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shadowkat[Okay am reprinting my essay from ATPOBTVS & ATS here, so new people can read. And I can save it. I am lj-cutting of course, so if you've seen it before, you can safely ignore. It is chop full of errors - such as 24 (I was wrong about that series), and I have not looked at it in ages. But most of the quotes are correct. Posting for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angeria who was hunting links.]
http://www.atpobtvs.com/existentialscoobies/archives/aug03_p12.html
[Warning - Evil Footnotes are included. When I wrote it, I was making fun of people on posting boards who kept putting footnotes on everything. Footnotes are evil!!! Most people don't put pertinent info in them. I did. And at the time I posted this, circa 2003 on the Angel's Soul Board - I got crucified for one my footnotes...lol! And yes, I had far too much time on my hands back then...as you can tell.]
BTVS(also ATS) and The Pitfalls of the Television Medium ( long w/footnotes)
(*A NOTE, or rather, A WARNING REGARDING CITATIONS: Although I've planted footnotes where appropriate, there is a full bibliography at the end. Apologies for any errors in the footnotes. They appear as endnotes at the end of each section b/c I couldn't figure out how to post them as footnotes at the end of each page. Also since I couldn't figure out how to get the little raised numbers to appear on the internet, I put the numbers in parenthesis like this (1). So suffice it to say this is the last time I attempt footnotes for an internet essay - I'll leave footnotes to the tech savvy from now on. Since I haven't written a footnote since 1994 when I graduated from law school, I think I may have abused the footnote. In fact after this essay you may come to the conclusion that I should be banned from using footnotes in the future. ;-) Even more annoying, I can't remember where I got everything from and since I'm not being paid for this and it isn't being published in an academic journal, hunting down and verifying every single statement is not something I feel overly inclined to do. So you'll just have to give me the benefit of the doubt on some of the stuff, most of which is pretty widely known anyways and has been discussed on the internet ad nausem - so shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for your indulgence.)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The Pitfalls of The Television Medium
(This essay is something I've been playing around with off and on for two months - more as frustration therapy than anything else. It was inspired by a few posts on the Angel After Spike board and criticisms on assorted fan boards and in articles of BTVS and/or ATS. It includes a bibliography, footnotes, and arises from my own study of television. It is also incredibly long and split into 6 sections with an Introduction and Conclusion. The focus of the essay is on the pitfalls of the process of making a television show not on the inner meaning of the content or metaphors within the shows - an important distinction and one that distinguishes this essay from all my others. Have no idea where to post it, it is a critique of the television medium and BTVS/ATS yet also oddly enough a celebration of them - hope here is fine. Thanks again!!)
First a couple of relevant quotes to get things started, these quotes introduce several of the themes I'll address in the essay:
"Do you judge a show based on its potential or only on what you've seen in the first episode or so? The great thing about TV is that a show can always get better or worse, often when you least expect it. But to cut a show too much slack just because it may improve in the future would not be a very useful approach to writing a review, I think."From TV Critic Matt Roush, The Roush Room.
"One of ME's strengths is finding good actors to bring their characters to life. That's why they reuse the good ones they find." Cheryl, Atpobtvs.com Discussion Board.
Jane Espenson during her interview with Hercules on AICN: "I think it's very natural that TV is better. The system of making television allows for strong individual voices, like Joss's. Movies are always made by committees, and the writer is not at the head of the committee. Thus, mush."
"Collaboration; the art off passing off work to someone else." The audience applauded and laughed as David [Fury] gave them an example. "I'm in the midst of episode two right now of our next season. Mr. Edlund here, I was having so much fun, I had to bring someone else into it. And I think Ben here is going to help me do it. Basically, when we're in the room we are going off a general idea that Joss has. He'll have maybe one small story point or some emotion that he wants to bring out in the episode and then it's up to us in a room trying to brainstorm a bit and trying to figure things out." From the Angel the Series Writers' Panel Discussion at Comic Con, courtesy of cityofangel.com
"We were working on the very first presentation," Anthony Stewart Head told the convention-goers, "which was the half-hour version of the first episode. It felt like it was going well, but it wasn't going brilliantly - because Joss had the crew from hell. None of them wanted to be there, they were all mid-season workers who hadn't been picked up by any of the regular shows, so they all had quite an attitude. But I remember saying to Joss, 'This is going to go. I think it's a brilliant script and I think [the show] is a goer.' And Joss said, 'Oh, yeah, it's going to go. It's not going to go because the TV people get it.' Which was certainly true because the WB didn't get it and Fox definitely didn't get it. He said, 'The fans are going to get it. It won't happen immediately, but it will be world-wide and it will slowly build. The word-of-mouth will just spread and spread and spread'. I still get little chills because he's just such an extraordinary man." Anthony Stewart Head from Moonlight Rising, Epitaphs: Life After Buffy by Matt Clark.
