The hourglass of identity

Twentysomething and post-twentysomething fans of Joss Whedon from days of yore, prepare to feel old. I have stumbled upon a fact.

Remember David Boreanaz?

Yeah, this guy, Angel. Buffy the Vampire Slayer's swoony first love, appearing in the first three seasons and sporadically thereafter in a total of 57 episodes, later the lead singer of a rotating angst band on his own eponymous show, which ran for 111 episodes

Well, this Monday, September 30th, marks the day that Angel is surpassed by this guy:

Special Agent Seeley Booth, who has appeared in every episode of the crime dramedy Bones. All 169 episodes, this coming Monday.

So while in our hearts, it may always be the case that that guy from Buffy and Angel is on a crime show now, the truth as of Monday is that that guy from Bones was in some vampire shows in the late 90s and early 00s.

No offense to Mr. Boreanaz, who is great, by the way.

Of Foxes, Whedons, and agents on the inside

I have been watching Dollhouse at a remarkable pace. Halfway into the second season (or 3/4 through what would have been a regular season of another show) I come to a question that has been asked many times before.

Why would Fox keep cancelling Joss Whedon's series?* I have heard the theories. The suits at Fox are idiots, the common theory runs. With Firefly, and then Dollhouse, their increasingly atrophied senses of taste responded to masterful storytelling as the deepest of cave fungi respond to the light of the sun. It was terrible and incomprehensible to them, so they sought to extinguish it.

Well, that theodicy satisfies some geeks, but in my paranoid ramblings I've come to a theory of my own. And I'm going to lay it on you after the jump.

Warning: This is probably going to contain vague spoilers for Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Serenity, and the first season of Dollhouse. But then, if I'm right, it could contain spoilers for everything.