None of the actors who appear in the Buffyverse seem to be gone forever, so its likely we haven't seen the last of Cordy and I for one won't miss her as a regular, at least the way she's written now. I hope Fred, Lilah and Gwen will take up the slack.

Spike would probably be pointless on the show except as an well-meaning antagonist.

#$*^)#!! I've been avoiding reading about who was jumping over to Angel in season 5 for the longest time, and now it's all for nothing! Goldern "spoilers" in a news article! (grumble)

On the other hand, WOO HOO!

Well, she did just have a baby, and although it'd be a shock in Hollywood, maybe she's one mother who actually wants to raise her child for a bit before she goes back to work.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Been waiting ages for this date, Angel will get its 5th year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!wooooooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooo

Spike!!!! Spike and Angel will be funny in scenes.

I used to like Cordy, but perhaps she's reached and developed into something people don't associate her as much, the fun and campy Cordy from Buffy, and early in Angel, I understand character development, but perhaps her story has reached a peak, guest roles possibility still though.

And Angel will be screened directly after Smallville, good move to increase viewers.

Maybe they'll run around solving cases together like Simon & Simon.

Fantastic news!

No way! Spike and Warren should run around solving cases together. They can be a rival investigation firm.

I think you mean Andrew, not Warren.

Helps me out quite a bit! Tuesdays had Smallville, 24, and Frasier all at the same time and the DirecTiVo only handles 2 channels at once. I had to watch Smallville on Sundays most of the season.

Great news! WB should benefit greatly from this and gain some old Buffy viewers as well as some spillover from Smallville.

I am also glad to see that the two biggest complaints from this past season, Cordy and Conner, have been remedied. Angel really wil have a fresh start and I look forward to seeing how Spike and Angel work together. IMO, Spike and Lilah, provided she sticks around, definitely have hookup potential. Seeing Spike compete with Wesley would be classic!

What really makes this fifth season intriguing, is that in essence, it will be a show that focuses on the two ex's of Buffy. I don't know if a show focusing on former BF's of another serie's lead has been tried before.

I am so hyped for next season it is not funny... Angel is by far my favourite show on TV (ok...not by far...neck and neck with 24) and this is fantastic news... Spike has been the only really great thing on Buffy in the last while (with the exception of Faith and the sometimes funny Andrew) so this is great news... I can't wait to see Spike stir up some **** in L.A. !!

I would have been sad about Cordy had this happened two season ago, but now she's been nothing but annoying... I'll be glad she's taking a break... hopefully if she ever returns, she will be Sunnydale/Season1 Cordy...ie. superficial bitch cordy...who totally rules! Thanks WB, you made this geek real happy

MATT

So, is Gwen going to be a regular now since Cordy isn't going to be a regular? I assume Lilah is going to be, but I really want Gwen more often Or, if Eliza Dushku's other show doesn't work out, we can have her in for a visit on occasion (depending on how Buffy ends).

Plus, you have to figure there will have to be several W&H additions on a semi-frequent basis, some of which might turn out to be interesting characters. I guess the budget in the end will control how many core type characters we have.

I just really wish Firefly had lasted. After a bumpy start, it was really getting quite good.

Aw man, Gwen kicking it with a suped-up Gunn could be interesting.

As long as they don't bring back Riley...

I'm so conflicted.

I'm glad the show is coming back next season. I'm glad that Whedon, who now has no other shiny toys to play with, appears to want to be heavily involved with the show.

I'm iffy about the Buffy writers migrating to Angel. Drew Goddard would be a good addition to the Angel crew, I guess, but I've yet to see a Rebecca Rand Kirshner episode that I didn't find serious fault with.

I'm pretty pessimistic about Spike making the jump. The character has become something of a symbol, to me, of Buffy's decline in quality. While the change to a better writing staff might help the character, I don't see the character helping the show in any way.

This is also my only worry... ANGEL has been kicking Buffy's ass for the last two years (as far as quality goes) and I really hope that all these Buffy losers who come over to ANGEL don't drag it down... I mean, I think the writing team who has been working on the show the past 2 seasons is terrific...I can not say the same for the writing team over at Buffy... Maybe when the two merge, the sucktacular element will disappear and create the ultimate Whedonsuperteam of writers... oh well, I won't worry until the season actually starts... I'm counting on it being great

MATT

I don't know. A writing staff made up of Whedon, David Fury, Drew Goddard, Jeffrey Bell, Tim Minear( limited since he is taking on another show) and David Greenwalt(see Minear) sounds pretty good to me. Is Doug Petrie making the jump as well?
I think it was less a case of the Buffy writers sucking and more a case of it being a show that in the end, over stayed its welcome. Still, great news about the renewal.

It's official. Angel will be back in its Wednesday night 9:00 timeslot (with Smallville on at 8:00).

http://www.thewb.com/Shows/Special/0...113684,00.html

Furthermore, James Marsters has been added to the cast. And there is no mention of Charisma Carpenter.

Woo!