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shadowkatThis doesn't appear to have footnotes. But I'm sure there are errors. Haven't edited and didn't edit after numerous comments were made at the time. Like most stuff, I meta, take the opinions with a grain of a salt. The interview quotage however was taken directly from the sources quoted.
[> Part IV: Difficulties of Operating Within Structure and Boundaries of TV Formula -- s'kat (no footnotes in this section), 10:09:36 08/23/03 Sat
Part IV Difficulties of Operating Within Structure and Boundaries of Television Formula
Television serials have a basic structure and formula, which no matter how creative and innovative the writers are - they can't really break. Advertisers and network execs won't let you.
A. The General Television Formula
With the possible exception of reality shows, which are in a class by themselves, you have 13-22 episodes, 6 if you are in the UK, to produce a year, 43 minutes each to tell a story. The story may be told in an episodic stand-alone format, a serialized format, or a combo of the two. It may contain:
1. One central character - usually the one in the title - with a bunch of supporting characters
2. A central character, supporting and guest stars,
3. Change the lead and supporting characters each episode,
4. Just change the supporting characters each episode and have only one contracted character,
5. Have an ensemble with no one as the lead.
B. If the story has a lead or central character it will most likely fit one of the following formulas. All have been done numerous times and all are comforting tried and true methods to the network brass and advertisers. (ie. Guaranteed audience getters.)
1. The "Cursed Hero On A Quest" or "Quest of The Cursed Hero"
This formula usually has the name of the central character or their profession in the title. It is most generally a combo of episodic and stand-alone, rarely is it serialized except in a few instances. The over-arcing plot is the hero's quest for whatever it is s/he is lacking and this part is important: the hero cannot resolve or obtain hi/r goal until the final episode of the series or it is over. In some cases the hero may never obtain it.
Requirements of the formula:
a. The hero must be stoic and brooding and the straight man, seldom is the central character snarky or amusing. They must be serious-minded and guilt-ridden.
b. Usually, not always, the hero has a dark side - a Mr. Hyde just lurking beneath the surface that makes hi/r dangerous. The villain does not want to push the hero too far. "You really don't want to make me angry!" (David Banner, The Incredible Hulk)
c. The hero has a secret that he can't tell anyone - something that keeps him apart from society and any potential love interest. This secret explains the Mr. Hyde persona.
d. If there's more than one character in the cast - these characters act as the heroes support group or trusted allies in hi/r quest for whatever.
e. The hero may be an anti-hero or just misunderstood with a tragic flaw that keeps h/ir from accomplishing hi/r objective. Usually the flaw is hubris or vanity, something basic to the human condition, which the audience identifies with. But deep down, the audience must believe the hero is good. (Series where the central character's moral condition is too ambiguous or negative rarely survive - advertisers feel uncomfortable with it. Sopranos and Blackadder are rarities and neither has appeared on US network television. The ones that have are Maverick and Nichols. Nichols was a western that aired in 1971 and barely made it to 13 episodes. The main hero was considered too ambiguous. Maverick was a Western with more than one hero.)
f. Important: while the hero can't be too ambiguous or become evil in any way, the supporting characters can. The supporting characters can also be depicted as fools or clowns, as long as they never supersede the hero or take over the spotlight. Why? Because that would be very bad and subvert the formula and we mustn't do that. Fans might revolt and who would buy the advertisers products? When you have a central character in the title - the series is built around them - it is essentially all about them. Veer from that formula and you might get a fan revolt and lose advertisers. Bottom line - bring as many people to the advertisers as possible that is your mission.
