Posted Jun 3rd 2009 6:03PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free

Anthony Stewart Head, who played the character of Rupert Giles on
Buffy the Vampire Slayer a long, long time ago, has hinted that the British spin-off
Ripper (which would star the character of Giles) is
not outside the realm of possibility.
Granted, there are a few pitfalls in the way. Creator Joss Whedon is busy with his series
Dollhouse and his upcoming movie
Cabin in the Woods. Plus there may be some confusion regarding the character if they get that
Whedon-less Buffy movie made.
There is definitely still life left in the
Buffy franchise (look at all the successful series and movies out there involving vampires with a female protagonist). I'm sorry Joss didn't use that Eliza Dushku contract to make a series about the character of Faith rather than
Dollhouse, although I understand his creative need to spread his wings. In my mind, there is only a matter of time before they make a feature film that is a direct spin-off from the television series that involves Joss Whedon and doesn't suck. Fingers crossed.
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 5:01PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Animation, Celebrities, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory

OK, so she turned evil and veiny and almost destroyed the world after someone murdered her hot lesbian lover. But at heart, Willow Rosenberg was always a computer-hacking, research-loving nerd.
The
Buffy the Vampire Slayer character landed at number one on Topless Robot's list of
"Pop Culture's 10 Greatest Nerds." I was surprised by the pick at first, but I can't think of a better choice to top the list. Willow was a great character, and will probably always be actor Alyson Hannigan's best role (sorry,
HIMYM fans, but it's true).
Continue reading Buffy's Willow tops list of pop culture's greatest nerds
Posted May 26th 2009 10:04AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free

It looks like Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with original movie director Fran Rubel Kuzui, the director of the original movie,
to create a remake of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The trick is, they're not involving the creator or any of the original cast of the television series. In fact, they're not even basing it on the television series.
If ever there was a recipe for disaster, this is it. McG's proposed version of
Spaced sucked eggs for similar reasons (a failure to grasp what made it successful). This could potentially work if you took out the word "Buffy" from the title and didn't try to sully the name of the franchise, but otherwise, I don't see it.
Of course, it is early in the process. There are a million ways that this horrific idea can die an early death, which would sure beat the embarrassment of the certain death of nobody going to see this movie.
Posted May 17th 2009 2:27PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark

Well,
you guys were absolutely right. Season five of
Angel is awesome, and I'm so glad I slugged through some of the earlier seasons that didn't exactly float my vampire boat.
The writing in season five is excellent, the characters are both fun and multidimensional (especially Wesley, whose story only gets more and more tragic), and it's just a great all-around season. Here are five reasons why I loved this season as much as any TV show (including
Buffy).
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Five reasons why Angel season five is awesome
Posted May 14th 2009 5:02PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, The Shield, TV Squad Polls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark

If you've been following my
Jane After Dark adventures, you know it's all about the DVDs I watch into the wee hours while I'm covering the
TV Squad queue and everyone else (at least in my house) is sleeping.
I've finished
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I'm nearly done with
Angel. I'll post this weekend about season five of
Angel. You guys are
absolutely right. It's awesome TV.
After that, I need you to help me choose my next Jane After Dark series. There are so many great TV shows on DVD, and frankly, I'm stumped at what to watch next. So please vote in my poll below, and tell me what to do! And if you don't see your series listed, tell me in the comments, and I'll add it to the list next time.
Posted May 10th 2009 11:45AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark

Well, I've covered
Buffy the Vampire Slayer here on
Jane After Dark, and my nephew, who loaned me his
Buffy DVDs, also got me into
Angel. Nearly everyone I talked to about
Angel said they just couldn't get into it. After
Buffy, maybe everything else pales in comparison.
I have to say, I really only started watching
Angel out of respect for
Buffy and Joss Whedon, and because I really loved the character of Angel (and David Boreanaz is not hard to look at). I was alternately watching
Buffy and
Angel at the same time (one disc of
Buffy, one of
Angel, and so on); it was a good way to do it, because there were a few crossover episodes that made a lot more sense watching them that way.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Is Angel as good as Buffy?
Posted May 2nd 2009 10:10AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark

