wow, good for him.

narky | April 08, 10:37 CET

And good for us Alias fans, too. Excellent news!

keever | April 08, 10:53 CET

Definitely great news. He's moving from my current favorite television show to what will move up to my favorite show after Angel leaves. Works for me!

MindPieces | April 08, 11:03 CET

Yay! I hope to be all caught up on Alias by the time they start airing the 4th season so I can finally start watching when it airs. It's nice to know there's another great writer joining the team.

I'm with MindPieces. After Angel is gone, Alias will become my favorite show.

electricspacegirl | April 08, 11:13 CET

Good to see someone so deserving get a coup like this.

txvoodoo | April 08, 12:32 CET

good bloody on him!

this is the best alumni news yet!

aapac | April 08, 12:38 CET

Wow...this is a big step towards AtS last days...As AtS co-executive producer and head writer, the departure of Jeff is the final death-knell for Angel...Good for Alias, bad for those of us wishing for another season...

Simpleba | April 08, 13:35 CET

I was wondering aapac...Is Buffy/Angel considered pretty "mainstream" there in Australia?

Simpleba | April 08, 13:37 CET

I doubt that even the passing of Angel can convert me to Alias fandom. [sigh]

Maeve | April 08, 17:14 CET

I really enjoy Alias and I'm hoping Jeff Bell (as he did with Angel) can "save" the show. This season of Alias has been rather disappointing for me so the addition of Jeff Bell is good news all around.

mai | April 08, 18:18 CET

Mai, I agree. I'm a big fan of Alias but this season hasn't been as good as the previous ones. If Angel is not coming back then I am happy that Bell will be working on Alias.

Firefly Flanatic | April 08, 19:00 CET

Alias has never held much fascination for me, but I'm willing to give it another go to see what Jeff Bell can do with it. And hey, maybe we'll see some Jossverse actors guest-starring! That would be soooo cool!

punkinpuss | April 08, 19:20 CET

Yes, SMG or Eliza Dushku as a bad guy would be a lot of fun. And I could picture Tony Head as some sort of evil dictator - Ripper style. That could be a lot of fun!

Firefly Flanatic | April 08, 19:28 CET

Good for Jeff Bell! Right on. I'm not an Alias fan but am willing to give it a look when Angel goes off the air.

It's news like this that give the lie to rumors that Angel will be picked up by another network. The Lycos rumor, for example. Bastards. They should keep their mouths shut unless they really know something. Clearly they don't know what they're talking about. Or they're just getting off on the sadism of it all.

phlebotinin | April 08, 19:42 CET

I like Alias, after two years of recommendation from a friend, I finally watched the pilot over Xmas, and by the end of January was fully up to speed, and having to endure the sometimes painfully long gaps between episodes (thank god we've only had two of those this year with Angel.)

I haven't had a problem with this season, but I know lots have people have, I know that some people reckon destroying SD-6 was the biggest mistake the show ever made.

Anyway, this sounds like a good thing, though if (not giving up)Angel gets picked up, they'll need a new executive producer. And yes, seeing Buffyverse actors would be great, only problem is, as with Ricky Gervais, they might not be able to shake the role they're known for, anyway, the type of twisted, f*cked up storylines that show has they could probably work out someway to make Giles Sloane's dad or something.

Ghost Spike | April 08, 19:42 CET

My problem with Alias this season hasn't really been with the storyline. It's more because they seem to have gotten sloppy in presenting it. For example - Lauren's mom comes in and in a standing position shoots Lauren's father in the head and he is on his knees looking up. The CIA then rules it a suicide without any questions. I'm not a foresnic expert but I've seen enough of that sort of thing on TV to know that it would've been ruled a suspicious death if not an outright murder because of the position of how the bullet went in and from the distance it went in. Considering this is a show that is about the CIA I'd expect them to be a little more accurate on this sort of thing. Another is Lauren wearing a mask that you can clearly see her eyes and the shape of her mouth through yet her own husband can't tell it's his own wife standing a half of foot away from him. She has very distinctive lips and eyes too. There are a whole lot more that I can't really think of right now but every week my husband and I think it was a good episode with the exception of those sort of things.

And yes I also hate that we get to see one or two episodes and then have to wait several weeks or more to see the next one. It drives me nuts when they (all the networks)do this sort of thing because it really takes away from the flow of the show.

