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The relative merits of related but competing series on audience reaction

Last night we had a really nice dinner at New College with non-husband Andrew and Heidi (also not my husband). Andrew is a grad student at New and treated us to formal hall there. The food was very good and the hall there is lovely. He also gave us a tour of the college grounds. It was a bit dark to see the gardens and stuff, but what we saw was really impressive. A gorgeous bit of Oxford and very much what you kind of picture when you think "Oxford".

After the dinner, we gave Andrew and Heidi a brief tour of Hertford and then headed to Andrew's flat to watch this week's Buffy (The Killer in Me) and episode 1 of Angel from this season. As with the rest of Buffy Season 7, it was very strong. As with the last two seasons of Angel, it was Buffy's lesser spinoff.

Don't get me wrong, I like Angel and think it's a good show, but it lacks the magic of Buffy. Andrew (the one I'm married to) and I discussed it on our walk home last night and decided a big part of the problem is that Angel doesn't take nearly the risks Buffy does. Every single season there are at least two points in Buffy where I think, "Oh my gosh! They're so screwed! How are they EVER going to get out of this!" and they do. But it's never easy.

Joss Whedon (creator of both series) does some really gutsy things with Buffy - he kills off MAJOR characters, he makes major characters evil or good when they were the opposite before. He really slays (excuse the exression) his sacred cows every single season. And it goes off brilliantly nearly every time. The characters are strong, rich and complex. Angel, on the other hand, doesn't take as many risks, is much cheesier, and has too many flimsy characters. Not that I won't keep watching it, I just don't think it's the classic Buffy is.

Speaking of Buffy, today at lunch MCR Prez Steve Ward asked me if I would present a talk on Buffy at next term's Academic Soiree. Every term they have one. It's just an event where the members of the MCR and SCR (Senior Common Room - the professors, fellows, academics, etc.) attend dinner together and then usually the reading of an academic paper or an academic speech. Several years ago - I think during Buffy Season 3 - I wrote an academic paper on Buffy for a popular culture class. What I'll do is basically expand on and update that for my presentation. It should be fun.

Tonight we enjoy the College Communion service followed by dinner (free!) with the Chaplain. After that, we plan to hang out with Rich. By the way, Rich is in the girlfriend market. Anybody interested? He's a very talented musician, smart, funny and good-looking. Anybody? I seem to only know nice, single guys and basically no single girls. Hmm.

The weather here be the suck. The suck! Icy, cold, cloudy, windy. BLECK! I can't wait to go home next month and actually see blue sky and sunshine. Unfortunately, that does mean I'll probably have to wear shorts. Scary! My legs are even whiter than before I left. Not to mention I've gained quite a few pounds here eating pasta and potatoes two meals a day. I'm really not wanting to show off the new flab.

One more thing. My mom keeps a web site where she posts pictures of Romeo for us. He's my oldest kitty and will be 10 next month. Usually they are pictures of him sleeping, which he does a lot, being a cat. But recently she posted this picture, which I thought was really priceless. It just makes my arms ache because I want to give him a big hug!

Posted by Erin at February 6, 2003 04:31 PM