ANGEL cancelled

Network issues press release about the show's termination

By Patrick Sauriol     February 13, 2004
Source: The WB Television Network, Zap2It

Late this afternoon The WB broke the news to the cast and crew of ANGEL that the present season would be its last on the network. A short time later the network issued a press statement on its website explaining their decision:

For the last seven years ANGEL and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER have been cornerstones of our network. The sum total of the work done on those shows has produced some of the proudest moments in our history. Like some of the great series that are leaving the air this year, including FRASIER and FRIENDS, the cast, crew, writers and producers of ANGEL deserve to be able to wrap up the series in a way befitting a classic television series and that is why we went to Joss to let him know that this would be the last year of the series on The WB. We have discussed continuing the ANGEL legacy with special movie events next year, which is still on the table. In a perfect world, all of these details would be completed before this information went to the press so that we could be definitive about the show's ongoing future. But in any case, we did not want to contemplate this being the last year of ANGEL without giving the show the option of crafting their own destiny for this character and for this series. David Boreanaz continues to be one of the finest, classiest and friendliest actors we have had the pleasure to work with and we hope that the relationship furthers from here. The same can be said for all the actors and producers on the show.

Asked for a comment by the Zap2It website, ANGEL co-creator and producer David Greenwalt said "It's official enough to know it's real but I haven't talked to anybody at the network or the studio. I can tell you that it's real, that it makes Mr. Whedon and myself very sad, that we wish it had kept going and we thought it was only getting better."

The show had seemed to have turned around a declining ratings problem in its current season, the fifth for ANGEL. Nine new episodes remain unaired in ANGEL's full season commitment at The WB. The cancellation announcement would seem timed to provide Joss Whedon and his staff time to wrap up the series in the remaining episodes left which would still be in the early stages of planning and writing.

We're interested in hearing your thoughts on the announcement and invite all readers to bare their thoughts in our ANGEL discussion forum.


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