If you don't watch Angel - Why not?

NL197 said:
Finally caught up with Buffy when it hit the rerun schedule in September of 2001, a couple of weeks before season 3 of ANGEL premiered and even then - I was only interested so I could see Angel, Cordelia, Wesley and Darla, and their history and events I missed out on originally. Eventually the show itself did grow on me, but fan talk turned me off of it quite a bit because of the constant Buffy / Angel series comparisons and debates about which was supposedly better, when to me they are (and still are) completely different shows that happen to be set in the same universe. I grew to dislike it out of spite to a large degree, but that's gone now. I don't compare them, because I CAN'T compare them. ANGEL remains more personal to me because of how much I relate to the man himself, but as series I love them each for very different reasons - appealing to different personal preferences and personality aspects. Comparing them would be like comparing children or pets. Can't do it, and it wouldn't even be fair to if I could.
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I was the same way!! I did not want to watch Bfuffy but originally did only for Angel and Cordelia to see the stuff I'd missed but around season 3 it grew on me (Faith was also a major reason to watch Buffy)

I hate comparing the two shows. For me personally I like Angel best but not because I'm saying it's better but because of the connection to the show with Cangel and Faith's redemption all those things make Angel really special to me. But you can't compare the two.
 
I hesitated on watching Angel for like 1 year + after having completed BtVS, mostly because Angel's character had bored me on BtVS and I thought it would just be a crime/fiction kind of story, case after case.. One day I was bored and thought ''TO HELL WITH IT!'' and I put the first disc in. It took me three episodes to get hooked and then I just looooooooved Angel/Cordy/Wes or Doyle chemistry together. It was really funny and I thought the villains were original!

I got more and more interested in it as the seasons progressed... At some points I'd ask myself if I actually liked it more than BtVS.

I honestly can't imagine a BtVS fan who would never watch Angel. You need to see it! Cordy, Angel & Wesley(and multiple others) change a lot and show a bunch of new sides to their characters that we had not seen in BtVS.
 
Anya2012
Anya2012
Love your Lorne banner!
It killed me not to be able to get into Angel until the end of Season 3 when my cable stations finally started to play it. Man, I felt so ashamed to be behind! Was really unsure about it at first and now I love it. So, I was hindered from watching because of uncontrolled circumstances, thank Buddah for DVDs and summer repeats. Buffy is superior to me for sentimental reasons but Angel has always been the more Epic of the two for me which means a lot in my books.
 
Tome
Tome
[No message]
I only started watching Ats because of Btvs but fell in love with Ats more. Mostly because it includes my the best arcs for my favourite characters, Angel, Faith and Wes who had better character development on Ats than Btvs.
 
I always wanted to watch Angel (Ats being Btvs's relative show, I felt that watching only Buffy was incomplete), but I couldn't for a long time. Here in Italy we were 4 seasons behind in the airing of Btvs, so I got to see the whole show later than the American fans (even though I couldn't wait so long, and I read all the episode transcripts in advance, spoiling myself. But really, I couldn't wait years to catch up).

Angel was never aired on free tv, which is a great shame, and it started airing on pay tv (which I don't have) just recently. I don't buy DVDs for shows I haven't seen, so I didn't get to watch ATS until a few years ago, when a friend of mine from the UK sent me her old tapes that she didn't need anymore... and I got immediately hooked.

I have a bigger emotional investment in Btvs, which has a higher rewatchable-quality for me, mainly because my favourite things in the Buffyverse are Spike's journey from villain to champion and Spuffy's journey from enemies to whatever they were in the end. I must have rewatched Btvs hundreds of times, while I've seen Ats just twice in its entirety.

But that doesn't mean that Btvs is also the superior show to me. I think they are both great, quality-wise, more or less on the same level. Both shows have things that I don't particularly care for, and both shows have amazing parts.

I find myself liking Ats more than Btvs, at times, and viceversa. I love Ats's cast more, maybe because Ats being the more "adult" show makes it easier to relate for me in my old age! 😀

So, two great shows that for me are intertwined, and which don't need to be put in competition against one another.

Anyone who hasn't watched Ats yet, go watch it. I was never a big Angel fan on Btvs (disliked Bangel even before Spuffy crossed the writers' minds), but he is just great on his own show, broody and funny in the right amounts! 🙂 Plus, Cordy and Wes are awesome!
 
I got Angel right after watching Angel all the way through when it went on sale. I didn't care for it at first and was like wait what is this? In the end I watched it and loved it. Sometimes I enjoy Angel more than Buffy. I think it has a lot to offer as its own series.
 
