Guessing the cover: EW Fall TV Preview 2009 – The Follow up.

And the EW Fall TV Preview 2009 issue is out, which cover was previewed via their popwatch blog, right before the release.

Yes, long shot from my 5 guesses, which were How I met Your Mother, Melrose Place, Cougar Town, Glee and Medium.

So in the countdown. a 1st for Fox in this century, and the count still goes with 0 to CBS. It’s the 5th groups cover, and 4th featuring 2 actors, and also the second one of this bunch to feature Joshua Jackson. As an actor he’s the one with the most appearances in the EW Fall TV Preview issues covers.

Very long shot, right?

That was until I picked up my copy in the stands. (Scanned my cover for better effect, you can even see a tag from the Brazilian newstand where I bought it on the bottom left, over the barcode).

So was I that wrong? The weird part is that the cover credit did credit the version you see above on the post, with Josh Jackson and Anna Torv. (and my friends actually found that copy) and not this great mosaic one I found. Wonder why there were two covers?

In case you’re too lazy here’s the tally if we consider this mosaic cover.

ABC: Cougar Town, Greys Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (The love for ABC and Courtney Cox continues)

CBS: How I Met your Mother, NCSI: Los Angeles (wow a first for the network – but doesn’t really count, is not a full feature)

FOX: Fringe (Actually the miniature of the cover with two of them)

NBC: The Office and 30 Rock (Basically the comedy powerhouses of the network)

The CW: Melrose Place (nu, 2009, whatever you like to call it, but with the old cast. Note another cover with Laura Leighton)

Showime: Dexter (Yes, a first for a cable network)

Scary statistics.

Found the following scary statistics from a recent research in Brazil:
The average amount spent by a family per year  on books is R$11,00 (around US$6), which is less than the average spent on newspapers (R$17,00 – US$9) or magazines (R$42,00 – about US$22). Yes, you read that right. Per Family. PER YEAR. About US$6,00, which is what a mass market paperback usually cost in the US (excluding the taxes of course).

I personally spent about something in between US$500 to US$1000 a year on books, and I’m not including the count on magazines and comic books / graphic novels. And that’s by myself, not counting my family.

Really scary. Not that the book prices in Brazil help a lot. They’re are expensive. Unlike the american market which allows for a more high end market via Hardbacks, and lower end via paperbacks, that barely exists in the Brazilian book market. The books end up with mark up prices that does not allow most of people to afford that.

It’s not just a criticism towards people who do not read, but also for the publishers who do not create a friendly environment that allow us to really breed that many readers, despite the Harry potter phenomenon, despite all the Twilight thing. It’s not reaching most of the people yet. And that just unacceptable.

What could be done? I’ve got to think about it, if you got suggetions, please comment.

Watching: Outfoxed.

“Outfoxed” examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a “race to the bottom” in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public’s right to know.

The film explores Murdoch’s burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it’s like to work for Fox News.  These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a “right-wing” point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said “There’s no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can’t be crossed.”

It reminds me how similar Fox News can be to the extreme Blue / KMT supporters from Taiwan. Of course the media environment is different.

The depressing part as most of the big media honchos in Taiwan inherited the position from the military command that KMT fleedging from mainland China to Taiwan after the Communist Party had them running away. Thus a lot of that still lingers. Extreme conservatism from Fox News, which is hidden as not real balanced reporting also happens in a lot of the media coverage back in Asia. Just take all the coverage about the previous president Chen Sui Bian trial for example. Yes the guy made mistakes and screwed up huge, but is hipocrisy making him take all the fall, while others are doing or did much worse things.

He deserved to be punished, but other do too, and the uneven don’t take notice. That’s what this very worth watching documentary about this dirty US network reminded me of. If you happen to stumbled on my post on accident, my opinions are my opinions, maybe you should form your opinion yourself, so you can watch the documentary too, which all 8 parts are embedded below.

Fox News definitely NOT a Fair and Balanced Network.

