stevelabny said:if i'm not mistaken, tara was put in the credits, taken back out and then put it again as a cruel tease when they killed her off.
You are mistaken. She was never a "starring" credit in the opening bit until her final episode. And while the rabid tara/willow fans on usenet took this as a cruel snipe at them (why? No one is sure, it's the nature of usenet to be full of kooks), Whedon and the writers at the time said that Amber wanted off the show anyway, and they put her in the credits that episode as a goodbye nod to an actress who had been a strong part of the cast for a couple seasons and was a good friend to all of them. And people die on Buffy all the time.
And lest anyone think I'm exaggerating when I say kooks, you can't call it 'nam unless you been there, man. Around the time of the end of season 6, the buffy groups on usenet were flooded beyond usability with people completely distraught over the death of a fictional character. Some people were staying home from work to weep and wallow in their grief. They detested Whedon and the writers for killing off one of the two stars of the show (Willow was the other, apparently, the name of the series notwithstanding). Mutant Enemy was decried as homophobic, and a lot more filthy things, for killing off a gay character. Never mind that the average lifespan of ANY character on buffy is around 7 episodes, and that's only because Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles drag the average way up
