Angel Takes the Cake

Celebrating the 100th Episode

Blood frosting & 100 episodes later eaching episode one hundred is a massive feat for any television series. Many never even come close to this landmark. Like it's parent show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel recently became another one of the memorable shows to create over one hundred different stories. Over four and a half years Angel has certainly come a long way. From his brooding, self-exiled days of yore, to raising his son Connor, Angel has been on quite a ride. He has battled past loves, evil law firms, vicious demons of all shapes and sizes, and even had a few laughs along the way. Now he's running the base of his sworn enemy. Executive Producers Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt created a show strong enough to establish it's own presence despite being a spin-off. With the help of talented writers like Tim Minear and David Fury, they succeeded in pleasing both fans and studios alike with consistent entertaining television. Now, one hundred episodes later, Angel is stronger than ever and shows no signs of slowing down. A TIME OF REFLECTION The lobby of Wolfram & Hart is a massive set; just large enough to house all of the ravenous press eager to cover the biggest press day in Angel history. Prominently displayed in the middle of the room was the cake. Vanilla frosting over a chocolate velvet interior, it proudly read "Angel 100." Above it a large banner said it all with the simple words "Angel 100th." Snapping countless pictures, everyone waited for the event to officially begin. Slowly, cast and crew members began to sneak in. Countless Angel family members flooded into the room from writers such as Ben Edlund and Fury, to Makeup artist Dayne Johnson, and even the familiar face of Charisma Carpenter. As their numbers grew, the crowd was quieted and the first speaker stepped up: Brad Turell, The WB's Senior Vice President for Publicity and Talent Relations. Brad kicked off the celebration with a short and simple, yet powerful speech as he praised Angel's achievement, "We couldn't be more proud than to have Angel be one of the shows to join a list of dramas that have gone over a 100 episodes like 7th Heaven, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek, and Charmed." l-r: Gary Newman (20th Fox Pres.), Joss Whedon, Jordan Levin (WB Pres.), and David Boreanaz He then introduced the next speaker, President of 20th Century Fox Television, Gary Newman. As the clapping subsided, Gary began, "On behalf of 20th Century Fox television, I want to congratulate all of you on reaching this impressive milestone of one hundred episodes. Particularly in this day and age it is a truly significant achievement. One everyone involved should be extremely proud of." Drawing more applause, he continued by recounting the origins of the show. "From the beginning Angel was a very special project. Most like this are sold after producing a terrific pilot, or based on a really inspired pilot script. Of course, Angel was a little different. Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt brought a bunch of us from the network and the studio back to their offices in Santa Monica five years ago and showed us a compilation of clips from Buffy featuring the character Angel. They pitched to us a new vampire show that would be different from its predecessor and would be built around the virtual unknown David Boreanaz. Fortunately, the network and the studio had a great deal of confidence in Joss and David and the star power of David Boreanaz, and here we are one hundred episodes later." Gary concluded his speech by praising the innumerable talents behind the show, especially Joss Whedon and the writers. Next the President of The WB, Jordan Levin, addressed the crowd. He reminisced how it seemed like Buffy the Vampire Slayer had been in this very same position only a short while ago. Reaching this landmark is massive for Angel especially because like Buffy, "it's one of the just pure passion plays." Over the years Joss and everyone continued to create ideas, "that are different, that are unique, and that people feel incredibly passionate about and commit their lives to." Despite being a spin-off, he said how Angel defied all doubts and continued on to become incredibly successful. "Usually spin offs are cynical things. They're just done for business reasons. But this was really setting a story that needed to be told." The entire room smiling ear to ear, Jordan voiced what everyone was feeling. "It's really an honor to be here, an honor to do a show that is not only such a critical hit but one that fans everywhere support. When you can have a marriage like this it's really wonderful." With that he introduced the man himself, Joss Whedon. After a literal explosion of applause, Joss took the floor. Despite his calm, casual appearance, he could not hide his elation. Waving down the clapping, he began, "There are a lot of suits in the room. And I want to thank them all. It's never been what Buffy was in terms of pop culture. It has flown a little bit under the radar, but we've always had the support of Fox and the WB." Turning a bit more serious, he thanked his good friend David Greenwalt who could not be there. He went on to recount how they brought