Interesting and somewhat encouraging. I'm liking all this press about the fans' fight to save Angel. But I wonder why TV Guide Online says the ball is only in UPN's court if, as they point out, the WB relented over cancelling Roswell after fan response? True, the comments from Fury (or Greenwalt?) and Marsters and Whedon so far suggest that trying to save Angel at the WB is pointless. But if it worked for Roswell with the WB, why is it totally pointless for Angel?

UPN, are you listening to all the fan hullabaloo and the press? Please listen.

phlebotinin | February 20, 19:49 CET

James Marsters hasn't made any statement about saving Angel. A devoted fan has been posting suggestions for postcard campaigns - his initials are JM, so it's been misconstrued that his statements are James' - but they're not. So far J. August Richards is the only cast member to make a public statement regarding cancellation.

Though I, too, think that trying to save Angel at the WB is pointless now. They know how devoted the current fans are; they've just given up hope of winning any new viewers.

wren | February 20, 20:47 CET

Thanks for the clarification on Marsters, wren. It's being repeated all over the place that it came from him. Argh.

phlebotinin | February 20, 20:52 CET

Yeah, that "James Marsters says" thing is cracking me up! Not the information, which is good, but the attribution to James. Kinda like that old game "telephone," isn't it? It originated at Joss's Stakehouse, a Yahoo group (like wren said, the poster has the same initials).

And I'm just really glad that media coverage of fan efforts is on the upswing (and yep, I'm the co-webmaster at supportangel.org/renewangel.com, but I don't frankly care *which* efforts are publicized as long as the word is getting out). That coverage is as important as the efforts themselves.

chasa | February 20, 21:01 CET

Ah yeah I recently found out too that it wasn't James Marsters at all. Didn't really sound like something he'd do either. And if he'd do an official statement it would be on his site wouldn't it? Ah that's the internet, errors become rumors so fast. Why do people just assume it's him? Kind of dumb.

And yeah interesting how they talk to UPN at the end. I've been wondering, has the fact that Buffy was on UPN given Angel a bigger chance to get a yes from them or a smaller one?

EdDantes | February 20, 21:13 CET

Wren, what did J. August Richards have to say?

I don't think it is hoping for too much for UPN to save Angel. I seem to remember last year or the year before (the WB always had the show on the renewal bubble) it was pretty well known that if Angel got cancelled the UPN would pick it up.

Or, maybe it wasn't well known, maybe it was an internet rumor and I'm just clinging to any piece of possible hope.

ktbear7476 | February 20, 22:10 CET

We all do, ktbear, we all do. This was a good article though, definitely a nice bit of press in Angel's defense. I especially like this line:

"Adding insult to injury, the show was canceled the same week that WB announced an early renewal for its other supernatural series, Charmed - a fluffy show that serves little purpose other than to put Alyssa Milano and company in different skimpy outfits each week."

And of course:
"And on a historic level, the series is - or perhaps that should be "was" - WB's last tie to Whedon, whose Buffy the Vampire Slayer helped define the fledgling network and save it from obscurity."

Right on.

EdDantes | February 20, 23:07 CET

ktbear - Whedonesque linked to this interview at JAR's website a few days ago.

wren | February 20, 23:35 CET

ktbear - you can check back in the archives of this site within the past week to find the J August link - it's actually from his offical website.

For all those who don't think online petitions don't work - I say guess what it's getting publicity - so therefore it is working - just not in the way one would expect. With media reports about it all over the place - it at least draws attention to the campaign - which is always a good thing.

Lastly, why if it worked for Roswell wont it work for Angel getting it back on the WB - 2 reasons - Roswell was a newer property than Angel -Angel is concidered an established series Roswell was not. The second reason - simple - the WB had money then which it doesn't have now. With taking a 10% hit in profits last year, off-setting the 8% gain by it sister cable stations under the TW corp banner. TW has put the WB on a tigher budget leash - that is why the majority of pilots it's looking at for next year are made by WB studios, thus keeping the budget inhouse so to speak.

I pretty much had a feeling from the beginning of this season that the WB would not bring Angel back after this season and we would have to look for other options.

RavenU | February 20, 23:46 CET

Thanks for showing me the link. Sorry about the newbie mistake!!!

ktbear7476 | February 21, 00:40 CET

The bottom line is people are talking about this now. That's all the more reason to keep campaining. No matter what happens, the public is going to read all this and start acknowledging how our franchise was shafted. It might have a future that way.


(whimpers and tears) “When I heard that Angel was cancelled, I was having fruit punch, and I thought well Spike and Angel and those other vampires will NEVER HAVE anymore fruit punch that looks like blood EVER!!! It’s stupid. It’s mortal and stupid, and no one will explain to me WHY!?!?!?” (turns evil and all-powerful and causes computer equipment to overload)

G Thing | February 21, 02:51 CET