In memoriam...

Andy at his best. We'll miss you, Green!

The Cycle of Life: It's a girl for Alyson Hannigan & Alexis Denisof

These two met on the set of Buffy which automatically makes their daughter an honorary member of the Whedonverse. Satyana Denisof was born on March 24th, sharing a birthday with her mom! Read more here:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20268972,00.html

March Madness! The Final Four of the Whedonverse Character Tourney

Welcome back to the "March Madness" tourney - best of the Whedonverse! We're down to the Final and Fabulous Four characters of the entire 'verse (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible) as voted by the people. Even if you never voted before, please feel free to still vote for your faves now.

Something weird happened in the Elite Eight, the balance shifted after a couple of days. Spike was neck-in-neck with Mal the entire time, but Spike fans must've rallied at the last minute because he won in the end - big time. The Browncoats lost this war! In other news, Willow and Buffy are still standing and Angel and Giles were at a tie with Giles winning at the last second! I never expected that and really can't believe all the Giles votes...but he is a sexy Brit, so there you go. For the record, all of the characters left standing are from Buffy. See below for the full list of winners:

Winner of the Sunnydale Region: Spike 112 to Mal 49 ,

Winner of the Serenity Region: Willow 117 to Xander 44,
Winner of the LA Region: Giles 82 to Angel 79 ,
Winner of the UK Region: Buffy 116 to Wes 45

And here is your Final Four showdown of the Whedonverse! This is ending in 2 days (a bit shorter this time) - Wednesday, April 1st at 11:59 pm EST. Like always, if you want to play along, please leave your choices in the comments section of this post!

The East:
Witch vs. Vamp (Willow vs. Spike)






The West:

Watcher vs. Slayer (Giles vs. Buffy)

If your curious to see the bracket showing all past winners so far, click here to enlarge:

A Moment of Silence

RIP
Andy Hallett
1975-2009

Whedonverse Alum win a bunch of Streamy Awards!

Audience Choice Award! on 12seconds.tv


Best Directing in a Comedy Series on 12seconds.tv


Best Writing in a Comedy Series on 12seconds.tv


Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series on 12seconds.tv

So the Streamy Awards were last night and Joss and Co. won a ton! Here's a list of our winners after the jump. Continue Reading...

Whedonverse Winners:

Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Joss Whedon

Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon

Best Writing for a Dramatic Web Series
Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy
Jane Espenson, Seamus Kevin Fahey, Ronald D. Moore

Best Comedy Web Series
The Guild

Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Neil Patrick Harris - Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Felicia Day - The Guild

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series
The Guild

Best Editing
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - Lisa Lassek

Best Cinematography
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - Ryan Green

Best Original Music
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - Jed Whedon

12seconds.tv has more post acceptance speech videos. And Buffy Between the Lines' Tabz was there reporting, too! Check out her twitter page for a bunch of then-live updates. Finally, WorldofHiglet had a very nice, in-depth recap on her blog: The last geek bus home.

Dollhouse Death Watch - the game has changed!

Last night's Dollhouse episode "Echoes" = "Band Candy"+"Tabula Rasa"+"Spin the Bottle". In other words, big fun! I found it to be an entertaining hour of television despite that tarty-ass outfit Echo/Alice/Caroline had to wear the entire ep. Really? That was a bad Buffy-esque poor costuming choice via 1999. But the whole acid trip thing brought the first real Whedon charm to the series so far and the drama didn't suffer for it. I'm not going to get into the issues I had with the ep here (going back to the premier and the way Caroline was portrayed), because that's not what this post here is about. Besides, as everyone around me already knows, I've been majorly affected by the Dollhouse Uncertainty Principle, so I'm staying out of it. I will I admit, however, that "The Awakening" campaign for next week is a little cheese. It's like (say it with me now): "Dollhouse - *whispers* The Storrrrm." But whatever they have to do to put asses in the damn seats, I say. I guess it's always exciting when they give an interesting tagline to a show's promo ...and promotion is still what this series needs.

Speaking of which, on to the ratings. Last night's post "Man on the Street" game changing 7th ep scored a 1.3/4 in the demo and 3.87 million viewers tuning in.

