Whedonesque Mobile : Comments on 10741 : The Last Day of the WB!

September 17th. UPN should show Cop Rock's pilot on its final day of broadcasting. Or homeboys in space.

Considering how many hours of my life the WB sucked up in the Jossverse TV heydays, it's a little weird to realize I haven't seen an episode of anything in realtime on that network since the night Angel last aired (I have kept tabs on the Gilmore Girls, but always via tape that got watched in a desultory fashion days later).

Buffy and Angel airing on the same night once again is momentous, if only because it'll be the last time they'll ever be shown on broadcast (analog) television. I guess I'll fire up the VCR for old times' sake, and hope whoever's still running that joint has the sense to put them on back-to-back. Two slayers, no waiting!

Wiseblood | June 30, 10:23 CET

I think that that is a nice homage to shows that really helped the WB survive as long as it did. I will be watching!

embers | June 30, 10:25 CET

They will be back to back but with Angel airing first at 6 p.m followed by Buffy from 7-9 p.m.

[ edited by Buffyfantic on 2006-06-30 08:29 ]

Buffyfantic | June 30, 10:28 CET

Ahh, the good old days! This is really a nice tribute to the shows that made the network but kind of sad too! I so miss those days where I eagerly awaited the next new episodes of Buffy and Angel!!

Firefly Flanatic | June 30, 10:33 CET

I wonder if they'll air the original promos as well. Or make up some new ones.

"Now on The WB - Angel. We cancelled this show. Followed by Buffy, we lost this to UPN".

Simon | June 30, 11:47 CET

Sorry to quibble, but Eddy's right...it's Sunday, September 17th.

Here's coverage from "Daily Variety" (a bit Dawson-centric coverage, mind you, but, whatever):

Night will kick off at 5 p.m. with the J.J. Abrams- and Matt Reeves-created "Felicity," followed at 6 by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt's "Angel." The two-hour pilot to Whedon's "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" will run in primetime from 7-9 p.m.

Appropriately, "Dawson's Creek" -- the Kevin Williamson teen sudser that put the WB on the map -- will be the final show to air on the Frog, running from 9-10 p.m.

The shows' creators, producers and studios were game for the idea. But because all of the shows come from outside the WB's Warner Bros. parent, Ancier and company had to find a way to make it attractive for those outside studios to license the shows for a night.

Solution: All the studios involved will get a free on-air promo of the DVD collections of their respective skeins.

Beyond that, Sony Pictures TV (which produced "Dawson's Creek"), Touchstone/Imagine ("Felicity") and 20th Century Fox TV ("Buffy" and "Angel") waived the usual license fee; the WB was required only to pay the necessary residuals.

"Everyone was great about it," Ancier said. "No one was making money off of this."

Three of the five hours to air on the WB's last night ("Buffy," "Angel") will be from 20th Century Fox TV -- ironic, as the WB and 20th had more than a few financial run-ins.

In particular, the night reps a homecoming for "Buffy," which moved to UPN after the studio and Frog couldn't come to terms on a license renewal. It's the first time the show has returned to the WB since leaving for the rival netlet in 2001.

swanland | June 30, 11:57 CET

I know I've been quite a critic of the WB (and for good reason, they killed the frog). However, must give them some credit. They gave BtVS a green light when the other networks turned Joss down. Guess we know how that turned out.

Madhatter | June 30, 14:39 CET

The pilots?

The Buffy pilot with no Angel, very cheesy dusting, and a very different Willow (and Principal Flutie, too)? Or the first episodes?

I think they mean the first episodes, but maybe that can be TV speak for premier eps, I guess.

Chris inVirginia | June 30, 16:25 CET

Not the unaired pilot, Chris in Virginia, but the pilot episode. The pilot episode is the first episode that ran, i.e.: Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest. Pilot episode does mean first episode in TV speak.

The unaired pilot was never intended for, well, air. It was used as something to shop around the show with.

TV speak can be confusing. Who else needs a Variety-to-English dictionary some days?

XanFan32 | June 30, 16:51 CET

Yes, when I saw that it was 2 hours (belatedly) realized it's the first two aired episodes.

We did a "screening" of the unaired pilot in DC last year for the Washington Whedonites (our meet-up group). I was the only one who'd seen it before, and it was pretty funny to watch everybody's reaction to it!

Chris inVirginia | June 30, 17:02 CET

Joss calls it something other than a pilot - does anyone remember the proper term? And I love it - there are even a couple of humourous moments in there that didn't make it into the pilot.
Wish I could see this- it would be a great nostalgic evening.

