Why wasn't Angel picked up after it was canceled? Burnt bridges. After the showrunner made an ultimatum to the network and tried to hold them over a barrel why would the network trust that he would not do it again? How could you really go on with that show after such a pissing contest. Couple that with the fact that the final episode was scorched earth and so much of what made the series tick was gone it seems reasonable that they wouldn't pick the show back up. Maybe if Whedon was not involved, or it did not end on such bad terms between he and the execs they may have allowed leeway.
I think the person was asking why the show did not get picked up by another network. As for Joss asking the head of The WB, in retrospect it was a mistake, but he had his reasons to do it.
The final episode was not scorched earth. It ended on a cliffhanger. As for the series having lost what made it tick, I totally disagree. The show was getting even better at that point with the addition of Spike and Illyria. Plus, they could have brought back Wesley, as Whedon had planned it.
The answer in a word? Joss.
He had disagreements with various people like Charisma Carpenter, Sarah Michelle Gellar and a few others so he trashed their characters in the show. This is why SMG did not sign up for an eighth season. This is why Cordelia became a saintly character then a villain. There were also people who idolized him such as James Marsters. This is why his part was expanded to the detriment of Season 7. Every choice Joss made was based on how he felt the actors related to him personally and all of these choices were detrimental to the show. Then he tried to strong-arm a renewal of Angel and he found that even though it would have been beneficial to the network, they did not want the reputation that a producer could push them around, so they dug their heels in.
The other networks were well aware of this and although the show could have been a winner on another network, Joss was like network ebola - you avoid it at all costs. There is another active thread about whether you would want to see a reboot and many people have said only if Joss is involved. My answer was only if Joss is not involved.
This whole perspective that Joss crapped on characters because of his relationship with their respective actors is always blown out of proportion. Most of it is just us fan doing the guessing game. The only actual fact is that Charisma's pregnancy led Joss to rewrite most of S4 (which originally was supposed to bring back Glenn Quinn, RIP).
SMG did not sign up for an eight season because she felt the character was done. She said so on multiple occasions. It had nothing to do with her relationship with Joss. As for Cordelia becoming a 'saint', it kind of went along with her story up to that point. As for Cordelia becoming a villain in S4 (it was not actually Cordy, ya know), that was just how the story got rewritten. Whether the rewriting of that storyline involved Joss having grudges toward Charisma, I guess we will never know for certain.
Comparing Joss of the time to network ebola... yea, I think you are pushing it a little too far, man. I think it is the other way around. The cast and crew of
AtS had moved on, and Joss had other projects in mind.
Well put ,
WE were told that the Studio insisted on James Marsters/Spike by Whedon and they would have possibley cancelled Angel without him ? ,but I remember reading the biography of the studio and that states they wanted a female cast member preferable Alyson/Willow to move over as she had been so successful previously on Angel, but it was Whedon who insisted on Spike.
The studio was concerned about the unbalanced of Males in the cast . Whedon told them to dress Amey Acker in a short skirt and the fans would not notice
As for the cancelling yes they admitted they were wrong to cancel Angel but Whedon pushed them into a corner with his demand...they had no option, if he had left it until program planning it would have been taken up again
This is an interesting post. I would love to see your source for these statements, but if they are real it is too bad. They should have just brought both Spike and Willow on the show.
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Just speaking to the cancellation and nothing else, it's the fault of both the network and Joss. According to Fury I believe. The WB always renewed Angel very late, to the point that it pissed off many people involved with it. Because the actors, producers and writers would not have been able to land new gigs should the show be cancelled at such a late stage. So Joss went to the WB and asked them to give them an early answer (in Februrary that year) on whether or not they would be picked up for S6. The then head of the WB wasn't a fan of AtS and generally considered to be an ass. So when Joss asked, the guy said no to S6. After that TV Season was over, the WB canned that guy and installed a new head. The new one wanted to keep the show. But by then the actors, writers etc. had already landed new jobs (some of them anyway). The WB was even willing to do TV movies instead of a full show so those with new jobs could fit their schedule around whatever new stuff they had lined up. But they had been burned for years by the WB so that didn't happen either.
I think this is the most logical explanation for the whole debacle. I have also read about The WB trying to get the actors to come back for TV movies years ago. Oh well!
Personally, I will always put most of the blame on the head exec who put his pride ahead of the possibility of the series.
AtS had gained a wave of popularity in the last stretch of S5 and with the additions of new characters it was primed to get even better. I always saw S5 as the beginning of a new story arc for Angel (after S1-S4). It is too bad we never got to see the rest of that arc.