Last week, I devoted my first
Jane After Dark column to my
top five Buffy moments. I was thrilled to read all the responses, both here on
TV Squad and at
Whedonesque, where the post was picked up. Fans of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer are a passionate bunch!
This week, I thought it would be fun to delve into my favorite Buffy hookups. One that didn't make the list but holds a special place in my heart is Giles and Joyce. It was a fleeting moment, but one that was fun and would have made for great storytelling had it continued.
But who to pair Buffy up with -- Spike, Angel or Riley? What about Spike and Drusilla? And while Willow and Tara had a special love affair, there's a lot to be said for Willow and Oz. And what of Xander? Sure, he and Anya had a fun romance, but his hookups with Cordelia and even Faith were intense in their own way.
Oh the choices! Read on for my thoughts, and please add your own in the comments below.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Top five Buffy hookups
Posted Apr 25th 2009 11:02AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: TV Royalty, TV on DVD, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark

I'm starting a new column here on
TV Squad called "Jane After Dark." Some of you know I work the "night shift" here at the Squad, editing and scheduling posts into the wee hours. I'm a big multi-tasker, so I also use those hours to get caught up on all the great shows I've missed along the way.
Over the past year, I've watched some really cool shows, including
Six Feet Under,
The Sopranos,
Moonlight,
Weeds,
Entourage,
Gossip Girl, and many others. So I thought it would be fun to write about my After Dark musings, and I hope you'll chime in with your own thoughts about whatever I'm watching.
I just finished
Joss Whedon's magnificent
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I loved so many things about the show. No one could look as stylish as Buffy as she slayed those vampires. Angel and Spike were both hot in their own way. The love between Willow and Tara was sweet and gentle, but also powerful. And the characters continued to grow and evolve throughout the series. By the last episode, you really felt like you knew these characters and had grown right along with them.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Top five Buffy moments
Posted Apr 16th 2009 11:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free
Amber Benson has certainly kept herself busy since her Buffy days. Most recently, she's been promoting her book Death's Daughter. And now, in a desperate promotional maneuver, Amber has promised that if she gets at least 85 reviews of her book on Amazon, whether they are praising or cursing the book, she will post a video of herself on YouTube dancing the Macarena.
Granted, I have no plans to read her book, but I would quite happily watch a video of Amber dancing the Macarena. I encourage you folks to post a review, and it would be helpful, but not required, if you actually read the book beforehand.
By the way, I have seen other works by Amber Benson (the writer, not the actress). I enjoyed her Ghosts of Albion series for the BBC that she did with Christopher Golden. With that in mind, perhaps I will try to read her novel.
[via Comicmix]
Posted Mar 2nd 2009 3:07PM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Celebrities, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free, Mad Men

Do they cook? Not sure. Are they Jedi Knights? Errrrr, maybe? So what's the deal with
Celebrity Jedi Chefs? We wish we knew. In their own words, they're [mostly] TV actors who "do the same sorts of things that 'normal' Jedi do, but [they] also cook." There are 216 of them, and most have appeared on buzzy sci-fi shows, including
Heroes,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and
Battlestar Galactica.
We're not talking background players, either. Yeah, we're still stuck trying to figure out what Celebrity Jedi Chefs...
is exactly (and if the pictures, as suggested by the fashion, were all magically taken in 1993), but we needn't hear any more if it means we get to see pictures of Joan Holloway (among others, after the jump) weilding a saber.
Continue reading TV celebs wielding big sabers
Posted Mar 1st 2009 1:10PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Programming, OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Casting, Reality-Free