Lioness | June 30, 17:22 CET

I think i've seen him call it a presentation, not sure if that's the proper jargon or not. It's cool to view for interest's sake but I must confess it makes pretty cringeworthy viewing, IMO (and really shows how much the score added to Buffy since the one I * cough * acquired doesn't have any incidental music as far as I remember).

It's a nice idea for The WB to do this though I could understand a little bit of resentment on the part of the fans too (maybe a slight slap in the face after they cancelled one show and weren't willing to pay for the other).

Saje | June 30, 17:34 CET

Good news!

Jonas | June 30, 17:57 CET

I was really sorry that the line in the unaired pilot about watching too many movies did not get into an episode...

newcj | June 30, 18:26 CET

Hey according to TV Guide, they are showing the original promos and a tribute reel as well (will it be as tacky as "The WB thanks Angel" tribute shown after Not Fade Away?).

Simon | June 30, 18:41 CET

As angry as we are at the cancellations, hey, they did run each show for FIVE YEARS. I'll take them over FOX any day ;)

AnotherFireflyfan | June 30, 18:41 CET

I will have to watch...the only Buffy and Angel seasons we watched in entirety in real time were each show's last.

Chris inVirginia | June 30, 18:42 CET

Now the promo reels would be great to see and Simon, I hope they do your new promos as well. The WB is disappearing. They can own up to their mistakes.

Lioness | June 30, 18:46 CET

Deciding to run the pilot for "Angel" too was a good decision. Compared to the pop culture icon status of "Buffy", "Angel" is a bit less recognized. So sacrificing other shows like "Charmed" or "Rosewell" to put "Angel" on the airwaves for one last time is definitely something that makes me smile.

Gwendolyn Post | June 30, 22:17 CET

Wow, that is fantastic. I never got to watch Buffy on The WB, and only a handful of Angel episodes back before I got to see the entire series on DVD.

I'll be watching...

UnpluggedCrazy | June 30, 22:30 CET

I never saw the tribute to Angel after NFA. Does anyone know where to find it?

cityof | June 30, 22:49 CET

Gwendolyn Post: I too was pretty surprised (though delighted) to see Angel included among the shows for the final night. It never had the iconic name value of Buffy, Felicity or Dawson's to the outside/pop culture world. I know it's easy to say, "The WB sucks" for certain decisions, but I think it's important to remember that one or two people at the top made final calls on things and there were many other major supporters of Joss and his shows at the network for years. The final night of programming on the WB includes three hours of Buffyverse stuff in the midst of five hours! Not only is Angel's inclusion an extra gift, but they could have easily only shown "Welcome to the Hellmouth" in order to free up space for other WB shows. Even the decision to leave any show moving to the CW off was pretty interesting: 7th Heaven SUCKS, but it was ALWAYS the WB's top rated show, so it would have been a pretty easy move to put that pilot on in the place of Angel. I think it's very very cool how they decided to do things instead.

Eric G | June 30, 23:59 CET

This seems to be a pretty classy thing to do, IMO. Plus, it will rock to see the pilots on the air one after another! :-)

billz | July 01, 00:31 CET

I haven't really seen much press on just what a crap name The CW is.

But I might tune in for the pilot, even though it's on DVD. now, if they aired it with the original commercials, that'd be even better. But I will NOT go back to high school!

YellowBear | July 01, 00:46 CET

THIS IS AWESOME!! And we all know it was Buffy the Vampire Slayer that put the WB on the map!!!

ChosenOne5376 | July 01, 04:02 CET

I was unaware of the unaired pilot. How does one goe about getting it?

The_Joker | July 01, 11:32 CET

I, too, never saw Buffy in primetime on the WB, so I will have to tune in to this -- despite my general avoidance of anything on that network. This is a classy thing to do -- for all who waived their fees, as well.

The_Joker, Google "buffy unaired pilot" and I'm sure you will find it.

palehorse | July 01, 23:59 CET

The_Joker: or do a search on YouTube.com

fortunateizzi | July 04, 23:35 CET

While I think that it's great that the WB is closing it's doors with Whedon shows, it really bothers me that they are airing shows that they cancelled prematurely. We got two more years of Buffy on the UPN and we SHOULD have gotten more Angel.

Does this bother anyone else or is it just me?

kbmartinez | July 05, 18:03 CET

June 30 2006