Very interesting matter!

Buffysmglover | October 07, 11:39 CET

Good ridence towards the WB. Still waiting on the CW. Scary, isn't it?

Madhatter | October 07, 11:42 CET

I got so sick of the CW calling itself new after 8 months. Do they still say "the New CW"? I wouldn't know. I mostly only watch Smallville on the CW, and I JUSt started watching that last week because I finally finished all of the seasons on DVD that were available.

Buffysmglover | October 07, 11:46 CET

CW has Supernatural, so it's already good in my book. (Of course, if you take that one show away, I can't exactly say I'd miss the rest of the channel if it were to suddenly, oh, say, fall into a Hellmouth never to return again. Okay, wait, make sure Michael Rosenbaum abandons ship first, then sink it into a Hellmouth.)

LiLi | October 07, 11:57 CET

LOL to the Michael Rosenbaum comment. We were just discussing his not-having-a-purpose on the show over at SaveAngel.org

Buffysmglover | October 07, 13:03 CET

I agree, I think he's wasted on 'Angel', show's over, go home Mike ;-).

(i'm gonna go ahead and assume you talk about other stuff over there too and agree that he's, if not wasted, then, more charitably, one of the best things on 'Smallville'. Certainly as far as the acting goes it's him, Glover and Ali Mack that keep it flying)

Personally, the comment that the ex-exec feels Keri Russell cutting her hair adversely affected 'Felicity's ratings tells me a fair bit about either her, the network, the show or its audience. Haven't decided which yet ;).

Saje | October 07, 13:18 CET

Yes, we do talk about other shows. I've been begging for a Smallville sub-category there for a while and they just put it up for me this weekend and are in the process of changing my status from News Contributor to Mod. And when was Michael on Angel? Or was that a joke? It's late, I'm tired, sorry. :)

Buffysmglover | October 07, 13:23 CET

Yep, not a serious comment (though I hesitate to call it a joke either ;).

Saje | October 07, 14:09 CET

Maybe I'm just ignorant to the ways of TV land, but why the wigging out over Keri Russel's hair? It's a hair style! I mean, SMG and Charisma changed their hair how many times over the course of both shows? If ratings are gonna tank, it doesn't seem like it'd be over that.

deepgirl187 | October 07, 19:59 CET

She cut off a LOT of hair.

embers | October 07, 20:01 CET

It was a pretty dramtic change from one season to the next. And it didn't help at all that the new cut really, really sucked.

Of course it didn't justify the level of shit she got for it.

Haunt | October 07, 20:06 CET

Yeah but straw poll, hands up if you watch a TV show because the lead has nice hair ? ... Come on ... there must be someone ;).

(though I know some shows actually stop the actors messing with their appearance too much - Jennifer Aniston apparently hated that "shag" after the first couple of years but had to keep it)

Saje | October 07, 20:09 CET

I really like Keri Russell's shorter hairstyle (which looked almost exactly the same as the the hairstyle preferred by my wife), but I do recall that at the time it did provoke a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

I cannot imagine such a thing would influence my decision whether or not to watch a TV show, but I cannot say I am particularly surprised to learn it might be a deciding factor.

alien lanes | October 07, 20:44 CET

I think a lot of her appeal was in her hair, it really changed her overall look so drastically and honestly even the character a bit (although the character change might have been coincidentally at the same time).

AthenaMuze | October 07, 21:47 CET

I love the stuff about what losing BtVS did to the WB in the industry. Bwahaha!

dreamlogic | October 07, 22:05 CET

Personally, I never watched Felicity, so couldn't have cared less what she did with her noggin, but Keri Russell's hair was like a trademark -- long and super spiral curly, perky. To the producers, her cutting off her hair was like if Marsters came back from hiatus with floppy dark hair.

Love's Bitch | October 07, 22:11 CET

Well, I always though tthe WB was the network that Slaying...and maybe Fecility's long and beautiful hair...built. But a network thinking that Keri Russell's hair pulled in more ratings than her is in big trouble from the start. As for the comments about "Reaper" and why it didn't pull in more viewers, maybe if they moved it to Wednesdays instead of making it practically invisible by putting it up against "House", that might help. If not for "Smallville", Thursdays would be a better fit.

impalergeneral | October 07, 22:12 CET

I seem to recall that after Keri cut her hair, Charisma did as well. You will notice that Charisma is wearing extensions in quite a few Angel episodes! It was a VERY BIG deal when Keri cut her hair. HUGE. I remember thinking, though, that I had done the very same thing as a college sophomore. Of course, I did not have gorgeous, long, spiral curls.

XanFan32 | October 07, 22:56 CET

I seem to recall Charisma having a lot of trouble with her hair. The network kept insisting that Cordelia should go blonder and Charisma disliking the idea.

This sounds like an interesting book. I've always thought that the WB's decission to stop showing BTVS, was a major part of their demise. It will be interesting to learn the full impact of that decission.

Anne 5_by_5 | October 08, 04:33 CET

It's great to see some acknowledgement that loss of Buffy was a big banana peel next to the WB's grave. As Connie Francis croons in the background...
Only Slightly OT Rant:
Keri Russell's hair kept me from watching 'Felicity' in the first place...cutting it made me do a dance of joy, but I still didn't start watching. As anyone else who had long curly hair at that time can tell you, crossing a street got very difficult...everyone stopping you to say, "Oh, you look just like that girl on TV!" "Actually, no, we just have similarly textured hair. She's half a foot shorter than me, has completely different facial features, and is not a redhead." ARG! The hair cut blessedly caused this exchange to disappear completely from my life. If it also led to the demise of the WB, well, all the better I suppose...(:

WillowSlay | October 08, 07:38 CET

I'm so glad to hear it even suggested that the Cordelia blonding was the network's idea and not Charisma's.

DaddyCatALSO | October 08, 20:53 CET