Examples of this formula: Angel The Series, The Pretender, John Doe, The Fugitive, Forever Knight, Highlander, Xena: Warrior Princess (which actually tried to subvert the formula and make Gabrielle the lead, but didn't completely - everything else fits), Have Gun Will Travel, The Equalizer, The Incredible Hulk, Brimstone, Millenium, Miracles, and Quantum Leap. Genre TV loves this formula. And no, Angel The Series has not in my opinion subverted it in any way - now if Spike, Lorne, Fred, Connor or Wes took over? That would be a subversion but remember point (f)? Very bad things would happen. If they turn it into an ensemble? That would also be a subversion. If Angel became the villain? Yep, subversion. But I wouldn't worry - it looks to me as if ME is bound and determined to continue with the formula. The most experimental they'll get is adding a little comedy and whoops! Quantum Leap, Highlander, and Xena beat them to it.
2. The Hero's Journey :
Basically we have a hero who has some sort of mission, be it a job, a calling, a task which they alone can do. They aren't cursed. They don't have a Mr. Hyde lurking beneath the surface. They just have this sacred mission.
Requirements of the formula - pretty close to the Cursed Hero actually. The hero is usually the title character. They may or may not have a bunch of sidekicks who help them. It's important the hero/heroine themselves never turns completely evil or villainous, although they can get a little nasty from time to time. They must NEVER be happy.
a. Unlucky in love. The more unresolved the hero's romantic life, the better. As long as the show is on the air - the hero will be unlucky in love. Everyone else in the hero's life can be lucky in love but the hero. Often the hero's best friend will either be married, be engaged, be happy, or have a long-term relationship in the series, while the hero flits from one bad relationship to the next. If there's a long-term love relationship? It will never be resolved, the writers will pull out every possible contrivance to keep the two apart and preferably from having sex - since once you have sex - things tend to get dull.
b. Unrequited love triangles are really popular under this formula. Usually it's between the hero, someone the hero wants but can never have, and someone who wants the hero but the hero can't see because of the unattainable object. With love triangles the trick is to have no one happy. The writer's job is to keep all three characters conflicted as long as possible. It helps if it's a quadrangle - thus removing too much sympathy from the character who wants the hero but the hero won't give the time of day. The hero must have the audience's sympathy. Triangles are seldom resolved and only when the writers come up with a new one.
c. If the hero has sex - bad things happen and mostly to the significant other. They will either go evil, attempt to rape her (if the hero is a her), get killed (if a guy), sacrifice themselves to save the hero, or abandon the hero due to a misunderstanding. Rarely does the significant other get more than half a year of sex with the hero. Remember point a? Must be miserable. Woe to the character who falls in love with or gets sexually involved with the hero, they are doomed.
d. Supporting characters tend to evolve more than the hero.
e. The hero is a bit of a martyr - no one else can do their job, they are alone, they are constantly saving people but never getting any money or thanks for it. The cops or authorities are constantly against them.
f. Cops are stupid - if the hero isn't a cop or FBI agent, but lone wolf. If the hero is a cop or agent - Cops are bright. Depends on who the hero is and who the hero's associates are.
g. The hero has some quality that requires the audience to suspend disbelief. Superstrength, super-smarts, super-sight, etc.
h. The hero is misunderstood by their friends and feels like an outsider. (See Martyr)
i. The hero will risk h/ir life to save everyone, good or evil. The hero is the voice of reason and judgment, redeems the villain, saves the day.
j. The hero must be likable and usually has some tragic but completely understandable flaw that makes the audience sympathize with them.
k. The hero can often come across as self-involved, but never to the extent they alienate the audience. The majority of the audience must either strongly identify with or fall in love with the hero.
l. The hero must always win in the end. Rarely does the hero lose. The audience must root for the hero and want the hero to win. Mustn't depress the audience.
Examples of the Formula: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, La Femme Nikita, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Dark Angel, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Smallville, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, and now - Jake 2.0, Tarzan, and Tru Calling.
3. The Hero as Detective
This one is usually more realistic or more based in our reality. It also tends to be far more episodic in nature with no clear plot arcs. This formula has pretty much the same qualifications as 1 and 2, with the difference being that the super-human quality is usually just super-smarts or Sherlock Holmes complex. Ie. This character can solve the crime when no one else can. Examples: Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Murder She Wrote, The Rockford Files, Columbo, and Profiler .