"The words aren't mine, the camera placement isn't mine. There are so many things that make me look cool and I'm not doing it." James Marsters, Epitaphs: Life After Buffy.
"I knew a long time into the show what was going to happen with Tara," Amber Benson said. "Joss and I had talked about the whole character and the story. When Joss first told Alyson and I were going to be lovers, we had no idea [the characters were heading in that direction]. Joss came to us and told us that he was friends with this couple, these two women who were in love and he based the relationship on them. I got to meet them, and realized that Willow and Tara cared about each other the same way these two friends of Joss' did. The bond between them was really strong and really special. And when it came to the point where Tara was killed - Adam Busch is always so apologetic [for killing "Tara"], he's such a nice guy - it was really about Willow's addiction. Most people understand about obsession - we all get obsessed with something and the only way to come back down is to have the rug pulled out from under us. And the only way Willow was going to hit bottom was to have her lover, her soulmate, taken away. And as much as we all cried and didn't want it to happen, story-wise, I knew it was the right thing to do."
Benson continued, "I don't think Joss really expected the ramifications of it, or that he'd get faxes up to about last week. It didn't come from a bad place, but a lot of people were really destroyed by it. For me, I didn't want her to die for selfish reasons. One, I really loved working with everyone and two, I really cared about Tara. When you spend three years as someone, they kind of become part of you. And she really did, in an odd way, Tara was me and I was her. She was special to me. And the day she died it was devastating to me. Actually, the day we shot my last scene, they brought out this cake shaped like a tombstone with 'Tara McClay, Rest In Piece', and that was the last straw. Sarah lost it, Michele lost it, I lost it. We were all these girly-girls crying our eyes out. I don't think anyone on the show realized what the relationship was going to mean to a lot of people out there. I feel really lucky - Alyson felt really lucky - to have set a precedent [for lesbian characters]."
"I didn't really watch much of the final season," Amber said. "I knew what was going to happen, Joss told me the whole story, I knew all the plot twists, and I didn't want to get sad and cry. It's the reason I didn't want to come back as Tara on season seven. I'd really debated, though. I knew that they were having the story with The First, and that Tara would only be back as The First in disguise and I thought that would be very upsetting, for me and the fans. [Tara's death] was so upsetting, I didn't want to go through that or put people through that. I was miserable after [Tara died]. People really cared about this character. So in the end, it was mutually decided that it would be easier to just let her, let her rest in piece. Bringing her back in the future is definitely an option - though I don't think Tara would work real well on Angel. I think she'd just get really annoyed by everybody. [laughs]" Amber Benson at Moonlight Rising.
*******************
Introduction
God, I hate TV sometimes. Give me a good book that I can flip to the end of or a movie that lasts two - three hours or one of those cool plays that Shakespeare or Euripides excelled at, because television unlike those mediums is at the mercy of so many variables. A play is just the writer, the cast, the director and the crew. Each time it is performed it is a different experience, and as much as the actors may affect what we see on stage, they are replaceable if the play has any lasting quality. The actors do not make the play, they don't inhibit the characters to such a degree that the audience will accept no substitutes, because the audience usually just sees the play once. If we get new actors - that's a whole new audience. And if someone is re-watching it? They come to it prepared to see a whole different piece. A book? The writer is the king or queen - s/he controls the characters, the plot, the set, everything along with the reader - who envisions it in their head. We can cast anyone we dream of in these parts. We can place the piece in the set of our dreams and direct it ourselves. In a book - the writer and reader are the kings and queens. We also can read the book backwards, forwards, in our bed, upside down, or aloud if we so wish. We can start at the end and work our way towards the beginning or just read the last chapter first. Movies? Director is king/queen, with the actors, then writers coming in second and third. The fans don't really affect movies or plays or books. They may participate by watching them or reading them or just by going to them and reacting. But they do not change the plot arcs or cause actors to decide not to reprise characters or cause writers to insert problematic scenes. The fans/audience/reader of plays, movies, and books stay firmly in place behind that fourth wall - exactly where they belong in my humble opinion. Not rearing their ugly heads and poking their noses where they don't belong.