Nearly 2 months ago now we made a bet here at Buffyfest. We wagered a little something on the "Dollhouse Death Watch" and Bitsy has now lost. Yep, the S&M hardcore skeptic group is definitely out as the 7th ep aired. Also, Dollverse posted yesterday that Fox has committed to showing all 13 episodes! (That link contains episode name spoilers, so avoid that if you're a zmiggy). Looks like my group may lose this thing after all, as well. But I'm not going to commit to any of that yet because an optimist, I'll never be. See below for the updated Death Watch stats:

Do you think Dollhouse will make it to season 2? Leave us a comment and let us know which group you belong:

Tara's Group (the bitter realists) - thinks FOX will show all 13 episodes ordered, but will then cancel it and thus, Dollhouse will not make it to season 2. What can I say? We're jaded.

Michelle's Group (the starry-eyed optimists) - who believe that Dollhouse will show all episodes and even get renewed for a second season.

March Madness! The Elite Eight of the Whedonverse Character Tournament.

Welcome back to the "March Madness" tourney - best of the Whedonverse! We're down to the "Elite Eight" characters of the entire 'verse (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible) as voted by the people. Even if you never voted before, please feel free to still vote for your faves now (if they're still in the mix that is...chances are, they are!)

Holy Moly, in Sweet's Sixteen: Wes beat Anya by a fricken hair! I'm not even kidding, he won 58 to Anya's 56 . That's crazy! Willow took the most overall votes 103 to Captain Hammer's 11 (the tool.) Illyria managed to receive 24 votes against the Buffster herself...lots of Illy fans there! Most of all, I'm personally pretty surprised to see Mal beat Oz. Oz is truly a beloved character but Dannit if you can't beat those Browncoats! See below for the full list of winners:

Mal: 65 to Oz: 48, Spike: 92 to Darla: 22,
Fred: 46 to Xander: 68, Willow: 103 to Captain Hammer: 11,
Dr. Horrible: 28 to Giles: 86, Angel: 75 to Cordelia: 39,
Anya: 56 to Wes: 58, Buffy: 90 to Illyria: 24

And here is your Elite Eight! Wow, the 8 favorite characters of the Whedonverse...It's full of Watchers and Scoobies, Vamps with Souls and a Firefly Captain. They should be proud! This is ending in 3 days - Monday, March 30th at 11:59 pm EST. Like always, if you want to play along, please leave your choices in the comments section of this post!

The Sunnydale Region:
Captain Malcolm Reynolds vs. Spike a.k.a William the Bloody (You masochists.)




The Serenity Region:
Xander Harris vs. Willow Rosenberg (Scooby Showdown!)





The LA Region:
Rupert Giles vs. Angel a.k.a Liam a.k.a Angelus (Honestly, I'm not even going to lie, this is nearly impossible!)




The UK Region:
Wesley Wyndam Pryce vs. Buffy Summers

If your curious to see the bracket showing all past winners so far, click here to enlarge:

Watcher's Council: "Being Erica"

Little known fact about me: I am a fan of Canadians. It's true. Don't ask me to explain, it's just a truism that has been upheld throughout my many years as a wacky blogger and even beyond (something beyond blogging? the hell, you say). Imagine my delight when my favorite show that is both Canadian and involves time travel (I know, right?) just so happened to have an episode entitled Erica the Vampire Slayer. With that not so subtle shout-out I thought, oh my, what a lovely excuse to recommend yet another show I love that starts with the word "being"! Shall we begin? Why, yes! Let's shall.

The concept: In a nutshell, Being Erica is the story of thirty something Erica Strange who has practically made flailing and failing in life into a profession. She gets fired for being too smart, she can't hold onto a man, she blunders around like a hopeless hapless oaf until suddenly, a series of unfortunate events leads her to the very zen, very silly, possible deity in disguise Dr. Tom. He asks her to compose a list of every major regret she has and, one by one, she travels back in time to revisit those moments in a hope to understand and perhaps even change them. It's a silly premise that leads to massive hilarity especially considering that the series premiere involves traveling back to high school in the 90's. I will say this: Four Non Blondes. I'll leave it at that.

The connection to our girl Buffy and our man Joss still seem a little thin, does it? Alright, I'll up the ante. Look to your right? You see that sexy young gentleman? Look familiar? If you're a true Whedonverse obsessed nerd like I am he should. That is Tyron Leitso who plays Erica's love interest. No? Try this on for size. Before that he played paramour to a girl by the name of Jaye Tyler on a little show called Wonderfalls. And who wrote for that all too quickly canceled series? Why a little man you might remember named Tim Minear, that's who! Why do I feel like I'm playing the Kevin Bacon game right now? Anyway! The point is the show is awesome and the last episode is called Erica the Vampire Slayer for Buffy's sake! And it involved the time Erica dated a LARPer! What more could you ask for? How about a clip of Erica impressing her professor no end by utilizing the skillful words of the finest poetess in the land: Miss Britney Spears!



