Buffy to continue without SMG?

POSTED BY: Haken
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 19:53
VIEWED: 7835
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HAKEN

Wednesday, July 10, 2002 9:01 PM

Saw the below at SCIFI.COM. If memory serves me, which it often does not, I think this is the first real indication that BtVS might continue without a Buffy.

Quote:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Enterprise helped boost UPN's ratings among total viewers last season by 15 percent, Variety reported. The fifth season of Buffy, which moved to the Smackdown network from The WB, and the premiere season of Star Trek spinoff Enterprise also helped UPN see a 13 percent increase in adult viewers 18-49 and a 19 percent hike in adults 18-34 in the 2001-'02 season, the trade paper reported.

In all three categories, UPN bested its archrival The WB. But UPN's other pickup from The WB, Roswell, tanked in the ratings and wasn't renewed, the trade paper reported.

Looking ahead, it's an open question whether Buffy will continue after UPN's deal with the show's producer, 20th Century Television, expires next spring. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar has been publicly noncommittal about returning for the 2003-'04 season. But Buffy creator Joss Whedon has been planning for such a possibility and might be inclined to continue even without Gellar, the trade paper reported.

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, July 10, 2002 9:54 PM

Sorry Haken, but that's a long way from "real indication". Anyway, there have always been stories and rumors about SMG wanting to move on. Some of them stronger than this, but mostly just people talking. Whedon himself has talked about how he might keep the show going without her. But no specific plans.

Read somewhere that Faith was invented so they'd have a backup in case SMG bailed. Not sure I believe that.

BOBKNAPTOR

Thursday, July 11, 2002 8:10 PM

I read so many buffy websites and articles that it's hard to remember where I read what... but I have this undying non-love for Freddie Prinze Jr since I read that part of SMGs non-commital to Buffy is that Freddie would rather she focus on movies. All I have to say to that is he is NOT someone I would take career advice from. Has he EVER made a good movie? EVER? I do not like that guy.

______________
Really? Me? I'll crack him like an egg.

PANDORA

Thursday, July 11, 2002 8:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bobknaptor:
I read so many buffy websites and articles that it's hard to remember where I read what... but I have this undying non-love for Freddie Prinze Jr since I read that part of SMGs non-commital to Buffy is that Freddie would rather she focus on movies. All I have to say to that is he is NOT someone I would take career advice from. Has he EVER made a good movie? EVER? I do not like that guy.

______________
Really? Me? I'll crack him like an egg.

Oh, sweet jebus... If SMG is taking career advice from FPJ, she's more of an idiot than I took her for. FPJ is a flash in the pan Frat Pack butt nugget, destined to make quasi-humorous teen/college movies until he's too old and busted to do so, then they'll try to promote him to his over-the-hill fans through bad sitcoms or maybe a Showtime drama.

SMG, as we've discussed before, is wasting her ample talents with the caca movies with which she continues to involve herself.

(BTW, I saw Scooby Doo, which wasn't nearly as abysmally, gut-wrenchingly, vomit-inducingly horrible as I thought, but still was certainly no better than the best of her other tripe films.)

Damn, I'm hard on her. I feel bad, because I genuinely like her work, and from what I've seen of her in interviews, she seems interesting and somewhat cool. However, she seems determined to undermine her career at every turn with these rotten scripts.

That girl needs to stick with Buffy until she gets her head on straight. Of course, getting her head on straight would be the only thing to keep her on Buffy, I guess...

Pandora
SMG is doing more entertaining, more meaningful, and just plain better work on the worst episode of Buffy than Freddie Prinze Jr. has done in all his movies put together.

"Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies
and the baby looked at me." -Ralph Wiggum

FURYFIRE

Thursday, July 11, 2002 10:01 PM

Looking forward to Dawn the Vampire slayer!

If you know anyone that can help my screenwriting career, please help! And yes, I am self-advertising here. Hehehe, me such a little devil.

ZICSOFT

Thursday, July 11, 2002 11:55 PM

Panny I love you like ... well, I won't say a sister, I can't get along with mine. Let me just say I like to hear you speak your mind. Usually. But this time..

WHERE DO YOU GET OFF LECTURING A COMPLETE STRANGER ON HER CAREER STRATEGY? You have no authority on this subject. How much do you know about this person's actual personal life? How many movies or shows have you been in? How many casting couches have you danced around? How many cattle calls have you been to?

And, pray tell, what exactly is the secret of infallibly getting cast in good parts in good movies? No, better not tell us. Go become an agent -- you'll make a mint!

PANDORA

Friday, July 12, 2002 12:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Panny I love you like ... well, I won't say a sister, I can't get along with mine. Let me just say I like to hear you speak your mind. Usually. But this time..

WHERE DO YOU GET OFF LECTURING A COMPLETE STRANGER ON HER CAREER STRATEGY? You have no authority on this subject. How much do you know about this person's actual personal life? How many movies or shows have you been in? How many casting couches have you danced around? How many cattle calls have you been to?

