29 Day - Whedon Meme

[shadowkat]

Where I blatantly take the Star Trek meme on my flist and turn it into a meme for the tv shows and a series that I was "ahem" far more of an insane fan of and actually own and can remember. We'll see if it works. [I don't remember most of STAR TREK, I'll do some of the questions in a separate meme.]


1 - Which Whedon series is your favorite?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For me, it's the richest and cleverest. Whedon is less preachy, and more honest. There's an innocence to it...that is lacking from his later works, a joy and a sense of fun. In many ways it is the lightest and funniest of his series, with the best sense of humor. I can always finds moments that make me cackle aloud.

2 - Who is your favorite character?

Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Any questions?

Angel the Series? Wesley, although for a bit it was Doyle.
Dollhouse? Adelle - who had a spiderish charm
Firefly? Wash - always made me laugh, Jayne was a close second, and I adore Zoe.
Doctor Horrible? Doctor Horrible.

3 - Who is your least favorite character?

Hmm...ponders. This is actually a hard question.

Buffy? Robin Wood
Angel? Groo - that guy from Pylea
Firefly? (too many to choose) Malcolm Reynolds and Inara (tie) or Kaylee and Simon Tam (eeney meany miny moe..)...also River...sigh, which may explain why I'm not a big fan of Firefly?
Doctor Horrible: Felicia Day's character
Dollhouse: Echo and the guy who was her love interest and whose name I keep forgetting (Hmmm, this may explain why I didn't like Dollhouse that much. All about the characters.)


4 - What was the first Whedon series you watched?

Buffy.

5 - What was the first episode/movie you watched?

Buffy. I actually saw the original film Buffy in the movie theater.


6 - Your favorite canon pairing? (Canon being the series and the movies.)

* Buffy: Buffy/Spike, also liked Dawn/Spike...but no, not in that way.
* Angel: Angel/Spike and Angel/Darla, also Lilah/Wes (sort of a three way tie)
* Firefly: Wash/Zoe.
* Dollhouse: Adelle/Topher and Topher/(AMy Acker's character) found both to be beyond fascinating and yes they were sort of canon.
*Doctor Horrible? Can't think of one.


7 - Your favorite non-canon pairing?
*Buffy: Faith/Buffy, also have a fondness for Xander/Spike
*Angel: Illyria/Spike...which I don't think was ever canon (except maybe in Brian Lynche's comics...which may explain why I liked those comics). Also liked Connor/Spike...but no, not in that way, ewww... and definitely not canon.
*Dollhouse: I can't think of one...(which again explains why this show never took off for me.)
* Firefly: Wash/Jayne - no not in that way. Also Kaylee/Jayne.


8 - Your favorite actor/actress? (Not the same as character.)
* Buffy: James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head (tie)
* Angel: Alexis Denisof/Julie Benze (have you seen her recent work - she's phenomenal) and Amy Acker as a close second.
* Firefly: Alan Tudyke/Gina Torres
* Dollhouse: Olivia Williams or Amy Acker/the actor who played the Russian Doll and whoever played Topher.
*Doctor Horrible: Neil Patrick Harris - who really is the best thing about it.

9 - What's your favorite episode?

[And this is why I'm not doing the Star Trek meme - I don't know the names of the episodes.]

*Buffy - Once More With Feeling, I know, I know...predictable. Musical geek extreme.
Plus we get Buffy and Spike kissing. Spike singing. Giles singing. What's not to like?
Runner's up include Fool For Love, Beneath You, HUSH, and Who are You?
*Angel - Destiny - S5. Yes, I love Smile Time -it's hilarious. But everything about Destiney was great. It's the episode for the Angel/Spike relationship. Close third?
Darla.
*Firefly - Objects in Space (Whedon channels Camus and various other existentialists)...and Serenity (not the film, the episode - which shows how they all met), those are my favorites. (Only two episodes I remember clearly or even the name of.)
*Dollhouse: Man on the Street (the folklore episode), and Spy in the House of Love. (They are the only two that I remember the names of, oddly enough).

10 - What's your favorite species (includes witches)?

Vampires. Favorite Vampire? Spike and Drusilla.

11 - What's your least favorite species?
Err... this is hard to do for Whedon.

Snake Demons...they got really old.

