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Angel co-creator Joss Whedon told SCI FI Wire that the deck was stacked against David Simkins, who departed The WB series after only three months as show runner and head writer. "We just tried to put him in a job that was nearly impossible to do," Whedon said in an interview. "It's hard to come in and be in a leadership position on a show where everyone's been doing it for a few years, and you're really new to it. The chances of succeeding are like one in 10, at best."

Whedon had enlisted the Freakylinks and Dark Angel veteran to step in for co-creator David Greenwalt, the longtime Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel producer, who amicably left to run the upcoming ABC series Miracles. (Greenwalt remains a consultant on Angel.) "It just wasn't a match," Whedon said of Simkins. "So the show runner [on Angel] now is me. [Executive producer] Tim Minear is still working just as hard on it. And we've got [co-producer] Jeffrey Bell handling a lot of the day-to-day stuff that Greenwalt was handling. And all of my writers are coming up and working harder and getting more opportunities. That's really the way we should have done it. It's a dangerous move to bring in an outside person. But, brave we were [in Yoda voice]." Angel begins its fourth season Oct. 6 in its new Sunday 9 p.m. timeslot.

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