Being Erica airs on CBC on Wedensdays at 9pm and Thursdays at 10pm on SoapNet.

Buffy's birthday is usually bad, but this cake could make things better!

I'm sorry, that place in Brooklyn made an amazing Alice in Wonderland cake for my birthday but this....THIS!
Neeeeeeed! This thing is a freakin masterpiece..complete with Mutant Enemy Grr...Argh monster! Fit for a slayer. Find this amazing Buffy themed cake and other yummy creations at this bakery: cakenouveau.com

March Madness Whedonverse Character Tournament - Sweet's Sixteen!

Welcome to the "March Madness" tourney - Whedon style! If you have no clue what the hell this is about, you've certainly missed a lot. After 3 weeks, we're now down to the final 16 best characters of the entire Whedonverse (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible) as voted by the people. The "Sweet Sixteen" as they say, but since it's the Whedonverse let's dub it the demon "Sweet's Sixteen". Of course, it's never too late to chime in and vote for your faves. It's really going to get crazy now!

Round 2b was one of the more painless ones. It seemed as if the hardest battle for people was Illyria vs. Andrew - with Illy taking it 60 to 53. Jayne vs. Cordy was another stumper, but Queen C kept her crown. The rest were easy breezy...the Cheeseman and Phantom Dennis are finally out. See below for the full list of winners:

Dr. Horrible 94 to Phantom Dennis 17; Giles 107 to Cheeseman 6; Cordy 72 to Jayne 40; Angel 88 to Doyle 25;
Wes 86 to The Mayor 26; Lindsey 17 to Anya 95; Buffy 95 to Inara 18; Illyria 60 to Andrew 53

And now we give you....your Sweet Sixteen. This is ending in 3 days - Thursday March 26th at 11:59 pm EST. Like always, if you want to play along, please leave your choices in the comments section of this post!

The Sunnydale Region:
Oz vs. Mal - ooh it's a toughie!






Spike vs. Darla - 2 of the "Fanged Four" battle it out.





The Serenity Region:
Xander Harris vs. Winifred "Fred" Burkl...zzzzzzzzz.






Willow Rosenberg vs. Captain Hammer - The Hammer is his penis, but she plays for the other team....uh, so there's that. hee!




The LA Region:
Dr. Horrible vs. Rupert Giles






Cordelia Chase vs. Angel






The UK Region:
Wesley Wyndam Pryce vs. Anya - Did they only meet in Graduation day?






Buffy Summers vs. Illyria - Slayer vs. God King!

If your curious to see the bracket showing all past winners so far, click here to enlarge:

SMG takes her top off for Mugsy

Interweb's own Brian Lynch is a hero of the people. Best known to the Buffy kids for his Spike comics and the brilliant Angel: After the Fall, he's managed to charm the pants off of everyone he's met both digitally and even in person. Long before that though, way, way back in 2001 when I was still but a young, nubile blogger unfettered by the years of jading that were to come, I happened upon Brian thanks to the boldly in the buff but respectfully circumcised Angry Naked Pat. As the name suggests, the titular character is angry, naked, and probably named Pat (I didn't pay too much attention to that last part because I was too mesmerized by his animated, bouncing peen).

I know what you're thinking. You're saying to yourself "Bitsy, why talk about this now and Smidge? Topless? 'Sup wit dat, yo?" Possibly you are offended, aroused, or a combination of the two. Fear not, weary blog travelers, for I will answer your questions. For those not in the Twitter know, Brian tweets (or has "twatted", if Stephen Colbert is your thang) with a fair amount of regularity and, on this day of days, he brought up his former protagnudist (you see what I did there? I combined protagonist with nudist... you... you get it. eh? eh?!!?) and shared the link to all the old digital shorts. As I was taking a trip down foggy memory lane, I remembered that in A Prinze Among Men Part 2 our intrepid vampire slayer makes a special guest appearance. I highly recommend checking all of the animated shorts out over at Camp Chaos when you have a spare second. You will not regret it... unless cartoon schwing schwongs make you feel icky... then you might want to take a pass. Yeah. Enjoy!