Most journalists do commit the fallacy of saying that reporting is neutral. Reporting is never neutral, you always carry some of your own position into the reporting itself, but you always tried to keep it as centered as possible, by allowing different and opposing sides to contribute, the result will always be uneven. But taking deep pushed extremes as if this supposed close to Fair and Balance is not only wrong but most of all deceiving.

Outfoxed Part 1

Outfoxed Part 2

Outfoxed Part 3

Outfoxed Part 4

Outfoxed Part 5

Outfoxed Part 6

Outfoxed Part 7

Outfoxed Part 8

You can find more information about Outfoxed in their official website: http://www.outfoxed.org/

These guys are dust: the birth of the queen of Internet.

There were a lot of memorable moments during “Chosen” the final episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. In my top favorite moments of that episode is a brief line profered by a newly minted red-head slayer, empowered by the special abilities bestowed by their calling, with a new level of confidence to face an giant army  of Uber Vamps.

If you don’t know Felicia Day yet, at some point you will.

She’s the creator, star and writer of the Internet sensation web series The Guild. A very clever show, that had a first season that was maintained with the help of donations from fans. Now in it’s 3rd season, they have found a sponsor on Xbox, which guarantee all people involved are paid and have created a very neat distribution structure of the show, that not only keeps it free aspect for the whole audience, but have also found a very interesting way for the sponsor to actually get something back from their sponsorship, not just simply slapping a logo somewhere in the show.

Tomorrow, you’ll probably see her with Neil Patrick Harris as they bring in another big thing from the Internet to the mainstream big tv audience of the Primetime Emmy awards, with something related to Dr. Horrible Sing-Along-Blog. But before that you should maybe check out great music video below:

Do you want to date my Avatar?

Liked it? The new season of The Guild has just started recently, and you can watch it through their website: http://www.watchtheguild.com

BONUS
Check out the Second Life avatar version of “Do you want to date my Avatar?”

Guessing the cover: EW Fall TV Preview 2009

Entertainment Weekly is the only magazine that I still buy with some semi-regular basis, mostly because it’s the only import general entertainment magazine we can get here in Brazil. They used to take 2-3 weeks to arrive, but lately they’ve been arriving with only a week gap from the US release of each issue.

From Wikipedia:

Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated as EW) is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Unlike celebrity-focused publications US Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EW’s primary concentration is on entertainment media and critical reviews. Unlike Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which are aimed at industry insiders, EW targets a more-general audience.

The magazine exists since 1990, which is about 10 years before I ever bought my first issue. I think the 1st issue I ever bought of the magazin was back in the year 2000, which featured Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis on the cover,  for the promotion of M. Night Shyamalan’s second movie, Unbreakable.

In midst of this EW stopped offering international subscription (a friend of mine tells me she used to get a subscription to the magazine here in Brazil) and there was a failed attempt to force people to buy the magazine so they can access the online content in the website. Glad that changed. EW is possibly one of the first in print magazines that learned really fast how to deal with online media, and the spread of Social Media.

Since then, probably from 2005 on, I’ve been steadily buying certain thematic issues, besides the one of the other cover story that might interest me.  The thematic issues, are always the seasonal previews for movies and tv. Some sort of a weird trend following I started in the last couple of years is trying to guess what will be featured in the cover, mostly for the Summer Movie, Fall Movie and Fall TV preview issues.

As I tweeted yesterday, I was finally able to grab myself of a copy of the latest Fall Movie preview issue, which once again, like tenth time already this year, is a Twilight themed cover. As it seems it really sells magazines. Wouldn’t mind it if happened only once in a while, but it’s getting too much (bet there will be another cover, around the time of the movie release in November). Complaints aside, the next EW issue I’m looking forward to is the Fall TV preview issue, and it’s been fun trying to guess what will be the show featured on the cover.