Another wonderful thing about movies, books and plays is that they are wonderfully self-contained. In most, not all cases - we don't have an on-going serial that could be disrupted mid-flow. Actors are contracted to finish that film - which takes place in a short workable period of time and once they are cast the plot is thoroughly written without too much disruption. We don't have someone suddenly jumping ship after the first hour of the movie, saying uhm I'm sorry, but I have this great gig in Australia and you just have to work without me for a week. (Oh some try to do that - but believe me, it's rare and usually results in very nasty consequences and awfully long court cases - the most famous being the case against Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor for Cleopatra.) We don't have network brass or executive producers telling the author, s/he has to change a character mid-story because ratings are dropping or they are worried about ancillary products. How much you want to bet - J.K. Rowling's editors did not interfere or make her change Order of the Phoenix mid-stream because it got too dark? Daniel Radcliff didn't come up to J.K or announce in the press - he's unhappy with how dark Harry is becoming, or that he feels Snape is coming out better than he is - resulting in poor JK inserting a new scene with Snape and re-writing two chapters. Nor do we end up with JK or the latest director of Harry Potter and Prison of Azkaban having to write out Dumbledore because Richard Harris died or changing another key character because the actor decided he wanted out.
Also in movies the actor is cognizant of all the things he has to do in a film. If he has to rape the lead? He knows about it before he signs the contract or even auditions for the part. Rarely is an actor surprised by film. He knows where it's going. Actors have been known to get out of films it they differ from what they contracted for. (1) In TV, the actor seldom knows what will happen. The part they audition for may change over time. They can in fact be forced to portray a role they would turn down elsewhere. (2)
Editors do change books and try to make them more commercial. Executive producers and celebrities change movie scripts and directors and actors change plays but somehow it's not quite as drastic as it is on TV. Television is a very special medium in of itself. Perhaps the most collaborative of all the current mediums we have, and certainly the most inter-active. With the internet - fans have instant access to television writers, each other, and an ability to influence their favorite shows. Oh they can try this with books, plays and movies too - but the fourth wall is more firmly intact there, these mediums are a little less dependent on things like ratings to determine how many viewers watch each week. (3) They have nifty things like actual dollars and sales figures. But a network television show unlike a book, movie or play - has one purpose to draw the largest audience possible to advertisers. (4) Advertising rules TV. It does not rule books, movies or plays. And through advertising - fans/audience influence what is on TV, they always have - as early as Father Knows Best when they sent mail to the advertisers begging the show be renewed. Based solely on those letters - a new advertiser decided to sponsor Father Knows Best and it survived the ax. (5) Other more modern examples include "Save our Shows" campaigns for Cagney and Lacy, Party of Five and most recently Angel the Series. These campaigns, if the program is just teetering on the ledge, often succeed in saving the show. They also demonstrate the amount of power fans truly have both to the writers and the fans themselves. While I love the fact that viewers can prevent their favorite shows from being prematurely completed, I am not fond of the fact that fans, even more so now with the advent of the internet, can influence the framework and internal story of the show. Call me crazy, but I prefer the fourth wall intact. Too many chefs in the kitchen ruin the stew. And I have yet to see a TV show survive this problem. Sooner or later, the mighty advertising dollar coupled with fans will influence the writers of a show.
Most of the critiques I've read regarding Buffy The Vampire Slayer's final seasons (6) - have more to do with the opportunities and limitations of the medium this brilliant show is in than people may realize. In fact, every single criticism may be a result of those opportunities and limitations - a direct result of this marvelously frustrating, at times brilliant and at times quite pedestrian medium called television. I hope to address some of those complaints/criticisms in this essay.
