Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.buffy
Titolo: Buffy e il wrestling

http://www.pwinsiderxtra.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=1127&p=1
IS TELEVISION FAKER THAN WRESTLING?
by Doug Brown @ 4:59:00 PM on 2/26/2006
I got the idea for the title from Mick Foley's second book, Foley is Good
and the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling. I am also going to steal one of
Matt Zylbert's old gimmicks of thinking outside of the box for this one. As
most of you that have read my past columns know, I have been a wrestling
fan for going on 20 years. My other dirty little secret is that I was also
a big fan of the TV series Angel and its parent show, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer. In looking at the history of those shows, as well as the history of
WWE, the similarities are amazing. This week, we are going to take a look
at some of those similarities.
In 1993, second generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon started a new
show Monday Night Raw. The program became a cult hit and later spawned a
second show, WWE Smackdown. In 1997, second generation television writer
Joss Whedon started a science fiction TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The program became a cult hit and later spawned a second series, Angel.
During the height of its popularity, Raw and Smackdown were considered very
cutting edge with compelling storylines and razor sharp wit. During the
first three seasons of each show, Buffy and Angel were considered very
cutting edge with compelling storylines and razor sharp wit.
The flagship show Raw switched from USA to TNN/Spike TV just after it's
popularity had peaked. Buffy switched from the WB to UPN just after its
popularity had peaked.
In its later years, including the current one, Raw and Smackdown struggled
to find consistency with some episodes that were brilliant, and others that
made you wonder what they were thinking. Buffy and Angel also struggled in
their last two seasons to maintain consistency. Like Raw and Smackdown,
they would often resort to "Shock TV" rather telling consistently good
stories.
WWE would frequently add and drop storylines with little to no explanation.
The most recent example of that would be Vince's search for a new Raw
General Manager. There is also Gregory Helms and Kurt Angle going to
Smackdown, and Stacy Keibler now back on Raw despite the trade deadline
being over several months ago. Angel had a story in season five where it
appeared that he and his team where about to be involved in a feud with
Buffy and her team. Angel was informed that Buffy no longer trusted him,
then they refused to help when one of Angel's teammates was dying, but in
one of the last episodes of the season, they were all buddy-buddies again. 
Raw and Smackdown have often duplicated each other's storylines. Who here
remembers that stretch where someone was getting arrested on one show or
the other each week? I still remember the simultaneous storylines of feuds
over chairshots happening within weeks of each other. On Raw, it was
Shelton Benjamin and Gene Snitsky, and on Smackdown, it was Booker T and
Heidenreich. Buffy and Angel often duplicated each other's stories. For
example, Buffy battled evil puppets in her first season, and Angel battled
evil puppets in his fifth season. Buffy and Angel were possessed by the
spirits of dead lovers in a BTVS season two episode, while Angel and
Cordelia were possessed by the spirits of dead lovers in a season three
episode of Angel. Apparently, they subscribed to Jim Cornette's storyline
recycling theory.
Raw and Smackdown have done their fair share of tasteless storylines
including Dr. Heinie, HLA, Mae Young's hand, Al Wilson, Katie Vick, and the
recent exploitation of Eddie Guerrero's death. Buffy and Angel also did
their fair share of things that were in bad taste. On Buffy, there was sex
between high school girl and a 240-plus year old vampire, a rape storyline,
and characters "turning gay." On Angel, there was the Cordelia-Connor
quasi-incest relationship, attempted violence against small children, penis
and masturbation jokes, beastiality, and references to orgies.
Whenever things are not going well creatively, WWE seems always ready to
jump back to the Austin vs. the McMahons formula. Whenever the creative
team on Angel ran short of ideas, they would solve it with a Buffy
reference or guest appearance by a BTVS cast member. One major example of
this was spending the better part of two and a half seasons setting up
Angel and Cordelia getting together only to have him go running back to
Buffy almost four years after they had broken up.
Though they had two separate brands, there was never much of a separation