I have a few guesses that I’ll list further on, but then I decided to check the history of the Fall TV Preview issues. At first it was supposed to be a look back of 10 years, but then it built up to the whole publishing history of the magazine.  So I’ll be doing both in this post. The interesting part is there a few curious trends in the shows chosen for the cover. Then follow me through almost 20 years, then for my guesses for 2009:

1990: Fall TV Preview Cover: Twin Peaks (ABC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:31,00.html

1991:Fall TV Preview Cover: Married… with Children (FOX)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:83,00.html

1992: Fall TV PReview Cover: Seinfeld (NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:135,00.html

1993: Fall TV Preview Cover: Melrose Place (FOX)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:188,00.html

1994: Fall TV Preview Cover: Melrose Place (FOX)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:240,00.html

1995: Fall TV Preview Cover: Friends (NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:292,00.html

1996: Fall TV Preview Cover: Suddenly Susan (NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:345,00.html

1997 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Veronica’s Closet (NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:396,00.html

1998 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Dawson’s Creek (WB)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:449,00.html

1999 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Time of Your Life (FOX)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:502,00.html

2000 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Titans (NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:561,00.html

2001 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (UPN)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:612613,00.html

2002 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Alias (ABC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:671672,00.html

2003 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Miss Match(NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:727728,00.html

2004 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Joey (NBC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:782783,00.html

2005 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Lost (ABC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:838839,00.html

2006 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Greys Anatomy (ABC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:895896,00.html (For some reason this issue does not appear in the EW website, but this should be the link if they fix it. Will update the cover if I find a larger size.)

2007 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Private Practice (ABC)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:953954,00.html

2008 – Fall TV Preview Cover: Gossip Girl (The CW)

http://www.ew.com/ew/inside/issue/0,,ewTax:1010,00.html (It was actually a issue with 3 variant covers, each featuring a different couple from that young cast – The one above features Penn Badgley and Blake Lively. The other two featured Ed Westwick and Leighton Meester in one, and Chase Crawford and Jessica Szohr in the another one.)

A few interesting data:

- Yes, Melrose Place (original mint) was featured two years in a row (1993-1994), yet the the series that originated it, which I assumed were also a massive success Beverly Hills 90210, was never featured in the Fall TV Preview covers.

- It rarely features new shows, but did happen in a few occasions: Veronica’s Closet (1997), Titans (2000), Miss Match (2003) – All from NBC, but Titans is possibly the most weird cover feature of the bunch.  Veronica’s Closet and Miss Match were quite understandable as featured former movie starlets Kirstie Alley and Alicia Silverstones in heading shows on tv.

- For some reason they really liked to feature spin off debuts (and I’m not counting the multiple outing of Melrose Place mentioned above, which were returning seasons): Time of Your Life (1999), Joey (2004) and Private Practice (2007). Duly noted is that both Friends and Grey’s Anatomy have been featured before, but just like in Melrose Place’s case, Party of Five was never featured.

- From the new millenium on (2001 – ), the preview issue started to be billed as double issues, starting with nothing less than Buffy.

- The covers usually featured only 1 actor per show, even if it’s an essemble show, some exceptions were:  Kyle Mclachlan and Sherilyn Fenn Madchen Amick (Twin Peaks – 1990), James Van Der Beak, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek – 1998),  Matt LeBalnc and Drea De Matteo (Joey – 2004) and the variant Gossip Girls covers from 2008.

- ABC despite being the first network with a show featured, wouldn’t reappear until mid 2000s, thanks for the efforts of a certain mr.  JJ Abrams (Alias and Lost) and a ms. Shonda Rhymes (Greys Anatomy and Private Practice).

- Fox (3)  and NBC (5) basically dominated the 90s. ABC (4)  has been dominating the 2000’s so far. And Fox has yet to appear in this millenium at all.

- The WB and UPN networks were only founded in 1995, and their merge in form of The CW was realized in 2006, and have been featured in the cover once each. Although UPN was mostly a technicality, from all the Buffy network struggles from 2001, as it was not an really original new programming from them, rather a transfer from The WB. Yet, CBS one of major networks was never featured in the fall tv preview covers.