And, pray tell, what exactly is the secret of infallibly getting cast in good parts in good movies? No, better not tell us. Go become an agent -- you'll make a mint!

Look, Ziccy, I love you too, but SMG's track record speaks for itself. Whereas I'm not sure what kinds of offers she may have gotten in the time since Buffy started, I'm thinking that if Michelle "Dawson's Creek" Williams or Jordana "As The World Turns" Brewster or any number of teen/20 something actors working on shows that aren't even as reputable as Buffy can get quality roles in quality films, that SMG can get work in better movies than the ones she's chosen.

That's right, chosen. I'm not in the film industry, I'm not an actress, but I do know this: Nobody's holding a gun to SMG's head telling her to be in movies like "Simply Irresistible" and/or "Scooby Doo" (which, btw, I maintain are a waste of her significant talent). She ain't starvin', since I'm sure she's making a decent wage from Buffy and Maybelline, etc. So why can't she hold out for a really good movie?

I'm not lecturing SMG. SMG, if you're reading this, I'm very surprised. (And be aware that I love you, I think you're talented and hot. I've already been over the career advice.) However, I do have opinions about the use of her talent. She chose to put herself in the public domain, and that is going to lead to criticism *and* praise. Quite frankly, if she (or her fans) aren't prepared for anything but an SMG worship fest in which we genuflect before posters of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream 2", then they probably shouldn't be frequenting the internet at all.

I respect your love for SMG, Ziccy, I really do, but you should save your vitriol for someone else.

No hard feelings, though.

Pandora
Yeah, and Swan's Crossing sucks too (though I'll give her that one since I'm pretty sure it was a major stepping stone in her career)!

"Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies
and the baby looked at me." -Ralph Wiggum

MILLERNATE

Friday, July 12, 2002 1:31 AM

Quote:

WHERE DO YOU GET OFF LECTURING A COMPLETE STRANGER ON HER CAREER STRATEGY? You have no authority on this subject. How much do you know about this person's actual personal life? How many movies or shows have you been in? How many casting couches have you danced around? How many cattle calls have you been to?

Well I can still call her hypocritical though. She's said in interviews various things about "honing her craft" and yet she is supposedly going to be leaving Buffy to be doing dreck like Scooby Doo

? She is also showing a pretty lousy eye for scripts (I can and will say that). Before she did Scooby Doo she had a truly open shot to be in Independent films to really hone her craft and get her greater respect as an actress. And she does Scooby Doo instead? Well that's one way to close yourself off from "important" films for now and ever (I hate that too but the people who make decisions on these type of things will end up believing that people wouldn't take their movies seriously with the female lead from Scooby Doo in them).

Her problem is the same one Tom Selleck (an earlier actor who had the same problem she has of being over identified as their character) had in the 80s/early 90s in that she seems to be looking for that sure "box office" win instead of just appearing in good movies. Selleck career flamed out for a good long while before making a semi-comeback in the 90s with stuff like IN and Out (which he has followed by going into semi-retirement) which involved taking the kinds of chances he should have been taking *much* sooner. Unless Sarah realizes this her career is liable to go in much the same manner as Mr. Selleck's (with Scooby Doo being her Three Men and a Baby) which will be more than a bit sad.

Nathan
"Being popular and well liked is not in your best interest. Let me be more clear; if you behave in a manner pleasing to most, then you are probably doing something wrong." - Janeane Garofalo, from "Feel this Book"

MOJOECA

Friday, July 12, 2002 4:34 AM

Looks like it's been pretty quiet the last couple of days...

I've already said my peace on SMG's career. I did want to say that Ebert apparently loved HARVARD MAN. He thought it was "smart." OTOH, Roeper thought it was "despicable and loathesome." The funny part was when Roeper says, roughly, "When you see Rebecca Gayheart pull out that FBI badge ... CHARLIE'S ANGELS was a documentary."

A word on Freddie Prinze, Jr -- he was actively campaigning for the role of Peter Parker in SPIDER-MAN(!). For an idea of how sickening Prinze as Parker would look, watch BOYS AND GIRLS, where he played a nerd (re: he wore glasses and grew out his bangs). Thankfully, Sam Raimi never even considered him.

--- Joe

PANDORA

Friday, July 12, 2002 5:48 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mojoeca:

A word on Freddie Prinze, Jr -- he was actively campaigning for the role of Peter Parker in SPIDER-MAN(!). For an idea of how sickening Prinze as Parker would look, watch BOYS AND GIRLS, where he played a nerd (re: he wore glasses and grew out his bangs). Thankfully, Sam Raimi never even considered him.

--- Joe

Hmmmm...

[weighing one in each hand]

Freddie Prinze Jr., Tobey Maguire... Freddie Prinze Jr., Tobey Maguire...

Tough call.

Pandora
*sniffsniff* Smell that? That's sarcasm.

"Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies
and the baby looked at me." -Ralph Wiggum

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