New television season packed with Joss Whedon's empire of shows

By: Adnan Virk

Posted: 11/5/02

As the new fall season of television gets underway, one thing becomes readily apparent. Joss Whedon is insane.

For those unaware, Whedon is the writer/creator and co-executive producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. His reach spans three different networks, and his shows have amassed fan loyalty that others would kill for.

Why would he risk over-extending himself creatively by taking on duties for three shows at once?

"Because I'm an idiot," Whedon laughed (when posed a similar question by reporter Charlie McCollum last August).

Ever since bursting onto the television scene in 1997 with Buffy (his only previous TV experience being a writing stint on Roseanne), Whedon has specialized at defying all expectations. Legions of viewers (including myself) immediately dismissed the show as pointless teenybopper angst.

However, those that did tune in fast realized that there was more than meets the eye regarding this peculiar little midseason replacement.

The show displayed a unique ability to effortlessly weave between emotional drama and smart humor and resonated with viewers in its use of demons and vampires as metaphor (an early example, Sunnydale High sat atop an underground demonic portal/creature called the Hellmouth, high school literally was hell for these students).

During its second season, spurred by a storyline that saw Buffy forced to kill her love to save the world, viewers and critics nationwide began to realize that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, underneath the vampires and teen cast, was legitimate adult drama.

Publications such as Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, who named it one of the 50 greatest shows of all time, regularly praised its writing and acting. In addition, the show garnered Whedon an Emmy nomination for his fourth season script "Hush."

In 1999, riding high on success, Whedon and fellow Buffy scribe David Greenwalt launched a spin-off called Angel, named after its title character, a vampire with a soul tormented by past atrocities.

He tries to find redemption by "helping the helpless," while being dragged down by a pesky curse that robs him of his soul and turns him evil should he experience pure happiness.

Set in L.A., the show is consistently darker and edgier than Buffy and exudes a noir atmosphere that has helped it break out of the shadow of its parent series. Last year, Whedon further added to his workload when he inked a deal with FOX to create Firefly, a sci-fi western.

However, during the past year, Whedon's little empire threatened to collapse unto itself. The sixth season of Buffy (just moved from WB to UPN) left a number of fans feeling that the storyline, which included a distraught Buffy begin an almost sado-masochistic fling with love-smitten former villain Spike (James Marsters) and the abrupt death of fan favorite Tara (Amber Benson), had become too depressing and soap operatic.

Ratings dropped significantly as Whedon handed day-to-day duties to others in order to launch Firefly and scripted only one episode that season (a well-received musical episode) as opposed to his usual three to five.

Firefly also ran into trouble when FOX rejected Whedon's original two hour pilot (not enough action, they said), forcing Whedon and fellow writer Tim Minear to hurriedly crank out a new pilot over the course of a single weekend in order to meet FOX's deadline.

In addition, Greenwalt left Angel (and his replacement left soon after, citing "creative differences") unexpectedly to develop his own series for ABC and Buffy co-producer Marti Noxon took maternity leave. With all this trouble befalling the three shows in a relatively short period of time… what's a Whedon to do?

In this case, he dived headfirst into the hornet's nest and increased duties on all three shows in order to get everything back on track in time for the new season (to the extent that he was left editing Buffy scripts during lunch breaks on Firefly's set). To restore fan confidence, he announced weeks ahead of time that the new season of Buffy would go "back to the beginning," to the roots of what made Buffy great in the first place, its unique mix of drama, humor, and emotion. Five episodes into the new season, it appears Whedon and the rest of the Buffy staff are true to their word.

Both Angel and Firefly also launched their new seasons to positive approval from both fans and critics.

Angel is performing well opposite ABC's popular Alias on Sunday nights, while Firefly appears to be under-performing at the moment, although it airs on Friday nights, when many potential viewers are out.

Where the tides of fate will take Whedon and his shows, nobody knows. However, one thing is certain… he thrives in this environment. With his unique vision of television and style of writing, you can never be quite sure what's coming next.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer airs Tuesday nights at 8 PM on UPN. Reruns air every weekday at 6 and 7 PM on FX. Angel airs on WB on Sunday nights at 9 PM, while Firefly airs Friday nights at 8 PM on FOX.