the show from conception to reality, and the joy of finding David Boreanaz to play Angel. "The idea of the show was redemption. It has gone through a lot of different permutations, a lot of characters, a lot of different styles, but ultimately that has never left," he continued. "To me, Angel is so important because it is about how an adult faces what they've done with their life. These things have a great deal of meaning to me. Plus, awesome fights!" Joss then personally introduced the cast members one by one. At his side stood James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz, Amy Acker, J. August Richards, Andy Hallett, and Alexis Denisof. Together, they all grabbed hold of a knife and held it above the cake. After posing for pictures, they brought the knife down, officially commemorating Angel on it's 100th episode. 100 EPISODES, 1 CAST OF FAMILY A lot of Angel's success can be attributed to its stellar ensemble cast. Over the years cast members have come and gone, often returning for small stints every now and again. With both old and new faces at the junket, the atmosphere truly resembled a family reunion. After the cake cutting the press was split into smaller groups and sent to various parts of the stage, patiently awaiting their turn to get comments from the various cast members. Amy Acker ~ Fred Burkle At the end of Season Two, Angel and company took a trip to a little dimension called Pylea. There we first met the quirky uber-scientist known as Winifred Burkle, or simply Fred. Soft spoken and sweet, Amy Acker lights up the room with her innocent smile and instantly recognizable laugh. The fact that Angel has reached its 100th episode makes her appreciate the talent of the staff working on the show. “I was sort of the lucky one that started in the middle so I already knew that everyone liked the show and that it was successful. I didn’t have those first stressful years. But even last year we didn’t know if we were going to be back on, so it’s great. It’s so nice that we have such talented writers and people who can make up a hundred different stories, I couldn’t even write one episode,” she said with a laugh. With everyone now working from the Wolfram & Hart building, Amy has really enjoyed the new direction of the show, “it is exciting. After doing a similar thing for the past three years -- some people, five or seven years since Buffy started, it was like a whole new show, just sort of a different energy on the set. It felt like we had a whole new job but we just got to work with all the people that we like so it was great.” While all the characters received perks in one way or another, Fred was lucky enough to have her very own laboratory that has become essential to her character. “It’s neat because the lab has been a pretty integral part of the show. I get to cure diseases and build instruments etc. For the past two years they just said, ‘Oh, she’s a smart science person’ and I was always like, ‘Yeah, I guess I’m good at science,’ but now it’s all panning out,” she said proudly. More than other characters, Fred has interacted on many levels with Spike. As other cast members stated, James’ arrival was a completely positive experience. “There is very little drama on our show. He was just so excited to be here and he made everyone be like, ‘Oh yeah, we should be excited. This is cool, we’re here,’ because sometimes you forget that when you are waking up at 4:30 in the morning to go to work.” Some of her most memorable and rewarding scenes this season have been one-on-one interactions with Spike," Amy admits. “Having those two person scenes are always the most fun for us as actors because lots of times when there is ten of us and everyone has one line it’s like a line that anyone could say, they just decided to give it to you!” she joked. “Those two person scenes really led to some character development and found out new things about the people instead of just about the situation.” Just as Fred chose to help Spike, her actions also helped her grow as a character, “I think at the beginning Fred was trying to say, ‘Well you should get Wesley to help you because he’d be better,’ and when Spike finally said, ‘No I want you to do it,’ it made her step up and find her place at Wolfram & Hart and realize that she could be an asset more to the team in this new environment.” Fred has been with Gunn, drooled over Angel, kissed Wesley, and is now with Knox. So is a romance with Spike in the future? Is there anyone Fred won’t flirt with? “I know! I think she’s just a little floozy! The Pylean men were not…she hasn’t hooked up with Lorne yet.” Andy Hallett ~ Lorne, the Host Talking with Andy Hallett is always a unique, light-hearted experience. From the moment he walked in his personality lifts the atmosphere of the room. Animated and outgoing, it feels like you are talking with Lorne as Andy jumps from one sidesplitting story to the other. Overjoyed by reaching one hundred episodes, Andy has been constantly enjoying himself. Not one to talk too seriously, Andy also recounted the hilarity of the Halloween episode, "Life of the Party". “Always, as an actor, you’re trying to get people to believe. Believability is one of your main objectives, and I’m always trying to be as believable as possible. I’ve done scenes before where I’ve walked away and been like, ‘Yeah I think I gave it my all.’ I’ve never, ever, ever, let loose like I did on the dance floor in that scene with Mercedes,” he said. “We danced so hard and we're laughing so hard that the steady cam on the floor was panning around to hide the laughter. I was sweating so hard from laughing that my mask was starting to peel off. That’s never happened, even in the hot sun it has never happened,” he explained, laughing at the memory. Leaning forward and gesturing in the air, he continued the story. “We did [the scene] once and the director was like, ‘You guys gotta pump it up because it feels like you are dancing for camera.’ Well when he told us that, Mercedes and I looked at each other and said, ‘Well they better hold onto their hats.’ I was wearing this long scarf and she was whipping me back and stuff. The outtakes have to be hilarious. One time, I swore that I broke my neck. I thought it was literally never going to come out of this position,” he said while tilting his head back. “She whipped me back so hard and pulled me back in. We were just dancing like crazy.” Another memorable scene involved a certain little slave demon of the Archduke Sebassis, portrayed by Ryan Alvarez. “First of all, I was scared to death. I was f***ing petrified of him. Every time I looked at him I was like, ‘Ah!’ I almost burst into tears like seven or eight times. I was just petrified because his makeup was so good. You know how when you see a pug it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s so weird looking that he’s cute.’ Ryan and his makeup were so scary and weird that it was just intriguing.” Lorne is known for his outbursts and eccentricities, little nuances that Andy adds to the character. In the Halloween episode, Andy really got to exercise this. “When we did that scene where the drink came out of his wrist and I had to be like, ‘Oh,’ usually I do all those expressions and stuff. To me those are things that are funny, and that’s why I do them. I’m constantly doing expressions and noises. They always say that a scene isn’t complete until I put a noise into it. Just like all my little things. So that was the very first time that they used a bunch of over the top expressions. Some directors will say, ‘Bring it back in a little bit, reel me back in,’ but then I’ll be like, ‘Look at me, take a peek. I am over the top, my character is over the top,’ so I feel like I have that room,” he explained. Alexis Denisof ~ Wesley Wyndam-Price Alexis Denisof has masterfully portrayed Wesley for six years. With his impeccable English accent and ability to convey countless different emotions, Alexis pushed Wesley into the hearts of everyone. For him, reaching one hundred episodes is truly an amazing feat. “I can’t believe we’ve done it. On the one hand it feels like we started yesterday, on the other hand every show it feels like we’ve made a hundred. It’s a hard show to make because you’re off in downtown LA all night doing fights and then the long days on set, it’s just a big show to make. But on the other hand it’s so much fun to make that it flies by.” Despite the near-cancellations, Alexis is confident in the strength of the show, “I think we’re all amazed that we’ve made it to one hundred because the show has also had some tough times where it looked like it was about to be buried. But it keeps fighting another day and it seems to get stronger every time we get threatened,” he said. Over the years Wesley has gone through major emotional changes, all of which have been a constant source of pride and inspiration for Alexis. “I am amazed with the evolution of the character. I give all credit to Joss and the writers for finding all these corners for the character to explore and finding a believable, organic way to change the character over the years. I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to do that. I really love the character, I love him for all the things he was on Buffy and in the first couple of seasons of Angel, but I also love him for all the things he has turned into.” This season Wesley has finally broken out of his exile and become a true part of the family again. For Alexis, this is a very positive change that opens up new doors for Wesley, “We looked at tearing the group apart in past seasons and how that affected Wesley. Now we’ve knitted the team back together and they’re faced with a moral dilemma of, in the overall scheme, are they fighting for good or for evil? I think Wesley’s very confident in himself now and very secure about what he’s doing and has grown into the role of the person who makes hard decisions and stands by them for the good of the greater community and not for his own greater good. So there has been a price to pay, he has suffered a great deal,” he continued. “I have enjoyed the way we explore that kind of dilemma of the character through the sacrifices he’s made in order to do the right thing. I think that’s a metaphor for the whole show.” Yet despite being friendly with everyone again, the emotional torment never ceases for Wesley, such as his recent conflict with the robot that looked like his father. These difficult scenes can be quite demanding. “Each scene calls for a slightly different approach, but those approaches fall into sort of larger characters. With