Angel

What is it with television execs these days? Folks are going to be scared to like a show for fear that it’ll be axed a couple of weeks later? Granted, “Angel”, has been going for five seasons, but it’s still one of the best written and most entertaining shows on Television. And then there’s ‘Wonderfalls’, one of the most acclaimed shows of the season, and it didn’t even last a handful of episodes. And what I don’t get is UPN not picking up ‘Angel’, but then going ahead and greenlighting a new sitcom to reunite Corey Haim and Corey Feldman!?. So as you watch your favourite TV show this weekend - be it ‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘Smallville’, even ‘Access Hollywood’ - try not to let anyone know that you’re enjoying it too much. Someone who has the power to end that fleeting feeling of elation might just feel the need to do so.

The folks behind this ’Save Angel’ campaign have done a remarkable job. Rise from your seat and give them a round of applause. I bet they’ve given a few WB execs a small feel of guilt - and even a chill down the spine. As for any of the networks that have passed on the obviously popular series, ’watch your back jack’, seems a fitting enough warning.

The good news? There’s an "Angel/Buffy" movie coming, according to E Online today, the bad news? "Angel" isn’t going to get a sixth season. No chance.

E Online’s Kristin weighed in with the current status of “Angel” - and, well, nothing’s changed. It’s still headed for the scrap heap.

“I’ve spent considerable time over the past few weeks talking to network, studio and production insiders, as well as a few of the actors (we’ll get to them below), and I can tell you this with a fair amount of certainty: Angel is not coming back. At least not as the weekly TV series we now know and love. It sucks, and it’s wretched and wrong. But the sooner we all accept that, the sooner we can move on”, she says.

"It’s over," James Marsters (Spike) tells the site. "And we’ve known for a while. It was a shock. I’ve never in my wildest dreams thought they would do that. But it’s their game, their football, and it seems they want to pass it to someone else."

"It may not have saved the show," he explained, "but what it does for the entire cast and crew is give us a little pop as we go out. Everyone takes notice that we connected well enough with the audience to give them that passion...And I have to tell you, it feels so good. After all these years of, frankly, battling time and money and always having to give up what you were planning to do and getting frustrated, at the end of it, to see everyone really going out of their way to try and save it, it just feels really, really good. So, big warm vampire fuzzies over here. It really took the sting out of getting canceled."

Amy Acker (Fred) also weighed in Thursday before going to set for her final day of shooting. "I guess they had just sort of decided the cancellation was for good, at a point. So, it seems so sad all these people were working so hard and nothing happened. The whole thing has been so sweet, and we all have been like, ’Oh maybe it will work!’ But it seems like they’re pretty set in their way."

"I just keep crying, and everyone is like, ’Stop it! Or I’ll cry, too.’ It’s hard because last Friday was Alexis’ last night, and yesterday was Andy’s last day. And today will be everyone’s. It’s hard to imagine you won’t be spending 12 hours a day with them anymore."

Adds Kristin, “That’s the consensus I’ve gotten from various sources — the WB suits aren’t changing their minds on Angel. Though the cancellation seemed like a whack-job, crack-induced whim to us fans, Frog net insiders tell me the higher-ups feel strongly that Angel had "limited moneymaking potential," due to limited advertising revenue and what they consider to be a substantial budget. The fan base is clearly devoted, but these bigwigs see little hope of that audience expanding.”

“Still, the best news is this: According to sources, the finale is supremely open-ended (Amy says it "opens new doors" and "doesn’t tie up any strings"), and I hear the Powers That Be at the WB have approached Joss Whedon about doing at least a movie-of-the-week or two (possibly as many as six) next season—thanks in large part to the folks at Save Angel. "I think a Buffy movie is more likely to happen now," James said, "and they may be given better budgets, seeing this kind of interest, because there’s a feeling that there’s a guaranteed audience. So, the effort that I’ve seen, it is not in vain."

And what’s amusing is who’s having the last laugh. Charisma Carpenter. Carpenter was fired from "Angel" last season by Whedon. Now, UPN has nabbed Carpenter and has lined her up to star in her own sitcom. The kicker? UPN passed on "Angel".

What a fickle web we weave.