News - September 2000

Buffy battled the dark prince of vampires, a.k.a. Dracula, for the season premiere of The WB's Buffy, the Vampire Slayer at 8 p.m. The show's tribute to Bram Stoker's creature of the night attracted a 5.7/9 for the hour (2.5/4), with a peak of 5.9/9 from 8:30-9 p.m. The season premiere of Angel followed at 9 p.m., grabbing a 5.6/8 (2.5/4).

'Buffy' premiere scores high ratings

Vampire Slayers are the WB's main attraction.

The network earned impressive ratings on Tuesday night thanks to a little help from the season premieres of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Buffy averaged 5.8 million viewers, beating last year's average score of 4.7 and on top of that, attracted its highest score in the coveted adult 18-34 demographic.

Angel, a Buffy spin-off which immediately follows the slayer show, picked up on the slayer's lead to an average of 6.1.

The two supernatural shows fared especially well in New York, bringing the WB into second place behind NBC's Olympics. The shows also did well in Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.

However, the two programs moved down a few notches nationally in the teen market when compared to last season's premieres.

Buffy's spin-off "Angel" will follow with the premiere of its second season, called "Judgement." J. August Richards joins the evil-fighting team of Angel (David Boreanaz), Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof), playing vampire hunter Charles Gunn. The first episode has Angel mistakenly killing a demon who is protecting a young girl, singing karaoke will be the only way to set things right (who does he think he is -- Scott Speedman in "Duets?" ).

As shown during the finale last season, Darla (Juli Benz) is indeed back and will definitely be out to demolish Angel. This year, Angel will struggle with the fact that if he fulfila his destiny, he will regain his humanity -- look for lots of angst as Angel struggles with the possibility that he may not remain immortal. Also look for the eventual return of Drucilla, in a special episode involving Spike from "Buffy."

Here's the pertinent part from the article:
"Liabilities: Not many, aside from its tough time-slot, which will have Dark Angel up against Angel, which attracts the same audience."

Angel executive producer David Greenwalt is talking about the second season of his WB TV series. While talking to SCIFI.COM, Greenwalt generally spoke of the season to come, saying, "We're back for year two, and we're bigger and better and, I believe, 30 percent improved." Greenwalt adds, "People from his past will be springing up. He will learn more about himself and where he is to go. Of course, he had the promise in [last year's season finale] that at some future date, he might become human if he truly fulfills his destiny. He will start the new year on a little bit too much of a fast track trying to get to that destiny too quickly."

Besides that, the producer adds that Angel will be "unreletingly tormented by babes." Whom he's talking about include Darla, police detective Kate as well as the return of Faith and Drusilla.

According to Greenwalt, other interesting points to look out for in the coming season will include:

• Angel singing Karaoke (really).
• Cordellia getting more serious.
• Wesley attempting to impersonate Angel.

Angel vs. Angel; Tuesdays at 9 p.m.
Sci-fi shows set on the West Coast with sexy, reluctant heroes and nearly the same name

In This Corner: Angel, the solid WB series about a hunky, brooding vampire out to save the citizens of Los Angeles from evil.

The Buzz: Some were nervous about Buffy scribe Joss Whedon's ability to spin David Boreanaz into his own drama as a do-good vampire, but Angel has been a strong performer for the WB. Still, big numbers for the Frog mean peanuts to Fox.

In This Corner: Dark Angel, Fox's new entry about a bioengineered babe out to save the citizens of Seattle from evil.

The Buzz: The two-hour pilot is a bit complicated, but creator James Cameron knows a thing or two about weaving sci-fi yarns. (Aliens or Terminator 2, anyone?) And Jessica Alba's Max is as close to totally kick-ass as (dare we say it?) the Buffster.

The Lowdown: Boreanaz has bite, but Max has a stronger network fighting for her.

