Favorite Whedon TV Show Meme

[shadowkat]

I can't remember what Whedon tv shows my readership favors. So perhaps you can help? My current guess is that you rank them as follows:

1. Buffy
2. Angel (with about 25-45% preferring Angel to Buffy for various reasons)
3. Firefly
4. Dollhouse (with 65% squicked by the series and finding it unwatchable)


Only 5% read the comics and liked them. Everyone liked Dr. Horrible. Few read the X-men comics by Whedon or stuck with them. So comics Whedon - not a fav. Also few appear interested in the current films, Much Ado, Cabin in the Woods, or Avengers. Am I right?
Here's a poll to find out, assuming people participate. As all mathematicians and staticians know...polls are repsentative of the sampling. If only 20 people take the poll?
You guess based on those 20. So...I have approximately 150 who have friended me, of the 150, about 50 probably read on a daily basis, of the 50, 30% are into polls. So..I have no way of knowing, do I? The only way I can know is if everyone who reads my journal and likes or ever liked Whedon shows takes the poll. And that's well impossible. So this is ...far from an exact exercise. (A lesson to the people out there who do a lot of surveys for sociology, psychology and marketing classes - people? They aren't that reliable. You know that right? IF not, just read the internet - it will prove it to you. There's a reason that sociology, psychology and marketing are considering inexact sciences or soft. They rely on inexact data that can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Lawyers love to poke holes in statistical data.)

That said, for a bit of fun, take the poll and see if you can prove me wrong? Feel free to link, since a lot of readers seem to be through links at times.

[Poll #1831422]

[Note: Won't be able to respond until late on Thursday or Friday, since I can no longer access personal blogs via my workplace. So can only access at home. PS: I reposted this poll fifteen minutes after first posting, because I screwed up on the last question and had to fix it. Now it should be fine. If you responded to the deleted post, please respond again. Thanks.]

[ETA: Read the comments. Fascinating.]

Comments

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I went back and changed my answer to the last question... because odds are good if I can't ever work up the nerve to see "Cabin in the Woods" in the theaters, I'll probably rent it.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I picked Dollhouse second, but that's based solely on S1. It took me a couple of watchings, but I get the idea. It still has weaknesses (ED's acting), but there's a real point there. AtS never interested me much even at its best and I find substantial parts of it unwatchable.

I rated Firefly last. This is a personal thing with me. The American movie tradition of romantic Southerners after the Civil War drives me nuts. Former Confederate soldiers were NOT heroes. They may have been personally brave, but they fought in support of one of the worst causes ever. Glorifying them was wrong.

When I watch Firefly, I can't get this background out of my head. I realize that the rebellion there didn't necessarily bear any resemblance to our Civil War. Nonetheless it resonates with themes that I find personally obnoxious and I can't really enjoy it.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think Buffy and Angel are a few tiers above the other two. Firefly was too shortly lived to form a solid opinion, IMO. It's, like, what would we think of Buffy if it was only WTTH-IRYJ? Same time, it could have gotten much worse (Dollhouse S2). Beautiful rape!

I'm not seeing anything, but if you held a gun to my head, I'd see Much Ado. Cabin In the Woods is everything about Whedon I dislike and I've never been into Avengers.

[snickfic]

I realize this isn't a series, but outside of his TV shows my favorite Whedon project is Fray.

Rather to my surprise, I ranked Angel last out of the four. Dollhouse was a hot mess, but I still cared more about it than I cared about most of Ats.

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

I probably screwed all the data up by not ranking anything but the last two queries... but when people ask me to do this I always grab all four and scream "BUT THEY ARE MINE AND I LOVE THEM AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

. . . .

or at least, my entire brain shuts down and logic flies away and I just sort of space out until the conversation is over, hoping that no one will notice I didn't answer...

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I liked both Buffy and Angel relatively evenly.