- Here’s the Network Tally:

A total of 19 covers so far

ABC: 5 (Twin Peaks, Alias, Lost, Greys Anatomy and Private Practice)

CBS: 0 – a big zero.

FOX: 4 (Married with Children, Melrose Place [2x] and Time of Your Life)

NBC: 7 (Seinfeld, Friends, Suddenly Susan, Veronica’s Closet, Titans, Miss Match and Joey)

WB: 1 (Dawson’s Creek)

UPN: 1 (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer)

The CW: 1 (Gossip Girl)

THE GUESSES

Now it’s  the fun part of guessing. Last year I guessed that they’d be featuring 90210 on the cover, as it was bringing back some of the old cast and I was just slightly off mark. Instead they had a feature story about the return of Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty the week before the Fall TV Preview issue.

I’ll list my possible 5 guesses for the cover below, with pros and cons. Won’t add odds, because I suck at that assessment.

1) How I Met Your Mother – CBS

Pros: It be finally a first for CBS, after almost 20 years. A name: Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted this year’s Tony Awards, is hosting the Emmys, and have just been confirmed as a guest judge for the Audition round at the next cycle of American Idol and we should never forget about Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog. And the show finally received its first Emmy nod this year.

Cons: Higher rated and more buzzed shows from the network filled with procedurals were never featured. Either the CSI franchise or even high rated comedies: Two and a Half Men or very much buzzed The Big Bang Theory. Comedies are less featured than dramas: Only 6 times out of 20 covers (Married with Children, Seinfeld, Friends, Suddenly Susan, Veronica’s Closet and Joey).

2) Melrose Place – THE CW

Pros: Simple, the magazine already did feature it twice in a row before, and might want to give notice of the new and refreshed version. Returning cast members from the original show.

Cons: It be the second CW feature cover in a row. They rarely feature a show debuting in the season.Also in the returning cast part, they could do the same as they did with 90210 and do separate cover feature. Also they’re starting early, I don’t expect to see the issue released until at least next week.

3) Cougar Town – ABC

Pros: Courtney Cox back on network tv and they did feature her in the Friends cover. Aparentelly the EW of the 2000s love ABC (4 out of 9 covers).

Cons: New show and not exactly that much buzz about it. And considering that last year they featured Gossip Girl and having publshing Twilight covers every three weeks or so, we might assume they’re targetting a younger audience, not really the Cougars.

4) Glee – Fox

Pros: Lots of Buzz, and it’s not starting from zero, as the premiere was shown back in may.  Fox has yet to be featured in a cover in the 2000’s, and they were much loved back in the 90s.

Cons: Not exactly a well-known or headliner stars for now, and if you consider its essemble nature, the fall tv covers rarely feature more than two people (Dawon’s Creek’s being an exception).

5) Medium – CBS

Pros: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, was also featured on the cover, when it switched to another network, and the network reasons I pointed with How I Met Your Mother, plus is an hour-long drama.

Cons: Not that much buzz. Supernatural and Smallvile have more following than Medium.

I do think that the guesses #1 and #2 are the most likely, but guess we’ll only know when the cover is revealed.

ETA: Whedonverse

And, if by any chance some EW guy (could be an intern) stumbled to my humble post.

After all these guesses what I’d really want to see is something in line with the following mock-up which was linked at Whedonesque last week. That’s a cover I want to see on the magazine.

But hey if my first guess is correct, and Neil Patrick Harris is featured, definitely a first step improvament.

Won’t be Binging anytime soon.

I just read the brief but interesting Mashable article on “Microsoft’s Plan to Win the Search War“.

Made me think about how there’s a a general sense of geeks setting the new trends, but at the same time there’s a generalization of geeks. At least in the circles I run with the separation is not as clear, and it does make a hell lot of difference, especially for brands.  Won’t be addressing anything directly from the points given in the post, will however reflect on a few things that the post made m,e think about.

What lead me to this? The article made me think about how likely I’d be switching to Bing as my default search engine, and that’s very unlikely. (Hey, Microsoft, at least you made me talk about it, that must be for something, right?)

