Thank you for reproducing that portion of the interview with Whedon. I hadn't read it, and only knew what Lynch stated in his blog, which was fairly vague and lead me to believe Whedon was more involved.
Whedon, actually, has never been that involved in the Angel enterprise. It was mainly Greenwalt, then Minear, and finally Bell and Fury's baby. I think the most he was involved was during seasons 5, 1 and possibly 4. He sort of executive produced Angel - because he trusted Minear. Greenwalt and Whedon did not see eye to eye in regards to how Season 3 was handled, so he came in at 4 to fix things. I remember that there were production problems during S3 and some definite issues with Charisma Carpenter and David Greenwalt. How much of that is rumor and how much is truth - I don't think any of us will ever know.
I do know he was fairly heavily involved in Angel S5 - because it was his only project outside of the Serenity movie.
In regards to the comic - in reading your response and maggie's which I'll respond to later. I think I came to it with a different attitude. Actually I've come to both comics with a different attitude than a lot of fans have. I have very low expectations. Don't expect many layers. And sort of see them as well, I want to say fanfiction, but that's not quite it - more a derivative work. I don't see them as canon - two different mediums.
Regarding SMG?
The SMG/Lucci relationship was complicated. And partly a personality conflict. Both are extreemly strong personalities and both have a bit of a diva in them. SMG rubbed a lot of people on BTVS the wrong way and Hannigan apparently can't stand her. Perfectionist comes to mind. How much of that is rumor? I've no clue.
Also, SMG and others have said that part of it was due to her role on the show and the nasty relationship that character had with Erica - which may have caused some of the dischord. Not aided by the fact that SMG won the emmy, then shortly thereafter announced she was leaving for greener pastures. (She did something similar on BTVS - where she announced she was quitting Buffy and leaving for some great movie roles - which was bit nasty to her co-workers. It happens in all industries, though. Except in this industry - an actor leaving tends to mean other people lose their jobs and lively hoods. Hence the dischord. It's amazing how many people Gellar kept employed by agreeing to play Buffy for Seven years, even if the show had continued without her - a few people would have lost their jobs. Not a fun industry.)
No one else - to my knowledge - has had problems with Lucci. So this was an isolated incident.
That said, I agree - Lucci could have dealt with it better. The problem may have been that Gellar reminded Lucci a bit too much of herself, specifically things she's not happy about in herself. But that's just speculation on my part.
Thank you for the clarification
Whedon, actually, has never been that involved in the Angel enterprise.
It was mainly Greenwalt, then Minear, and finally Bell and Fury's baby.
I think the most he was involved was during seasons 5, 1 and possibly 4.
He sort of executive produced Angel - because he trusted Minear. Greenwalt and Whedon did not see eye to eye in regards to how Season 3 was handled, so he came in at 4 to fix things. I remember that there were production problems during S3 and some definite issues with Charisma Carpenter and David Greenwalt. How much of that is rumor and how much is truth - I don't think any of us will ever know.
I do know he was fairly heavily involved in Angel S5 - because it was his only project outside of the Serenity movie.
In regards to the comic - in reading your response and maggie's which I'll respond to later. I think I came to it with a different attitude. Actually I've come to both comics with a different attitude than a lot of fans have.
I have very low expectations. Don't expect many layers. And sort of see them as well, I want to say fanfiction, but that's not quite it - more a derivative work. I don't see them as canon - two different mediums.
Regarding SMG?
The SMG/Lucci relationship was complicated. And partly a personality conflict. Both are extreemly strong personalities and both have a bit of a diva in them. SMG rubbed a lot of people on BTVS the wrong way and Hannigan apparently can't stand her. Perfectionist comes to mind.
How much of that is rumor? I've no clue.
Also, SMG and others have said that part of it was due to her role on the show and the nasty relationship that character had with Erica - which may have caused some of the dischord. Not aided by the fact that SMG won the emmy, then shortly thereafter announced she was leaving for greener pastures. (She did something similar on BTVS - where she announced she was quitting Buffy and leaving for some great movie roles - which was bit nasty to her co-workers. It happens in all industries, though. Except in this industry - an actor leaving tends to mean other people lose their jobs and lively hoods. Hence the dischord. It's amazing how many people Gellar kept employed by agreeing to play Buffy for Seven years, even if the show had continued without her - a few people would have lost their jobs. Not a fun industry.)
No one else - to my knowledge - has had problems with Lucci. So this was an isolated incident.
That said, I agree - Lucci could have dealt with it better. The problem may have been that Gellar reminded Lucci a bit too much of herself, specifically things she's not happy about in herself. But that's just speculation on my part.