Firefly annoyed the crap out of me with its failure to logically world-build. We were simply supposed to 'accept' for no reason whatsoever that in the future people would decide to adopt slang from a brief period of the late 19th century Western U.S., that female terraformers would wear long calico dresses, and that they'd use horses (relatively fragile creatures with temperature sensitivities) rather than the advanced vehicles they clearly possessed. All of it plus so much more simply made no 'world-building' sense and I knew that Whedon would never, ever, ever even try to build that world. We were simply to accept it... and I couldn't.

"Dollhouse" straight-up squicked me as a premise. Add in FOX's "prostitution yay!" ad campaign (seriously, that's what it looked like) and I was double squicked. (I was triply squicked when Whedon claimed that what went wrong with the series was that FOX reigned in the prostitution aspect. Apparently, he wanted more prostitution.) I really didn't like "Dollhouse."

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I rank 'Firefly' the highest because I think it had the best cast and the tightest world vision...
Buffy is a VERY close second because it really had time to develop into something brilliant.
I rate Dollhouse third because I was fascinated by the flawed idea that never really worked (it might have worked better w/out Fox's interference).
And Angel is always last with me because I didn't like most of the cast and stories... And I hated everything about season 4 (I should recheck that, but I'm pretty sure I never liked anything from Season 4), however season 5 was somewhat a redemption....

None of the comics mean much to me, but I do adore 'Dr. Horrible', particularly the musical commentary!

And I will watch in the theaters and buy all three of the upcoming movies! I have high hopes for all three being big fun.

[gingerwall.livejournal.com]

Firefly was fantastic - I think in terms of the amount of awesomeness per episode it was better than Buffy. Great cast, great characters, great dialogue. They managed to have 9 main characters, and develop all of them. Plus there were not-white characters that were awesome and important! Wheden really perfected his ability to completely change tone between episodes and yet still have a cohesive-feeling for the show with Firefly. When I watched Buffy after I finished Firefly, I could totally see him figuring it out there. Restless reminded me a lot of Objects in Space in terms of surrealism. The chronology and the construction of Out of Gas was brilliant. Also Kaylee gets to have _tons_ of awesome sex with no horrible consequences. Yay!

But because Buffy had so much more time to develop, it actually accomplished more overall. So many brilliant episodes. So self-referential - you get more and more out of it every time you watch it - but not annoyingly so. After watching Buffy I get annoyed by other shows where the characters have zero memory of everything that happened before that isn't specifically related to whatever plot arc they are currently exploring. Like they haven't spent the spent 3 years doing X together. I love Buffy more than Firefly overall, I'm just not waxing as poetic, because that seems to be the general consensus (not the case with Firefly apparently - I didn't expect that.)

Angel has its wonderful moments: Cordy in seasons 1 and 2; Wesley's amazing progression; Fred being adorable; Gunn as a real character that isn't just a sassy black friend; Lilah and Lindsey being deliciously evil; Amy Acker transforming from into Ilyria - that was amazing beyond words. She is just so fucking talented. But overall, (somewhat) in the words of Mark: I'm just not super into watching a dude angst over his guilty past. So overall it doesn't resonate on the same level as Buffy.

And Dollhouse... well, I enjoyed most of the episodes... I loved Topher and DeWitt and their dynamic. Most of the dolls were pretty good, but Eliza as Echo was underwhelming and that made it hard to really love. Eh.

Edited for grammar fail.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The Buffy and Angel ranking really depends for me on the day I've been having, I switch between them all the time. (Mostly my take is that BTVS is the better show, but there are times where I connect deeper with AtS, and it definitely inspired more fanfic from me.)

Also I love Astonishing X-Men as much as both of them, but that wasn't what you asked.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Never saw any of Dollhouse (not sure it ever reached UK terrestrial TV and what I'd heard didn't make me feel like shelling out for a boxset). The thing with Angel was that it was very uneven - on the latest rewatch I was really aware of how long it took to hit its stride, one might almost say not until Season 2 - and I really dislike Season 4. It picked up massively in Season 5 and then I thought blew the ending, though presumably that was mostly about show being terminated without renewal.