We also have the duo - a male/female detective team, which was created by Dashielle Hammett in the Nick and Nora Charles mysteries: The duo involves two heroes, usually a romantically inclined couple that investigate crimes, the duo can be either very bright or stupid or just of normal intelligence. They usually do it together and neither overshadows the other. The humor is their witty repartee and or sexual chemistry. In order to preserve the sexual chemistry and/or tension between the characters - they seldom are shown having sex or consummating the relationship - at least not until the series ends. Examples of this form include: The X-Files, Remington Steel, Moonlighting, MacMillian and Wife, Hart and Hart.
The important thing to remember about television dramas with a central character - is that each has a tried but true formula. A few TV shows have attempted to jump away from the formulas, examples include Xena: Warrior Princess and The X-Files. Xena did it by making the story as much if not more about the sidekick than the cursed heroine, also it killed Xena in the end, redeeming her through her sidekick. The other stretch Xena made was the love story was more between Xena and Gabrielle than Xena and Hercules, if it had stuck with the formula - Xena would have remained more or less in love with Hercules throughout, ie. The unattainable object, reason for the redemption, trophy. X-Files does it by making Mulder and Scully question the cases they are investigating. Most of the suspense in the X-Files came from the mythology as opposed to the chemistry between the actors. Viewers were more concerned about whether aliens had manipulated Scully's brain or stolen her child than if she would have sex with Mulder. The serial nature of the X-Files took it a step beyond the usually episodic nature of the duo formula. The creator, Chris Carter, continued to subvert it by mixing comedy and heart-wrenching drama and chills. X-Files contained at least three genres within its format: the horror genre, the sci-fi, and the detective story. By doing so, it successfully stepped outside the formula. On top of this - it attempted to change the lead characters - a big mistake in this format. You can only change principal characters and leads if the formula is an ensemble and within a workplace setting, which focuses more on the procedures/ins and outs of the workplace and less on the characters- ie. Law and Order, ER, The West Wing, or CSI - the reason is the audience can accept the characters changing in these formats - they are less invested in the characters and more invested in the setting. In these dramas the setting mustn't change. X-Files attempted to change lead characters in a duo detective drama where the audience was mainly invested in the two lead characters. As a result the last two seasons of the show dipped in ratings. By attempting this - the writers/producers subverted the formula but not in a good way. The new characters, while interesting, just left the audience missing the old ones. When you attempt to break free of the rules of your formula - you must provide the viewers with a hook or a reason to follow you. Remember they don't have to watch and the point is to get as many of them to watch as possible.
So did BTVS subvert its "hero" formula? Not really. BTVS came close but may have missed the opportunity to truly subvert the formula. If Spike had been redeemed sans soul and had never raped Buffy? Maybe. If Willow had merely gone dark on power without losing Tara or following the route of the classic addiction storyline? Maybe. If Warren hadn't shot anyone? Maybe. All these are soap clichés and ME fell right into them as discussed in Part III. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's television - everyone does it. It's part and parcel of the formula. Same with Angel - if Angel starts to fall into the background? Then yes they've subverted the formula. If Angel goes evil? Yep. If Angel never gets redeemed? nope. If Angel gets redeemed? nope. It's hard being different when so many people have gotten there before you. Not that you have to be of course, after all the advertisers prefer it if you're not. Besides - you don't have to subvert the formula to be cool and entertaining. You do have to subvert it to be legendary. But you also have to do it well and preferably without losing your audience in the process. (Which is what happened to both Xena and X-Files).
Don't get me wrong, I love both ATS and BTVS, think they are amazing, and believe they have subverted other things, but they have not subverted the essential television formula they base themselves on. Both shows still fall victim to the clichés. They don't really try to jump outside the box that supports them. And in a sense ME is justified in not jumping too far outside that box, ATS and BTVS have never been high in the ratings department and they are cult/genre TV shows. Cult TV shows are already on the networks hit list, they are already being subversive just by being a cult tv show, you don't want to push your luck.