a scene like the conflict with Wesley shooting his father, there’s a big emotional commitment required for that scene and a lot of focus on my part. I do go into a very kind of quiet state where I just have my attention on the task that’s at hand. I just want to do as good a job as I can in the scene,” he explained. Still he’s not always introverted during filming. “I’m probably not very much fun to be around when we’re shooting that kind of scene as opposed to a lighter scene in the office where there is a lot of banter between the characters. In that kind of situation we as actors can have a lot of banter on the set with each other and with the crew because that is the kind of mood we’re going to be in for the scene anyway. The crew and cast are all very aware and respectful about the demands that are being made on any of the actors at any given time so we try to respect whatever their needs are.” Having recently married Buffy alumni Alyson Hannigan, the question always comes up as to when Alyson will be making another appearance on Angel. “I’d love to get Aly back over here. It was so much fun when she visited us last year. Not just because she’s a huge talent, but because I love her and I like to have here with me here at work. There’s a bunch of reasons I’d be smiling ear to ear if she were brought onto the show,” he said. He’s confident in the writer’s ability to introduce characters from Buffy onto Angel and feels that there could be an opportunity in the future for some of those actors to appear. “I think they’ve been clever about bringing characters from Buffy over here in the sense that they’ve done it, but they haven’t just sprayed them out all at once in shotgun fashion. They introduce them at different times and for different durations. I feel like they could all be here anytime there’s a way to do it, but they’ve been smart to not give away Angel and have it become a tour bus for the Buffy characters because it’s still its own show.” Charisma Carpenter ~ Cordelia Chase One of the biggest surprises at the junket was the appearance of Charisma Carpenter. Missing from Angel this year, both fans and the cast have been clamoring for her to return. Looking absolutely stunning, Charisma was overjoyed to be back with friends again. Bombarded by nonstop interviews, CityofAngel.com managed to get a quick comment from her. When Charisma jumped from Buffy to Angel, she had no clue it would become the phenomenon it has. “I’m grateful. I thought that possibly it wouldn’t go at all and that I would have to go back to Buffy. But fortunately now we’re on our 100th episode, so we’re where they were on their 100th episode,” she said with her vibrant smile. Christian Kane ~ Lindsey McDonald The first to step into CityofAngel’s discussion area was the undeniably charismatic Christian Kane. Dressed in Southern style jeans and boots, he simply exuded a laid back, friendly demeanor. His partially unbuttoned shirt revealed his character’s new runic tattoos on his chest and forearms. Playing Wolfram & Hart’s star lawyer Lindsey McDonald, Christian disappeared from Angel late in the second season and hadn’t been seen since. However, he made his surprising return as Eve’s bedfellow in the final scene of episode eight this season. Like the fans, Christian had no clue he was going to return. “I had no idea. This is really recent. It was like a week before they filmed me for episode eight that I found out. I was in New York doing a film with Queen Latifah that I’m still doing called Taxi. [Joss] called me up and he said, ‘We’ve got an idea for you to come back on the show, what do you think?’ Without hesitation I was like, “Absolutely,” because I love working with him. He’s one of the most, if not the most, brilliant writers that I’ve ever worked with.” Not only delighted to return to Angel, Christian was excited to see his friends again. “Of course I get to go and hang out with my best friend, part of my family, which is Boreanaz. We’ve known each other for seven and a half years and it’s just a coincidence that two really great friends get to work on a show together.” Christian’s return was one of the most guarded shockers that has aired this season. “We kept it really secretive. I think some stuff leaked out that I was coming back in episode ten, but no one had any idea that I was going to be in eight. Joss had the idea of not putting my name on, no credit, no nothing, and just bringing me in. It was really fun.” His impact on the show was immediately felt with fans across the Internet. “I heard five minutes after the show aired like six messages boards crashed or something. Anytime I can do that and can cause havoc, then right on, that’s just my style,” he said with a laugh. Despite not knowing much about the current direction of his character, Christian is more than happy to throw some wrenches into Angel’s life. “I’m always the big bad. Well, Spike and Angel are good now so they gotta have someone come in and be evil. I have no problem doing it.” So with Lindsey back on the scene, and Spike now a regular, will we see a battle of the bands at Wolfram & Hart? “You’ve got James on here now, and you’ve me. We both have bands and so if we don’t sing on the show together we’re planning on doing a show,” Christian joked.   Go to Next Page