Buffy fans who didn't care for Angel?

[captainperoxideluv]

As I really became a fan of Buffy around the end of Season 3 beginning of 4. I didn't have alot of investment in the whole Buffy/Angel ship. So, him leaving for his spinoff didn't register as strongly with me as it probably did for most people.

But, I started watching the Buffy/Angel crossover events on the WB and really got into both shows for awhile. Although, ultimately I still think that Buffy is my overall favorite. When Buffy left for UPN and the WB started to jump around with Angel's scheduling, it made it harder to follow. I also really missed those great crossover shows. Fool for Love and Darla being my favorite 2 hour block!
I've enjoyed Angel much more on DVD. I did like that it was "darker and more adult" than Buffy overall. I certainly think for a spinoff it's very strong. And it's funny now, when Buffy and Angel are both on in reruns at the same time 7 AM weekdays, I find myself watching Angel re-runs more. So, go figure. I guess I like them both! I
t would be fun to do a comparison of both shows episode by episode and see which ones the group preferred over the other.

[becky]

I love Angel. I prefer it over Buffy. Don't get me wrong, I still love BtVS, I just have more love for Angel the show. It had a more serious and grown up tone to it. And I loved all the characters, from Angel and his gang all the way to the lawyers at Wolfram & Hart.

I didn't really start to like Angel until the 3rd season of Buffy, and since then he has become one of my favorites. Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, and Faith are my faves. I especially loved how they wrote Faith on Angel. It seemed like she was respected more there. I loved it when Wesley brough her to the Hyperion in S4 and introduced her as Faith the Vampire Slayer. The Buffy gang always thought of her as inferior to Buffy, so I liked how they made her as important as Buffy.

[postitnote]

I do agree with Becky. The way they portrayed Faith on Angel makes me give the show kudos...they showed Faith as tortured on there, instead of just a bad ass. They never really delved into Faith's character's depth on BtVS. I feel the same way about Cordelia and Angel's characters. When they went onto AtS, they were given more time to grow, and show off their traits. Watching them grow?? I prefer Angel in season 5 of his own show as opposed to the skinny little Boreanaz on the first season of Buffy.

[Girl Power]

mattitude said:

I totally agree about the character of Angel, Jess. I love him! He's definitely one of my favorite characters. Just like you, I'm not that into him on Buffy, but on his own show he really grew into his own. I don't know why everyone finds him so serious and boring; on Angel, he's a really funny guy. Nothing at all like he was on Buffy.

Actually, my favorite moments of the Angel character were when he was being silly and dorky, like when he was at the party and had the fantasy of dancing goofy at Cordy's party, when he had his epiphany, in Pylea when he was obsessing over how his hair looked in the mirror, when he was making such a big deal over Connor as a baby. I adored that side of Angel's personality.

I also loved watching him with Spike. I thought that brought out a dorky, insecure side of him, as well. I loved his rivalry with Riley when he went back on Buffy in season 4, as well, with comments like, "You sleep with this guy?" I think he's cutest when he goes against self-possessed, serious image.

I generally liked the Angel show pretty well, but I only liked season 5 as much as I had liked the Buffy show. I thought the Darla arc of season 2 was really great, as well,but I didn't like the part where Angel got all dark and fired everyone. That was too dark and pointless to me.

I also loved the first and last episodes of Faith's 3 arc appearance on season 4 of Angel. I thought those were some of the best episodes of all.

I wasn't that into Angelus. He reminds me too much of my dad. I know, sad, right?

[arron]

I don't/didn't like Angel really at all.

I have Season 1,2 + 3 on DVD buts it taken me like 4 months to 3/4 way through Season 1. If I like something it never takes that long. For example I watched One Tree Hill
Season 1,2 + 3 in about 5 weeks on DVD when I first got that too. Cordy is cool but it doesn't make me want to watch more unlike Buffy. I feel like I force myself to watch it because I *need* to - if that makes sense.

[sweetescape]

I loved Angel from the get go. What was there not to like about watching David and Charisma on screen every week? ;D It did take a while to adjust to the style, I was only 14 at the time so my taste wasn't very mature. The show took a dive towards the end of Season 3 and most of Season 4, more so when Joss left to do other things and when Charisma left to have her baby. I must point out though that I loved 'Spin The Bottle', I'm a sucker for amnesia episodes.

Overall I think Angel never surpassed Buffy, but was still a decent show in its own right. The character of Angel has changed a lot over the course of Buffy & Angel, and I think its mostly down to the producers or the writers wanting to take him in different directions. The best Angel was from Season 5, he was so much more fun with Spike & Harmony around.

[drufan]

I have to agree with Becky. I really like Buffy but I loved Angel (the show, not the character). It felt more grown-up to me in a lot of ways. I liked how we got to see the characters evolve and I love the Lorne and Fred characters. It's hard to compare the two shows though. They were both excellent.

[scullow]

I have to agree with both Becky & Drufan. I liked Buffy as a show (mainly because of Willow of course. :-)) but I loved Angel.
Being a lot older than everyone on this forum I found the story lines to be more adult most of the time, not so teen-centric. I loved the dark wicked humour. In later series of course there was Fred. Whats not to love. And then Lorne who was just a brilliant character. Season 5 you had Spike and then Illyria. I was in heaven. I loved the interaction between Spike and everyone else and Illyrias childlike innocence in some ways made me feel sorry for her even though I missed Fred. I was so looking forward to season 6 and was totally gutted when the show was canceled.
Hopefully Joss can do a Season 6 comic.