12 - What's your favorite funny moment?

Buffy: in the episode HIM - the fight between Spike and Buffy over the rocket launcher outside of Principal Wood's office - she's planning on blowing up Wood, Spike is struggling to stop her. One of the best bits of absurdist physical comedy on that show.
Angel: Tie between Spike/Puppet Angel fight in Smile Time and Spike/Angel verbal battle over who saved the world the most in Girl with the Question.
Dollhouse: Were there any? I can't remember any. Again explains why the show didn't take off for me.
Firefly: Wash playing with the toy dinosaurs on the deck of Serenity. But not that many. And I think the episode was "Serenity".

13 - What's your favorite dramatic moment?

Buffy: A traumatized and crazed Spike in the church with Buffy in Beneath You, when he explains why he sought a soul. That sequence defined the series for me - how gray it all was.
Angel: Darla staking herself in Lullaby to save her son tied with Darla telling Angel after he's killed his father...why he'll always be haunted by him in the episode Dear Boy. The two most defining moments in the series for me.
Firefly: I'm at a loss...maybe the scene in Out of Gas where Mal talks them into taking him over WASH? I can't remember.
Dollhouse: Amy Acker's character forcing Topher to face what he did to her.

14 - What's your favorite Whedon quote?

I don't know. So many...

From Buffy:
* Spike's speech in Lover's Walk - "You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood...blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
* Buffy: If it's the Apocalypse? Beep Me.
* Willow: Love makes you do the wacky.
* Giles:Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.

I am bad at remembering quotes, this would take me all day and I'm hungry and want to make lunch.


15 - How did you get into your favorite Whedon's shows?

I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer to see Anthony Stewart Head and I like fantasy/horror. I ended up falling in love with the characters.


16 - Are you involved with Whedon fandom?

Define involved? I've been heavily involved with the online fandom. Written reviews. Railed at the writer. Read all the interviews. Wrote fanfic. Read fanfic. 75% of the people who read this journal probably found me through that fandom.

But I don't own any fandom items and have never been to a con. A few fan-discussion area meetups, but nothing that required travel.

17 - Have you read any of the books? If so, which ones?

Scanned a few of the novelizations - they tend to be pretty juvenile and poorly written, so never bothered to buy them. The unpublished fanfic however is really good.
I've read some not all of the comics. Brian Lynche's Angel and Spike comics, a few others from IDW, S8 of Buffy from Dark Horse, and previewed some of the S9 (not my cup of tea...really don't like them.) Also read the Firefly comic book series - Those They Left Behind. Outside of fanfic, this works better on tv for me. I don't believe Whedon is good at comic books, it's not his forte.

18 - If you could be any species in the Whedon universe, what would you be?
Human. And possibly a witch...as long as the comic books aren't considered part of it.

19 - What do you think of the idea of a Buffy movie/reboot?

After much thought? Okay not that much. Go for it. Buffy has jumped outside of Whedon's realm. Why not allow other writers to play? Like other's have played with Star Trek and BattleStar Galatica and Sherlock Holmes. (They did ask Whedon to write and direct, but he backed off...so someone else should get a shot.)

20 - Of the minor characters (one shots, not the recurring ones) who’s your favorite?

*Buffy:The Vamp Psychologist in the Buffy S7 episode Conversations with Dead People whose name I forget. I found him oddly entertaining. A very nice twist on Ford from S2 Lie to Me.

* Angel: I can't think of anyone who wasn't recurring.
*Dollhouse: Ditto
*Firefly: Ditto


21 - Which Whedonverse food would you want to try at least once?

Gile's special brand of Scotch which Anya and Spike get drunk on in Entropy, and Giles always seems to have somewhere. And Spike's onion rings - which I can't have damn it.

22 - Which Whedon world would you want to visit at least once?

I don't think there is one. The man wrote nasty world's. Maybe Firefly?


23 - Is there anything you'd want to change about your favorite Whedon series? Why?

[Besides forbidding Whedon from writing comic books? LOL! I'd discuss the comics but that would take all day and you've heard it already, so what's the point.]

