I think they took a look at Angel and realized having that much male-centered gayness on both shows would be redundant.

To me Xander would have seemed out of nowhere. Mostly because his reaction to girls he finds attractive has been pretty sudden. Willow's attraction to boys seemed to be about more than surface stuff.

I'm explaining myself wrong. Xander's set of people he is attracted to seems to have been good looking women, while Willow's seems to have been people who I have a connection with.

The guy was a polite and careful driver. I already knew he wasn't from around here.

Heh. Sounds like he was lying about the Canadian part, too...

(Although it's possible that drivers from Eastern Canada are polite and careful, I would never in a zillion years apply that term to BC or Alberta drivers. Especially ones related to me.)

It's been a long time since I've been there, but I think the eastern Canadians are polite. Anywhere rural though (and Canada's big country), north or south of the border, people drive differently than they do in more settled areas, and one of the largest parts of differently is the speed.

In Montreal there are signs reminding you to only go on green. Along with NY, I think Quebec is the only state/province that doesn't let you turn right on red. Just in case.

It's one of those places they recommend you avoid the pedestrian crossings -- they're like salt licks for the drivers.

I thought it would be First Nation suit

For whatever reason, "Eskimos" get their own PC term, that is Inuit person; apparently, "eskimo" is a First Nations word that means something similar to "savages" so it's not really considered correct.

I know that the plan for Willow to go eveil after her partner died was pretty long-standing -- Oz was spared only because Seth Green left the show before they could kill him, and Tara was doomed from day one, and actually lasted a season longer then planned. I'd never heard this particular variation, but it wouldn't surprise me if that had been an idea. (Though perhaps not, because Willow going evil after Passion would have been hard to integrate into the Angelus arc. But maybe they didn't plan to send her evil at that time.)

Huh...yeah, I've heard (mostly from TVtome.com) that at one point they were going to kill Tara in Season Five and then have Evil Willow bleed Dawn at the end of the Season. I don't know that Willow going evil after Passion would have worked; she wasn't far enough down that road yet, she was still adorable geeky Willow. She hadn't even gotten into magic yet, she would have been stuck with battling Angelus with evil Calculus and Algebra. Having her lose Oz that early would have made the show much darker, and it would have made her character arc radically different.

The only thing I've heard about the Gay Xander idea is that the stuff with Larry in "Phases" would have been foreshadowing for it had they gone down that road.

You mean calculus isn't evil by definition?

And put me in the camp that thinks the main foreshadowing for a gay Xander would be that Larry's gaydar was on target.

I remember hearing that Oz was supposed to die instead of Jenny, but I don't think Willow was suppsoed to go evil. What changed (I recall) was that ME loved Seth Green, and decided to keep him and Oz around. Although I don't think they disliked Robia, just that they thought Oz would make a better regular, plus Jenny had been much better established as a love interest at that point.

I also remember Joss saying that if Seth Green had stayed with the show, and if Oz had still been involved with Willow, he would have been the one to die and make Willow go dark. They certainly foreshadowed his concern with her magic use in Season 4.

hey, can anybody point me to a good quote search engine (I swear we had one at one point), but I'm looking for the quote where Oz talks to Willow after Lover's Walk, and tells her that he needs to be left alone, and he can't help but think that she's trying to make amends so she can feel better. (It could be from "Amends", now that I think about it)

It's from "The Wish," shortly before Cordelia makes her wish.

Willow: What I did... When I think that I hurt you...

Oz: Yeah. You said all this stuff already.

Willow: Right, but... I wanna make it up to you. I mean, if you let me, I wanna try.

Oz: Just... You can leave me alone. I need to figure things out.

Willow: But maybe if we talk about it, we could...

Oz: Look... I'm sorry this is hard for you. But I told you what I need. So I can't help feeling like the reason you want to talk is so you can feel better about yourself. That's not my problem.