I love Angel. I watched it as it was airing the same time as Buffy, I don't know if that makes a difference. Although, if I had to choose, I actually prefer Angel over Buffy. The darkness appeals to me, all that death and misery. 🙂
 
I was always a Buffy-watcher, but after I realized, that Buffy and Angel have a huge common overall-story, I started watching Angel as well and I can say, now I'm a huge fan of both. There are always a lot of things, you don't understand, if you son't know both series....
 
I watch Angel, I love Angel. The more I age the more I enjoy Angel over Buffy. I hate to say that since Buffy has been my favorite show for so long. And it's still a tight race. I am re-watching Buffy (for the umpteenth time) just to see. I just finished Angel for the 8th time through. I'll be back with my decision. But it will be a while.
 
N
NL197
It doesn't need to be a competition for your affections. It's great that you love them both.
W
Willow My Love
I love your avatar!
It's funny.

1. Firefly is meant to be another thread. But those of you skipping it because of the genre are making a mistake. It's like saying that you can't love Buffy if you aren't a huge fan of vampires. Which I'm not for example.

2. Lots of people posting. Nice to see. But there's the people that haven't watched it? This thread was for you. 🙁


Happy to see how many of you that ended up liking the show even if you were hesitant in the beginning.
 
I will watch Angel once i'm done with Buffy. But I was wondering, would I be lost if I watch Angel after I finished Buffy? Or should I watch the episodes from both series like they aired on TV?
 
Ideally, you should watch the two shows alternating, in the order that each episode aired. That way you have a sense of continuity with them, but the only time that it will really matter that much is during one of the infrequent crossover are. Beyond those, there's nothing lost by just watching all of one season, or even the entire series, and then switching over to the other.
 
Z
zobothehobo
The second time I watched, I did this... much better.
The first time I watched ATS, it was by itself, after I had done a full Buffy re-watch. During this re-watch, however, I have been alternating episodes, as WA suggested. It's been fun and interesting this way, and you do get a better experience with the crossovers. I'm ready to start Buffy season 6 & Angel season 3, and there are no crossovers in those seasons (there is mention of a Buffy/Angel reunion when she is brought back from the dead, but we don't get to see it at all, due to Buffy moving to UPN), so I don't think it'll be as important for those seasons, and I may just watch the entire season of one, and then the other. But for the rest of the seasons, it's definitely worth it do alternate.
 
M
msfantastico87
[No message]
M
Marisa
That is what I did the first time just watched it by itself. I can do that for both since I have watched them so much
Z
zobothehobo
I did this too the second time... it was fun
My Angel shame...

...To this day I have never seen Angel from mid-S3 to Faith's return in S4. I vaguely remember this being because I felt Angel having a child with anyone with Buffy was just too horrifying (Is that what they call a Bangel moment?).

I fully intend to rewatch, I just always end up rewatching Buffy instead.
 
LOL- a Bangel moment, yes indeed! 🙂 Baby Connor is so adorable though, he's definitely worth watching (well, "they" actually, since baby Connor is played by twins).
 
I don't know. I just never did. I figured it'd be another horror like most TV spinoffs are.

I've caught a few episodes, but I figured out the main thing: No Buffy, no Willow. Yeah, the occasional episode here and there, but not all the time.

Oh, and I can't really stomach the idea of Cangel...
 
As a spin-off, it is excellent. There's a bit of a different tone, as other posters have said. but I certainly wouldn't call it the ugly stepchild or anything! 😉
 
W
Willow My Love
I'm really the only one I know as in to Buffy as I am, so I've never had anyone to tell me anything about Angel before...
Willowmylove said:
I don't know. I just never did. I figured it'd be another horror like most TV spinoffs are.

I've caught a few episodes, but I figured out the main thing: No Buffy, no Willow. Yeah, the occasional episode here and there, but not all the time.
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Obviously there's no Buffy or Willow, it's a different series that's set in the same universe. There are other characters on these shows besides them. If you mean horror as in a badly made spin-off, that's about the worst misconception one could make about the show.

EDIT:

There never was an out-right "romance" between Cordelia and Angel, the way there was a Buffy / Spike romance or a Buffy / Riley one ( I don't use those acronyms), and it was never a primary focus either. Out of the 5 seasons, it began to be talked about in mid-to-late season 3, and then pick up a small amount in season 4, then completely disappear until one episode of season 5.

I'm sure there might be a disagreement about the out-right romance part, but people have to keep in mind this:

it was one episode - "Awakening" and it was all in Angel's mind
 
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