I actually think it's about 1/1/2 episodes long though, cause I wouldn't really want to cut any of the first half.

True. I could cut a few things, like the BuffyBot at school sequence (mostly because it makes me cringe for Dawn) and a bit from the long Slaying sequence at the beginning, but for the most part the first half is pretty solid.

They also could have ended a one-episode "Bargaining" with Buffy killing the biker Demons *before* her friends found her, than incorporated the "welcome back, Buffy" stuff into "After Life."

They also could have ended a one-episode "Bargaining" with Buffy killing the biker Demons *before* her friends found her, than incorporated the "welcome back, Buffy" stuff into "After Life."

Fury says on the commentary that they were only planning a one hour show to kick off the season, then UPN wanted a 2-hour kick off special, so there were some changes made in the pacing and elements in the story.

Of course, the commentary by Fury and Noxon itself is pretty bad (although I agree the commentary on "Hell's Bells" is the worst.commentary.ever), with having long stretches of silence and low volume when they talked. I often screamed at the television "Say something!" while I was watching with the commentary.

(although I agree the commentary on "Hell's Bells" is the worst.commentary.ever

Good concept, poor execution. It's like they were trying to MST3K it, but they had no charisma.

although I agree the commentary on "Hell's Bells" is the worst.commentary.ever

I just saw this yesterday and IT WAS SO BAD. They should have taken lessons from Tim - commentary for the blind is better than nothing. I was disappointed because normally I love writer's commentary - they almost always provide great insights.

The only thing I got out of the Hell's Bells commentary was that 1) Joss, as usual, wrote my favorite scene and 2) I like the idea of mirrors, which I hadn't picked up on before. That's not much for 40+ minutes.

1) Joss, as usual, wrote my favorite scene

Which was that? I must not have been paying a lot of attention. I was tired.

The scene between Buffy and Spike about her pain at seeing him with skank-girl. It just seems so real to me and I love how well both of the actors deliver the lines.

It turns out disc 2 of my S6 set is defective, and since I got it from Amazon I have to send the WHOLE THING back :-(.

I wouldn't bother except that's the disc with OMWF and "Tabula Rasa" on it.

So, I won;t be watching the commentaries for a while...

Can't you get a replacement and send the defective one back when the good one comes? That's what I did with a similar problem with a SImpsons set. I think I just e-mailed Amazon and they suggested it.

I dunno. I didn't email them, just went through the steps on the web site to get the return label. I'd rather send the bad one back first anyhow, to make sure I don't forget to send it back and end up paying for two sets.

1) Joss, as usual, wrote my favorite scene

What kills me in the commentary is that there is no information on why Joss wrote that scene, or what RRK had written in place of it. I do remember reading around the time the episode came out that Joss re-wrote the scene, but I can't remember if the actually filmed the original scene and re-shot Joss' scene, or if the re-write came earlier.

Information of that nature is what commentary tracks are supposed to be for, IMHO.