The Dollhouse Uncertainty Principle and ep. 6 Ratings/Deathwatch Update

As some people might already know, I've been struggling with "Dollhouse" for some time. Let me be clear, I'm not talking about the quality of acting, writing, sets, editing, music, or any other creative part of the thing....not at the moment anyway. That's not the largest issue for me. Much like not knowing what's good/bad, real/unreal in the show, I'm having an issue with what's good/bad, real/unreal outside of the show. I don't know what I feel as I've been overly influenced. I'm talking about being a part of the Cult of Whedon and it's unsavory effects on my psyche. I'm talking about the Dollhouse Uncertainty Principle.

Unofficial 4th blogger Ryan and I talked a little quantum physics earlier today. He was explaining Schrödinger's cat and long story short, I, of course, brought it back to Whedonville. I'm sorry Ry, but to be fair...you were right there with me. And it was then that I realized maybe I could speak about Dollhouse on this blog again. All you Whedon fans out there are likely suffering the same disorder I am and may not even realize it.

Before the "Dollhouse" hype machine started we only had Schroedinger's Dollhouse which made it both a great show and a terrible show at the same time. Anything was possible and we were unaware. Then, stories of Gouda Pizza-induced brainstorming sessions in fancy Hollywood eateries, Eliza Dushku's Fox deal, casting, network problems, re-written pilots and everything else we learned, not to mention simply being Whedon-addicts, started to confuse us. Was this actually an already flimsy plot thought up on a whim and made even more forced because of network interference or is it the usual Whedon genius?

We will never know the answer to that question because now that "Dollhouse" is out we are faced with Heisenberg's Dollhouse a.k.a the Dollhouse Uncertainty Principal. This means we can never tell whether it's great or terrible because the measuring changes the outcome. Technically, this is a double Heisenberg because some people who might normally love it now dislike it only because they know too much about behind the scenes, spoilers, etc. - while other people who wouldn't normally watch it at all because they think it sucks subconsciously feel they need to love it anyway because they are a part of the Cult of Whedon. I have no idea which camp I'm in. I'll never know.

There is no way of measuring ratings that can determine the quality of the show and none of us can be certain as to why we like or dislike it. We are all tainted. If we went back in time and never learned a thing about Whedon and stumbled upon this show on a Friday night because we loved "Connor Chronicles" and watched what followed, then we can form an untainted opinion.

Actually, that's a great segue into Connor Chron. I love that show. A lot. I know I love it and there is no confused feeling. There is no SCC Uncertainty Principle. It's really a great feeling. Unfortunately, that feeling is followed by a feeling of doom due to its impending cancellation (Note from Ryan: A Sarah Connor Uncertainty Principle probably exists for long time fans of the Terminator franchise, of which Tara is not. This is not to be confused with the Terminator Uncertainty Principle, which is a theory about whether time-traveling robots can change the future).

Next time, Ryan and I plan on discussing Bell's Theorem where the shows Buffy and Angel are always connected in quality and cannot be separated. But that's next time.

In the mean, "Dollhouse" scored a 2.6/5 in the ratings to move FOX ahead of NBC this past Friday night with overly promoted episode 6: Man on the Street, though it's viewership was actually down from last week. Here's the updated Dollhouse Death Watch.

And the optimism continues! If next week's ep actually airs (which seems almost certain) then Bitsy's group is out and it's down to Michelle vs. Me (the realists versus the delusionals!)

If you want to share an opinion of what you think is Dollhouse's fate and be added to the list above, see the following options and leave your choice of group in the comments:

Bitsy's Group (the S&M hard-core skeptics) - who's sure Dollhouse will not even make it to the 7th episode. (next week's ep!)

Tara's Group (the bitter realists) - thinks FOX will show all 13 episodes ordered, but will then cancel it and thus, Dollhouse will not make it to season 2. What can I say? We're jaded.


Michelle's Group (the starry-eyed optimists) - who believe that Dollhouse will show all episodes and even get renewed for a second season.

#1 Hottest (non- Twilight) Vampire Up for Grabs at E! Online

E! Online has listed the 9 hottest vampires (sans any Twilight characters) and they're leaving #1 for us to decide. March on Whedon Soldiers.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b105205_top_9_hottest_vampires_not_in_twilight.html

Our own March Madness end of Round 2 - The Whedonverse Character Tournament

Welcome to the "March Madness" tourney - Whedon style! Wowzers, that last part was really something else as the tourney had an influx of voters coming in from linking sites (Whedonesque and SlayAlive, among others). It certainly put the "Madness" in "March Madness"! So if you just joined us last round, thanks for participating! If you're here for the first time now, here's a bit of backstory: This been designed to find the best/fan-favorite character of the entire Whedonverse (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible). We mentioned this previously, but again Dollhouse has been omitted mostly due to newness and also, the Dollhouse Death Watch. Anyway, don't blame us if the choices below are crazy, they were random at first but now are the result of your picks. Now it's just the "best of the best".