between the shows. Raw and Smackdown stars frequently crossed over to the
other brand's program. After the split, Angel still made semi-regular
appearances on Buffy. While Buffy, Faith, Willow, Spike, Harmony, and
several others made appearances on Angel.
In both worlds, one brand was seen as the "A" show, while the other was the
"B" show. For WWE, Raw is the "A" show, while Smackdown is largely
considered the "B" show. Gregory Helms jumped to Smackdown and took the
cruiserweight belt. Since then he has beaten many of the cruiserweights on
the roster. Kurt Angle came over from Raw and won the World Title on his
first night back with Smackdown. Meanwhile, Buffy was seen as the "A" show,
and Angel was the "B" show. For the brief time that Firefly was around,
Angel dropped to the "C" show. Whenever someone from Buffy would guest star
on Angel, that usually meant that the Angel cast would wind up taking a
backseat. There was one particular scene where Angel had to take a verbal
tongue lashing from Andrew, who was at best a secondary character on Buffy.
While several fans considered Angel to be the more adult and darker series,
it never seemed to get the respect that Buffy received. When the series was
cancelled, the majority of the articles referred to it as the "Buffy
Spinoff, Angel" or just the "Buffy Spinoff." I took that as an insult to
what was a quality show, with a very underrated cast. 
Former WWE star the Rock has moved on to Hollywood to establish himself as
a major action film star. Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar has established
herself as a leading lady in the movies. Angel star David Boreanaz has
found himself a new home as FBI Agent Seely Booth on the hit FOX series,
"Bones." Other Buffy and Angel cast members have also moved on to projects
since the two shows ended their runs.
Behind the scenes, several talented wrestlers from WWE were cut loose
because creative "had nothing for them to do." Because he complained about
the cruiserweights being forced to cut back on their aerial moves, Paul
London wound up jobbing the cruiserweight title, and doing a brief
storyline where he became a crybaby. Angel star Charisma Carpenter, who had
been with the company for three years on Buffy and four years on Angel, was
let go because Whedon said they had nothing left for her to do. Vincent
Kartheiser was also let go after the show's fourth season. Whether they
were true or not, I don't know, but there were several internet stories
that said he had complained about his character's lack of direction. If
true, Kartheiser had a good argument, because his character shifted back
and forth between good and bad almost as much as Bret Hart did during his
stint with WCW.
Smackdown Diva Dawn Marie was released from her contract by WWE after
becoming pregnant. After giving birth to her son, the contract for Charisma
Carpenter was not renewed. At least Whedon had the decency to wait until
after she had given birth, unlike WWE who fired Dawn during the pregnancy.
With the contract coming to an end with Spike TV, Vince McMahon
egotistically wanted to raise the broadcast rights fee in order to keep WWE
programming on the network. Spike decided to let WWE go elsewhere. Whedon
entered the WB offices thinking that Angel was going to get a certain
renewal. The story goes that he demanded the network president let him know
whether or not they were going to be renewed rather than waiting until the
end of the season to find out. Angel was cancelled the next day. 
Startling isn't it? Is it coincidence or is television really faker than
wrestling? I'll let you be the judge. Next time, I'll have reflections on
my 20 year anniversary as a wrestling fan.
-- 
Jolan Tru, Filippo "Hytok" Simone
L'oracolo sampdoriano di Sunnydale
http://janeway.splinder.com/
http://lacasadeglielfi.altervista.org/

 beastiality, and references to orgies.
E... quindi? Non ho ben chiaro cosa ci sia di tasteless in queste cose.
-- 
Laz - [ 
http://www.dimensionedelta.net
 ]
[ 
http://www.josswhedon.it
 | 
http://www.miltoncaniff.net
 ]
"No power in the 'verse can stop me!" 

 E... quindi? Non ho ben chiaro cosa ci sia di tasteless in queste cose.
Che a tradurre letteralmente hanno trasformato Angel in "Cordelia davanti,
di dietro tutti quanti". Anche questa serie, naturalmente, girata in
stop-motion con la bambola gonfiabile del commentatore ^^;
-- 
"Where'd you get a live fish, Batman?"
"The true crimefighter always carries everything he needs in his utility
belt, Robin."
(Batman to Robin - Batman TF 1966)

di dietro tutti quanti".
LOOOOL
-- 
Dr Divago
La firma l'ha presa quel wang bao dahn
che mi ha fregato lo zaino.
Chiedetela a lui