* Buffy - I'd change how they filmed and wrote the attempted rape sequence in Seeing Red and the location of it. I'd also change Willow's power arc, get rid of the magic is crack mislead and make it more about power.
* Angel - I'd change the Cordelia Arc in S3-S5. Get rid of the whole pregnancy storyline.
* Dollhouse - get rid of Sierra's rape storyline about the wealthy guy who makes her insane and wipes her brain turns her into a doll, just so she can have sex with him.
(Eww.) I'd also clarify a few bits and make the end-game less chaotic.
*Firefly - kill off Simon Tam in the film instead of WASH. Also get rid of all of the cheesy Western television series cliches - "corsets and long dresses in space? Seriously, Joss. Geisha outfits?" And the horse and buggy? Ugh.

24 - Is there anything about Whedonverse that has disappointed you?
See above. Oh, and the comics...sigh, the comics disappointed me the most. Particularly the fact that we never see Buffy's reaction when she discovers Spike is still alive or get a resolution to that. So much of the interesting stuff happens off-screen, while things I know and am bored by continue to happen on-screen. Annoys the hell out of me. We know Xander had a thing for Buffy. We know Riley and Sam are great together. Come on.

25 - How has Whedonverse changed you?

Fandom. I got involved with an online fandom for the first time in my life and wrote about it. That changed me. And finally, publicly embraced and accepted my inner geek.

26 - Lots of Whedon Clones out there. Which do you dig?

The Vamp Diaries is currently entertaining me, although hardly that close to the original. Veronica Mars probably came closest. And Being Human took the Angel story line to the next level.


27 - What would you cross over with Whedonverse?

Not really into cross-overs. Even within the Whedonverse. But maybe The X-men.


28 - Your favourite friendship in Whedonverse?

Buffy: Willow/Buffy
Angel: Wes/Angel
Firefly: Mal/Wash
Dollhouse: Adelle/Topher

29 - If you could tell Joss Whedon one thing, Buffy related or not, what would it be?
Interesting question. I'm pissed at the writer at the moment, so it probably would be, please stop writing The VERY SPECIAL BLOSSUM EPISODE! Thank you.

But seriously? It would be to thank him for writing such amazingly rich characters that play with my imagination.

Comments

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Wow, 29 topics. Fun ones, though. Here goes:

1. Buffy.
2. Buffy.I don't think I have favorites on the other shows. Willow and Spike would be close.
3. Of the main characters, Xander on BtVS (but you knew that). Connor on AtS (by a mile the worst character I've ever seen on TV). I really disliked Topher on Dollhouse (considering only S1). Didn't like any character on Firefly.
4. Buffy.
5. WTTH.
6. Buffy/Spike. None on the other shows. Willow/Tara I liked, and Willow/Oz too. Spike and Dru were great.
7. Spike/Dawn. So sue me.
8. SMG, AH, JM. For AtS, AD. For Dollhouse, maybe Harry Lennix. Nobody stands out on Firefly/Serenity.
9. Favorite or best? I guess Becoming probably fits both categories, as does OMWF. Man on the Street was pretty good, though I'd probably go with Epitaph 1. The other shows have nothing even close to these.
10. Favorite species!? Whatever Clem is.
11. Warlocks for least favorite. At least if Rack is the exemplar.
12. The funniest scene for me was Spike and Willow in The Initiative. To this day I can't figure out how they could make a rape metaphor hilarious, but they did. Victor dancing in the club was pretty funny.
13. Like you, the scene in Beneath You. Buffy finding her mother's body and Giles finding Jenny are right up there. For AtS I'd go with locking the lawyers into the basement. Mal putting Jayne in the airlock.
14. Does this mean within the shows or outside them? Within the shows it would be Whistler's voiceover at the end of Becoming 1.
15. My daughter wanted me to watch Buffy with her because she was worried she'd be scared.
16. Sure. I respond to you, don't I? :)
17. No.
18. Human also.
19. I seriously doubt I'd watch it.
20. Mr. Trick. If he doesn't count then Sunday.
21. The onion rings, definitely.
22. None. They're all dystopian.
23. What you said.
24. All of AtS. Not a fan of Firefly either.
25. Fandom.
26. Veronica Mars.
27. How about Buffy crossover with The Wire?
28. Buffy/Willow.
29. Too many drug analogies.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

14. Does this mean within the shows or outside them? Within the shows it would be Whistler's voiceover at the end of Becoming 1.

