"Utopia."
Do you wonder who Jane Espenson is, and why this news is of import to you? Welcome! You must be new here!
Jane was the best writer not named Joss Whedon on the staff of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the finest television series ever forged.
(A brief warning to our fabulous talkbackers: Though you’d be wrong to do so, you are permitted to dispute any part of this - but I implore you to do so politely and keep your arguments cogent. I have been drinking, I have the ability to ban talkbackers, and no one knows at this point when readers will be able to register for new AICN talkback accounts. Now where was I? Ah yes:)
Hilarious “Buffy” teleplays authored or co-authored by Jane include:
* BAND CANDY (Giles and Joyce revert to unruly teens),
* EARSHOT (Buffy develops telepathy),
* HARSH LIGHT OF DAY (Anya gets seriously serious about Xander),
* PANGS (Xander gets the funny syphilis),
* A NEW MAN (Giles becomes a demon),
* SUPERSTAR (Jonathan turns into James Bond),
* THE REPLACEMENT (Xander gets Xeroxed),
* TRIANGLE (Anya’s troll-god ex is summoned),
* CHECKPOINT (the Watchers Council invades Sunnydale),
* I WAS MADE TO LOVE YOU (the slayer faces the Aprilbot),
* INTERVENTION (Spike gets his Buffybot),
* AFTER LIFE (we learn Buffy was yanked from Heaven),
* FLOODED (Buffy stresses over plumbing),
* LIFE SERIAL (the slayer defeats a persistent mummy hand),
* SAME TIME, SAME PLACE (Dawn becomes a poseable action figure),
* CONVERSATIONS WITH DEAD PEOPLE (The First is mean!),
* FIRST DATE (Giles terrifies the Chinese potential with homemade flashcards), and
* END OF DAYS (Angel clocks Caleb).
Jane, who hails from Iowa, has also written episodes of “Firefly,” “Angel,” “The O.C.,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Nowhere Man” and “Deep Space Nine.” Learn more of this world-class writer via the interview we conducted with her here!
Here’s what little Fox will let Jane tell us of “Utopia” beyond the title:
It’s an hourlong drama about a 16-year-old boy named Jamie who lives in a small, isolated and contented Midwestern town called Utopia. But in Utopia, Something is Not Right. And Something needs to be done about that. The show lies tonally between Buffy and The O.C., with a trace of Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale.
“Utopia’s” creator is appearing at a “Buffy” event in London on Saturday. Perhaps we’ll learn more of the project this weekend.