Reader's Choice Results
Mutants, Mutant Enemy, and other nominees for the best of 2000.

Genre TV

Best Actor, Actress, and grist for the fan fic mills: James Marsters and Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Best Series: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Last year, Buffy swept the awards due to high-quality writing and acting, great storylines, and a proliferation of Marsters/Boreanaz/Head/Brendon/Fill In Your Hot Mutant Enemy Star fans among our readership. This year, it seemed to win by, well, default: the only other series coming close was Angel, followed by Farscape. Shows in the mere double-digits included The Invisible Man, First Wave, The Others, and, trailing behind, The X-Files.

Best Actor: JAMES MARSTERS

Wow! We're as shocked as you are! Always objective, James Marsters, we at the 11th Hour certainly never guided Mr. Marsters' unadulterated sweep James Marsters James Marsters of this category. We could mention some other runners-up -- David Boreanaz, Christian Kane, Ben Browder, and Anthony Stewart Head -- but we wouldn't want to give any more subliminal messages...

Best Actress: SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR

Sure, the Golden Globes screwed her over -- just by nominating Jessica Alba! -- but 11th Hour readers know better than to follow the crowd. Sarah Michelle won yet again, but barely -- Alyson Hannigan as Willow nearly tied her for the vote. Other notable nominees: Farscape's Claudia Black, Voyager's Jeri Ryan, X-Files' Gillian Anderson, and Angel's Charisma Carpenter.

Our readers wanted to spend a little more time with The Others.

Most Unwarranted Cancellation: THE OTHERS

"They're all dead," said Glen Morgan of The Others after NBC cruelly axed his supernatural series for... oh Lord... the XFL. For many, it was just another Morgan and Wong casualty; for discerning genre viewers, it was the second loss in a year marked by another great show thwarted: Now and Again. Also of note: the ailing Freakylinks, currently suffering the "hiatus" variety of slaughter, earned quite a few votes from ardent fans. Really.

Best Writing in a Genre Series: ANGEL

Buffy may have won for Best Series, but that Dawn/Glory/Riley nonsense isn't winning points with anyone. Readers praised Angel's journey to the dark side (despite, well, that whole Darla/Drusilla nonsense), while many Mutant Enemy writers were singled out for their talents. Among them: Marti Noxon, Doug Petrie, Jane Espensen, and, above all, Joss Whedon.

Best Direction in a Genre Series: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

And speaking of... while the shows for this category spanned a broader range (Dark Angel, The X-Files, Farscape, The Others), no show got as many votes as Joss Whedon obtained for the single episode "Restless," Buffy's creative and enigmatic fourth season finale.

Best Action Scene: BUFFY VERSUS...

Adam. Dracula. Riley. Spike. Glory. Faith. So were the foes of the Slayer last season, and so went our category in another bout of redundancy. Non-Buffy fight scenes mentioned: Angel vs. Darla. Angel vs. Drusilla. Angel vs. Riley. Anyone with Angel. You get the idea.

This deadly duo tore up China during the Boxer Rebellion, and Spike beat out the competition (probably literally) in this year's awards.

Best Villain: SPIKE

The Buffy vamp who puts the "best" in the "best villain" category (seeing as the "villain" part, sadly, does not apply) won for the second year in a row. Other, more definitively villainous types: Angel's Lindsey, Darla, and Drusilla; X-Files's Cigarette-Smoking Man (when?), Krycek (where?) and John Shiban (yeah, we dig it); and Now and Again's Egg Man.

Most Impractical Clothing Choice: BUFFY

Buffy seems to have learned nothing from last year's awards; in fact, her addiction to gaudy colored clothing of the backless, spangled, or high-heeled variety seems to have spread. Aside from "Buffy's tie-dyed issues", "amazing patrolling halters", "impossibly short skirts", "ugly-ass hairdos", we had "Willow's Wiccan slut gear" and "Cordelia's tops that are tied to her body with two pieces of dental floss" (not to mention her "awful new haircut") and "clogs -- on anyone." Also mentioned as avatars of impracticality: Dark Angel's Max, the amazing Wonderbra-ed Scully, and "the whole cast of Dune."

Producer/Creator You Loathe With the White-Hot Intensity of a Thousand Burning Suns: CHRIS CARTER

We swear, pisher's 16,000+ word diatribe had nothing to do with it. Also on your hit list: James Cameron, for creating Dark Angel, J. Michael Straczynski (for... what?), "anyone involved with Lexx", Jason Katims of Roswell notoriety, Braga and Berman of the Trek, and "anyone at UPN." Plus, an unprecedented amount of votes for an 11th Hour fave: "Joss Whedon, what happened to Buffy?" wondered many a concerned reader.

Dork Angel: Thanks to Jessica Alba, Roswell's got some company.

Least Sucky Network: THE WB

Sure, "New Tuesday" is roughly two years old, but it's still cool. Let's hope the Frog still claims the Slayer at this time next year, and not one of those cancel-happy networks that people actually watch. Genre supporters (well, sort of) The Sci Fi Channel and Fox also performed well. From abroad: Ireland's TV3 and the 7 Network in Australia.

Worst Series: ROSWELL and DARK ANGEL (TIE)

It was the battle of the brain-dead brunettes as Roswell's Shiri Appleby found competition in the vacuous Jessica Alba, a fine actress minus that whole dialogue/movement/existing thing. The combined effect of the two horrid series was enough to send strong contender The X-Files into third place, followed by, in condescending order, Lexx, Voyager, Freakylinks, Stargate SG1, Seven Days, Cleopatra 2525, and a bunch of other shows we didn't know -- or care to know -- were still on.

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