Could Angel have started Sucsessfully Without Buffy?

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Emma Caulfield

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With Angel being a spin off series from Buffy it already had a collection of views who were going to tune in to the show. But what if there was no Buffy and Angel started, Do you think it would be less sucsessful then it was with Buffy? Or even more sucsessful?
 
I think it wouldnt be less sucessful but it really did need Buffy to start off. I dont think it would be as sucessful as it is. We needed Buffy as it really introduced Slayers, vamps, demons etc. And it also introduced charactors which would've been hard for them to start off in Angel, like Wes we found out from Buffy that the council of Watchers had let him go, and he losend up when he was let go. And i dont think we would of had him in the Angel series if he wasnt let go and was'nt in Buffy, cause there would really be need to have in Angel as Angel is not an official slayer, but Angel is a slayer in his own way, cause he obviously hunts and slays demons vampires etc. I dont think Cordy would be in the Angel series either, cause she wouldnt know about the supernatural or i dont think she would really know about Angel if he wasnt Buffy's boyfriend.

But yeah i definatley think we needed Buffy. Angel just wouldnt be the same.
 
I posted a thread one time called "how did you get into Buffy?" I remember being surprised by the people who got into Buffy from Angel rather than vice versa.

I know that's how I got into it.
 
I think that if there was no Buffy Angel still would have been popular,but Buffy helped it to get more viewers ..
 
Buffy sure helped. Overwise they would of had to do all the exposition for Angel, Doyle and Cordy from the start. Whereas in 1.03 Spike comes to town and we know whats going on, if he had not been seen before we'd need to be told about their long standing rivalry etc.
 
Angel difinately needed Buffy. It meant that Angel could sort of start without any introductions, whereas Buffy's first season was sort of explaining everything.
 
I think Angel needed Buffy to be a successful show. If Angel had been the original, I don't think we would have gotten a deeper look into the soul storyline. I think what the writers would have done in the first episode of Angel was explain straight away about Angel being the only vampire with a soul. But whereas in Buffy that storyline was developed over a longer period of time. The writers wouldn't have had that luxury if Angel was the original show because they would have needed to explain to the audience straight away what was so special about this particular vampire. And I think because the writers were so successful with developing the storyline in Buffy that it wouldn't have been as meaningful if it was rushed.
 
I started watching Angel from episode 1 of Season1. I loved it, and watched every episode.

I didn't have a clue who this Buffy girl was Cordelia kept talking about. The first time I saw I Will Remember You, I thought it was crap. I didn't like Buffy. I thought Angel was too good for her. (My mind has since changed on that one, of course)

Then I saw Five by Five and Sanctuary. I said to myself, "Wait a minute". I have to watch this "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" show to figure out who all these characters are.

Angel attracted a different crowd to it, on it's own than Buffy did. Those of us who were attracted though, didn't have any trouble loving it. The writing was what sold me. I'd still be watching it, even if Buffy had never existed.
 
I think it would do find, but what the others said Angel would have needed Buffy to start the show out. Explain what is special this brooding vampire from the next. Explain what a slayer was and why Wesley was the stupid guy that was fired from the Watcher's Council. And what is the Watcher's Council, too.
 
I think it would have done ok, but Buffy sure helped...Plus people already knew the character from being on Buffy, and probably got into Angel more easily because of that...and like Ayumi said Buffy gave it much needed background information...
 
It mightve done fine but it would be drastically different since they would have to spend more time on the charecters, we would have to learn more about Angel and everything we knew of him in Buffy, Cordelia would also be different, a long with Wesley. And bringing in Darla,Spike, and Darla. So they would spend to much time explaing the charecters
 
I don't think that it would have had as many users if it didn't have buffy to tip it off.....but then again, buffy started out slow, and now look at it.....*shrugs shoulders*
 
Well Buffy is also different from Angel, Angel and co. didnt go to highschool in well his show, they were all grown up.
 
I think it could have. There would have had to of been an introductory season that would have introduced everything that BtVS raised (ie. vampires, hellmouth, evils).
But I still think it would have been good.
 
V
Vicious
best point made in the thread
::bat:: i think the character of angel would of been confuzing without the buffy tv seris to help explain it but then again angle could of had flash backs to make it more interesting.....the more i think about it the more i change my mind......thats a very good question!! 😉

::noangel: *lil' willow*
 
I think it could've been more succesful than it is now.
Think about it, Buffy came to our screens and the whole mythology and writing, most people were amazed with this new concept, so if Angel started with this concept, even though Angel doesnt really deal with Slayer's, it still deals with vamps, so I think it could've survived without Buffy, but maybe not that long...I dunno why I think that...
 
Well, I know there are folks out there who like Angel Season 1, but I certainly wasn't one of them. I had never seen an episode of Buffy when Angel debuted, but I watched Angel from episode one 'cause my girlfriend at the time had gone to college with Liz Rohm (they were both theater majors). I thought the show sucked. I hated Cordelia (now, of course, I love her), I thought "vamp face" was a lame take on vampire appearance (vampires are supposed to look COOL damnit!); the whole vibe of the show seemed forced and sort of underwhelming. I kept comparing it unfavorably to Kindred: The Embraced, which I thought was a great show. I stopped watching Angel after nine or ten episodes, and didn't watch it again until about six months ago.

After discovering Buffy I have a much greater appreciation for Angel (and Season 2 is so much better than season 1), but I don't think it could ever have drawn in a large enough audience as a self contained piece.
 
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