I think there are at least two very major types of geeks that must be considered, especially for brands. As usual the classifications below will go into some stereotypical simplification, but try to get the essense of what I’m pointing at.

- There is the Pioneer, this is the person who always on the edge of things. These are the people, that before Ashton Kutcher and Oprah made Twitter the new cool thing, even before it was widespread among their peers were already using it back in 2006. For them it is already old news, such old news, that they might already have given up on it, and are testing or trying out something else. Generally when something becomes cool for the general public, it’s already uncool among them like 10 minutes ago. They are the main characters in the eternal struggle of the “Early Adopters Vs. the New Users”. What this means for brands? Forget brand loyalty, they’re the ones who ‘ll move on for the next best thing without hesitation, and they won’t stick with the “new thing” because it’s the newest thing, but it has to be a good new thing. Does this help Bing? I don’t know, but microsoft move of making it friendly for third party apps, will definitely help.

- Then there is the Fan, this is the person who already has the latest Iphone, but you’ll probably see him/she in line when Apple releases the next iteration. Yes, as a fan you might also find this person in fan gatherings, such as Harry Potter fans, Lost fans, or in my case Joss Whedon fans. Those fans can be overlapping or have no relation at all. They’re not necessaily the people on the edge of things like the Pioneers, but they’re always ready to get into the newest creation from their favorite series or creator. They’ll fight for the things they’re fan of: you know the eternal struggle between Star Wars and Star Trek fans, and there are people who are fan of boths. What this means for brands? Brand loyalty all the way. You’ll have a really hard time to convince this geek to change, if it means a big change to another brand. Unless their favorite brand screw ups really big, you won’t seem this person changing. This person might even try out the new stuff from another brand, but if it’s mostly the same as the one they can get from their favorite brand, they’ll just shift back without any regrets.

What type I am? I’m a fan. Not just because I might be the first line of defense for anything Joss Whedon, for that we can discuss it in the Whedonesque threads.

As I reflected on other things that I use or have or consume,  I can easily conclude that I am a very brand loyal person. Brands matter to me. A google brand with a new product does reflect as endorsement in my opinion. I’ve only been wearing Timberland boots for over ten years, and plan to buy another one in a few months time. Been using the same brands of toothpaste for years. Bought Listerine’s PocketMist for the first time in 2007, because that brand means something for me. Not that I won’t try anything new, but while choosing similar things, I tend to side with the one I trust the most.

At the same time that I still consider Guaraná Antartica the bestof it’s kind in the market and will not order any other brand unless it’s unavailable, but currently I’m really digging Kuat Eko, which is a spin off from Coca Cola Guaraná drinks, which combines guaraná extract with green tea. I will drink Kuat Eko whenever I can, but for the normal type of guarana soft drink, I will still go for Guaraná Anatartica.

Note for the reader: Guaraná- Brazilian soft drink produced from the extract of the namesake fruit. Sales are close or even surpasses of the Cola softdrinks. Wikipedia entry can be found here.

As Ben puts it well in his analysis, Microsoft has a long road ahead. I know the final goal is to claim who is the leader in the field, but just like my thoughts onto the Twitter Vs. Facebook subject, I hope they can co-exist, as they find a proper role for each. I still prefer Twitter over Facebook, but that just reflects on how I use and explore the tools, not in the sense of which one is better. Maybe that could be a solution fo Bing, make it different from Google, not just another search engine, but something that can do some of the same things, but at the same time is somewhat different. Maybe then, I’ll try Binging something.

Buffy and Angel “spoilers” from 8 years ago.

Whedonesque’s Simon, posted the following comment in this thread:

Does anyone remember the legendary foilers for the Buffy season 5 finale? Where the Angel gang would travel to Sunnydale to save Buffy and pick up Oz on the way.

Simon | February 19, 22:27 CET

Which I reposnded by:

I believe I have some of those content saved somewhere, including the “rumoured” titles and descriptions.

