The move on the surface is a head-scratcher. Twentieth Century Fox TV-produced skein is the net's second highest-rated hour among viewers 18-34 (behind lead-in "Smallville") and fourth among auds 12-34. Its numbers have been solid this year, even against brutal competish on Wednesday night and in a year in which the WB is experiencing double-digit Nielsen declines.
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Whedon said that while he understands the business part of the decision, he's nonetheless "heartbroken."
"I thought that if a show was really good and doing really well (in the ratings), it was renewed," scribe said. "I was apparently misinformed."
Whatever the intricacies of the Frog's business model, Whedon said the decision to axe "Angel" doesn't seem logical.
"I do understand the business of it," he said. "But to me, when they're scrambling to hold on to their audience, their revenue, their dignity, it doesn't seem the best decision. And it's certainly not the classiest."
"If there's no place for quality in the equation, I don't know why we're here," Whedon added.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm..._al/wb_decides_it_s_time_for__angel__to_fly_1
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No series is having a much better season than Angel (WB, 9 p.m. ET/PT), as witness tonight's funny, creepy outing about a children's show that steals children's souls while upholding "a certain standard of quality edutainment." The best joke is on Angel, who is turned into a perpetually scowling puppet.
It's a great episode, which makes the news that WB is canceling the show that much harder to take. Still, you can't blame the network. It has to make room for the next Tarzan, Birds of Prey or Fearless or, even better, for yet another attempt to clone Dawson's Creek.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/criticscorner/2004-02-17-critics-corner_x.htm
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Science fiction remains a tricky proposition for mainstream commercial TV. With rare exceptions like "The X-Files" -- a sci-fi show in cop show drag -- most entries in the genre attract audiences that are small but loyal to the point of zealotry. There's money to be made from that kind of cult viewership, but mostly on cable, where ratings expectations are drastically lower.
Of course, the budgets are lower, too, which is why the Save Our Show campaign that has "Angel" fans turning to TNT as a white knight are misguided. Shifting the show to basic cable would require a money purge so drastic that it would make what happened to "The Practice" look like a children's tea party in comparison.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/107708850750701.xml
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And while it's hard to comprehend what with the current epidemic of creative dysentery called reality-TV that the small screen could get any worse, it took another small step towards a lousier place late last week with news that The WB network had staked the Buffy The Vampire Slayer spinoff, Angel, after five seasons.
There are many appalling ironies here not the least of which is that this smart, stylish entertainment gets nixed the same time the reality-romance genre's revolting answer to dwarf-tossing, The Littlest Groom, debuts.
But the worst of them all is that Angel, which took a few years to find its footing, is enjoying its best, most confident season to date.
http://www.calgarysun.com/perl-bin/niveau2.cgi?s=films&p=82001.html&a=1
