I liked Dad and Provider and Angel being a dad. So there.

Maybe the Angel being a dad choice (which I thought strange but was okay with) was something that the writer(s) needed to say. Buffy was all about adolescence from the adolescent's perspective. Yes, we get Joyce and Giles but only glimpses of how they feel. The Connor thing let us see adolescence from a parent's perspective. You have this sweet darling baby that you love madly and to whom you are all the world, and then WHAM! one day you have this pubescent monster that you barely recognize and who resents you. You love him just as much as you ever did, but you can't connect with him. It's a way over the top metaphor, of course, but there's some truth to it. By the way, I can't say much about favorite episodes, but one of my favorite moments is Angel shouting, "I love you" even as Connor is sealing him in his watery tomb. Melodramatic? Yes, but authentic. That's what parents do and DB was great.

David's Kremlinology is close to my own. I also like her. I like her and feel for her. I suspect I read some of the same things Joss said about SMG that Strega read, and I remember reading uber catty things AH said about SMG (I think in the foreign press) . SMG rose in my estimation after, because I have never heard her air dirty laundry.

I left a job I'd had for about 7 years, to have Ben. There were people there I loved (like would breakdown if they died), people I liked, people I tolerated, and people I never wanted to see again in my life. I couldn't wait to get the heck out of there, even with the love. I also know, from learning about how much Kristen Bell works, that SMG must have worked her bony little fanny off, starring in an hour long serial drama for seven years, so I can see where she might have had less time or inclination to socialize.

From what I recall, Fury never had anything but lovely things to say about SMG, and from what I recall, Fury's never been much of an eggshell-walker, so that's influenced my opinion, as well.

Plus? People love to hate pretty little blondes.

I remember reading uber catty things AH said about SMG

Yeah. Somewhere early in Angel's run I realized that there seemed to be multiple stories about how so-and-so was so mean to Allison Hannigan. Most of them rooted in quotes from Hannigan. And I thought, "Y'know, maybe the problem isn't with all these other people."

This is why I don't really need to know stories about actors. Unless they involve inflatable Daleks.

Yeah, SMG would have had more and longer days than any of the other actors. Making a film or a TV show can be grueling, with very early mornings. And getting into makeup and costume is no picnic, even when your makeup is simple and involves no prosthetics. If I starred in a TV show for seven years, I can see how I would be done with that project and ready for the next one before I was even off the lot on the last day of shooting.

I just read the first issue of Season 8.

t smug

We're talking about it in Other Media.

Wait, it's out? Today? In comic book stores?

I wanted to stop and pick it up on my home today, but my regular comics shop is usually a madhouse on Wednesdays and very rarely has everyone's picks ready. I'll stop by tomorrow and pick it up then.