Joss Whedon

[As the Networks announce their fall schedules, two new spin-offs are making their way to your televisions. First is Heroes: Origins, which is a bit atypical for a spin-off because it’s not a series unto itself but instead is a companion series that will air only six episodes after the full run of Heroes itself.

Continuing the long tradition of a proper spin-off from a popular series is Private Practice, featuring Kate Walsh as Addison Montgomery from Grey’s Anatomy and two refugees from cancelled shows on ABC - Taye Diggs (Day Break) and Timothy Daly (The Nine). It’s a brave move for the Network, green lighting a medical show that is derives from a massively popular medical show...

One show you won’t see is the rumored Veronica Mars reboot that would have taken our favorite detective and put her a few years in her future where she’s now in the FBI. Alas, it looks as though CW is opting out of more Veronica and we have to say goodbye sooner than we’d like. To deal with the pain, we’ve decided to take the reigns of the Networks and plan our own fantasy spin-offs. After reading our Top Ten, make sure to tell us yours.]

#3: Veronica Mars: F.B.I.

There was one reason the CW mattered when it began. It was keeping the new and excellent Veronica Mars where it belonged: on the air. The CW did what they could by giving Veronica one more season, but she simply never caught on with a wider audience. The fact is, the show was never as good as its first season. Once Lily’s murder was solved and after the show moved out of high school, so much of the original concept was left behind and the show suffered for it.

What didn’t change is the strength of Veronica as a character and Kristen Bell’s portrayal of her. This might break the rules of our own feature, as it’s not technically a spin-off, but a re-jiggered and re-imagined show, taking Veronica a few years into her future where she’s now at the FBI academy and working on honest-to-God cases is something we want to see. Find a way to bring Enrico Collentoni on the show, even if it’s only a few episodes here and there - Keith is the biggest part of Veronica’s life and would still have a few things he could teach his brilliant daughter. And you could bring Logan on - only to reveal he’s the sociopath we’ve suspected all along and is building a corpse monument to Veronica and she has to bring him down (this last part may not fly with the network). Alas, it looks like it’s not to be as the CW has said there will be no Veronica come fall and no F.B.I. re-imagining. There was a mention of a small possibility of something happening in June. We’re not going to hold our breath, but any Veronica fan will tell you there’s plenty of life left in this character.

#2: The Head Office

The Office deserves its acclaim and its "surprise hit" status. Those who were skeptical that NBC could successfully remake the English hit (how many times was the word "Coupling" used in reference to NBC remaking another English show?) all now admit that they pulled it off. Writer/producer Greg Daniels has crafted a brilliant series that doesn’t feel like any sitcom that has come before it. The characters all seem a bit more realistic than their English counterparts, and Michael Scott is certainly more likable (and more competent) than David Brent. The Office has also managed to create a number of supporting characters - some who have only been on a few episodes - that are nearly as memorable as the terrific core cast.

We vote for elevating Michael’s sometimes girlfriend Jan to spin-off status. The Head Office would be about Jan’s misadventures in the corporate world of New York City as she tries to navigate the choppy waters of a failing paper company. Where the entertainment would lie is in the fact that Jan is a train wreck of a person. She knows Michael is wrong for her in nearly every way, but pursues him anyway. She doesn’t really seem to like him, but she probably likes him more than she likes herself. Jan, mostly due to the performance by Melora Hardin, seems a bit too smart and too competent for the purgatory of Dunder-Mifflin. Let her strike out to try and set her life back on track and give this character her own series.

#1: Faith or The Watcher

If you’re familiar with the way IGN TV tends to pick our top lists, you probably saw this coming. Of course we want more Buffy. We want more Angel and we’re willing to pay lots of scary men to drag Joss Whedon back to television. It’s cold, dark and lonely here without him and frankly, it’s just plain wrong. As much as we loved Serenity and believe that Whedon is a decent film director, he is such a master of serializes story telling, of ensemble casts, that he should have another series. It may be counter intuitive to say, but Joss Whedon is too big for movies.

There were rumors of a Faith series towards the end of Buffy’s 7th season. Of course, it never materialized, and the world of Buffy was blown open when all of the initiates gained their abilities, flooding the world with Slayers and fundamentally changing the nature of the show. That doesn’t mean that we don’t want to see Eliza Dushku back in black leather dusting vamps. Throw Spike into the mix, human or vampire - we’re not picky. Put another slayer on the television and the fans will come.

Another possibility is the actually-almost-existed Watcher. This was a series that Whedon talked about doing with Anthony Stewart Head as Giles. It would have been set in England and aired first on the BBC. Giles could be training the new Slayers, or even better - putting the Watcher’s Council back together. And the ghosts of his past as "Ripper" could continue to come back and haunt him. Giles was one of the best characters created for the series, and Head one of its best actors. Alas, it’s probably not to be. Whedon seems content to continue the Buffy-verse in comic book form while the television audience must enjoy shows that are Buffy-esque, but still far short of the real thing. Seriously Joss, you could make a show featuring Clem and that flying magical bear from the Punky Brewster cartoon and we’ll watch it.