Firefly Flanatic | April 08, 19:59 CET

Alias used to be my favorite show and I agree that this season has been its weakest. What first drew me to it were the intelligent, fast-paced storylines and the leave-you-hanging endings.
But I was watching Alias before I began watching Angel, and now there's no comparison between them for me. With Angel, you have the great writing, the good plots, but also incredibly detailed and tangible characters. I can identify so much more with any character on Angel or Buffy that I can with Sydney, Jack, Vaughn, Marshall, anyone. I love those characters but they're still very mysterious to me; Dixon was always done pretty well but he's more of a sidenote nowadays. So maybe Jeff Bell can help with that - he's definitely got the creds for it. Congrats to him!

irish | April 08, 21:23 CET

Alias is, without a doubt, great entertainment. But, I agree with irish, it can't be compared to Angel or BTVS. It's writing, acting, and character development are all good, but nowhere near the level we have come to expect from the Buffyverse. Granted, the show is only in it's third season and can still (despite this year's lackluster season) aspire to greatness. Alias was at its best in the second season when it focused on the conflict between Sydney and her parents. This year (despite a fantastic season opener) has been nothing but a slew of disappointments. From Lauren (whose acting chops are a celebration of mediocrity) to the lame explanation of Sydney's memory loss, to the Scully-esque harvesting of Sydey's ova, and the "Is Sloane the Dadddy?" storyline ripped straight from the X-Files, it's seems this once innovative series, whose twists and turns used to keep me at the edge of my seat, has run out of ideas. Here's hoping Jeff Bell can breathe new life into it.

mai | April 08, 22:25 CET

Oh, I wholeheartedly agree that Alias is no where near the greatness of Angel, Buffy or Firefly. Purely good entertainment to me but not with as detailed or as rich storylines. That's why I'm excited to see Jeff Bell coming on board because it has the potential to be better than it is.

Firefly Flanatic | April 08, 22:51 CET

This is fantastic news. Like others, when and if this is Angel's last season, then Alias will take it's place as my fave show on tv. And though this season of Alias is subpar to others specifically the second, it's still good entertainment and far better than some of the crap on tv.

nychick | April 08, 23:20 CET

I just have to defend this current season of Alias and say that I, for one, am loving it. I wasn't much for Lauren's character when she was just the wife, but I find her to be tons of fun since we've discovered her evil nature. Her and Sark also make a great troublesome duo, and I can't wait to see how the year wraps up. The fan reaction to this year kind of reminds me of the last two seasons of Buffy, where I was loving every minute and 95% of other people were complaining non-stop.

Oh well, minorities are fun places to be.

MindPieces | April 09, 00:00 CET

I stopped watching Alias about half-way through the first season. I can't even remember why, specifically -- it was cool-looking, and the premiere kicked butt, but overall it just never grabbed me. I think I got annoyed with the absurdity of Sydney seriously going to grad school at the same time she was living this incredible super-spy existence that was never really broached by her bosom-buddy-close friends. The balance between realism and fantasy got too fuzzy for me, and I also got disappointed when the storylines didn't capitalize on some of the very promising and complex dynamics that were set up early on (particularly Sydney and Dixon).

Jeff Bell signing on with them gives me a reason to check Alias out again. I've followed his work since X-Files and I'm hoping he can bring some of the old magic back to the show. I'd like to care about Sydney again (but she's got to stop that awful habit of whispering when she's having one of her intense, teary emotional confrontations with someone. It drove me insane that I had to put on the CC just to understand what she was saying).

Wiseblood | April 09, 00:24 CET

>>I was wondering aapac...Is Buffy/Angel considered pretty "mainstream" there in Australia?<<

it's very popular... very very popular

season 5 of angel is being shown at the 11:30pm timeslot, so it doesn't rate very well... but it's very popular

all the critics love it, everybody loves it, and the dvds sell very quickly

it's definetely not mainstream compared to alias here

aapac | April 09, 04:24 CET

i would say a/b is relatively popular here. especially with the right kind of crowd f ie 15-35 yos with disposable incomes (who buy dvds). that's good for advertisers, so it stills shows despite nothing remotely approaching mainstream success. us fans also happen to be the kind of freaks that stay up late to watch our fave shows.

sadly, i don't think angel does as well as buffy did. also, it hasn't been as well received by the critics as buffy. buffy was getting thumbs up consistently from the SMH, but i think angel only gets thumbs down.

biki | April 09, 10:13 CET