[shapinglight]

I've never managed to get through all the episodes of Firefly. The world building was plain ridiculous as shipperx points out, and I don't like Nathan Fillion.

I quite enjoyed season one of Dollhouse despite the squicky premise, but season 2 was shockingly bad. The Buffy comics should have taught me, I suppose, but I really didn't think Whedon could produce anything that bad.

I doubt I'll bother going to see the Avengers, but I might watch it on DVD some day. But then I said the same about Serenity and I've never managed to watch that.

I may well be alone in the fandom in not rating Doctor Horrible either.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Your guess seems to be pretty accurate.

I loved Buffy, liked Angel a great deal, thought Firefly was extremely poor (shipperx has voiced my opinion very accurately, although she missed the ludicrously immense thermal zone in a single system and the Chinese phrases cropping up all the time despite us never ever seeing an ethnic Chinese person), and I thought that Dollhouse was the vilest thing ever to disgrace television.

I wouldn't pay to watch any Whedon film (two words; Alien Resurrection) but I'll probably watch The Avengers when it comes on TV. I may well lose interest halfway through, though.

And the Buffy comic is the worst story ever to appear in print in the entire history of humanity; it makes even Left Behind look good (well, less awful) in comparison.

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

I haven't filled out the poll as Buffy is the only series I've ever watched. I tried a couple of episodes of Angel, but couldn't get into it (not even S5 with Spike), and haven't seen any of the other two.

No interest in the comics (not a format I enjoy) or the films. It's obviously all about the Buffy for me. :)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I like Buffy best. I don't usually read or watch for character (for writers or actors but not characters so much) but she and Sarah Connor are my exceptions that prove the rule. Actually, to be more specific it's post S5 Buffy I watch for. The original Buffy came from horror movies, the blonde in the alley who died a hero. My Buffy came from the musical, life's-not-a-song Buffy, Buffy came back wrong and stayed that way. Which makes sense, I like the idea of horror movies more than the reality but musicals are in my blood.

Firefly has a warmth to it, it's a show a lot of love went into but its a Western and its hard for Europeans to feel the resonances of that genre. it's not our history. Dollhouse isn't as lovingly crafted but I like the imagery and ideas and where they're good they speak to me.

Angel, meh. It's a boy story how I used to imagine comic books would be before I read any (and some still are).

Other stuff, I think the third book of AXM is the best of them but still prefer the BtVS book at least when Whedon writes it himself. Then I can be with my Buffy again.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I think Whedon's X-Men comics are among my favourite work of his now. Probably because the fact that he didn't own the characters meant that he wasn't allowed to do his post-2003 thing of utterly destroying them because he couldn't think of any way to develop them. (I have a strong suspicion that Brand survived because somebody else in Marvel decided that she was a promising character and shouldn't be killed off.) Also, his writing of Emma Frost makes it clear that he can write grown-up sexually-active women without vilifying them, but just doesn't usually want to.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I put Angel ahead of Buffy but I really can't say why. I think it resonated more because it reflected that whole post-high school "Now what do I do? I'm supposed to be a grown-up!" feeling that still happens to me even now.

Plus I love Wesley's arc on ATS, and then Faith had some amazing stuff and... yeah. So while I wouldn't necessarily argue that Angel is the better series, it's still my favorite.

I'm rather glad I didn't discover online fandom until both shows were off the air, though. Heh.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

I'm clearly in the minority here, but I like Dollhouse the best. It took one or two single ideas and explored them pretty well for being squished into two seasons instead of three. I'm intrigued by all the characters, I think there's some really interesting moral ambiguities and complexities, and I was pretty impressed by the actors overall, and really liked the characters, even if most of them are terrible people. It had a lot of twists that genuinely surprised me, and, while a lot of them were painful, I didn't feel like they existed ONLY to torture the characters, something I think is very prevalent in later seasons of Buffy/Angel and which annoys me to no end.