Round 2 had a few surprises. For one, Xander had the most votes beating Gunn the worst of anyone! Most of the battles were clear winners. One exception to that was Oz vs. River which was flip-flopping for 3 days! River was the sure winner at one point, but Oz pulled ahead this evening beating her 95-81. Also, check it out...Fillion holding it down in 2 spots! See below for the full list of winners:

Oz 95 vs River 81; Mal 144 vs Jenny 32; Spike 111 vs Faith 64; Darla 144 vs Ethan 31;
Gunn 25 vs Xander 151; Fred 151 vs The Master 24; Tara 42 vs Willow 132; Hammer 138 vs Wood 38

Ok, here are the pairings for the final part of Round 2, ending in 3 days - Monday March 23rd at 11:59 pm EST. Like always, if you want to play leave your choices in the comments section of this post!

The LA Region:
Dr. Horrible vs. Phantom Dennis (How the hell did he squeak through?)






Rupert Giles vs. The Cheeseman (still shocked Kate got her ass kicked so badly)






Jayne Cobb vs. Cordelia Chase (Hot couple alert! Seriously, can some Hollywood matchmaker hook these 2 up?)





Allen Doyle vs. Angel






The UK Region:
Wesley Wyndam Pryce vs. Richard "The Mayor" Wilkins






Lindsey McDonald vs. Anya







Buffy Summers vs. Inara Serra







Illyria vs. Andrew

If your curious to see the entire bracket so far, click here to enlarge:

Wanna Chat with Amber Benson?

Next Wednesday 3/25  FilmSnobbery is interviewing the lovely Amber Benson and they are inviting you to the chat! Go here for the deets.

http://filmsnobbery.com/2009/03/08/film-snobbery-special-event-interview-with-amber-benson/

Happy St. Patty's Day from Buffyfest!

March Madness Round 2! The Whedonverse Character Tournament

So if you're just stumbling on to this now, you're right on time for Round 2 of this "March Madness" tourney - Whedon style. It's been designed to find the best/fan-favorite character of the entire Whedonverse (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible). Don't blame us if the choices are crazy, they were random at first but now are the result of your picks. From now on it's the "best of the best" and I know I'm scared.

Most of the last part were blow-outs. With the exception of maybe Connor vs. Lindsey (Lindsey won) they were all pretty one-sided. In fact, We finally had the first all out sweep in which Anya was victorious over Adam 50-0. This enraged Michelle since Buffy's match wasn't the same (Kendra managed 2 votes against her.) I think it has more to do with Adam's lameness than anything else. Here is the full list of winners:

The Mayor 36 to Simon 14; Wesley 37 to Joyce 13; Connor 18 to Lindsey 32; Anya 50 to Adam 0;
Buffy 48 to Kendra 2; Inara 40 to Moist 8; Illyria 35 to Dawn 14; Andrew 39 to Whistler 11

A few stats if you're into number geekery: As far as shows go, BtVS is winning since it retained 52% of it's original characters. Dr. Horrible is in 2nd place there, holding on to 2 of the 4 that were placed in round 1. Angel held on to 46% and Firefly is last as they lost quite a bit of their team and only have 44% left. Come on Browncoats! Don't get a jelly-belly on us now.

Finally, and most importantly, here are the next pairings which are for the first part of Round 2 (ending in 3 days - Thurs March 19th at 11:59 pm EST.) Just like always, if you want to play leave your choices in the comments section of this post!

The Sunnydale Region:

Oz vs. River







Jenny Calendar vs. Malcolm Reynolds







Faith vs. Spike (another could've been hot couple..check them out!)






Darla vs. Ethan Rayne (Ethan's still hangin with the big guys, huh?)





The Serenity Region:

Xander Harris vs. Charles Gunn (who will take it??)







Winifred "Fred" Burkle vs. The Master







Willow Rosenberg vs. Tara MaClay (I know, I know.)






Principal Robin Wood vs. Captain Hammer (Wood meet Hammer! Oh, that sounded both innocent and dirty at the same time.)

If your curious to see the entire bracket so far, click here to enlarge: