I have to say that I'm glad. I think season 7 has been great so far and that this way the show will very likely be going out on a high. Admittedly there're going to be some very intriguing loose ends to tie up but I think that The whole "first" thing is providing a superb way to make this once classic show live up to it's original promise.

Hopefully the spin off show will have more luck than Whedon's "Firefly"

Hopefully the much talked about Faith series will make an appearance a bit later

Maybe this time Joss will try a proper story arc, rather than trying to make it up as he goes along...

I'm glad it's potentially ending, and it will be very interesting to see where the spin-offs go. S7 feels fairly strong so far, and except for what feel like a few glaring errors (eg Yet Another Buffy Speech, most of "Lies..." ) the second half of the season looks like it could be exceptional.

The Faith spinoff seems less likely now that Variety has indicated that ED is potentially taking the lead in a new Fox series; clearly not cast in stone yet, but another possible reason not to expect FtVS.

Which leaves the possibilities more limited; if neither SMG or ED will be involved post-S7, then S8 is either highly unlikely or will be very different to S1-7, and if it does come off then I'd expect it to be very much geared towards setting up other Buffyverse spin-offs. ME are unlikely to give up on Angel unless they absolutely have to, and it's important to get any spin-offs going while Angel is on-air (assuming things are rocky in Angel-land).

I'd expect us to see both Ripper and a third spin-off being produced over the next 2-3 years, though I doubt they'd air concurrently with Angel. Given that the events of S7 are fairly significant, I'd expect at least one out of Ripper and Three to be grounded in the consequences of this season, most likely reforming the Watchers Council. Assuming that Ripper and Angel will be "serious" I'd expect Three to be fairly light (one of the key reasons I expect it to be produced, and why it'll come in in 2004/05 rather than 03/04), the Buffyverse audiences will be getting too old, they'll need something more amenable to the average 14/15 year-old, especially in the wake of "serious" S7.

Who dies... it's almost inevitable, and probably a necessity. Assuming we'll be Anya-less post S7 she's an easy one to pop her clogs; but what about a *real* BSD -- losing one of the core four? Buffy herself is by far the easiest one to do away with, and I certainly feel that it would be appropriate to do away with her at the end of the Season, especially since the events of S7 have made it clear that bringing her back again would potentially be a *bad*thing*. Gyles is, assuming Ripper goes ahead, almost death-proof; contemporary prequels don't work well, the last thing we want is an 80s Retro-Ripper show Willow's the easiest one after Gyles to spin-off, and being gay leaves her almost death-proof aswell (similarly I'd expect Kennedy to survive as killing off both of W's gfs would be frowned upon, and Wood since he's the only significant non-white character the shows ever had (Trick - minor, baddie & killed off, Riley's friend - minor, killed off, became baddie, killed off again)); Xander, tricky... he's the heart of the show, what it's all about, and in some regards the most important character there, killing him off would be killing off what the show represents, which may be exactly the right way or exactly the wrong one, him to guest in the spin-offs). What about the rest, LSDs... Anya's the obvious one to go, probably nobley & self sacrifingly; Spike -- unlikely, JW's sense of self preservation is strong enough that he knows how 50% of fans would respond; Andrew, another tricky one, could easily be another redeeminlgy noble death, or could survive and move into a Xanderesque quasi-watcher role; Dawn's another almost death-proof one, but by the end of S7 she'll have grown into a usefull, whine-less member of society, probably a Willowesque quasi-watcher and spin-off guest; trainee slayers -- I'd expect Kennedy plus half a dozen to make it through; Faith, tricky again, probably a survivor but killing her off is an easy way out, and an easy way in for Ripper or Three, given the events of S7 will Faith's demise terminate the Slayer blood-(soul-)line?

Okay, ramble over...

I think Willow, Kennedy, Dawn, Xander & possibly Giles would spin off into another series.
Willow and Kennedy - joint lead, Giles turning up to train Dawn and Xander as part of the new watcher's council.

Not sure what would happen with the Faith character, although I really don't think a Young MacGuyver series would have much longevity to be honest, I guess it depends on Joss' powers of persusion..

Assuming both Ripper and Three, I'd expect Ripper to be UK format 1 or 2 Seasons, Gyles only + guests by at least Willow (as AH is unlikely to be spending much time in the UK given that thingie-who-plays-Wesley will presumably still be in LA post-A4); I'd concur with you that Willow+Kennedy is the most obvious lead pair for Three (US format, intention for 3+ seasons assuming it's successfull).

I don't think that the Willow character is strong enough to carry a show on it's own.

The only one of the characters who I can see continuing in the same style (ie not just in name) is Giles's show Ripper.

Xander could maybe have a "I dream of Jeannie" style show where he works construction and he's married to Anya who just happens to be a demon, she causes all sorts of hijinx and he has to cover up and sort it out, or he messes up at work and she has to use her powers to "wish" it better.

And what's "Young MacGuyver" and what's it got to do with Eliza? Cos she doesn't look much like Richard Dean Anderson

LOL, apparently she's signed up or in the process of signing up for the female lead character, the male lead character is supposed to be the son or nephew of the original MacGuyver..

It's not the Young MacGuyver pilot that Eliza Dushku has signed for. It's an as yet untitled pilot for FOX.

From Zap2it.

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John Feldman, creator of the FOX pilot, says he had Dushku in mind when writing his lead character, a young woman who discovers she can go back in time and relive a day in order to save lives.

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The article can be found at:
http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?30307



(Edited by Hoppy_Toad 27/02/2003 22:18)

That's odd.. oh well, just goes to show how up in the air things can be *shrugs*

I like the idea of the young MacGuyver better than the Timecop sort of thing.

I like the one that I'd write where she's an amateur detective by day and a dancer in a seedy night club by night even better though

Mon, sounds similar to most of the Dark Angel eps

I think Joss is biding his tie. I thik he really wants it to be Faith, and will probably wait to see if the pilot goes any further for Eliza or not.

Most likely then there will be a one year gao between Buffy and the spinoff which could be areally good thing as weve seen the apathy created by 14 years of consecutive trek.

Also we dont know if Angel is being renewed, thats got to have a big impact on Joss' plans, and UPN's.

Until Joss knows about both of these things, I think the future reamins open.