Even though the main thrust of this essay regards how BTVS operates as a TV show, I will briefly address issues such as the genres it operates within and how successfully it operates within those genres. (While I've set up the essay so that you can read and respond just to sections of it, I strongly suggest you read all of it before making any response, especially the conclusion.)
____________________________________________________________
1.Interview with Anthony Stewart Head, IGN : in film Metal God, when Head's role was truncated, the director contacted him and asked if he still wanted to do it. Interview with James Marsters for SFX Aug. 2003 edition - Marsters saw the entire script to Venetian Heat ahead of time prior to signing. He knew he had to get past his own reservations playing a gay lead.
2 James Marsters Interview in The Official Buffy Magazine #8, June/July 2002, pp.20-21: "In Voices in the Dark, I played a serial killer who has a 10-minute fight scene with a woman. I dragged her across the stage by her hair, she dropped me off a 10-foot drop into a spa. That scene is the end of the play, and you get an emotional release. If you do movies or plays, you choose what kind of projects you would be willing to do." James is against doing rape scenes and traditionally will turn down any role that does not punish the perpetuator immediately after-ward. He can't watch films where women or children are hurt. "On a television series, however, actors are bound to perform the scripts as they come in." According to other assorted interviews and online posts, James did not know about this scene until he came to work that day. In Interview with Anthony Stewart Head, IGFN, 1/6/03, Head mentions going out for drinks after work with Nicholas Brendan (Xander) and discussing where the show will go next and always being wrong.
3 See The Business of Television, Blumenthal & Goodenough, 1998, pp. 402-415 for more on ratings.
4 Blumenthal, p.402 : "the effectiveness of an advertisement is based upon the estimated number of people who saw the advertisement. To be more precise, it's not the total number of people that matters. Instead, it's the total number of people within the advertiser's demographic that matters." P. 2, "Each [network] is a giant company with a single goal - to supply the largest number of desirable viewers to the advertisers who provide the networks with revenues and thus the programs."
5 Brilliant But Cancelled Documentary - Trio Network
6 Reviews on the internet, specifically 3Strikes, cjl, Darby, Kds, Shadowkat's Season Seven Critique, RabidRaen, Spoilerslayer, Slayage.com, amongst others. See atpobtvs.com archives, www.spoilerslayer.com season 7 review, www.slayage.com article archives, and Angle After Spike archives.
(TBC in Part I ...) SK
angeria who was hunting links.]http://www.atpobtvs.com/existentialscoobies/archives/aug03_p12.html
[Warning - Evil Footnotes are included. When I wrote it, I was making fun of people on posting boards who kept putting footnotes on everything. Footnotes are evil!!! Most people don't put pertinent info in them. I did. And at the time I posted this, circa 2003 on the Angel's Soul Board - I got crucified for one my footnotes...lol! And yes, I had far too much time on my hands back then...as you can tell.]
BTVS(also ATS) and The Pitfalls of the Television Medium ( long w/footnotes)
(*A NOTE, or rather, A WARNING REGARDING CITATIONS: Although I've planted footnotes where appropriate, there is a full bibliography at the end. Apologies for any errors in the footnotes. They appear as endnotes at the end of each section b/c I couldn't figure out how to post them as footnotes at the end of each page. Also since I couldn't figure out how to get the little raised numbers to appear on the internet, I put the numbers in parenthesis like this (1). So suffice it to say this is the last time I attempt footnotes for an internet essay - I'll leave footnotes to the tech savvy from now on. Since I haven't written a footnote since 1994 when I graduated from law school, I think I may have abused the footnote. In fact after this essay you may come to the conclusion that I should be banned from using footnotes in the future. ;-) Even more annoying, I can't remember where I got everything from and since I'm not being paid for this and it isn't being published in an academic journal, hunting down and verifying every single statement is not something I feel overly inclined to do. So you'll just have to give me the benefit of the doubt on some of the stuff, most of which is pretty widely known anyways and has been discussed on the internet ad nausem - so shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for your indulgence.)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The Pitfalls of The Television Medium
(This essay is something I've been playing around with off and on for two months - more as frustration therapy than anything else. It was inspired by a few posts on the Angel After Spike board and criticisms on assorted fan boards and in articles of BTVS and/or ATS. It includes a bibliography, footnotes, and arises from my own study of television. It is also incredibly long and split into 6 sections with an Introduction and Conclusion. The focus of the essay is on the pitfalls of the process of making a television show not on the inner meaning of the content or metaphors within the shows - an important distinction and one that distinguishes this essay from all my others. Have no idea where to post it, it is a critique of the television medium and BTVS/ATS yet also oddly enough a celebration of them - hope here is fine. Thanks again!!)
