UltimateTV was the name of a Web site for all-things-television officially launched in May 1998 in Encino, California. Originally a hobby website ("TV Net") started by David Cronshaw, an engineer at KCAL-TV 9, it caught the attention of Jeff Rowe, a Vice President at NBC and JD Publishing, a publisher of TV schedules located in Wisconsin. Rowe, Cronshaw and JD developed a business plan, hiring James Lamb of Tacoma, Washington as their first employee to begin as soon as he completed college at Pacific Lutheran University. Shortly after this, the site was found by Matt Soffen and a few problems were reported to David Cronshaw to fix. Because David was not a programmer, Matt offered to help by using his skills as a programmer, system administrator, and general techie. He worked with the site until it became Zap2it.
Briefly the Web site was launched as "UTV: Your Ultimate Television Network" before United Television, the half-owners of the UPN network at the time, had their lawyers send out a cease & desist letter, claiming the name to be too similar to their own, even though they admitted the name was internal and only relevant to their work as a station-ownership group and that the term UTV was not used in the marketplace. UltimateTV was best known for its Ultimate TV Show list ("UTVL" - based on the script which ran the Ultimate Band List) and its work for other television networks creating official Web sites, most notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek designed by Jon Ofstead, Art Director of Ultimate Studios (a division of UltimateTV) for The WB.
With Buffy the Vampire Slayer, James Lamb rose to prominence under the name TV James, shepherding a small online posting board community which ultimately grew to over 500 regular daily participants, including members of the show's cast and crew, most notably Joss Whedon. Many in that group of regular participants would go on to meet each other in person during one of several yearly parties (PBP or "Posting Board Parties") in Los Angeles or local regional gatherings of the show's fans. The posting board is credited with facilitating a number of connections which resulted in marriages between the show's fans, including Lamb and his wife Lori. The posting board software began as a free open-source perl script modified extensively by Lamb and Matthew Soffen of UltimateTV. The software is in use today on The Fuselage, the official Web site behind the creative team for the popular TV show Lost.
In 2000, UltimateTV and parent company JD Publishing became part of The Tribune Company (owners of TV stations and newspapers nationwide) and the name was sold to Microsoft as the website was merged into other Tribune offerings under the name "Zap2it.com" where it offered an expanded look at entertainment beyond just TV.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a 1992 American comedy horror film directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui and starring Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank, and David Arquette. It follows a Valley Girl cheerleader named Buffy who learns that it is her fate to hunt vampires. It was a moderate success at the box office, but received mixed reception from critics. The film took a different direction from that which its writer, Joss Whedon, intended. Five years later, he created the darker, and critically acclaimed, television series of the same name.
Buffy Anne Summers is the title character of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in The WB/UPN 1997–2003 television series and subsequent 1998–2018 Dark Horse and 2019–present Boom! Studios comic series of the same name. The character has also appeared in the spin-off series Angel, as well as numerous expanded universe materials such as novels and video games. Buffy was portrayed by Kristy Swanson in the film and by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the television series. Giselle Loren has lent her voice to the character in both the Buffy video games and an unproduced animated series, while Kelly Albanese lent her voice to the character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comics.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although they are separate and otherwise unrelated productions. Whedon served as executive producer and showrunner under his production tag Mutant Enemy Productions.
Angel is an American supernatural television series, a spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffy's creator, writer and director Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt. It aired on The WB from October 5, 1999, to May 19, 2004, consisting of five seasons and 110 episodes. Like Buffy, it was produced by Whedon's production company, Mutant Enemy.
Jane Espenson is an American television writer and producer.
"Buffy vs. Dracula" is the season 5 premiere of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on September 26, 2000 on The WB. Buffy faces the infamous Count Dracula, who has come to Sunnydale to make her one of his brides. In the process, he turns Xander into a Renfield of sorts, and Giles becomes enthralled with the three sisters, much like Jonathan Harker in the novel. However, after a brief spell during which Buffy is mesmerized by the Count, she regains her usual composure and defeats him.
The Buffyverse canon consists of materials that are thought to be genuine and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe established by the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Buffyverse is expanded through other additional materials such as comics, novels, pilots, promos and video games which do not necessarily take place in exactly the same fictional continuity as the Buffy episodes and Angel episodes. Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate and other prolific sci-fi and fantasy franchises have similarly gathered complex fictional continuities through hundreds of stories told in different formats.
Keith Andrew Topping is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series Doctor Who and for writing numerous official and unofficial guide books to a wide variety of television and film series, particularly Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Buffy: The Animated Series is an animated television series concept based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer created by Joss Whedon. Initially greenlit by 20th Century Fox in 2002, it went ultimately unproduced and unaired when no network was willing to buy the series. The series would have taken place in the middle of Buffy season 1, as writer Jeph Loeb described the continuity as "Episode 7.5".
Whedonesque.com was a collaborative weblog devoted to the works of Joss Whedon. Submissions of new content ended on August 21, 2017, following the publication of an open letter by Whedon's ex-wife Kai Cole. The site was taken offline in 2021. At its inception in 2002, Whedonesque covered Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but expanded to follow Whedon's professional output, as well as the careers of cast and crew associated with Whedon projects. Since 2004, the site has been recognized in other media outlets by awards and citations of Whedon's writings originally posted to Whedonesque.
The fictional universe established by television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been parodied or paid tribute to by a number of unofficial productions, most notably fan films and adult films.
The popular fictional Buffyverse established by TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel has led to attempts to develop more commercially viable programs set in the fictional 'Buffyverse'. However some of these projects remain undeveloped for various reasons: sometimes, vital cast members may be unavailable; alternatively, studios and networks which would provide capital for the spinoffs might remain unconvinced that such projects are financially viable.
A popular American TV show from the late 1990s through early 2000s, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has had a tremendous influence on popular culture that has attracted serious scholarly attention. Even the language used on the show has affected modern colloquial expressions.
"Welcome to the Hellmouth" is the series premiere of the American supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It originally aired on The WB on March 10, 1997 in a two-hour premiere along with the following episode, "The Harvest". The episode was written by the series creator and executive producer Joss Whedon and directed by Charles Martin Smith. "Welcome to the Hellmouth" received a Nielsen rating of 3.4 upon its original airing and received largely positive reviews from critics.
The first season of the American supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer originally aired between March 10 and June 2, 1997 on The WB. Conceived as a mid-season replacement, the season consists of twelve episodes, each running approximately 45 minutes in length, and originally aired on Mondays at 9:00 pm ET.
The fourth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on October 5, 1999, on The WB and concluded its 22-episode season on May 23, 2000. It maintained its previous timeslot, airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET. Beginning with this season, the character of Angel was given his own series, which aired on The WB following Buffy. Various Buffy characters made appearances in Angel, including Buffy herself; Cordelia Chase, formerly a regular in Buffy, and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who appeared in Buffy season three.
The fifth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on September 26, 2000 on The WB and concluded its 22-episode season on May 22, 2001. It maintained its previous timeslot, airing Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET. This was the final season to air on The WB before it moved to UPN; The WB billed the season five finale as "The WB series finale".
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