An episode which I still suspect existed purely to have that slash-pandering little exchange about 'that one time'.

That line was in "Power Play," not "The Girl in Question." God, I hate my brain.

I think TGiQ was a pretty impressive collection of bad ideas, but...not all bad ideas are pandering. If I wanted to pander to fans, I wouldn't spend most of an episode making a jokes about how dumb Angel and Spike are, and how pathetic their feelings for Buffy are. That's what I'd do if I was trying to enrage fans.

Which I am trying to do at times, so I know what I'm talking about.

I think TGiQ was a pretty impressive collection of bad ideas, but...not all bad ideas are pandering.

Agreed. I stick with my original impression that TGiQ was DG and DK's Excellent Adventure, their farewell letter to the universe, and that they both probably fought over which one of them got to be Spike when writing the episode. Well, maybe not the last part.

I didn't like the episode, but I don't think it was pandering. I think it was an orgy of self-indulgent writing of the "one last time" type gone a bit wrong, and I'd bet they had a lot more fun writing it than I did watching it. (The Illyria stuff in TGiQ was fairly decent. It's just the wacky adventures in Rome that made me pound my head on my desk.)

I swear Spike ruined seasons 6 and 7 for me.

Me, too (well, the second half of season 6). See also: Season 5 of Angel. Hated most of it.

TGiQ was a farce, a send-up of every Italian movie/show cliche ever. I liked it. Heck, I loved it.

I thought most of AtS S5 was quite enjoyable (cue the mutters of "Well, she likes Spike, go figure"), because it gave us a chance to look at the twisted relationship of Spike and Angel.

I thought "Chosen" was hokey and corny beyond watching. The only time I really liked Faith was on Angel after they busted her out of jail. Buffy whined a lot.

Classify me as you may.

It's just the wacky adventures in Rome that made me pound my head on my desk.

Although it did give us the line, "Ptui! Let us never speak of it again!"

I didn't like the episode, but I don't think it was pandering. I think it was an orgy of self-indulgent writing of the "one last time" type gone a bit wrong, and I'd bet they had a lot more fun writing it than I did watching it. (The Illyria stuff in TGiQ was fairly decent. It's just the wacky adventures in Rome that made me pound my head on my desk.)

Yes, this is, I think, a better way to put it, than is pandering. I'd forgotten about the B-story in that episode. It's been so long. I think the B-story was the reason for it. I never felt like Spike dominated on A:ts, the way he did in the latter seasons of BtVS. He didn't harsh my mellow there, in the least (as far as I can recall, anyhow).

Except there were people who liked that episode.

I enjoyed it thoroughly. I also like Pylea an awful lot. I have no problems with comic relief episodes or runs. Season Two, especially, was perfectly paced up to the point of Pylea, and I'm not sure if they could extend it much further without it getting overdone. Thus, it was either something different at the beginning of the season, or something different at the end, and I like the way they chose to go about it. I agree that TGiQ could probably have been replaced with something better for the overarching plot, but it didn't stop me from loving the ride of the episode, so funny. And the Fredllyria scenes were fricking amazing: honestly, a whole episode around those would've done me even better, but I enjoyed the cheap humor.

If I didn't hate Saint Cordy, I'd have long ago decided that my Angel opinions were unreconciliable with most (or at least the most outspoken and often eloquent) of the Buffistas. And my love for Waiting in the Wings seems to bely even that agreement a bit.

While we're at it, I think Season Five is my favorite Buffy season, and Season 6 is my third favorite, after 3. And ten episodes into season 7, I thought it was going to be the best season yet: compared to the first 10 episodes of most seasons, it was a pretty solid run. Plus, I happen to find Beer Bad to be one of the most enjoyable episodes in all of Buffy - it's probably in my top ten most watched - though I think I'm with many of you in thinking Restless is the best 43 minutes the show ever achieved.

Deep Space Nine.

Smacks forhead!

And I just finished watching the entire run a few months back. Yeah, they did pretty good there considering some of the meta problems on top of just keeping a show going 7 years. I think the closest thing to pandering I can think, aside from Vic as previously mentioned, was finding ways to keep bringing The Intendent back, and I wasn't about to complain about that.

The problems with Bashir were definitely more of the "neat idea/good, enthusiastic actor" school of not thinking the implications through, IMO.

I hated Deep Space Nine with a passion. I didn't make it past the first season (except for the Dax ep in which she utters the wondrous line, "She used to be my wife."). Avery Brooks, while v. pretty, is among the worst actors I've ever seen. His "acting" grated on my nerves so badly, I couldn't enjoy the show. The only characters I even really liked were Dax and the gooey dude (police officer?). The rest of them annoyed the living hell out of me.

Avery Brooks, while v. pretty, is among the worst actors I've ever seen.

Whoa, I can read each of the words individually as English, but together they make no sense.

I didn't make it past the first season

On a more serious note, season 1 was by far the weakest. The show didn't get really interesting until they started arc-ing it up a bit.

I don't even take much issue with Ezri. She should have been a he but as many chances as DS9 took, I think the implications of that would have been too much for them to deal with.