So what bits of Faith did he keep, other than the brown hair?

The Want take have attitude springs to my mind.

I read somewhere, in some interview, something to the effect of "I had this plan to bring Tara back and I pitched it to Amber and was very excited about it and it was going to be beautiful and heartwarming and she basically just said "No, Joss." So then I did this thing with Kennedy turning into Warren instead."

I saw somewhere recently, and I cannot remember where, that Joss said he planned on doing a story that would involve Buffy getting one absolute wish fulfilled, and at the end of the episode we'd see Buffy in a new pair of shoes and Buffy would be raving about how they're what she's always wanted her whole life, and Willow would go "you wasted your wish on shoes?" and Buffy would go, "no silly, turn around" and there would be Tara.

I saw that too, Wolfram. It may have been from a convention report.

Buffy would pick Tara over her mom? Or over a life with Angel? Or, if she's not going to use it on herself, over a long and happy life for Dawn? I'm not sure I believe Our Girl is such a martyr.

But it would have been sweet, in a sickly sort of way.

And SURELY Buffy of all people would leave anyone she had reason to believe was in heaven well enough alone.....

The Want take have attitude springs to my mind.

I dunno -- without the flair it just seemed like Dawn-level petulance.

It may have been from a convention report.

Yes I think it was. Maybe on AICN?

I'm wondering if someone linked it here or in Spoilers. It was really recent and I just don't go anywhere else (at least not regularly) these days. I never go to TWoP's forums.

More Compulsive Fun With Spreadsheets...

Okay, I added # of episodes. God bless the internet; the only number I really guessed at was Giles, since I couldn't quickly find how many season 7 episodes he did.

If you sort the dead by # of eps, it's interesting. To me. It's fairly proportional for the minor characters; more men than women at each level, but distributed pretty damn evenly until you get to characters with more than 30 episodes. And then it goes Lilah, Tara, Joyce, Fred, Anya, Cordy. Above them there's only Spike, Wesley, and Buffy.

So, to be balanced, there should be a bunch of dead men who are in the range of 35 (Lilah) to 89 (Cordy) episodes.

These are the options: Riley (31 eps), Lorne (76) and Gunn (91). There just aren't a lot of male characters in that range.

I couldn't find it here or in spoilers, but I googled (oh how do I love google? My search terms were something like: Amber Joss shoes Tara Willow Buffy wish, and I found it on the second hit)

Here's a link to a report.

From a Comic Con (? I don't know the con names) in Chicago:

(Joss)"When [Seth Green's werewolf character] Oz left rather suddenly I was devastated. I had a whole year's arc planned. said Whedon. "Though if that had not happened, I would not have met Amber Benson," referring to the actress who became Willow's lesbian love interest, Tara, following Green's departure.

Whedon also explained that prior to contract negotiation problems, he had intended to bring Benson's character back after having her murdered at the end of the sixth season, but how he was to do it.

"About three or four episodes from the end of the last season, Buffy was going to be granted one…reality altering wish. The episode would revolve around her struggling with what she could do for herself with that wish. She could bring Angel back to her..."

Whedon then briefly described the episode ending scene. "Buffy would walk into a room and show Willow these shoes that she wanted. Willow would then express disappointment and say 'You had one reality-altering wish and you wished for shoes?' Buffy would then deny that she had done that and leave. Willow would turn around and there would be Tara."

Since that would have totally Jossed the lesson we learned in season five's Forever, and again with Buffy's horrific depression in season 6? I totally buy it.