Reports have been circulating for months that Buffy the Vampire Slayer might be ditching its WB home in favor of ABC or Fox. However, the show's star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, says she's not going anywhere.
"I will stay on Buffy if, and only if, Buffy stays on the WB," Gellar tells E! Online TV columnist Wanda. "And you know what? Print that. My bosses are going to kill me, but print that. I want them to know."
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Gellar says she feels she wouldn't have any loyalty to another network, and, if the show jumps, it would crush Buffy worshipers who have tuned into the WB religiously every week to watch the show.
"The WB has been so supportive, such a great network over the past four years. It feels like home. I don't want the show to move, because I feel that we belong on the WB. It's where our fans are," she says. "If Buffy leaves the WB, I'm out."
While the show's publicists refused to comment Monday on Gellar's ultimatum, WB chief executive Jamie Kellner recently came out publicly on the issue at the Television Critics Association meeting in Pasadena, California. Kellner said he was willing to pay the show's producers every penny the network makes to keep the drama series; however, he said the network would refuse to go beyond that.
"We will take all the revenue we can generate with Buffy, and we'll give it to you in a giant wheelbarrow," he said. "And if that's not enough, then take it to somebody else. You've demonstrated you're not the kind of partner we should be doing business with."
Kellner said the WB was willing to kick in 50 percent more in licensing fees to the show's producers--20th Century Fox Television. He also said Buffy will likely stay on the WB because, ultimately, the network is the best place demographically for the show to retain its legion of female fans.
While the Frog Network appears to have drawn a line in the sand, ABC has long been interested in picking up the Buffster and her supernatural pals. Now in its fifth season, Buffy's magical ratings have made the show more expensive to produce, with the drama series now going for about $1 million per episode. However, that figure could double as ABC or Fox makes a play for the show and its die-hard young teenage fans--a demographic advertisers drool over.
Another source involved in the show says 20th Century Fox Television has been considering moving Buffy to a bigger network because the WB simply cannot, or will not, cough up enough cash to cover the stars' skyrocketing salaries--this despite the network being owned by the world's largest media conglomerate, AOL Time Warner.
Fox TV boss Sandy Grushnow says it's possible Buffy could end up on the Fox network, but it's his company's goal to reach a deal to keep the show on the WB.
After all, he says, recalling Kellner's remarks, "They don't have wheelbarrows at the WB...They have Mercedes."