First a couple of relevant quotes to get things started, these quotes introduce several of the themes I'll address in the essay:
"Do you judge a show based on its potential or only on what you've seen in the first episode or so? The great thing about TV is that a show can always get better or worse, often when you least expect it. But to cut a show too much slack just because it may improve in the future would not be a very useful approach to writing a review, I think."From TV Critic Matt Roush, The Roush Room.
"One of ME's strengths is finding good actors to bring their characters to life. That's why they reuse the good ones they find." Cheryl, Atpobtvs.com Discussion Board.
Jane Espenson during her interview with Hercules on AICN: "I think it's very natural that TV is better. The system of making television allows for strong individual voices, like Joss's. Movies are always made by committees, and the writer is not at the head of the committee. Thus, mush."
"Collaboration; the art off passing off work to someone else." The audience applauded and laughed as David [Fury] gave them an example. "I'm in the midst of episode two right now of our next season. Mr. Edlund here, I was having so much fun, I had to bring someone else into it. And I think Ben here is going to help me do it. Basically, when we're in the room we are going off a general idea that Joss has. He'll have maybe one small story point or some emotion that he wants to bring out in the episode and then it's up to us in a room trying to brainstorm a bit and trying to figure things out." From the Angel the Series Writers' Panel Discussion at Comic Con, courtesy of cityofangel.com
"We were working on the very first presentation," Anthony Stewart Head told the convention-goers, "which was the half-hour version of the first episode. It felt like it was going well, but it wasn't going brilliantly - because Joss had the crew from hell. None of them wanted to be there, they were all mid-season workers who hadn't been picked up by any of the regular shows, so they all had quite an attitude. But I remember saying to Joss, 'This is going to go. I think it's a brilliant script and I think [the show] is a goer.' And Joss said, 'Oh, yeah, it's going to go. It's not going to go because the TV people get it.' Which was certainly true because the WB didn't get it and Fox definitely didn't get it. He said, 'The fans are going to get it. It won't happen immediately, but it will be world-wide and it will slowly build. The word-of-mouth will just spread and spread and spread'. I still get little chills because he's just such an extraordinary man." Anthony Stewart Head from Moonlight Rising, Epitaphs: Life After Buffy by Matt Clark.
"The words aren't mine, the camera placement isn't mine. There are so many things that make me look cool and I'm not doing it." James Marsters, Epitaphs: Life After Buffy.
"I knew a long time into the show what was going to happen with Tara," Amber Benson said. "Joss and I had talked about the whole character and the story. When Joss first told Alyson and I were going to be lovers, we had no idea [the characters were heading in that direction]. Joss came to us and told us that he was friends with this couple, these two women who were in love and he based the relationship on them. I got to meet them, and realized that Willow and Tara cared about each other the same way these two friends of Joss' did. The bond between them was really strong and really special. And when it came to the point where Tara was killed - Adam Busch is always so apologetic [for killing "Tara"], he's such a nice guy - it was really about Willow's addiction. Most people understand about obsession - we all get obsessed with something and the only way to come back down is to have the rug pulled out from under us. And the only way Willow was going to hit bottom was to have her lover, her soulmate, taken away. And as much as we all cried and didn't want it to happen, story-wise, I knew it was the right thing to do."
Benson continued, "I don't think Joss really expected the ramifications of it, or that he'd get faxes up to about last week. It didn't come from a bad place, but a lot of people were really destroyed by it. For me, I didn't want her to die for selfish reasons. One, I really loved working with everyone and two, I really cared about Tara. When you spend three years as someone, they kind of become part of you. And she really did, in an odd way, Tara was me and I was her. She was special to me. And the day she died it was devastating to me. Actually, the day we shot my last scene, they brought out this cake shaped like a tombstone with 'Tara McClay, Rest In Piece', and that was the last straw. Sarah lost it, Michele lost it, I lost it. We were all these girly-girls crying our eyes out. I don't think anyone on the show realized what the relationship was going to mean to a lot of people out there. I feel really lucky - Alyson felt really lucky - to have set a precedent [for lesbian characters]."
