Thanks for your information ...
Question: Thanks for your information and insights each week. I have to remark on your
recent answer about
How I Met Your Mother and
Kitchen Confidential: "Somehow I don't think either CBS or Fox is banking on the
Freaks and
Buffy factor as selling points for either of these shows." I don't have your numbers and demographics, and I know that while it feels to me like
Whedon fans are a large and vocal crowd, we are probably small in the vast millions of TV watchers. So I know that if the networks were counting on Whedon watchers as the main audience for these new shows, they would indeed be disappointed. However, I do think
Alyson Hannigan,
Nicholas Brendon, and
David Boreanaz are as strong "selling points" as any others in their casts, none of whom are known to me besides
Neil Patrick Harris. If Whedon watchers won't make or break the show's bottom line, at the very least those names will attract a hefty number of (Whedon) viewers (like me) who wouldn't ordinarily be gunning for a half-hour comedy but will watch out of curiosity to see how
Buffy vets fare in the new format. I think it's a mistake to discount Whedon fans as a significant chunk of these shows' potential viewers. Thanks.
Answer: Fair enough. But that wasn't really the question. I know better than to try to patronize or minimize the passion of Whedon fans (a club of which I'm everything but a card-carrying member myself), but the point I was trying to make was that it's a rather myopic complaint to wonder why programmers would schedule shows against others that happen to feature former
Buffy cast members. The fact is, each of these actors proved their chops during their time on
Buffy (and
Freaks and Geeks, for that matter), and it's easy to see why they're landing strong roles during pilot season. They're each likely to bring a significant following to whatever their next project is. But there is a point at which even Whedon fans need to get over themselves and realize that everyone eventually moves on and that it isn't always about them. Even if, in the best of all possible worlds, it ought to be.
