Joss has said that if Oz had stayed, it was his death that would've sent Willow to the dark side. That's how he planned it.

Yeah, but Joss says a lot of things I don't believe to be factually accurate.

Perhaps I'm too keyed up from the discussion in Natter, but it seems like saying that...over 7 years and more than 100 episodes...the imbalance 'just happened' is sort of like saying that it is okay to buy a fur coat because it is 'dead already.'

I tend to agree.

A lot of things that form disturbing trends in media seem fine divorced from the trend, but the problem is, the trend's still there.

There are many times when killing Spike would have made narrative sense after he became a sympathetic character, but they fell prey to what Hec said about Oz:

And I think they wanted to get some more episodes with that character. They loved writing for him.

Which just isn't an excuse or a good reason for doing things.

It never twigged me as any sort of pattern. Completely off-hand and non-scientifically, it seems like more female characters were "good" and more male characters were "bad". Which would make it seem like a lot of girls were killed disproportionately, but that's maybe not where the disproportionality really is.

(This thought came to me when I thought y'all were just discussing "Chosen", where it seemd obvious that most of the deaths would be female, because you had a giant army of proto-Slayers. But briefly applying it to the series as a whole, it doesn't seem to fall apart.)

A little brother would have been cute!

He could have had a crush on Willow -- he and Willow would have played computer games when Willow and Tara babysat for him.

Okay -- somebody write me "Key" fic where the Key is a boy instead of a girl.

Out of all of them, also, I think they probably should have killed Giles instead of having him leave for a lame-ass reason, and come back like a pod person. And, much as I liked Spike glowing light dying, I rather wish he had dies before he tried to rape Buffy, and/or stayed dead and not been on Angel.

Perhaps they should have created a little brother for Buffy instead of a little sister and then they could have killed him off.

Even if you moved it beyond regulars or recurrings, there's no reason sweet, doomed Cassie had to be female. She could have been sweet, doomed, and male. Sure, you would't have the Cassandra play, though I guess he still could have been a Cass (I'm picturing him played by a Kyle Gallner type, amusingly enough).

I'm picturing him played by a Kyle Gallner type, amusingly enough

Poor Kyle Gallner, sweet and doomed (and sometimes a phsycopath)

Is that the heart failure? (So confusing with the Cassie from SPN) - isn't there a famous Classical seer who is male that nobody listened to either? Possibly Tiresias.

A lot of things that form disturbing trends in media seem fine divorced from the trend, but the problem is, the trend's still there.

Exactly.

Then, over time, one looks back, aghast and shakes the collective head. "Gosh, how could foot binding have been perpetrated for ONE THOUSAND freaking years? Answer: It was a 'popular trend.'

eta: Oh my. I am the rantypants today. Really stepping away now...

And, much as I liked Spike glowing light dying, I rather wish he had dies before he tried to rape Buffy, and/or stayed dead and not been on Angel.

I agree with the die before rape bit, but since he didn't I'm actually glad he was on Angel because I love Season 5 and it's my understanding there would not have been S5 without Spike. You can't take the wee little puppet man or Illyria away from me!

I never twigged much to gender issues the way some do. It's an intriguing argument, but I think I agree with Una at the moment. I have no refuting in regards to Cassie, however.