Angel

The whole article (#73, page 39) is very long, but it’s padded out with pointless twaddle from the Cinescape writers that I won’t reproduce. I’m only going to give the direct quotes from Joss. What he says is quite interesting :

"I think the WB felt the show had become too insular," says Whedon. "They wanted to see if they could broaden it. They wanted more stand-alone episodes, they wanted to see Spike on the show, they wanted us to do some crossovers with people who had been on _Buffy_. All those things were fine for me. It doesn’t affect what we do. They never said, ’Change what the show is in terms of content and tone.’ So I was as anxious to shake things up as they were."

"The first episode this season really introduces the audience to the idea of a bunch of do-gooders taking over the most evil corporation in the world and trying to figure out if they can stay alive, stay pure, do any good and stay together," says Whedon. "It’s very, very much setting up the series as it will be in the foreseeable future. It’s not like they have to go out on a case that has nothing to do with Wolfram and Hart. It’s very much about ’this place is toxic and we have to figure out how we fit in.’"

[About Connor :] "We’re definitely interested in that character still," says Whedon. "He’s stronger than any human, but what we’ve never gotten to see is what Angel tried so hard to create : a happy, well-adjusted kid. And to have a happy, well-adjusted kid who has no idea that Angel is his father show up is a totally different dynamic and would be an interesting thing to play out."

[About Spike’s heroic death on BtVS :] "We didn’t want to toss away what happened on _Buffy_," says Whedon. "That was a really important moment. I was really unhappy that the announcement about _Angel_’s renewal came before the last episode of _Buffy_. I think for some people, the resonance of his death was really powerful. When Buffy came back to life in season 6, we really wanted to make it difficult and matter, and that’s the same here. Spike is not the same guy as he was on _Buffy_."

"Spike will serve the function on the show Spike always serves, which is to be the guy who hates everybody — and he has a soul now, but that doesn’t take away his anarchistic spirit," says Whedon. "And besides, he really doesn’t like Angel. Sometimes he will be the voice of conscience, sometimes he’ll end up being the problem and sometimes he will end up being one of the group. He can bounce around where he wants."

"The thing is Wolfram and Hart has its fingers in everything," says Whedon. "Angel and his team are finding out about a lot of helpless people because their clients are the people trying to hurt them. At the same time, they have the resources to go out and drum up business. Before they had a car and a phone. Now they have hundreds of employees. People know Wolfram and Hart is powerful, but not everybody knows it’s evil. We can find stories pretty much anywhere we want them. They don’t have to figure out everything themselves. It’s basically, ’We have met the enemy and it works for us, and what does it say about us ?’"