Firefly was the first Whedon thing I saw, and I enjoy it. I think it's unfortunately too short to get a good feel of the series as a whole, but the characters were fun and I liked the space western theme. In terms of logical world building, no, it doesn't really make sense, but I like the mash-up of genres and it fits the general "adventure" atmosphere. I wish the series had continued long enough to get into the meat of its plot, but as it is it's a fun series and one that has enough stand-alone episodes I rewatch it pretty frequently.

Buffy/Angel... I think my experience was just all wrong for this one. I didn't watch it as a teenager, so characters intended to appeal to teenagers (lookin' at you, Xander) I mostly find annoying. I have very little familiarity with horror tropes, so it's hard for me to appreciate the deconstruction of them, and I came into the series spoiled for nearly every major plot point, although I'm not sure how I could have avoided spoilers when the show is 15 years old. I think overall it just feels too teen sitcom for me to really get into it? I don't know. It just doesn't click for me. It's not a bad show, I like reading analyses of it, I'm just not all that emotionally invested in any of the characters or their situations.

Angel... Angel was fine for the first two seasons. My frustration grew in S3 and I flat-out refuse to deal with S4. I might eventually be convinced to watch S5, but in general I think pretty much anyone is more interesting than Angel as a character, and as I know most of them are missing by S5, I don't have much incentive to watch more.

[jaymi-leaf.livejournal.com]

Heh, turns out my views are with the majority on all things.

Buffy is and will probably always be my favourite TV series. It has Buffy (the character) in it and she rules my heart. And some of the other characters are pretty great too (Spike, Dawn, Tara probably my next favourites). Plus there is action, comedy, musicals, silence, grief, sadness, depression and love.

Angel comes in second. It's a little too rough in places and the demolition of Cordelia (and the deification of Fred) is hard for me to overcome, but still it has a lot of good things going for it and I love the way it explore's Angel's questionable morals. Plus, Tragedy with a capital T.

Firefly is third but a lot further below the first two. Objects in Space is a great episode, I love it, but for the most part I couldn't get into the characters of Firefly. If it had run for longer and more things had been developed then maybe, but as it is I struggle to find one to connect to. I think Zoe is awesome but we don't get enough of her.

Dollhouse... I didn't hate it, it has a few good episodes and some good acting performances, but mostly it's just messy. Confused message, confused purpose... I would like to re-watch it some time (I've seen the series twice, first watch and then when watching it with someone else soon after) I've got the DVDs but never quite got around to re-watching again. It doesn't have the usual Whedon humour, which wouldn't be a problem given the subject matter if they played the subject matter more seriously, instead it just feels like a Whedon show too afraid to make jokes. There are some interesting thoughts in there but it never really decides what it wants to be. You could definitely tell that Joss was confused himself about the concept and wasn't into it like he was Buffy and Firefly (he wasn't really into Angel either but Greenwalt/Minear managed to make that work). And I think the fact that Whedon involved his brother and sis-in-law in making the show rubs me the wrong way, especially considering they wrote some of the show's worst episodes.

For non-TV work I went for Dr Horrible, but I'm not as enamoured with it as a lot of people seem to be. It's fun in places and I like some of the songs. It also has some unfunny dialogue and some over-long scenes. The only other thing on the non-TV list that I've seen are the Buffy comics and I'm kinda waiting to see how that turns out at the moment before I can judge...

I'll see all three of Whedon's upcoming works though.

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

Firefly certainly has issues, and when I first heard about it, the whole thing seemed dumb to me.

But after watching a couple of episodes, and forcing myself to disregard the Confederacy angle, and also ignore the nitpicky side of my brain, the side that wonders about scifi details, or where are all the Asians, I found Firefly awesome.

But in truth, there's a pretty good chance I prefer Firefly because it's short, and never had the chance to go bad.

On the other side of the coin, Dollhouse. Saw the first few episodes, and it was enough. The concept repulsed me, especially when it became clear that for the most part only the employees had personalities, and the Dolls where pretty much blanks.