Charisma Carpenter is such an intelligent and thoughtful speaker! I'm so glad that she was Cordelia, it really seems like she GOT her the most. More than the writers for sure.
Great Q&A! (And also, glad that they did take the question that they were initially not going to take, because I have had that question on my mind for a long time, too)
Their answer was terrible, though. They have no right to erase a person from his own creation. They could have quit their roles at any time. And in fact, I heard that Amber essentially quit. She asked to be written off of the show. She wasn't killed off the way she described. They gave her an epic impactful sendoff because she didn't want to be there anymore even though Joss asked her to stay. They come across as spiteful.
Ms. Benson and Ms. Carpenter, thank you for doing this and for being so positive for all your fans. I love both of you and both of your characters so much. I love what Amber said about us all being a family!
It really kind of is hard to be such a big fan of the show knowing that it caused pain for people. I really feel for Charisma, she deserved better. I'm glad they shut that question down though because it's unnecessary/harmful to make them relive the worst moments.
I don't know. People have said there was no rule against him being alone with Michelle. Everyone who has spoken on it has said they had no idea what Michelle was talking about. It's awfully vaguely inflammatory. If something really happened, doesn't she have a responsibility to warn others? She went public, so it's not like she's scared to say something more. It seems like a nothing burger. Maybe bitterness over some exchange, but an abusive one? I think it would have come out if there had been abuse as she clearly didn't mind hurting his career.
Yes Charisma deserved SO much better than to become famous and get paid playing Cordelia. You think for one second if she could go back and do it all over again she would have declined the role? Get real. She just wanted another 15 minutes of fame by whining about how badly she was treated. She's a rich spoiled Hollywood diva like them all, no sympathy from me.
It's weird how these 2 never met each other during the show. It's like Cordelia then after Cordelia but i guess that covers all seven seasons so why not?
I've seen James Marsters state that he consciously avoided Charisma during the show because her acting was so superb depicting Cordelia, that he assumed that's how she actually was in real life. Only later, when they crossed paths in real life and projects on other shows, did he truly get to know her.
Well, to be fair, she also feuded with SMG. And in the Slayers podcast, she and Amber made it so Buffy never existed and Cordelia was the one true slayer. That's weird, guys.
I have to be honest, Cordelia is not one of my favourite characters. But that's nothing to do with Charisma. Charisma is one heck of a classy lady and a wonderful actor and I really wish we saw more of her on screen.
Don't understand how anybody could dislike or not care about Cordelia...? If you consider where she started in 'Buffy' and ended in 'Angel', her growth outshone pretty much everyone else's other than Spike. She literally became part demon in order to save Angel from having to suffer the visions. Cordelia was an inspiration.
@@iluvlafferty In writing, there are certain things I look for in character growth that weren't done with Cordelia. That's not to say it can't be done different ways but we all have our tastes and preferences. :)
@@iluvlafferty She grew, but on Angel, all the characters beneficiated from that. Courtesy of David Greenwalt, a genius writer, the best on the show, in my opinion. Cordelia, Angel and Wesley were great, and kept changing. I will also point out that Darla was great, Julie Benz is an amazing actress, and she should've been there more than 20 episodes. Cordelia sacrificed everything for Angel, because she understood the mission and loved him. She was never completely shallow, but she did embraced everything that the Powers of Be put her through. She was never destined to have the visions, but she owned her part of the mission and became a Champion herself. Angel needed her, more than anyone, and she delivered. Same goes for him.
Between the Buffy and Angel series, Cordelia/Charisma had one of the best character arcs. It still disappoints me the way Joss Whedon botched all that.
He didnt ruin anything. Whedon was in control of Buffy in the beginning until he started moving on to other stuff like Angel and Firefly. It was Charisma who ruined her own arc by getting pregnant and not telling Whedon ahead of time depending her contractual obligations.
@MakeMeCare Wow, I don't know how you think that excuses the wildly unprofessional abuse he put her through, but it's certainly a take. And a good writer can use reality to enhance a character, rather than sabotage.
@@Katiewithdaffodilswhat "wildly unprofessional abuse"? She said he fired her, but he didn't. He wrote her pregnancy into the show. She just didn't like her new storyline, but she sprung the news on them last minute and said she couldn't work nights and weekends anymore. What were they supposed to do? She even got brought back for the final season. Was she entitled to be on every episode? The show was Angel. Not Cordelia. And I love Cordelia, but come on.
"How I can be a fan anyway?" - Celebrities are there for the product they are advertising and not for what they do in their private lives. Grow up, buy their products and stop thinking that their private lives is any concern of yours and you'll be OK.
