Season 6 was disappointing, not because it went to dark places, but because it seemed so forced. With the exception of OMWF, Whedon seemed to take a backseat to things (it's the only season in the run with an opening and finale he neither wrote nor directed). Dark Willow's finale storyline started out strong (running on pure rage from her murdered lover) and then seemed drawn out for the hell of it (turns out she's just a nerd who discovered drugs).

And don't get me started on dumb episodes like "Doublemeat Palace".

 You're right about Whedon's absence for most of Season 6 (he was prepping Firefly at the time, as well as working on OMWF, which was a lot more work than the average episode), and S6 definitely has the weakest opening of any Buffy season. But I thought the finale was really powerful. I didn't start paying attention to who wrote or directed what until I started watching them on DVD, and when I got to that episode ("Grave") I was really surprised that it wasn't a Whedon episode.

Here's a question for everybody: What are your favorite and LEAST favorite episodes? It can be Buffy or any other Whedon show.

If I had to pick just one Buffy episode as my favorite, it would probably be Season 3's "Dopplegangland", when an alternate-universe vampire Willow (seen previously in "The Wish") is accidentally transported to "our" Sunnydale. Whedon at his best, IMO. Hilarious.

My least favorite is probably the "invisible girl" episode from S1. I just think that one is...dumb.

The Buffy episode that I can just pull out and watch at any time, divorced from continuity, is "Restless". It's so atypical, and yet so deeply entrenched in the mythology. It came at the right time for me -- not long after that episode aired, I discovered TP and Lynch, and my entrance into dream logic films was complete.

Least favorite: "Doublemeat Palace" just sticks in my craw for some reason. I haven't seen it since it aired, so it might not be as bad as I thought at the time. And I don't revisit the first season very often at all.

Thinking of rewatching the final season when I get back home for summer. Most of those episodes I've probably only seen once.

Usually, Joss Whedon hits a home run when he writes and directs an episode, but the third season opener "Anne"  was a pile of manure.  I love Faith in Season 3.  She is hot and rebellious, but my skin crawls every time she says 5X5. 

It is also funny how SMG went from baby fat Buffy in the early Buffy seasons to skinny and eventually Skeletor skinny in Season 6 and 7.  I like the middle years Buffy.

I prefer the high school setting because there is something warm and cozy about the Scooby gang hanging out in the library after hours and doing research.

I haven't mentioned Angel much, but I am a big fan of Groo.  Polar opposite feelings about Connor.

I love Fred and I love when Cordelia is queen of that other dimension where Fred was stuck.

I agree about "Anne". Whedon's weakest episode in the entire run.

I thought I was the only one who liked Groo! I never hear Whedon fans talk about him. I love the episode where Cordy drives Angel nuts by dressing Groo up in his clothes. I've often wondered if the writers had the comic-book character Groo The Wanderer in mind when they named him.

What is your viewing preference, Bloody William Peroxide?  Do you watch all of Buffy 1-7 and then Angel 1-5 or do you watch episodes or seasons at random these days?  What is the method to your madness?  Also, do you do the same with Firefly and Serenity?

OK, I'll now reveal another level of geekdom. First I watch Seasons 1-3 of Buffy, at the end of which Angel leaves Sunnydale for LA. Then starting with Buffy Season 4 I go back and forth according to their original air dates (seriously). Occasionally, though, I do get a hankering for a particular episode so I'll just pull out that one and watch it. The one I do that most often with is "Once More With Feeling".

I do re-watch Firefly and Serenity, though not nearly as often. With so few episodes (18, I think) the burnout factor is much higher.

And it's Captain Peroxide, thank you very much.  

That is wicked geeky, yet wicked awesome at the same time.  I need to try that sometime.  Then I can appreciate all of the Buffy/Angel crossovers and vice versa to their fullest.

I love all of the flashbacks in both shows to the Angelus and William the Bloody days. 

I love the flashbacks. I always wished they would have done a whole episode as a flashback, maybe with Buffy getting transported to the past somehow and facing off against Angelus, Darla, William and Drusilla.

OK, I have just finished up watching this season of Dollhouse (I've been catching up with it on hulu, so I was able to watch the eps in big chunks) and I have gone from finding it rather lackluster at first to being really, really impressed with this show. There are some incredibly good episodes toward the end of the season, where they get away from the ho-hum "this week Echo's a backup singer" episodes and start delving into stories about how the Dollhouse actually works (and even more interesting, what happens when things go wrong...which is often). Some amazing revealations, especially in the finale (which unfortunately will probably be the series' finale). And Alpha was just...nuts. In a really good way. By the end, I finally felt like I was watching a Joss Whedon show. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil anything in case anyone hasn't watched the finale yet. I'll give it a day or two. For now I'll just say kudos once again to Mr. Whedon. My faith is restored.

According to several sources, insiders report that FOX will officially announce on Monday that they are picking up Dollhouse for a second season! They are ordering thirteen more episodes with an option for more. New episodes will air Fridays in the Fall.

*does happy dance*

EDIT:

No need to wait for an official announcement: According to this post on whedonesque from the man himself, Dollhouse Season 2 is happening!

Click here for the appropriate response. Or, if you're in a more 80's frame of mind, click here.

The last few weeks, I've rewatched Firefly, read the comic miniseries "Those Left Behind", and rewatched Serenity for the umpteenth time. What they managed to achieve in such a small timeframe, with network meddling, makes DH's "meh" factor all the more unforgivable. I have hopes for next season, but they're not high.

The grand concensus on Serenity is that it's disappointing, disjointed, and unsatisfying. I can only shrug at that. I loved it in theaters after only seeing the pilot first, I've enjoyed it several times on DVD, and this latest viewing had me teary-eyed, with the show's events so fresh on my mind. I must be entirely blind to its flaws, and frankly, I like it that way.

The more I watch Firefly and Serenity, the more impressed I am with it. How that show didn't last at least six seasons is beyond me.

The last five episodes of Dollhouse gave me real hope for what that show might become in Season 2.

A new incarnation of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" could be coming to the big screen.

"Buffy" creator Joss Whedon isn't involved and it's not set up at a studio, but Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with original movie director Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, on what is being labeled a remake or relaunch, but not a sequel or prequel.

While Whedon is the person most associated with "Buffy," Kuzui and her Kuzui Enterprises have held onto the rights since the beginning, when she discovered the "Buffy" script from then-unknown Whedon. She developed the script while her husband put together the financing to make the 1992 movie, which was released by Fox.

Ha, "developed" the script. That's an interesting way of putting it.

I don't think that's going to happen. Which is good, because it's a terrible fucking idea. Stick a stake in it, it's done.

Yep, I've read this story in several places today. As LogicHat said: Terrible. Fucking. Idea. It's like remaking TP without Lynch.

Enough, already, people! Have an original friggin' idea already and stop raping the corpses of every good franchise to turn a quick buck!