In order to subvert the formula - ME would have had to do a few things that probably would have pissed off a good portion of their fan base not to mention the networks and advertisers. Buffy did not really do anything that heroes before haven't done. Nor did she veer in any way from the traditional hero's journey. Also the show remained the Buffy show, it did not become the Xander, Willow, Giles or Spike show, Buffy was still the central focus. We still saw everything through her eyes. It didn't take any serious risks against the form - ie. casting moral doubt on Buffy's slayer calling by redeeming Spike sans soul, or ending the show with Buffy waking up in an insane asylum. Or killing off any of the principal human characters such as Willow, Xander, Giles, Dawn, or Buffy in the finale. No serious risks that could alienate fans or advertising dollars. (Oddly enough the risks they took that did alienate fans - were the soap opera clichés not the creative risks that other programs have taken.) Xena came far closer to subverting the formula than Buffy did and actually is more legendary due to the risks it took - risks that pissed off the fan base. It killed its heroine, it made the supporting character Gabrielle more important at the end and the survivor. Angel the Series hasn't done anything to subvert the formula either. Not really. It's no different formulaically than the shows that came before or will come after it. The closest Angel came to subverting it's formula was turning the sidekick/love interest Cordelia evil, but this actually sticks with the formula if you think about it - remember the hero can never be happy? The significant other of the hero is doomed? The moment Cordy became Angel's love interest - she was doomed. Same thing with Spike on Buffy, the moment he became Buffy's romantic interest - he was doomed. They came very close to subverting the formula with Spike, but they pulled back. If Spike had been redeemed without a soul, if Spike had been redeemed without dying - and if they managed to pull it off without unraveling their universe or losing the audience in the process? If the show became the Willow show and Buffy took a back seat. Or Xander came front and center. Or Anya? Then yes, BTVS may have risen above its formula and the dictates of the television form. Same goes with Angel the Series. So far? Neither show has accomplished it. Not entirely their fault, they are after all slaves to the formula.
[> Part IV: Difficulties of Operating Within Structure and Boundaries of TV Formula -- s'kat (no footnotes in this section), 10:09:36 08/23/03 Sat
Part IV Difficulties of Operating Within Structure and Boundaries of Television Formula
Television serials have a basic structure and formula, which no matter how creative and innovative the writers are - they can't really break. Advertisers and network execs won't let you.
A. The General Television Formula
With the possible exception of reality shows, which are in a class by themselves, you have 13-22 episodes, 6 if you are in the UK, to produce a year, 43 minutes each to tell a story. The story may be told in an episodic stand-alone format, a serialized format, or a combo of the two. It may contain:
1. One central character - usually the one in the title - with a bunch of supporting characters
2. A central character, supporting and guest stars,
3. Change the lead and supporting characters each episode,
4. Just change the supporting characters each episode and have only one contracted character,
5. Have an ensemble with no one as the lead.
B. If the story has a lead or central character it will most likely fit one of the following formulas. All have been done numerous times and all are comforting tried and true methods to the network brass and advertisers. (ie. Guaranteed audience getters.)
1. The "Cursed Hero On A Quest" or "Quest of The Cursed Hero"
This formula usually has the name of the central character or their profession in the title. It is most generally a combo of episodic and stand-alone, rarely is it serialized except in a few instances. The over-arcing plot is the hero's quest for whatever it is s/he is lacking and this part is important: the hero cannot resolve or obtain hi/r goal until the final episode of the series or it is over. In some cases the hero may never obtain it.
Requirements of the formula:
a. The hero must be stoic and brooding and the straight man, seldom is the central character snarky or amusing. They must be serious-minded and guilt-ridden.
b. Usually, not always, the hero has a dark side - a Mr. Hyde just lurking beneath the surface that makes hi/r dangerous. The villain does not want to push the hero too far. "You really don't want to make me angry!" (David Banner, The Incredible Hulk)
c. The hero has a secret that he can't tell anyone - something that keeps him apart from society and any potential love interest. This secret explains the Mr. Hyde persona.
d. If there's more than one character in the cast - these characters act as the heroes support group or trusted allies in hi/r quest for whatever.
e. The hero may be an anti-hero or just misunderstood with a tragic flaw that keeps h/ir from accomplishing hi/r objective. Usually the flaw is hubris or vanity, something basic to the human condition, which the audience identifies with. But deep down, the audience must believe the hero is good. (Series where the central character's moral condition is too ambiguous or negative rarely survive - advertisers feel uncomfortable with it. Sopranos and Blackadder are rarities and neither has appeared on US network television. The ones that have are Maverick and Nichols. Nichols was a western that aired in 1971 and barely made it to 13 episodes. The main hero was considered too ambiguous. Maverick was a Western with more than one hero.)
f. Important: while the hero can't be too ambiguous or become evil in any way, the supporting characters can. The supporting characters can also be depicted as fools or clowns, as long as they never supersede the hero or take over the spotlight. Why? Because that would be very bad and subvert the formula and we mustn't do that. Fans might revolt and who would buy the advertisers products? When you have a central character in the title - the series is built around them - it is essentially all about them. Veer from that formula and you might get a fan revolt and lose advertisers. Bottom line - bring as many people to the advertisers as possible that is your mission.
Examples of this formula: Angel The Series, The Pretender, John Doe, The Fugitive, Forever Knight, Highlander, Xena: Warrior Princess (which actually tried to subvert the formula and make Gabrielle the lead, but didn't completely - everything else fits), Have Gun Will Travel, The Equalizer, The Incredible Hulk, Brimstone, Millenium, Miracles, and Quantum Leap. Genre TV loves this formula. And no, Angel The Series has not in my opinion subverted it in any way - now if Spike, Lorne, Fred, Connor or Wes took over? That would be a subversion but remember point (f)? Very bad things would happen. If they turn it into an ensemble? That would also be a subversion. If Angel became the villain? Yep, subversion. But I wouldn't worry - it looks to me as if ME is bound and determined to continue with the formula. The most experimental they'll get is adding a little comedy and whoops! Quantum Leap, Highlander, and Xena beat them to it.
2. The Hero's Journey :
Basically we have a hero who has some sort of mission, be it a job, a calling, a task which they alone can do. They aren't cursed. They don't have a Mr. Hyde lurking beneath the surface. They just have this sacred mission.
Requirements of the formula - pretty close to the Cursed Hero actually. The hero is usually the title character. They may or may not have a bunch of sidekicks who help them. It's important the hero/heroine themselves never turns completely evil or villainous, although they can get a little nasty from time to time. They must NEVER be happy.
a. Unlucky in love. The more unresolved the hero's romantic life, the better. As long as the show is on the air - the hero will be unlucky in love. Everyone else in the hero's life can be lucky in love but the hero. Often the hero's best friend will either be married, be engaged, be happy, or have a long-term relationship in the series, while the hero flits from one bad relationship to the next. If there's a long-term love relationship? It will never be resolved, the writers will pull out every possible contrivance to keep the two apart and preferably from having sex - since once you have sex - things tend to get dull.
b. Unrequited love triangles are really popular under this formula. Usually it's between the hero, someone the hero wants but can never have, and someone who wants the hero but the hero can't see because of the unattainable object. With love triangles the trick is to have no one happy. The writer's job is to keep all three characters conflicted as long as possible. It helps if it's a quadrangle - thus removing too much sympathy from the character who wants the hero but the hero won't give the time of day. The hero must have the audience's sympathy. Triangles are seldom resolved and only when the writers come up with a new one.
c. If the hero has sex - bad things happen and mostly to the significant other. They will either go evil, attempt to rape her (if the hero is a her), get killed (if a guy), sacrifice themselves to save the hero, or abandon the hero due to a misunderstanding. Rarely does the significant other get more than half a year of sex with the hero. Remember point a? Must be miserable. Woe to the character who falls in love with or gets sexually involved with the hero, they are doomed.
d. Supporting characters tend to evolve more than the hero.
e. The hero is a bit of a martyr - no one else can do their job, they are alone, they are constantly saving people but never getting any money or thanks for it. The cops or authorities are constantly against them.
f. Cops are stupid - if the hero isn't a cop or FBI agent, but lone wolf. If the hero is a cop or agent - Cops are bright. Depends on who the hero is and who the hero's associates are.
g. The hero has some quality that requires the audience to suspend disbelief. Superstrength, super-smarts, super-sight, etc.
h. The hero is misunderstood by their friends and feels like an outsider. (See Martyr)
i. The hero will risk h/ir life to save everyone, good or evil. The hero is the voice of reason and judgment, redeems the villain, saves the day.
j. The hero must be likable and usually has some tragic but completely understandable flaw that makes the audience sympathize with them.
k. The hero can often come across as self-involved, but never to the extent they alienate the audience. The majority of the audience must either strongly identify with or fall in love with the hero.
l. The hero must always win in the end. Rarely does the hero lose. The audience must root for the hero and want the hero to win. Mustn't depress the audience.
Examples of the Formula: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, La Femme Nikita, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Dark Angel, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Smallville, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, and now - Jake 2.0, Tarzan, and Tru Calling.
3. The Hero as Detective
This one is usually more realistic or more based in our reality. It also tends to be far more episodic in nature with no clear plot arcs. This formula has pretty much the same qualifications as 1 and 2, with the difference being that the super-human quality is usually just super-smarts or Sherlock Holmes complex. Ie. This character can solve the crime when no one else can. Examples: Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Murder She Wrote, The Rockford Files, Columbo, and Profiler .
We also have the duo - a male/female detective team, which was created by Dashielle Hammett in the Nick and Nora Charles mysteries: The duo involves two heroes, usually a romantically inclined couple that investigate crimes, the duo can be either very bright or stupid or just of normal intelligence. They usually do it together and neither overshadows the other. The humor is their witty repartee and or sexual chemistry. In order to preserve the sexual chemistry and/or tension between the characters - they seldom are shown having sex or consummating the relationship - at least not until the series ends. Examples of this form include: The X-Files, Remington Steel, Moonlighting, MacMillian and Wife, Hart and Hart.
The important thing to remember about television dramas with a central character - is that each has a tried but true formula. A few TV shows have attempted to jump away from the formulas, examples include Xena: Warrior Princess and The X-Files. Xena did it by making the story as much if not more about the sidekick than the cursed heroine, also it killed Xena in the end, redeeming her through her sidekick. The other stretch Xena made was the love story was more between Xena and Gabrielle than Xena and Hercules, if it had stuck with the formula - Xena would have remained more or less in love with Hercules throughout, ie. The unattainable object, reason for the redemption, trophy. X-Files does it by making Mulder and Scully question the cases they are investigating. Most of the suspense in the X-Files came from the mythology as opposed to the chemistry between the actors. Viewers were more concerned about whether aliens had manipulated Scully's brain or stolen her child than if she would have sex with Mulder. The serial nature of the X-Files took it a step beyond the usually episodic nature of the duo formula. The creator, Chris Carter, continued to subvert it by mixing comedy and heart-wrenching drama and chills. X-Files contained at least three genres within its format: the horror genre, the sci-fi, and the detective story. By doing so, it successfully stepped outside the formula. On top of this - it attempted to change the lead characters - a big mistake in this format. You can only change principal characters and leads if the formula is an ensemble and within a workplace setting, which focuses more on the procedures/ins and outs of the workplace and less on the characters- ie. Law and Order, ER, The West Wing, or CSI - the reason is the audience can accept the characters changing in these formats - they are less invested in the characters and more invested in the setting. In these dramas the setting mustn't change. X-Files attempted to change lead characters in a duo detective drama where the audience was mainly invested in the two lead characters. As a result the last two seasons of the show dipped in ratings. By attempting this - the writers/producers subverted the formula but not in a good way. The new characters, while interesting, just left the audience missing the old ones. When you attempt to break free of the rules of your formula - you must provide the viewers with a hook or a reason to follow you. Remember they don't have to watch and the point is to get as many of them to watch as possible.