I'm neck-deep in the midst of a vampire obsession. I'm
one of the Twi-hards eagerly awaiting the Nov. 20 release of Stephenie Meyer's next vamp-flick,
New Moon. I was immediately sucked into HBO's
True Blood, and can't wait for its return in May.
I recently sped through the short-lived
Moonlight and fell in love with Mick St. John. And its taken me all of about a week to get to season three of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (though I don't know if I can take much more of the on again-off again romance of Buffy and Angel - don't tell me how it plays out).
I'm sure I'll be equally enthralled with
The CW pilot, Vampire Diaries. It doesn't hurt that
Steven R. McQueen, grandson of the legendary Steve McQueen has landed a lead role. I bet even those not as enamored with vamps will tune in just to see him: Does he look like his grandfather? Act like him? Have the same "something"?
Continue reading Vampire Diaries snags Steve McQueen's grandson
Posted Nov 23rd 2008 9:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Battlestar Galactica, Adult Swim, Doctor Who, South Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Chuck, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series

In an attempt to do something a little different this year, I'm going to list the television shows past and present (and even future) that I am most thankful for at this time. Some I review for
TV Squad and some I don't. Some I used to and some I would if I were asked. Some I will never review because government agents have come to my house and pretty much told me forthright that if I reviewed them, they would have me detained. So, here goes:
South Park - The most insightful show on television. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are willing to take issues that the rest of the more liberal Hollywood view as simple and show their complexity by taking other sides. I don't think they're invited to a lot of Hollywood parties as a result, but it makes for great television.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles - it's been hit and miss story-wise, but the overall arc has been satisfying. Hopefully, the series will develop a reasonable ending to satisfy the fans once it is canceled due to poor ratings as a result of Fox moving it to the Friday Night Death Slot.
Continue reading What Brad is thankful for
Posted Sep 5th 2008 8:38AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free

No doubt about it, the TV viewing world loves
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In fact, there are some of us ... ahem ... who just can't seem to let it go.
Yeah, I just called the kettle black, as I mourn for
Buffy like no other show in the history of television. However, now that a
massive mulitiplayer online Buffy game has been announced, I am wondering if all the
Buffy love has gone just a bit too far.
I could stomach the previous video games, mostly because they weren't purchased by anyone in my household, and I have even been known to read the season eight comic books (which may or may not have something to do with the storyline of the MMO game). Maybe, just maybe, I am wondering if it is time for all of us to just let
Buffy rest in peace.
Continue reading Buffy to be an online game
Posted Aug 26th 2008 3:44PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reality-Free

Remember when rock 'n roll was to blame for teenagers being out of control? What about when John Lennon's quote about The Beatles being as big as Jesus drew the ire of the church and resulted in deejays advocating the destruction of LPs and singles?
Well, here's another missive from an "authority figure" about how pop culture is ruining today's youth. Sociologist Kristin Aune claims that
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer is responsible for young women not attending church.
Dr. Aune, who's written
Women and Religion in the West, and is a teacher at the University of Derby (that's in the U.K.), doesn't know if
Buffy has also affected young men. Her research doesn't address if boys are abandoning the church, too, so I guess they're safe.
This is no joke, although it does sound like a good way to promote a book that would otherwise be ignored. Mentioning
Buffy is a good way to let the world know that Dr. Aune wrote it.
Continue reading It's all Buffy's fault!
Posted Aug 25th 2008 8:03AM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Reality-Free

Picture this: back-to-back episodes of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Angel for over twelve hours; raffles, games and prizes; a
miniature diorama of The Magic Box, authentically detailed and ready to be auctioned off.
Sound like an outrageously fun event? To me, too, but it gets even better. All of the money raised at the Slay-a-thon, an annual event in Chicago, goes to the Make a Wish Foundation, to help sick kids live their dreams while they still can.
You know what I say about it, but what would the Scooby Gang say about the painstakingly detailed diorama of The Magic Box?
Continue reading Slay-a-thon pleases Buffy fans and raises money
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