UPDATE: Found them.

[ edited by Numfar PTB on 2009-02-20 00:44 ]

Numfar PTB | February 19, 23:40 CET

The throway comment lead me through a trip to my past, as I seached old archives for some of that information, which I’ll include in this post.

I used to be an information gatherer in some Brazilian online fan communities for Buffy and Angel. Those communities are pretty much inactive nowadays, but I still got a lot of archived information from those days.  Spoilers and foilers were a great part of my meat, as local fansites weren’t releasing as many information, so for the members of those communities I was the announcing guy who would chew up and process the information, and then deliver all to them.

The funny part is that I was tweeting during the journey as the information came pouring back:

Ouch, I used to be kinda like an annoying know it all. Might still be a bit. Hopefully very much more restrained. about 1 hour ago from TwitterFox

What probably allow them to endure me, was I actually used to translate every bti of important information I got. Even with my annoying typos.

Or this:

OMG, there were posts about my experience getting into college mixed within. Enrollment day. Seems like so long ago. 42 minutes ago from TwitterFox

There was also this:

Seeing messages after Fool For Love / Darla aired here. Huge debacle, it was supposed to be the 1st subbed week, but was dubbed. Whinefest. 28 minutes ago from TwitterFox

And this:

Can’t believe I called the rumors (back then) about the Pylea episodes silly. Ironic, how my fandom alias is from that arc. 17 minutes ago from TwitterFox

But  if you’re reading this, it’s because you want to read about the foilers, and not me reminiscing about the past.

First, I was wrong on my Whedonesque response, there was not many alternate titles. I mixed these BtVs S5 / Ats S2 foilers with the one from BtVs S7 / Ats S4 foilers. The latter had some really interesting foilers too, but the point in matter are the foilers from Season 5.

- “The Gift” was rumored to be called “Centennial”, a two-hour romp-homp, that would include Buffy episode 522 (episode 100) and Angel episode 222, which would not exist. Those foilers said that WB was decreasing the Angel episodes for that season by 1, so it’d be able to increase Buffy’s episode by one, and conclude the season with the two-hour special.  It was funny following those rumors, especially with all the issues concerning the Fox and WB contract on Buffy.

- There were some things also about Riley, as he was rumoured to be the third demon god or would be posssessed by the third demon god, who would return at the end of the season as the surprise villain.  Third Demon Gods? Early Season 5 rumours already included Glory role as a demon god big bad. The early rumous went as far to point, that she actually the female side, of brother-sister sibling demon god duo, and a third demon god rounded up the triad, which was discussed as the season 5 big bads. The sibling thing basically turned out to be the “Ben is Glory” bit, the other demon gods, were just random mentioned, as Glorificus was kicked out of the home dimension.

I think most of the descriptions I’m posting below were from info I found back in the Cross & Stakes spoiler forum, it might include info from other sources, but I was great at gathering the information and translating the, but detailing every each source, not so much.

These foilers were circulating the boards, around mid-march and late-march, 2001.

Beware that I’m translating from my translations so the wording will not match the original foilers, just the content. Funny or simply ludicrous, they actually made some people really excited back then.  And these are only bried descriptions. I remember reading detailed descriptions about the events in some spoilers boards back then, but apparentely I didn’t translate those.  I’ll update the post if I happen to find those extended descriptions. Enjoy:

THE EPISODES:

BtVS 519 – TOUGH LOVE

- Written by Rebecca Rand0-Kirshner

- THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADDLES – The battle for Daws custody goes on, with Giles disputing for the future.  Hank is about to quit, when Sophie continue the stimulating, and she hires a lawyer. This give glory enough time to get her hand on Dawn, who she already knows is the Key. But when Buffy attempts to save Dawn, she discover that it wasn’t Glory who kidnapped Dawn.

- Buffy discovers that Xander, possessed by Glory, kidnapped Dawn with the intent ofusing the Key. And Buffy and Xander will confront each other.