[tranquillity]

I watched Buffy as it aired, but only watched Angel sometimes but mostly forgot it was even on. Then i bought the DVDs of Buffy and was curious, mainly about Spike's return in Angel Season 5 so i bought the DVDs of that and watched it and then i wondered what the hell they were doing at W&H and various other things that didn't make a lot of sense, like where was cordy? who was connor? and fred, and gunn and what had happened to that nice demon boy who used to help Angel out in the early days? So i went and bought the entire series and fell in love. LA Angel is so much better than Sunnydale Angel - he's complex and he's infuriating and he makes some of the dumbest decisions known to man and he makes the same mistakes over and over again and he never seems to grow as a character or learn anything from his mistakes - but you love him all the same.

[Alyrenee]

Yeah in many ways I preferred Angel to Buffy if only for its darker tones and its 'grownupiness" i guess. LA Angel was a great character and I loved the fang gang. Especially dark wesley...meow.

[taraswizard]

As some of you already know, I watched Angel before I'd ever looked at BtVS. Agreeing too about the gutted and stabbed in the back feeling when the AtS announcement was made. And I love BtVS like no other thing I've seen on TV or will see in the future. However, I have special affection for AtS since it's my introduction to Joss Whedon (and I can harldly ever think about NFA and not have tears in my eyes).

Let me relate what's been said by Lars Pierson, author of Redeemed and Dusted,

After we finished the Buffy book (Dusted), we went through a period of really not wanting to watch BtVS, but after we finished the Angel book, I could go right back and watch it over again anytime

He usually says this around the time he tells everyone how much more time and research they put into Redeemed over the amount into Dusted.

I don't take Lars's quote to be a expression of greater quality of one over the other, but I do take his statement to mean that on some level Angel might have more timelessness to it than its sib series.

[spikeluv13]

I just recently watched angel (in my college town, there was literally no tv without cable and i was poor) so I had to wait and buy them all. It was okay. At first, I was really annoyed! I mean, angel and cordy? come on! I did like Lorne and Illyria and Fred. The whole cordy pregnant, jasmine, higher being demon thing was a little more than pathetic in my opinion. I did like the connor and darla stuff.
It would have been much better if doyle stayed. wesley annoyed me...esp. after connor- the affair with lila.
Season 5 was good. had spike. The exchange between spike and angel is always fabulous, and they both had souls...hehehehe. i would have liked to see what happened...the whole angel signed his chance to be human away. so i guess spike will. yay! i wonder if btvs season 8 comic will dive into that.... I havent been able to get my hands on it yet

[urnofosiris]

I've watched the first season of Angel recently, and I enjoyed it, but I've been a massive Buffy fan for years and I loooooove Buffy.
It's so much more lovable than Angel. (:

[Just Willow]

i love Angel not as much as i love Buffy, but it's still a decent show. yeah, Charisma's pregnancy kinda killed seaosn4, but it was still good before and after that!

[iamthewalrus]

i like Angel, but that's about it, i just like it
i love Fred, Wesley and pre-season 3 Cordy

something about it just doesn't seem to flow like Buffy does
also, i'm not the biggest fan of Angel, he's a bit boring

[Midnight Butterfly]

I have seen all of Buffy but still havnt seen Angel
I probably will buy the boxsets though.

As for the character Angel. Hotness and caring ;D

[gumgnome]

I am obsessed with Buffy, but merely like Angel. I really like the first two seasons of Angel (particularly his descent to the dark side in Season 2) but felt that the ending of Season 2 in Pylea was a bit cheese-tastic. Then Season 3 came along and really pissed me off. I didn't like Darla getting pregnant (or the way they shifted Angel and Darla's relationship in flashbacks of the past towards a more uncaring attitude), hated the changes to Wesley's character, thought Holtz was a big loser and Connor, well need i say more.
Then Season 4 came along and i actually thought it was pretty awesome. Mrkittyfantastico calls it "24 with vampires" and he's right. The action is awesome, the twists are extra-twisty and it ends really well with Jasmine. I had high hopes for Season 5.........which is the worst Season in the Buffyverse by miles. My god, the writers couldn't decide what the plot was gonna be could they? They re-introduce Lindsay, only to kill him off with a whimper; they give Gunn super-law powers, then take them away; they introduce a love interest for Angel, which never really gets going; they kill Fred and introduce Illyria, then de-power her. All the way through, they introduce what could be a season-defining moment, then back away from it as if they're too afraid to commit to it. It seemed the sign of a series under a lot of pressure from the powers-that-be in tv land constantly trying to redefine itself to please its masters (somewhat similar to Veronica Mars Season 3). For all the complaints I have about Buffy Season 7, it certainly had a clearly defined plan and thus stands as a fully fleshed out season.
So over all, I always enjoy re-visiting AtS seasons 1, 2 and 4 but leave the other 2 out completely, something I could never imagine doing to a season of Buffy.

[Iceeh★]

I like Buffy more than Angel for the majority of the seasons, but Season 5 of Angel was just pure *amazingness*. <3

[buffyrocksmylife]

Mikey? U've been Banned? Aww. Anyways, Angel....I liked Angel because of the action etc. It's a spinoff of Buffy so, of course I watched it lol. I like both of them.

[HannahSlayer]

I love Angel. (:
There for a while, I liked it better than I liked Buffy.
Angel is a good show, it's just a lot different than Buffy