Within...took me a minute to figure out what you meant. Yes, definitely within.
Although maybe both. I can only remember the quotes within the series.


How about Buffy crossover with The Wire?

That I have troubles wrapping my brain around. Doesn't Baltimore have enough problems without adding vampires to the mix?

Mr. Trick. If he doesn't count then Sunday.

He's recurring, but Sunday definitely works. I forgot about her. Actually should have picked Sunday.

Too many drug analogies.

Agreed. The addiction metaphor was getting old. I get that everyone uses drugs in Hollywood, but...come on.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

How about having McNulty investigate Buffy instead of poor Det. Stein? I can see lots of great plots there, including him sleeping with her (or trying to).

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Snake Demons...they got really old.

*shudders*

Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.

I still think that scene is probably the best meta anyone's ever written on the entirety of BtVS. And possibly fiction at large.

Gile's special brand of Scotch

IIRC, it's Jack Daniels (and so not actually scotch, which is odd for Giles), but... yum. Matter of fact, I think I'll have some right now.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I still think that scene is probably the best meta anyone's ever written on the entirety of BtVS. And possibly fiction at large.

So very true. Whedon was good at doing meta on his own series. One of the many reasons I loved Once More With Feeling - the episode is almost all meta. As was Lie to Me.

it's Jack Daniels (and so not actually scotch, which is odd for Giles), but... yum. Matter of fact, I think I'll have some right now.

Oh, you are right..it was bourbon. For some reason I thought it was aged Glen Livet Scotch or something like that. Love the smell of Jack Daniels but can't drink it.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Giles always drinks single malt scotch otherwise, but for some reason there's a bottle of bourbon in the Magic Box in "Entropy". It was probably merchandise - some sort of cursed hellbooze. Would explain a lot.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

That would make more sense. I was wondering...also can't quite see Spike drinking Single Malt Scotch. Jack Daniels on the other hand.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I'll have to do this later... but actually I agree w/99% of your answers (only real difference is my passionate love for Firefly, and my desire to spend the rest of my life on board Serenity w/the crew... before the movie killed off two of them!). I just bought another set of 'Firefly' DVDs to give to my friends here in Tampa because I could not bear the fact that they've never seen anything of the show! LOL

#15: I also started watching for Tony Head, but it was the quippy/funny dialogue that got me hooked (I love shows with great dialogue!)

and #9: there is no reason to apologize for recognizing OMWF as one of Joss' greatest achievements... every song was written to suit the actors singing ability (or lack of same) and every word furthered the plot and told us a lot about each character.... It was amazing.

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

2. Buffy or Spike. I'm also really fond of Faith.

Angel the Series: Darla, Angel (he is so messed up, so antiheroic in the guise of a hero; I love it), Faith (I think of Spike as a BtVS character but otherwise he would count)
Firefly: Mal, Jayne, and probably Wash or Zoe. I like all the characters more or less, I don't have strong opinions on the Firefly cast
Dollhouse: it's hard to pick one; I like Sanders/Whiskey, Echo (yes, unpopular opinion), Adelle, Mellie and Topher (who starts off as annoying but becomes the best written character in addition to Adelle).
Dr Horrible: I "like" Billy as an interesting character and a great embodiment/subversion of Nice Guy (TM), and captain Hammer as a fun love-to-hate parody of a superhero. I certainly don't like Billy as a human being and mind boggles when I see fans who consider him a good guy. He's basically a prettier and more charming version of the Trio (with the emphasis on Warren) put in the role of the protagonist.

3. On Buffy - was Xander for a long time but I eventually got over it. Now - probably one of the minor characters like Scott Hope or Ben.
Angel the Series - Groo.
Firefly - I don't hate anyone on Firefly... but probably Inara because I just don't get her character. I admit I can't understand the whole thing with being a companion and why she likes her job.
Dollhouse - I don't know. Maybe Paton Oswalt's character because he's creepy and I was supposed to like him.
Dr Horrible - Penny is the weakest character, even though she's the only decent human being there.

4. Angel - I saw some season 1 episodes before I saw any of Buffy (which spoiled the heck out of Buffy/Angel story).
But Buffy was the first one I actually regularly watched.

