one part and many of them might ultimately welcome the opportunity to play new roles.
Ultimately the end of "Buffy" probably meant that "Angel" was doomed to end either this year or next year, certainly the likelihood of it making it to 7 seasons diminished once the parent show was off-air.
The WB not picking up "Buffy" for seasons 6 and 7 probably hit the show as well. In one way, it meant that the crutch of cross-over stories and characters was largely kicked away, which meant that "Angel" had to stand or fall on its own two feet - arguably a good thing as the show was then surviving on its own merits rather than being propped up by "Buffy". On the other hand, it was now having to rely on another show to deliver it a lead-in audience - with hindsight splitting up the two shows after season 1 of "Angel" might have been one idea worth considering. Cross-promotion and cross-overs would still have been possibly, but "Angel" wouldn't have been relying on "Buffy" to deliver it a ready-made audience.
But that's all conjecture. What does seem certain is that after this May there will be no more "Angel" - at least as a regular series. Of course, there's the obligatory "save 'Angel'" campaign, but without wishing to piss on anyone's fireworks, what's the point? The network don't want it, and while picking up "Buffy" gave UPN a level of credibility (if not the viewers to accompany their expenditure), I can't see them picking up "Angel". Beyond that, there's always cable networks I suppose, but do we really want to see "Angel" staggering on in a post-network world a la "Sliders"? Let the writers, producers and actors send it out on a high, and enjoy the repeats and DVDs.
In fact, I suspect that some of the cast aren't that disappointed, apart from the loss of regular work. They've been playing these parts for at least three years (in the case of Fred) and upto eight (in the case of Angel) - that's a long time to play one part and many of them might ultimately welcome the opportunity to play new roles.
