When the WB cancelled Angel in January of 2003, it was done mostly for cost reasons, or so the bean counters at the Frog network would tell you. The show was the number two highest rated drama, behind the now cancelled 7th Heaven (which is ending its ten-year run in May 2006 because it is expensive). But the WB felt the shows audience was not going to grow beyond what was already there, even after the producers bowed to pressure to make the show more episodic.
One thing the WB did not realize was that Angel had a huge fanbase and would not take the cancellation sitting down. But, despite the protests and the mass petitions, Angel left the airwaves in May 2003.
However, soon after (and much later as the fall schedule of 2004 sputtered), Garth Ancier, president of WB programming, admitted that cancelling the show was probably a mistake. He said the decision was rather rushed, so it sounds like it basically came down to a coin toss. Angel loss.
Since last summer, rumors have been going around that Ancier was liking the idea of doing some TV movies (which, at the time, the WB had yet to do). Perhaps bring back the surviving cast members from Angel 's series finale -Angel himself, Spike, Gunn (who looked near death) and now-dead-Fred-possessed-by-Illyria. He mentioned in several interviews that he was willing to listen to anything Joss Whedon was willing to do.
But now Whedon was off doing Serenity and even shut down his TV division of Mutant Enemy to focus on his next film, Wonder Woman. And the cast of Angel went their different ways. David Boreanaz now is starring in the new FOX show Bones, Amy Acker will be seen on the new CBS midseason action show The Unit and J. August Richards & Alexis Densiof are doing guest shots on other shows, along with James Marsters who popped up on last seasons stink bomb known as The Mountain and has a recurring roll this season of Smallville.
Boreanaz, like Sarah Michelle Geller, has made it known that he's not ready to return as the brooding vampire, while Marsters appears to be willing to go through the bleaching again to return as Spike.
Now, after all this time, it looks like a Spike TV movie is closer to becoming a reality, as the planets and the stars seem to lining up. Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles (and has returned to England to live and work) and who had been rumored to be doing a possible Giles TV series for the BBC has made mention in the latest issue of the Buffy the Vampire Magazine that the long talked about TV series may now become a "TV movie that might be a part of a series of DVD's that we are talking about doing for different characters from the shows."
This appears to where 20th Century Fox is going towards, since they own the rights to both Buffy and Angel and has heard the cha ching of register sales on both shows on DVD. Plus, series producer/writer Marti Noxon told the scifi wire that "There are serious discussions going on about bringing some of the characters back and making a few movies that will go straight to DVD, but they will certainly be the quality they've alawys have been."
Now the syfy portal has is reporting that writer Tim Minear, who wrote for both TV shows and Whedon's short lived Firefly, will write and direct a Spike TV movie. He is reported -in the same magazine - as being asked by Whedon to do the film. It is also noted that talks are underway not only to bring back Marsters as Spike, but also Amy Acker as Illyria.
The time frame for this movie -and eventual release on DVD- is unknown. But, I'm sure we'll be keeping all our ears open -and our necks covered in garlic.
One thing the WB did not realize was that Angel had a huge fanbase and would not take the cancellation sitting down. But, despite the protests and the mass petitions, Angel left the airwaves in May 2003.
However, soon after (and much later as the fall schedule of 2004 sputtered), Garth Ancier, president of WB programming, admitted that cancelling the show was probably a mistake. He said the decision was rather rushed, so it sounds like it basically came down to a coin toss. Angel loss.
Since last summer, rumors have been going around that Ancier was liking the idea of doing some TV movies (which, at the time, the WB had yet to do). Perhaps bring back the surviving cast members from Angel 's series finale -Angel himself, Spike, Gunn (who looked near death) and now-dead-Fred-possessed-by-Illyria. He mentioned in several interviews that he was willing to listen to anything Joss Whedon was willing to do.
But now Whedon was off doing Serenity and even shut down his TV division of Mutant Enemy to focus on his next film, Wonder Woman. And the cast of Angel went their different ways. David Boreanaz now is starring in the new FOX show Bones, Amy Acker will be seen on the new CBS midseason action show The Unit and J. August Richards & Alexis Densiof are doing guest shots on other shows, along with James Marsters who popped up on last seasons stink bomb known as The Mountain and has a recurring roll this season of Smallville.
Boreanaz, like Sarah Michelle Geller, has made it known that he's not ready to return as the brooding vampire, while Marsters appears to be willing to go through the bleaching again to return as Spike.
Now, after all this time, it looks like a Spike TV movie is closer to becoming a reality, as the planets and the stars seem to lining up. Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles (and has returned to England to live and work) and who had been rumored to be doing a possible Giles TV series for the BBC has made mention in the latest issue of the Buffy the Vampire Magazine that the long talked about TV series may now become a "TV movie that might be a part of a series of DVD's that we are talking about doing for different characters from the shows."
This appears to where 20th Century Fox is going towards, since they own the rights to both Buffy and Angel and has heard the cha ching of register sales on both shows on DVD. Plus, series producer/writer Marti Noxon told the scifi wire that "There are serious discussions going on about bringing some of the characters back and making a few movies that will go straight to DVD, but they will certainly be the quality they've alawys have been."
Now the syfy portal has is reporting that writer Tim Minear, who wrote for both TV shows and Whedon's short lived Firefly, will write and direct a Spike TV movie. He is reported -in the same magazine - as being asked by Whedon to do the film. It is also noted that talks are underway not only to bring back Marsters as Spike, but also Amy Acker as Illyria.
The time frame for this movie -and eventual release on DVD- is unknown. But, I'm sure we'll be keeping all our ears open -and our necks covered in garlic.
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