5. City Of. (That's where the spoilage came from.)

6. Buffy: Buffy/Spike
Angel: Angel/Darla
Firefly: Wash/Zoe
Dollhouse: not much to choose from, I wasn't gaga over Victor/Sierra, they were OK, and the other pairings were underdeveloped
Dr Horrible: none of course. Or maybe Dr Horrible/Captain Hammer because they truly deserve each other. Is that canon or not?

7. Buffyverse: Angel/Faith, Buffy/Faith (but not like that, sorry I don't think they're ever likely to get romantically involved), Spike/Faith (just for a fling or a bit of flirting)
Firefly: ? No idea. Maybe River/Jayne, that would be fun in a really weird way (she thinks he looks good in red...)
Dollhouse: No idea.
Dr Horrible: See answer to 6.

8. BtVS: James Marsters, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anthony Head, special mention to Juliet Landau
AtS: Julie Benz, Alexis Denisoff, Keith Szarabajka (Holtz)
Firefly: The character didn't get to be developed enough for me to admire the actors that much for those roles alone, but I admire Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk for playing such vastly different roles in Firefly/Buffy/Dr Horrible and in Firefly/Dollhouse.
Dr Horrible: Neil Patrick Harris

9. BtVS - hard to pick just one, I have a bunch of them: Once More With Feeling, Passion, I Only Have Eyes For You, Becoming, Restless, Conversations with Dead People, Something Blue, Who Are You?, Dead Things, Intervention, Fool for Love, The Wish, Lie to Me, Tabula Rasa, and I could go on.
AtS - Darla, Reprise, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, Reunion, Lullaby
Firefly - Jaynestown, followed by Objects in Space, Out of Gas. And I like the movie.
Dollhouse - Epitaph One

10. Vampires, I guess.

11. "Zompires".

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

12. BtVS - All of Buffy/Spike scenes in Something Blue. Buffybot interacting with the Scoobies in Intervention. Spike/Joyce scene in "Becoming II" and Buffy and Spike pretending to be in a band. All of Snyder's and Giles/Joyce scenes in Band Candy. Randy Giles from Tabula Rasa.
AtS - Wee Puppet Angel in Smile Time
Firefly - the Firefly crew openmouthedly listening to the song about Jayne the hero
Dollhouse - Two Tophers
Dr Horrible - captain Hammer's reaction to being injured

13. BtVS - the last scene of Beneath You, Buffy and Angel replaying James and Grace in I Only Have Eyes For You, the last scene of Intervention, the ending of Forever, Buffy/Giles outside of the factory in Passion, the almost-non-dialogue Spuffy scenes in After Life (as Buffy descends the stairs), Lessons (when Buffy finds Spike in the basement) and at the end of Showtime
AtS - last scene of Dear Boy, Holland Manners/Angel scene in Reprise, last scene of Five by Five, Darla's death in Lullaby, flashback of Darla being sired by the Master, Darla's speech to Angel after he kills his family in The Prodigal
Firefly - Jayne's musings (!) at the end of Jaynestown, and there's more but I'd have to think and remember
Dollhouse - nothing comes to mind right now...

14. Giles's speech at the end of Lie to Me

those I quote the most: "This makes the kind of sense that's not" and "Your logic does not resemble our Earth logic"
from the comics: "Nobody said it was [your fault], except me right now to your face."

15. Watching Buffy on TV since the first episode (not American TV though, so it was in the early 2000s)

16. Yes, I waste a lot of my time on Buffy forums (Buffyforums, Slayalive, Buffytube) and debating on LJ, Dreamwidth and Tumblr. I read and post on Mark Watches. I read Whedonesque but can't register.

I also have my own Buffy/Angel rewatch thread on TrekBBS and I post reviews on LJ and DW, but it is going very slowly since those are long, detailed reviews/analysis that I have to spend a lot of time writing.

17. No, but I've read a lot of comics: Buffyverse - all of season 8 including one-shots and e-comics, same for season 9 and Angel & Faith, other canon stuff - Tales of the Slayers, Tales of the Vampires, Fray, some of the old Dark Horse comics published while the show was one, and some of the IDW ones (like the Spike series).
I've also read several Firefly comics (not all of them) and the Dollhouse Epitaphs comics.

I really like the Firefly comic "Shepard's Tale" (with Book's life story told in flashbacks). I really like some of season 8 (#40 Coda, e-comic Always Darkest, #5 The Chain, No Future For You are my favorites) and I find season 9 interesting so far; I like "Fray" and some of the "Tales" (they're very uneven).