- Willow will conduct a big spell to help Xander, however Anya and Tara will help her in mysterious ways.  But Tara will do something that will hurt her and might cause problems in her relationship with Willow.  And It’s Anya who will save the day, bring her back to the group in a big way.

Ats 519 – BELONGING

- WIllow and Xander will sing at Caritas.

- Willow and Xander are unable to locate Angel. They actually leave Caritas, before Angel’s crew arrive. Lorne does not reveal to Xander his destiny, but he does reveal it to Angel that he must find the “bot with a big future ahead”. The identity of the “boy” is made clear to the viewer at the end of the pisode. Angel questions Lorne, why didn’t he tell the “boy” about his future, which responds, “something just are, no matter why”.

- The big ending battle sequence with Harmony, ends with a conversation, in which she reveals her problems to Angel, about Spike and Joyce’s death.

BtVS 520 – SPIRAL

- Buffy will seek for Angel in LA, as she attempts to save Xander’s soul, but she can’t find him. At the same time Angel and his crew is drivign towards Sunnydale.  This episode will play with some chrnological sequences, like what happenned between Fool For Love and Darla.

Ats 220 -OVER THE RAINBOW

-Written by Mere Smith

- Angel and Kate meet Lindsey who’s hiding in a restaurant by the road. Watch the events closely as you will find several parallel events with episode 20 of Buffy, SPiral, in the same style of Fool for Love and Darla.

-Some of the special things that will happen: An old character returns, plus two new ones, but very recognizable.

BtVS 521 – THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

-Written by Doug Petrie

- BLOOD IN MY HANDS: After a long and tedious custody battle, Giles becomes Dawn’s legal guardian, pushing Hank & Sophie away of the city.  At the same time, Xander and Buffy forms a bond, due to their situation.  And Angel and his crew arrives to help them in the battle agains’t Glory.

- Buffy’s attempt to deal with all this emotional weithc cause a nervous attack, and Xander get distant from the group a he feels guilty for his actions while possessed by Glory.

- After noticing that the chip in his head was deactivated once the Initiative ended, and that the pains he been feeling lately are just suggestions from his mind, Spike does something terrible, which makes it really hard not to see him as a Villain again.

- Midway through the episode the LA crew arrives, and joins the Sunnydale gang, as they start to interact.

Ats 221 (Season Finale) – THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

- Written and Directed by Tim Minear.

- The true season finale for Angel season 2.

- INSIDE ALL OF US – After being notified by The Host, Cordy, Gunn and Wesley start a road trip in a attempt to reach Angel. And due to several stops Angel had to do on the way, they’re able to find him before they reach Sunnydale. As a full group, they surprise the Scoobis. New and Old friends meet, and get the chance to discuss their “similar” problems. At the same time an old enemy returns to town and attempts to solve some lingering problems.

- The group will meet someone we know, whose identity will only be revealed, when they reah Sunnydale.

- When Angel arrives in Sunnydale, he starts to act stangely: just like in Dear Boy.

Ats episode 22, takes place actually as second part of Buffy season finale, giving it a special 2-hour treatment.

BtVS 522 (Season Finale) – CENTENNIAL

-Episode 22 or Episode 100, which will be 2 hour long.Episodio 22

- Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

- THE DESTINY: The Scooby Gang join forces with the LA crew to face Glory, but she may not be the only thing they’ll need to face. And three of their allies will find out about their destiny.

LAST MINUTE UPDATE: Found an alternate take on these foilers. This is an AICN post from March 11th, 2001:

Is Buffy’s Mom Really Dead”

-Cap’n. Kronos

I am – Hercules.

We’re not going to get another new glimpse of the Sunnydale Slayer Circle at least until March 27 — but now that we’re just six new episodes away from the big one (the long-anticipated 100th episode/season five finale), speculation is running at a fever pitch.

Much has centered around “The Body,” which was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon and dealt with the aftermath of Joyce Summers’ sudden and unexpected death. The episode ended with Dawn about to touch the face of Joyce’s corpse, and many fans are wondering whether The Key will revive the fallen matriarch.

