Angel cast member links on Mel's Celebrity Central:

Current Season:
David Boreanaz
James Marsters
Alexis Denisof
J. August Richards
Amy Acker


Past Seasons:
Charisma Carpenter
Vincint Kartheiser

Related Celebrities:
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Alyson Hannigan
Eliza Dushku
Nicholas Brendon
Anthony Stewart Head
Emma Caulfield
Amber Benson
Seth Green
posted 17 february 2004 5:32 pm central story #0036
"Angel" Axed
Tuesday February 17, 2004 1:00 PM Et

By Lia Haberman

Stick a pointy thing in him. Angel's done.


The WB is pulling the plug on its vampire-with-a-soul series, announcing the current fifth season will be the last
for its
Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff, Angel.


Network suits gave executive producer and creator Joss Whedon the pink slip last week. He reportedly broke the bad news to cast and crew on Friday morning--the 13th incidentally.


Whedon responded to the news with typical wry humor, releasing a mock statement celebrating the series' sixth season pickup ("It's really wonderful...Angel is hitting new strides in terms of creativity and appeal, and everyone is so full of energy...") before saying the cancellation "sucks."


"
Angel is as strong as it's ever been, except for that's it's dead," said Whedon. "I'm heartbroken."


The network gave no reason for driving the final nail into
Angel's coffin, but the series has been on the bubble since last year.


Despite a dedicated following, ratings for the show have failed to break the 4 million mark this season, as opposed to its first year when the show averaged 4.8 million viewers.


Whedon also refused to speculate. "I can't speak for the WB's reasoning, and this would probably be a bad time for me to comment on any of the shows they're NOT canceling," he said. "But they provided a home (albeit a temporary, foster home) for both
Buffy and Angel that otherwise would not have existed, and I'm grateful for that."


The network said Whedon was told about the cancellation in time to wrap up the show's storylines for the May finale.


"Like some of the great series that are leaving the air this year, including
Frasier and Friends, the cast, crew, writers and producers of Angel deserve to be able to wrap up the series in a way befitting a classic television series," the network said in a statement.


"We did not want to contemplate this being the last year of
Angel without giving the show the option of crafting their own destiny for this character and this series."


According to the statement, there's also the possibility of
Angel-related "special movie events" next year. Internet-based rumors about the potential special prompted the network to come clean about Angel's fate before arrangements were finalized.


Angel's demise means Whedon will be without a series on the air for the first time in seven years.


His most recent effort,
Firefly, was squashed by Fox not long after the show's 2002 debut--though Whedon's reportedly working on a feature-length adaptation of the failed series.


Meanwhile,
Buffy, a small-screen adaptation of Whedon's 1992 cheerleader-turned-vampire slayer flick, was laid to rest last season after seven years.


And now
Angel.


The show earned its wings in 1999 when Buffy's beau Angelus (played by
David Boreanaz ) moved to Hell-Ay. He was joined that year by fellow Sunnydale alum Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter).

  



And even as
Buffy jumped from the WB to UPN, Sunnydale expats continued to join Angel's fight against evil, including Wesley (Alexis Denisof ) and Spike (James Marsters).

On the TV side, Angel and Spike's rivalry for Buffy's affections maintained a link between the two shows. In real life,
Buffy star Alyson Hannigan strengthened ties between the two casts when she wed Angel's Denisof.

The show aired its 100th episode this month, an event celebrated by the show's cast last November.

Source:
Yahoo! News
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