Buffy Reboot Cancelled

[Artamo]

I’m a little bummed about this one because it sounded like a good hook, and had a good writer behind it. I think the “he said she said” is interesting in that it’s not often that the star calls out the exec who put the brakes on by name. I’d also heard that Buffy was only supposed to make an appearance at the very end of the first episode (the scribd link above corresponds to that). I wouldn’t have thought that a BAD thing - I wasn’t expecting Gellar to be the front and center star of the show even based on the initial description.

 

[Aeson]

It's like the Highlander series. Connor shows up to pass the torch then steps away. It should be that way. For Ryan Kiera Armstrong to make The Slayer her own, Buffy has to fade back. There would always be a chance for her to come back if needed. I wonder if it's possible for the show to move to Prime or Apple. Is it Hulu or nothing?

 

[billd91]

It's like the Highlander series. Connor shows up to pass the torch then steps away. It should be that way. For Ryan Kiera Armstrong to make The Slayer her own, Buffy has to fade back. There would always be a chance for her to come back if needed. I wonder if it's possible for the show to move to Prime or Apple. Is it Hulu or nothing?

To move to Prime or Apple, the IP owners would have to allow it. Right now that's, I believe, Disney.

 

[MGibster]

I’m a little bummed about this one because it sounded like a good hook, and had a good writer behind it. I think the “he said she said” is interesting in that it’s not often that the star calls out the exec who put the brakes on by name. I’d also heard that Buffy was only supposed to make an appearance at the very end of the first episode (the scribd link above corresponds to that). I wouldn’t have thought that a BAD thing - I wasn’t expecting Gellar to be the front and center star of the show even based on the initial description.

It would have been fine seeing Buffy in a supporting role as a mentor/trainer for the younger slayer. The current television landscape is weird, and while I would have liked to have seen another Buffy series (I guess they'd have to rename it if Buffy wasn't front and center), I don't know if this is a bad decision on the part of the executive who axed it. Disappointing but maybe not the wrong call.

 

[Cergorach]

I’m a little bummed about this one because it sounded like a good hook, and had a good writer behind it. I think the “he said she said” is interesting in that it’s not often that the star calls out the exec who put the brakes on by name. I’d also heard that Buffy was only supposed to make an appearance at the very end of the first episode (the scribd link above corresponds to that). I wouldn’t have thought that a BAD thing - I wasn’t expecting Gellar to be the front and center star of the show even based on the initial description.

Why call it a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (reboot) when there's virtually no Buffy? We had an Angel spinoff, called Angel. It seems like another run at a TV series about modern monsters, that really didn't need the expensive 'Buffy' label.

I see a couple of reasons why it was cancelled that doesn't have anything to do with being a 'Buffy Hater', but with realities: A licensed beloved label is expensive, no matter how old and unused, and when that label doesn't hit with the existing audience it's supposed to be a hit with, that's a huge and expensive problem. It could also be the case that currently a modern monster TV series isn't what is popular with general audiences right now, which makes it a bad investment in the first place. Running something like Hulu or Disney is still a business, so you look at cost and expected revenue, and if that's a problem, you don't do it. It's also about risk vs. reward, and if the risk is too high, you also don't do it.

* shrugs * I enjoyed the occasional Buffy/Angel episode back in the day, I wasn't a huge fan of it, things like Dark Angel and Veronica Mars I enjoyed more. But I would have watched an actual Buffy Reboot with Buffy center stage, I would probably have watched a Buffy Reboot without Buffy center stage as well, but it would go further down the list of things too watch, much further down the list...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are also rumours circulating that the script was horrible, but I don't see anyone ponying up examples from it.

Eh, the script went through multiple versions, which is standard for pilot season. Gellar says the versions floating around online were absolutely not the final versions and not indicative of the direction for the show, if it had been picked up.

In any case, this is Hulu leaving money on the table and I would expect that there will be another Buffy project announced pretty soon. This definitely has a much bigger potential audience than many other stuff that's gotten reboots and greenlights in recent years.

I would bet that Hulu is getting besieged by showrunners and production houses with their own Buffy and Angel pitches right now.

 

[Alzrius]

My gut reaction is that this would always have been a very fine needle to thread.

I only ever watched Buffy casually, but to my mind the show's theme was very much about adolescence; that the struggles Buffy and her friends faced were essentially metaphors for the difficulties involved with being a teenager. With Buffy herself (and, if they brought them back, her friends) now being middle-aged, that wasn't going to work anymore. The show would either have had to change its theme to tell the story of going through a different point of your life, or it would have needed to transition to a newer, younger cast. The former risks alienating its existing fans because of the change in the show's theme, and the latter risks alienating them because it discards/minimizes the cast members they've ggrown to know and love. Either way, it was always going to be an uphill struggle.

And that's not even taking into account issues with the canon, which I'm sure the fans would also have at least some investment in. Like, I suspect that no one thinks the novels would need to be taken into account, but what about the Buffy comics? You know, the ones that labeled themselves Seasons 8 through 12, and were presented as being the official continuations of the story? Which included things like magic being banished from the universe and then restored, changing how vampires work? Or which had Spike gaining possession of a spacecraft?

Those are just a few of the issues involved, and while I don't think that any of these are necessarily fatal unto themselves, I suspect that altogether they made the prospect of a new Buffy show one which was nice in theory, but far less than ideal in reality.

 

[MGibster]

And that's not even taking into account issues with the canon, which I'm sure the fans would also have at least some investment in. Like, I suspect that no one thinks the novels would need to be taken into account, but what about the Buffy comics? You know, the ones that labeled themselves Seasons 8 through 12, and were presented as being the official continuations of the story? Which included things like magic being banished from the universe and then restored, changing how vampires work? Or which had Spike gaining possession of a spacecraft?

Those were pretty stupid and if Star Wars taught us anything it's that we can safely ignore that kind of extended universe.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Those were pretty stupid and if Star Wars taught us anything it's that we can safely ignore that kind of extended universe.

Yeah, I don't think any Buffy superfans -- which I may arguably be -- considers those worth worrying about.

I think the TV audience would justifiably riot if "Spike hung out with aliens on a UFO" was part of the canon going forward.

 

[Artamo]

Why call it a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (reboot) when there's virtually no Buffy?

Because it was not a reboot. It was a pilot episode and the focus of the action was intended to be on the new Slayer with Buffy becoming more of a mentor. Her role would increase as the series in following episodes, I’m sure.