Surely that is a done deal of long standing, Cindy

anyone listen to this podcast? [link]

I have, but I had stopped. Those new episodes look good

Aieee I love Jenny Owens Young! Subscribed.

A friend asked if they could borrow my copy of Firefly: A Celebration, and I've told him "Hey, sure, keep it as long as you'd like". Not quite "It's got Whedon cooties on it and I twitch a little when I see it on the shelf", but . . . .

Yeah... after the recent social media stuff about SMG's daughter being introduced to Buffy I briefly felt an urge to rewatch some of the highlights, then considered the problematic issues with Joss and decided to wait til those scars have faded a bit.

[link]

Joss exits The Nevers

I hadn't subscribed to this thread, so I missed your post about Joss exiting The Nevers, msbelle. I just happened upon it, while looking at Deadline to see where The West Wing will land when it leaves Netflix on Christmas Eve (answer: HBO Max).

Anyhow, I kind don't know what to make of Joss's wordy statement, in light of the terse one from HBO.

“We have parted ways with Joss Whedon. We remain excited about the future of The Nevers and look forward to its premiere in the summer of 2021,” a HBO spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday.

“This year of unprecedented challenges has impacted my life and perspective in ways I could never have imagined, and while developing and producing The Nevers has been a joyful experience, I realize that the level of commitment required moving forward, combined with the physical challenges of making such a huge show during a global pandemic, is more than I can handle without the work beginning to suffer,” Whedon noted.

“I am genuinely exhausted, and am stepping back to martial my energy towards my own life, which is also at the brink of exciting change. I am deeply proud of the work we have done; I’m grateful to all my extraordinary cast and collaborators, and to HBO for the opportunity to shape yet another strange world. The Nevers is a true labor of love, but after two plus years of labor, love is about all I have to offer. It will never fade,” he added.

I feel like the HBO statement would be a little less curt, were this just a case of Joss being exhausted. I'm wondering if it's more a case of him being exhausting.

The situation is really complicated.

At first, Zack Snyder was in the doghouse at Warner, and Joss was brought on to fix Justice League, and also Joss was also given an HBO series by Warner. Then JL kind of tanked at the box office. And then, later Warner was bought out by AT&T. And then suddenly, Zack Snyder was back in Warner’s graces, and given Justice League: The Director’s Cut at HBO. And about the same time, Ray Fisher started talking about Joss’s abusive, and possibly actionable behavior on the set of Justice League. And then Joss was shown the door at HBO and Warner.

And also, also, in the background, there have been very vague rumors that Joss and Kevin Feige have been talking about bringing him back to direct another Marvel movie (specifically, The Fantastic Four), which might be the “exciting change” that Joss is talking about.

I’m actually kind of confident that Feige, if hires Joss again, could clamp down on Joss’s behavior so that it wouldn’t be a problem going forward. I’m also confident that the first thing that went through Joss’s mind when he heard The Fantastic Four was, ”exactly how can I fuck with Sue and Reed’s marriage?”

I’m actually kind of confident that Feige, if hires Joss again, could clamp down on Joss’s behavior so that it wouldn’t be a problem going forward.

Fuck that. How about just hiring someone who is not an abusive asshole? There have to be other directors out there. At this point, Joss at the helm is not a selling point for moviegoers (as opposed to before when we all would have gone to see his movies because he directed them) He no longer has the Midas touch, so why put the movie at risk?