"I didn't really watch much of the final season," Amber said. "I knew what was going to happen, Joss told me the whole story, I knew all the plot twists, and I didn't want to get sad and cry. It's the reason I didn't want to come back as Tara on season seven. I'd really debated, though. I knew that they were having the story with The First, and that Tara would only be back as The First in disguise and I thought that would be very upsetting, for me and the fans. [Tara's death] was so upsetting, I didn't want to go through that or put people through that. I was miserable after [Tara died]. People really cared about this character. So in the end, it was mutually decided that it would be easier to just let her, let her rest in piece. Bringing her back in the future is definitely an option - though I don't think Tara would work real well on Angel. I think she'd just get really annoyed by everybody. [laughs]" Amber Benson at Moonlight Rising.
*******************
Introduction
God, I hate TV sometimes. Give me a good book that I can flip to the end of or a movie that lasts two - three hours or one of those cool plays that Shakespeare or Euripides excelled at, because television unlike those mediums is at the mercy of so many variables. A play is just the writer, the cast, the director and the crew. Each time it is performed it is a different experience, and as much as the actors may affect what we see on stage, they are replaceable if the play has any lasting quality. The actors do not make the play, they don't inhibit the characters to such a degree that the audience will accept no substitutes, because the audience usually just sees the play once. If we get new actors - that's a whole new audience. And if someone is re-watching it? They come to it prepared to see a whole different piece. A book? The writer is the king or queen - s/he controls the characters, the plot, the set, everything along with the reader - who envisions it in their head. We can cast anyone we dream of in these parts. We can place the piece in the set of our dreams and direct it ourselves. In a book - the writer and reader are the kings and queens. We also can read the book backwards, forwards, in our bed, upside down, or aloud if we so wish. We can start at the end and work our way towards the beginning or just read the last chapter first. Movies? Director is king/queen, with the actors, then writers coming in second and third. The fans don't really affect movies or plays or books. They may participate by watching them or reading them or just by going to them and reacting. But they do not change the plot arcs or cause actors to decide not to reprise characters or cause writers to insert problematic scenes. The fans/audience/reader of plays, movies, and books stay firmly in place behind that fourth wall - exactly where they belong in my humble opinion. Not rearing their ugly heads and poking their noses where they don't belong.
Another wonderful thing about movies, books and plays is that they are wonderfully self-contained. In most, not all cases - we don't have an on-going serial that could be disrupted mid-flow. Actors are contracted to finish that film - which takes place in a short workable period of time and once they are cast the plot is thoroughly written without too much disruption. We don't have someone suddenly jumping ship after the first hour of the movie, saying uhm I'm sorry, but I have this great gig in Australia and you just have to work without me for a week. (Oh some try to do that - but believe me, it's rare and usually results in very nasty consequences and awfully long court cases - the most famous being the case against Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor for Cleopatra.) We don't have network brass or executive producers telling the author, s/he has to change a character mid-story because ratings are dropping or they are worried about ancillary products. How much you want to bet - J.K. Rowling's editors did not interfere or make her change Order of the Phoenix mid-stream because it got too dark? Daniel Radcliff didn't come up to J.K or announce in the press - he's unhappy with how dark Harry is becoming, or that he feels Snape is coming out better than he is - resulting in poor JK inserting a new scene with Snape and re-writing two chapters. Nor do we end up with JK or the latest director of Harry Potter and Prison of Azkaban having to write out Dumbledore because Richard Harris died or changing another key character because the actor decided he wanted out.
