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Every time a bell rings…

For those of us who have been caught up in the Joss Whedon universe for the last 6 or 7 years, the last of his surviving shows, Angel, is being cancelled at the end of this season. First Buffy (which admittedly had a pretty great run on TV), Firefly (which got NO LOVE while it was on, but is a great show…the DVD’s are amazing), now Angel. Next season the airwaves will be Jossless for the first time in nearly a decade. Guess the DVD’s will have to keep me company.

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

9 replies on “Every time a bell rings…”

“I have my *bandages* to keep me warm!” – Foghorn Leghorn

It sorta fits here. Joss and the fans has been smacked around pretty continuously by the network fuckwits. I tell ya, the more I see what they’re doing to network TV, the more I rent anime and cable original dvds.

From a posting by Joss on the Bronze message board:

> “joss says:
> (Sat Feb 14 22:31:16 2004) [Edit/Delete]
>
> Some of you may have heard the hilarious news. I thought this would be
> a good time to weigh in. to answer some obvious questions: No, we had
> no idea this was coming. Yes, we will finish out the season. No, I
> don’t think the WB is doing the right thing. Yes, I’m grateful they
> did it early enough for my people to find other jobs.
>
> Yes, my heart is breaking.
>
> When Buffy ended, I was tapped out and ready to send it off. When
> Firefly got the axe, I went into a state of denial so huge it may very
> well cause a movie. But Angel… we really were starting to feel like
> we were on top, hitting our stride — and then we strode right into
> the Pit of Snakes ‘n’ Lava. I’m so into these characters, these
> actors, the situations we’re building… you wanna know how I feel?
> Watch the first act of “The Body.”
>
> As far as TV movies or whatever, I’m not thinking that far ahead. I
> actually hope my actors and writers are all too busy. We always
> planned this season finale to be a great capper to the season and the
> show in general. (And a great platform for a new season, of course.)
> We’ll proceed ahead as planned.
>
> I’ve never made mainstream TV very well. I like surprises, and TV
> isn’t about surprises, unless the surprise is who gets voted off of
> something. I’ve been lucky to sneak this strange, strange show over
> the airwaves for as long as I have. I don’t FEEL lucky, but I
> understand that I am.
>
> Thanks all for your support, your community, and your perfectly sane
> devotion. It’s meant a lot. I regret nothing (except the string of
> grisley murders in the 80’s — what was THAT all about?) Remember the
> words of the poet:
> “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by
> and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN’ SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road
> that had all those people on it. Damn.”
>
> See you soon.”

Actually, I have to admit that at this point I don’t really like Angel. It’s become kind of a sucky show with annoying characters. Take me back to the second season somebody!

Angel has taken some wrong steps, but it was finding its stride again (I loved Cordy’s last ep a couple of weeks ago. Some people have been making a Joss W./Chris Carter connection, but I think Angel still has life in it (pun intended).

*double sigh*

There have been strong episodes this season. Sure, I miss the first and second seasons, with their grittier street-level tales. But what about “The Cautionary Tale Of Numero Cinco”? And the complex monster/victim layers in “Damage”? Heck, I thought the WWII episode, “Why We Fight” could have easily been expanded into a motion-picture length and quality scipt.

It doesn’t hurt that last season was, for me at least, a big pile of bleh. I blame Conner. A lot. And the writers for coming up with the Cordelia/Jasmine story arc. Bad idea — no cookies for them.

Yeah, Cordy having sex with Connor caused most of us to go “What? Oh God, NO!” And shield our eyes permanently from the show with occasional peeks to see if it still sucked.

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