Whedon says it’s not going to happen.

It is among the five great answers about “The Body” Whedon gave TV Guide Online. Whedon also talks about the Christmas flashback, the absence of a musical score, Willow and Tara’s first onscreen kiss, and the reason Buffy slayed a vampire at episode’s end. Read Michael Ausiello’s EXCELLENT and eye-opening article here.

Whedon’s assertion that “Dawn’s special energy will not bring Joyce back” seems to borne out by this rundown of this season’s last six episodes provided by “Cap’n Kronos.” Many possible spoilers ahead:

5.17 (Intervention)

 Buffy’s father visits Sunnydale for Joyce’s funeral and to take custody of Dawn

 Spike tests the Stepford Buffy

 Appearance of Joyce’s date, “Brian”, who is connected to Glory/Ben

5.18 (Forever)

 Anya is offered a shot at regaining her demonic powers, which causes major drama in Casa Del Xander

 Spike’s “Master Plan” – replacing Buffy with the Stepford Buffy – is revealed

 Buffy quickly uncovers said plan, destroys the Stepford Buffy, and beats Spike to an inch of his unlife (supposedly worse than he’s even been beaten before). She then issues Spike an ultimatum: leave Sunnydale or get staked

 Spike hints that his Inhibitor Chip is now either malfunctioning or has been removed

 Brian is revealed to be the father of Glory/Ben

5.19 (N/A)

 Much exposition on the natures & histories of Glory, Ben, Brian, and Dawn

 Glory and Brian want to bring the Hell dimension they rule into this one; Ben doesn’t want to; the Key (i.e. Dawn) opens the dimensional gateway and can also split Glory/Ben into two separate entities.

 Spike offers to deliver The Key to Ben/Glory & Brian in exchange for the removal or neutralization of the Inhibitor Chip. They agree, and Brian neutralizes the chip. Spike delivers Glory and Brian to the Magic Shop, chaos ensues, ending when Glory reverts to Ben, who runs off.

 Spike tries to tell the gang that he did it to try to lure the Hellgods to Buffy; Buffy is not amused and threatens to kill him.

 Spike leaves Sunnydale

5.20 (N/A)

 Oz returns to Sunnydale

 The Hellgods learn Dawn is The Key

5.21 (N/A)

 The Hellgods kidnap Dawn and begin their rituals to open the dimensional gateway

5.22 (N/A, 100th Episode and Season Finale)

 The forces of Good (Buffy, Scoobies, Oz, Angel (!), and Faith (!!) ) prepare to battle the Hellgods with the fate of the universe at stake

 At a climactic moment in the battle, Spike returns to battle alongside Buffy; his presence helps turn the tide

 Faith redeems herself when she takes a fatal blow intended for Buffy and dies

 After the Battle, Spike tells Buffy that he’s over the crush, and wants to fight alongside her—not for money, but because it’s the right thing to do. Touched, she and Spike have a moment, and she gives him a chaste hug.

 Spike uses that moment of vulnerability to plunge his fangs into Buffy’s neck, snarling, “If you won’t love me as a human, then there’s one way you will….” And he opens a vein and forces Buffy’s mouth around it… If these are true, it’s gonna be a LONG summer.

General Season Spoilage

 Robin LaMorte may return for a cameo as Jenny Calendar

 Marc Blucas (Riley Finn) will not return this season Hope you can do something with these!

Twestival: Tweet. Meet. Give.

So the day finally arrived.  Today, Twiterrers from 175+ cities around the world  join forces for 1st major Twitter based charity event.

The event will definitely serve as an interesting case study for the future, as this major social network work towards a common goal: raising money and awareness for charity: water.

There are several ways to contribute , even if you’re not close to one of the host cities. These suggestions and the complete list of participating cities (and their customized event mini sites) can be found at the event official website:  http://twestival.com/.

Jennifer Connelly in charity: water Public Service Announcement from charity: water on Vimeo.