Also in movies the actor is cognizant of all the things he has to do in a film. If he has to rape the lead? He knows about it before he signs the contract or even auditions for the part. Rarely is an actor surprised by film. He knows where it's going. Actors have been known to get out of films it they differ from what they contracted for. (1) In TV, the actor seldom knows what will happen. The part they audition for may change over time. They can in fact be forced to portray a role they would turn down elsewhere. (2)
Editors do change books and try to make them more commercial. Executive producers and celebrities change movie scripts and directors and actors change plays but somehow it's not quite as drastic as it is on TV. Television is a very special medium in of itself. Perhaps the most collaborative of all the current mediums we have, and certainly the most inter-active. With the internet - fans have instant access to television writers, each other, and an ability to influence their favorite shows. Oh they can try this with books, plays and movies too - but the fourth wall is more firmly intact there, these mediums are a little less dependent on things like ratings to determine how many viewers watch each week. (3) They have nifty things like actual dollars and sales figures. But a network television show unlike a book, movie or play - has one purpose to draw the largest audience possible to advertisers. (4) Advertising rules TV. It does not rule books, movies or plays. And through advertising - fans/audience influence what is on TV, they always have - as early as Father Knows Best when they sent mail to the advertisers begging the show be renewed. Based solely on those letters - a new advertiser decided to sponsor Father Knows Best and it survived the ax. (5) Other more modern examples include "Save our Shows" campaigns for Cagney and Lacy, Party of Five and most recently Angel the Series. These campaigns, if the program is just teetering on the ledge, often succeed in saving the show. They also demonstrate the amount of power fans truly have both to the writers and the fans themselves. While I love the fact that viewers can prevent their favorite shows from being prematurely completed, I am not fond of the fact that fans, even more so now with the advent of the internet, can influence the framework and internal story of the show. Call me crazy, but I prefer the fourth wall intact. Too many chefs in the kitchen ruin the stew. And I have yet to see a TV show survive this problem. Sooner or later, the mighty advertising dollar coupled with fans will influence the writers of a show.
Most of the critiques I've read regarding Buffy The Vampire Slayer's final seasons (6) - have more to do with the opportunities and limitations of the medium this brilliant show is in than people may realize. In fact, every single criticism may be a result of those opportunities and limitations - a direct result of this marvelously frustrating, at times brilliant and at times quite pedestrian medium called television. I hope to address some of those complaints/criticisms in this essay.
Even though the main thrust of this essay regards how BTVS operates as a TV show, I will briefly address issues such as the genres it operates within and how successfully it operates within those genres. (While I've set up the essay so that you can read and respond just to sections of it, I strongly suggest you read all of it before making any response, especially the conclusion.)
____________________________________________________________
1.Interview with Anthony Stewart Head, IGN : in film Metal God, when Head's role was truncated, the director contacted him and asked if he still wanted to do it. Interview with James Marsters for SFX Aug. 2003 edition - Marsters saw the entire script to Venetian Heat ahead of time prior to signing. He knew he had to get past his own reservations playing a gay lead.
2 James Marsters Interview in The Official Buffy Magazine #8, June/July 2002, pp.20-21: "In Voices in the Dark, I played a serial killer who has a 10-minute fight scene with a woman. I dragged her across the stage by her hair, she dropped me off a 10-foot drop into a spa. That scene is the end of the play, and you get an emotional release. If you do movies or plays, you choose what kind of projects you would be willing to do." James is against doing rape scenes and traditionally will turn down any role that does not punish the perpetuator immediately after-ward. He can't watch films where women or children are hurt. "On a television series, however, actors are bound to perform the scripts as they come in." According to other assorted interviews and online posts, James did not know about this scene until he came to work that day. In Interview with Anthony Stewart Head, IGFN, 1/6/03, Head mentions going out for drinks after work with Nicholas Brendan (Xander) and discussing where the show will go next and always being wrong.
3 See The Business of Television, Blumenthal & Goodenough, 1998, pp. 402-415 for more on ratings.
4 Blumenthal, p.402 : "the effectiveness of an advertisement is based upon the estimated number of people who saw the advertisement. To be more precise, it's not the total number of people that matters. Instead, it's the total number of people within the advertiser's demographic that matters." P. 2, "Each [network] is a giant company with a single goal - to supply the largest number of desirable viewers to the advertisers who provide the networks with revenues and thus the programs."
5 Brilliant But Cancelled Documentary - Trio Network
6 Reviews on the internet, specifically 3Strikes, cjl, Darby, Kds, Shadowkat's Season Seven Critique, RabidRaen, Spoilerslayer, Slayage.com, amongst others. See atpobtvs.com archives, www.spoilerslayer.com season 7 review, www.slayage.com article archives, and Angle After Spike archives.
(TBC in Part I ...) SK