A Hole in the World
So they canceled Angel.
First Jake 2.0, now Angel. I can't help but think Enterprise is next.
I have to admit that although I preferred Buffy (and Firefly, during its mayfly life) to Angel, I will be very disappointed to see the series go off the air. The Buffyverse is a contradictory place — an awful, demon-haunted, world — that is nevertheless better than our own. The characters are more vital than any real person could be and even when conflicted possess an enviable clarity (or is it crispness?) which we actual people lack.
Angel continued a tradition that fought hard against the notion that people don't want to be challenged by TV; yes, they want escape — but that isn't necessarily the same thing.
But, like the man said,
"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."
It may be that in the world of "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" and "The Apprentice" thoughtful (and expensive) genre shows can't compete. I really hope this is not the case.
Maybe they'll let Joss take over Star Trek. Certainly the franchise could use a revisioning. (I can hear it now "Sorry Captain, we can't go to warp. The engines went, well, you know, all kablooey." "Gimme some phasery goodness, Lieutenant."). There is also the Firefly movie to look forward to and the mid-season replacement Wonderfalls on Fox. I can't imagine that either one will fare particularly well, but with genre television you get brownie points just for trying.
The Buffy crowd has had an enormous effect on recent television shows. Tru Calling, Wonderfalls, Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Jake 2.0, Miracles, Still Life — all have (or had) producers or writers from the Buffy Diaspora. They can't cancel them all. Can they?
I do have hopes for the new Battlestar Galactica series on Sci-Fi. It's high time to reinvent the baroque space opera, and Ron Moore is the guy to do it. A mix of the tragic realism and the desperation of DS9, of the mystic predestination of Carnivale, and of the character conflict from Roswell is just what the genre needs right now. Of course it helps that the original Battlestar Galactica had a wonderful high concept and awful execution (remember Casino Planet? or that awful hand-ball—like game?). With good writers, like Moore, and great actors, like Mary McDonnel and Edward James Olmos, anything they produce will have to be better than the original.
Goodbye Angel, we hardly new ye — or maybe we knew you altogether too well.