So did BTVS subvert its "hero" formula? Not really. BTVS came close but may have missed the opportunity to truly subvert the formula. If Spike had been redeemed sans soul and had never raped Buffy? Maybe. If Willow had merely gone dark on power without losing Tara or following the route of the classic addiction storyline? Maybe. If Warren hadn't shot anyone? Maybe. All these are soap clichés and ME fell right into them as discussed in Part III. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's television - everyone does it. It's part and parcel of the formula. Same with Angel - if Angel starts to fall into the background? Then yes they've subverted the formula. If Angel goes evil? Yep. If Angel never gets redeemed? nope. If Angel gets redeemed? nope. It's hard being different when so many people have gotten there before you. Not that you have to be of course, after all the advertisers prefer it if you're not. Besides - you don't have to subvert the formula to be cool and entertaining. You do have to subvert it to be legendary. But you also have to do it well and preferably without losing your audience in the process. (Which is what happened to both Xena and X-Files).
Don't get me wrong, I love both ATS and BTVS, think they are amazing, and believe they have subverted other things, but they have not subverted the essential television formula they base themselves on. Both shows still fall victim to the clichés. They don't really try to jump outside the box that supports them. And in a sense ME is justified in not jumping too far outside that box, ATS and BTVS have never been high in the ratings department and they are cult/genre TV shows. Cult TV shows are already on the networks hit list, they are already being subversive just by being a cult tv show, you don't want to push your luck.
In order to subvert the formula - ME would have had to do a few things that probably would have pissed off a good portion of their fan base not to mention the networks and advertisers. Buffy did not really do anything that heroes before haven't done. Nor did she veer in any way from the traditional hero's journey. Also the show remained the Buffy show, it did not become the Xander, Willow, Giles or Spike show, Buffy was still the central focus. We still saw everything through her eyes. It didn't take any serious risks against the form - ie. casting moral doubt on Buffy's slayer calling by redeeming Spike sans soul, or ending the show with Buffy waking up in an insane asylum. Or killing off any of the principal human characters such as Willow, Xander, Giles, Dawn, or Buffy in the finale. No serious risks that could alienate fans or advertising dollars. (Oddly enough the risks they took that did alienate fans - were the soap opera clichés not the creative risks that other programs have taken.) Xena came far closer to subverting the formula than Buffy did and actually is more legendary due to the risks it took - risks that pissed off the fan base. It killed its heroine, it made the supporting character Gabrielle more important at the end and the survivor. Angel the Series hasn't done anything to subvert the formula either. Not really. It's no different formulaically than the shows that came before or will come after it. The closest Angel came to subverting it's formula was turning the sidekick/love interest Cordelia evil, but this actually sticks with the formula if you think about it - remember the hero can never be happy? The significant other of the hero is doomed? The moment Cordy became Angel's love interest - she was doomed. Same thing with Spike on Buffy, the moment he became Buffy's romantic interest - he was doomed. They came very close to subverting the formula with Spike, but they pulled back. If Spike had been redeemed without a soul, if Spike had been redeemed without dying - and if they managed to pull it off without unraveling their universe or losing the audience in the process? If the show became the Willow show and Buffy took a back seat. Or Xander came front and center. Or Anya? Then yes, BTVS may have risen above its formula and the dictates of the television form. Same goes with Angel the Series. So far? Neither show has accomplished it. Not entirely their fault, they are after all slaves to the formula.