Agreed. And I think Joss Whedon has every reason to still be proud of the shows he created. Amber and Charisma didn't create these shows and many of us don't appreciate them highjacking them or blacklisting the artist we love because they were way too over-sensitive about storylines they didn't write. And I'm sorry, but Amber did not want to be on the show anymore and THAT'S why they killed off Tara and she is outright lying here to further vilify Joss and it's BS. Sick of both of them. Petty af.
Amber's response was wonderfully said. The person asking the question asked a very important question that everyone I'm sure was thinking about asking and the moderator also handled it wonderfully once she realized the person's question was not meant to be malicious or nosy.
@@edo27100% agree. Amanda went into full Tara stutter mode trying to answer the question. She’s like, “dude, chill. I got this. We all know about Charisma, not gonna touch it.” The moderator was too quick to try and shut it down. Somehow I haven’t found this until now and she made probably thousands of people feel better about watching the show.
Really petty answers to me. They claim they're grateful, and they had wonderful experiences and wanted to remain on the show, yet they're trying to erase the artist who gave them this opportunity. And Amber asked to be written off of the show. She wasn't randomly killed off the way she described. Not sure why she lied. Joss asked her to stay. She insisted on going. He might have even asked if she wanted to return and she said no. Now she's just crafting a fabricated narrative to make him look worse. Mean.
This was weird. They don't get to just erase Joss Whedon from the creative process. Yes, a lot of people made Buffy and Angel, but the blacklisting of this artist seems cruel and odd. They both talk about how they'll always be grateful, but I don't actually get that from them at all. And it seems weirdly bitter to still be mad about their characters being killed off so many years later. That's not gratitude. It's more like sour grapes. It's not reasonable to think that on an action/horror genre show, the writers can or should simply keep all of the characters alive for the duration. That would make for a pretty boring monster show. I'm also really confused by Amber because I remember her saying before that SHE wanted to leave the show, and that she had a problem with another actor, but wouldn't say who. And so THAT was why she was written off of the show, in addition to a great story line that helped raise awareness about a devastating topic. Wasn't it even said that Joss begged Amber to stay on the show, or asked if she wanted to come back, but Amber insisted on leaving? So, why blame him now? That's so spiteful that I don't know what to say. And cutting fans off from even saying Joss's name? Whoever runs these conventions might not be Buffy/Angel fans. He poured so much emotion, energy, devotion, and love into these shows. Anyone out to erase him should be ashamed at this point. Especially with so many of the "allegations" against him not amounting to actual abuse. This is wrong.
Love them both so much. I never understood the kill your gays troupe. Or maybe never noticed it. I am a gay man I will say in my 30's and maybe its just cause I love the Scream movies but the only way to survive a horror movie is to be a virgin or gay lol
I never understood it applying to Buffy. Everyone had crappy relationships. Giles lost Jenny, Buffy killed Angel, Wesley lost Fred, Xander lost Anya, Cordelia lost Doyle. Like seriously, Faith/Robin and Willow/Kennedy are the only two ships that survive either series.
@@darnellmajor8895 I totally understand the trope is bad when only the gay character gets killed off out of the cast. But when everyone suffers, it's not "kill your gays", it's kill everyone/make everyone suffer.
Secrets are fine. What you mean is self-hatred. That isn't the same. You don't need to express all parts of yourself to everyone at any time. There are parts of yourself that you should not express not explore. Also, therapy is not for everyone, and it is expensive and not backed by much data. There are other ways to get therapy than therapy.
On a mainstream show back then there wasn’t much who weren’t stereotypes and certain demographics wouldn’t have been in regular contact with out people in their personal lives
Bottled it with the Whedon question. You wanted to air dirty laundry so you have to answer questions about it. The people who threw him under the bus way after the fact should have to explain themselves
Agreed. The blacklisting has been horrible. And some of these petty grievances could have been settled with a conversation. Instead, Carpenter recklessly ended The Nevers and hurt the careers of hundreds more people/artists/actors/crew. And for what? So that they could make a podcast where Buffy never existed and Cordelia was the slayer? Yikes.
And Amber is outright lying about what happened to Tara. She didn't want to be on the show anymore. Now she's acting like that was Joss's idea or that it came out of nowhere. He asked her to stay. She's despicable for this.
Poor Moderation. Before this took place the Moderation should have shot down any Questions about Whedons misbehavior on the Show. Charisma is a Victim of it and She got Hit with that with Out any mental preparation
How is she a victim, though? She said herself she was paid well and that she got residuals. I don't get what the abuse was. She said he called her fat. He said he didn't. She said he fired her, but she was on all seasons of Angel.
