Angel

Bell Recounts Angel Staking

Jeff Bell, co-executive producer of The WB’s canceled vampire series Angel, told SCI FI Wire that the cast and crew responded in different ways when he, co-creator Joss Whedon and other writer-producers arrived on the Paramount Pictures lot to break the news. "Most of our people deal with pain through humor," Bell said in an interview. "So there were a lot of horrible jokes, there were some tears and there was also a feeling of ’What are you going to do? The writing’s been on the wall. We’ve escaped it the last couple of years and now it’s finally caught up with us.’"

Bell added, "So the reaction is all over the place. There’s loss. When I first heard the news from Joss I thought, ’Oh, that’s too bad.’ Then, when we went over to tell the crew, I found myself profoundly sad. It really didn’t hit until we were over there on the set. That day, Friday, was a bust. We came in on Monday to work and there was a really strange sense of humor in the office because we were all still reeling."

Though Whedon is making what Bell referred to as "courtesy calls" to UPN and other possible outlets, Bell doubts that Angel will carry on as a weekly series. "I think it’s a long shot," he said. "If it happens, fantastic. I think we’re all treating it like ’OK, this is it,’ in terms of how you have to deal with the emotional reality of it. If there’s a reprieve, we’ll turn around. But right now I think we’re all feeling like it’s over."