Why isn't VK is S5? Seriously. Was it a money issue, a people not liking Connor issue, the writers not knowing what to do with Connor issue, or really just for the sake of plot issue?
This seems to depend a lot on who you ask. VK says that it was partially plot-drive (i.e., adding Spike to the mix stirred things up in interesting ways)and partially driven by the overwhelming hatred of Connor by fans (my words, not his).
Initially, the way things played out was that during the early Spring of....um, JESUS *2003*? Is that right? Ohmygod. Anyways. During the early spring of 2003, there was a lot of talk (again) about how expensive AtS was getting for the WB. Jordan Levin in particular had some kind of bee up his butt about the show or about Whedon or about the show and Whedon. Something. BtVS was wrapping up, and there were a lot of rumors about JM jumping over to AtS after BtVS was over. (You should have seen LJ during that Spring. I think there officially too many wanks to record.)
So, around the end of April, early May, ME started officially leaking info on JM's participation on AtS, to get a feel for fan reaction and so that they could give some numbers to the WB about how much they could expect viewership to increase due to Spike's presence. Spike was initally rumored to be signed up for 12 episodes, and then we heard that JM had said that he wouldn't come on board or anything less than a full season (I don't blame him in the least). I don't know if you were around for this period of time, but the fan reaction towards Spike was the biggest thing I've ever seen in fandom. Jossverse was the biggest fandom in the world (XF was finally waning and HP hadn't hit it huge yet, if memory serves) and Spike was the biggest character in it. Conversely, Connor was almost universally hated and had been since the moment he was born (actually the moment the idea of him was announced, but I digress). Connor-hatred was really the one thing almost everyone could agree on about s4, which is interesting to think about in a post-"Origin" world. It also makes me angry (still) because the end of April/beginning of May corresponded to the last five or so episodes of s4, which is when fan reaction towards Connor started shifting a bit. In the perserve way that fandom can be sometimes, it took Connor revealing that he'd known about Jasmine the whole time to get fans to start trusting him. The whole, Holtz-used-to-tie-me-to-a-tree-and-leave-me-there-to-either-die-or-escape thing seemed to garner some sympathy as well, as did the church scene in "Peace Out." All in all, despite threats of cancellation and wishy-washy feelings about having Spike on the show at all aside, things were looking pretty optimistic. Whedon himself said in a TV Guide article in early May that no one was leaving the show, that rumors of Charisma Carpenter and/or Vincent Kartheiser being fired were wholly unfound. May 8th, "Home" aired. May 12th, they made the announcement that JM was going to become a full member of the show, and CC and VK were out. You're lucky you did not know me during this time. I was INSANE with grief. I left the fandom. I still haven't seen the first ten episode of s5. I still think that Vincent Kartheiser was fired to make financial room for James Marsters. In the perverse way that fandom is somtimes, I enjoy nothing more than writing stories about how these two guys, whose lives almost intersected, and whose success that one year was dependent on the failure of the other, have a lot of buttsex.
no subject
This seems to depend a lot on who you ask. VK says that it was partially plot-drive (i.e., adding Spike to the mix stirred things up in interesting ways)and partially driven by the overwhelming hatred of Connor by fans (my words, not his).
Initially, the way things played out was that during the early Spring of....um, JESUS *2003*? Is that right? Ohmygod. Anyways. During the early spring of 2003, there was a lot of talk (again) about how expensive AtS was getting for the WB. Jordan Levin in particular had some kind of bee up his butt about the show or about Whedon or about the show and Whedon. Something. BtVS was wrapping up, and there were a lot of rumors about JM jumping over to AtS after BtVS was over. (You should have seen LJ during that Spring. I think there officially too many wanks to record.)
So, around the end of April, early May, ME started officially leaking info on JM's participation on AtS, to get a feel for fan reaction and so that they could give some numbers to the WB about how much they could expect viewership to increase due to Spike's presence. Spike was initally rumored to be signed up for 12 episodes, and then we heard that JM had said that he wouldn't come on board or anything less than a full season (I don't blame him in the least). I don't know if you were around for this period of time, but the fan reaction towards Spike was the biggest thing I've ever seen in fandom. Jossverse was the biggest fandom in the world (XF was finally waning and HP hadn't hit it huge yet, if memory serves) and Spike was the biggest character in it. Conversely, Connor was almost universally hated and had been since the moment he was born (actually the moment the idea of him was announced, but I digress). Connor-hatred was really the one thing almost everyone could agree on about s4, which is interesting to think about in a post-"Origin" world. It also makes me angry (still) because the end of April/beginning of May corresponded to the last five or so episodes of s4, which is when fan reaction towards Connor started shifting a bit. In the perserve way that fandom can be sometimes, it took Connor revealing that he'd known about Jasmine the whole time to get fans to start trusting him. The whole, Holtz-used-to-tie-me-to-a-tree-and-leave-me-there-to-either-die-or-escape thing seemed to garner some sympathy as well, as did the church scene in "Peace Out." All in all, despite threats of cancellation and wishy-washy feelings about having Spike on the show at all aside, things were looking pretty optimistic. Whedon himself said in a TV Guide article in early May that no one was leaving the show, that rumors of Charisma Carpenter and/or Vincent Kartheiser being fired were wholly unfound. May 8th, "Home" aired. May 12th, they made the announcement that JM was going to become a full member of the show, and CC and VK were out. You're lucky you did not know me during this time. I was INSANE with grief. I left the fandom. I still haven't seen the first ten episode of s5. I still think that Vincent Kartheiser was fired to make financial room for James Marsters. In the perverse way that fandom is somtimes, I enjoy nothing more than writing stories about how these two guys, whose lives almost intersected, and whose success that one year was dependent on the failure of the other, have a lot of buttsex.
The end.