WARNERS REBOOTING BUFFY - Page 2

I have no objections. The version of Buffy I hold dear is in no way threatened by this new version. I'm interested in seeing Whit Anderson's take on the character and I wish her luck. If Warner Bros. wants to seriously shift opinions on this, they should go after Sam Raimi, Edgar Wright or someone of their caliber to direct.

I think there's just enough evidence to support the "It's not Joss's fault the show failed" argument to keep it alive forever. I'd call both Buffy and Angel successes -- many shows don't last five or more seasons. Firefly really did suffer from scheduling (though I'd argue it suffered more from appealing to a very narrow demographic). I can't defend Dollhouse at all -- I certainly didn't like that show.

At any rate, I don't honestly believe that Joss isn't at least partly responsible for some of his shows' failures. I just think there are enough viable scapegoats to keep the hardcore fans claiming otherwise.

ALIEN RESURRECTION and that Godawful X-MEN line are the two that get to me. Just man up and admit you can make mistakes, Joss.

I think there's enough blame for both Whedon and Jeunet to share on Alien Resurrection.

I thought Joss was pretty up-front with their mistakes with Dollhouse right out of the gate. Not to get too Woodward-ish, but when has a Fox show on Friday that wasn't a reality program been a hit? You could really pose that question to any of the networks minus CBS, and even they haven't been doing too hot on Fridays this season.

The Newborn was Joss' idea, right?

Undoubtedly. Dan Hedaya's sasquatch shoulders were more terrifying than the newborn. BTW...I like Hedaya, but that was some awful casting.

Smallville? How is Supernatural doing?

None of which are Fox, but sci-fi/fantasy/horror stuff can survive on Friday nights apparently. I guess we'll see with Fringe too.

And whose idea was Ripley 8? Because that character sucked.

I totally forgot about the CW. Damn...now that I look at it Smallville and Supernatural having been able to pretty much retain most of their Thursday audience. Weird.

Cable seems to be able to draw a decent audience on Fridays. Never a ratings juggernaut, BSG did okay while on Fridays and I believe Stargate: Atlantis did respectable numbers too.

Cable doesn't need to draw as large an audience, because their shows are monetized by fees as well.

Still, if even cable shows beat Firefly and Dollhouse in ratings, that's telling.

Well, the CW's ratings bar is way lower than Fox's. Dollhouse's abysmally rated second season averaged 2.2 million viewers. Smallville averaged 2.4 and Supernatural a 2.6. The latter two shows likely wouldn't survive Fox's chopping block.

*Numbers from here.

Galactica rarely topped 2 million viewers an episode. Stargate Universe averages around a million. Again, the bar is way lower.

I think there was a thread about this a long time ago. Whedon wrote a ton of drafts of that script. But, once they started filming, stuff was still changed on the fly. Which, I'm sure, is what happens during the production of many flicks. So you can excuse Whedon or blame him for everything, like you're doing. I think his biggest mistake is thinking that people would respect his writing, or not reinterpret it, because HE wrote it. It's probably why he went from writer to more than writer, to have more control over his creations. I think when he's more in control, you get really good stuff. I'm obviously a fan, but I think the guy can certainly tell a story. He's inventive. Certainly not always perfect. For example, Alien: Res. It's a mess. But I love Weaver in it - she gives a great performance. And, after Newt for tossed away at the beginning of 3, I like how he tries to shove that back in with Ryder's character. Plus, in it you can see the seeds for Firefly, which I think is an amazing show.

As far as this remake goes, I'd be surprised if it hit any time soon. I guess I'd care a little bit more if Whedon planned on doing anything with the property aside from comics. But he's seems to have to buried any TV/movie ideas for it.

There's specifc Whedon stuff that carries over into the final ALIEN RESURRECTION, though, isn't there? Like the aforementioned newborn. I just think if he owned up to messing stuff up occasionally instead of, as Rhodey points out, ALWAYS finding some other reason for something not working, it'd be a lot harder for his detractors to use these things as a stick to beat him with.

I'm a big fan of his, too - own all his TV stuff and most of his high-profile film work. I do think he's gotten a little ensconced in his role as guru to the Whedonites, though.

To Whedon's credit, the Newborn in the script resembled that spider-skeleton thing at the end of Poltergeist more than the thing it became. Read: it sounded creepy as shit.

But yeah, the man really doesn't know how to say "I fucked up, let's move on".

Hearing him trying to defend that awful "Toads struck by lightning" line in X-Men is just a sad, sad thing to witness.

He can't be blamed for final execution. Handled in other ways, it might have worked fine.

Whedon created all these fantastic iconic Buffy characters, like Spike and Angel. And the new version, instead of using these pre existing characters people love, is going to erase them. That's a terrible idea. They should be reinforcing the characters people love, this can only strengthen the brand and longevity of Buffy. It's like someone making an Xmen movie and deciding only Wolverine should be the surviving character. Actually, it's more like making Cyclops the only remaining character, since Buffy like Cyclops is rarely anyones favorite character.

In his defense, Joss wrote the best line in X-Men, too.