From chintey: Any Buffy/Angel crossovers in the pipeline yet, Wanda?
Joss is trying to put together a two-part ep with David Boreanaz, Julie Benz, Juliette Landau and James Marsters. The whole thing would take place in the 1800s and fill in a lot of the history holes--especially about Spike's origins. If Joss pulls it off, Buffy, Giles, Willow and all the other non-vamps would sit out that ep.

From monique1017: On Angel, Is Cordelia really leaving?
Don't think so. They're working up a love storyline between her and Gunn, the new regular this season. I've also heard she becomes much more hands-on in going to battle with Angel.

From oh_so_funky: Is it true Tangi Miller will be on Angel as a potential love interest for Gunn?
Um, no. That's what happens when reality gets confused with fiction. Tangi Miller is dating J. August Richards (Gunn) in real life. There won't be any Felicity-Angel crossovers, I assure you--no matter how dark and goth Meghan dresses.

From lalam32: What will happen with Darla and Angel?
I don't think she's long for this world.

Angel
J. August Richards joins the full-time cast as the leader of an underground gang of vampire hunters. Expect that Angel's clashes with Lindsey and the evil-doing law firm of Wolfram and Hart to get even bloodier as the ante is upped for everyone involved. After all, Angel is becoming more human; Wesley figures his only obstacle is five apocalyptic battles.
Returns: Tuesday, September 26, ET/PT 9 pm WB (also airs on Space and some Chum-owned stations, check online listings).

Premiere Date: Sept. 26, 9 pm, The WB

The Skinny: Darla's baa-aaack! As we saw in the killer season finale, Angel's sexy sire (Julie Benz) has been somehow resurrected by nefarious law firm Wolfram & Hart, and we imagine she's more than a little cranky. "We love Julie and we wanted to bring somebody into Angel's life who would have resonance with his past and who would shake things up," Joss told fans at this year's Wizard World. "We are going to see her again, not as a regular, but hopefully a lot." Meanwhile, hunky Gunn (J. August Richards) joins on as a regular, and Kate (Elisabeth Rohm) and nerd-billionaire David Nabbit (David Herman) are expected to return. Also, a karaoke bar somehow figures into the season premiere (can we expect to see Angelus crooning "Freebird?") and Mr. Tall, Dark and Tortured moves into an abode with a curious connection to his past.

Due to Xoom and NBCi's servers constantly being offline in the past few months, I've decided to sign-up for CJB.net's forwarding service. From now on, the address for this website will be: http://thesacrificeofangel.cjb.net. This address will direct you to whichever location is up and running so that you won't have to go searching for this site. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all you repeat surfers of this site. You're the reason why I constantly update this page!!!

Where we left off: Angel (David Boreanaz, above) received some heavenly news — he might one day be human. On the dark side, Los Angeles is still crawling with meanie demons.

Angel’s devils: Executive producer David Greenwalt says that Angel will be "tormented by old vampire flame Darla [Julie Benz], by policewoman Kate [Elisabeth Rohm], by slayer Faith [Eliza Dushku] and by sultry vampire Drusilla [Juliet Landau]."

Forbidden love: True, Angel’s curse denies him moments of climactic bliss. But that doesn’t mean that some lucky woman couldn’t experience a moment of true happiness with Angel.

Team spirit: Last season’s sexy, disgruntled gang member Charles Gunn (J. August Richards) will join the demon fighters, clashing with Wesley (Alexis Denisof). And a clash of "people who are hot for each other," says Greenwalt, may occur with Gunn and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter).

Blast from the past: Angel moves back into the Los Angeles digs he occupied in the ’50s. Plus, a karaoke bar serves as another connection to the powers that be.

Matt says: Bring on the femmes fatales. Angel’s world seemed a little underpopulated in his first solo season, so any fresh blood (good or evil) would be welcome.

''I only take into account the representation of black people once, in the beginning. And then I never think about it again, because I don't think that's a good way for an artist to think. I'm just going to play my character to the best of my ability, and play him as a human being. I'm going to do my work and hopefully that will speak for itself.'' -- New ''Angel'' costar J. AUGUST RICHARDS, on being one of the few African American leading players on TV this fall