Re: OT: Joss/Wanda from E! Interview

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Well, Joss has been hiding behind that comment for years. He may need a
slap as much as Marti does.

Yes, Joss, we need to have our emotions stoked and be surprised. That's
storytelling.

However, sometimes people being upset does NOT mean you're doing your
job, it means you AREN'T doing it. If people are annoyed because
there's no character consistency (Xander the Demon Summoner!), because
storylines go nowhere (I'll never kiss you again, Spike! ad infinitum),
or because basic concepts of the Buffyverse are ignored for convenience
sake (Clem and Anya, the totally human demons), that's not the same as
Angel loses his soul and Buffy suffers to show the consequences of
rushing impulsively into sexual relationships, of putting your private
life above your duty. 

If we're criticizing the series for being unremittingly dreary and
unentertaining, for episodes that lack action, pacing, or humor, for
falsely regressing the most mature, heroic 17-year-olds we ever saw into
spoiled, indolent, ineffectual, uncommunicative 21-year-olds for no
other reason than that Marti Noxon was immature at 21 (well, Marti, YOU
weren't fighting nightly life-and-death stuggles for a Sacred Cause and
dying to save the world at 16, so maybe, just maybe, Buffy is a little
more mature than YOU were!), that's crappy storytelling, that's bad
television, and that's criticism that Joss shouldn't be shrugging off
with his by-now-trite "give them what they need" bullshit!

Sorry to vent, but I've thought this was a stupid argument all year (and
that the "Oh, Grow Up" theme was generally idiotic, a point Joyce
Millman made after Season TWO, anticipating a storytelling problem in
future seasons).

Dan