18. Human.

19. Glad that it's not going to happen.

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

20. BtVS: Holden Webster (Conversations with Dead People).
AtS, Firefly, Dollhouse - can't think of anyone that wasn't recurring

21. Uh, I don't remember any interesting food, sorry.

22. Firefly I suppose?

23. BtVS - remove the Willow/Xander fling from season 3, I never believed it. Change the stupid ending to End of Days - the kiss was already OOC, but at least it shouldn't have been a "cliffhanger" - lamest ending ever. Shoot a longer version of Chosen with less forced Bangel pandering, more honest interactions between Buffy and all other characters with some real resolutions between her and the Scoobies, less 'very special moment' treatment of the empowerment spell with some admission of its imperfections and problematic aspects, and some more time for everyone to grieve and come to terms after the big battle.
AtS - all of Cordelia's arc from season 4, remove the Beast, don't fridge Fred, don't suddenly treat Angel like he has a Multiple Personality Disorder in season 4 with the lame Angelus arc, and above all, for the love of god, DELETE THE GIRL IN QUESTION FROM EXISTENCE. At least they retconed Buffy's part in it, but that's not enough. And there's probably more (like, don't end season 2 in Pylea) - I could go on...
Firefly - well, un-cancel it and properly continue it. Also, Heart of Gold was lame.
Dollhouse - add more episodes to explain what happened to Sanders/Whiskey and to Dominic, and fill in the gaps between the rest of the show and Epitaph TWo - show the Echo/Paul relationship on-screen rather than just filling us in that it happened, and same goes for Alpha's redemption story (though they've started to do that in the comics).

24. Lots of stuff (see above). In the comics - the way they seem to be trying to whitewash Angel through Faith's narrations in Angel & Faith, the clumsy way they're trying to convince us that "magicless world is bad" and the silly explanations about the changed rules (instead of magicless world, it's a world with arbitrary rules that can be explained as "the breaking of the Seed did it!"), and I'm still waiting to see Buffy and Spike have a talk about the relationship or the lack of it between Chosen and season 8. Also, the many dubcon issues (e.g. spacefrak) and Dawn constantly blaming solely herself that her ex abused her for months as a revenge for cheating on him.

25. Well, I became much more active on Livejournals and started writing reviews of episodes, I've never done that before.

26. Veronica Mars, Being Human (UK), the new Doctor Who (it's heavily Whedon-influenced).

27. Yeah, I think I'd go with X-Men, too. Or Battlestar Galactica.

28. BtVS - Buffy/Willow, Spike/Dawn, Buffy/Giles
AtS - Angel/Wesley, Angel/Cordelia (until they screwed it all up)
Firefly - Mal/Wash
Dollhouse - Adelle/Topher

29. You're a great writer and I've loved your amazing characters and great dialogue. I've laughed, I've been heartbroken, I've loved and empathized with all sorts of characters.

But let's admit it, you have your bad moments, too. You know what I think you should do to avoid those? Write the story you want to tell without trying to please/mock/yank the chain of various shipper groups and various portions of fandom. It's OK that you're keeping in touch with the fandom, but being true to characters is more important than making points. Too much meta moments ruin the story, as does too much flippancy.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

But let's admit it, you have your bad moments, too. You know what I think you should do to avoid those? Write the story you want to tell without trying to please/mock/yank the chain of various shipper groups and various portions of fandom. It's OK that you're keeping in touch with the fandom, but being true to characters is more important than making points. Too much meta moments ruin the story, as does too much flippancy.

In other words...please no more very special blossum episodes! (This is basically short hand for everything you said above. Just like "jump the shark" is short hand for not doing insane stunts that do not come organically from the story. ). Blossum was this sitcom on tv, but the writers suddenly got preachy and a bit too into teaching the fans.
And the marketing people would say..."oh stay tuned for a very special blossum episode!" Another bit of short hand? Don't pull a Sorkin. (Sorkin on the West Wing loved to rant at fans, and often pulled his rants into the show - breaking the fourth wall and his fans suspension of disbelief at the same time. That sort of thing works in shows like Supernatural, but didn't in The West Wing.)