From the 'didn't we know that already?' dept, CNN confirms that people connected to the show say that Gellar told Joss that she's leaving after this season. So now we have our definitive(??) answer.

The high point from the blurb was:

"Her departure also likely means "Buffy," at least in its current incarnation, will wrap in May, something that's also not much of a shocker, given the show's apocalyptic storylines this season."

Yeah, and the folks that taught us that the plural of 'apocalypse' is 'apocali' have never seen that before....

Apparently the fate of the show is still up in the air: Will it continue with a new Slayer? Will it be rebranded as a spinoff after the absence of the title character?

The only question that doesn't get much ink is whether Angel will continue on next season. It might, or it might not. No big diff. The paperclip of Angel's tortured life broke long ago.

Me, I'm secretly hoping for a crossover spinoff from Buffy and Enterprise, where a new slayer named Gargravarr rises up in The Fray's post-slayer universe, and travels by starship from world to world to (and this part's key) alphabetically insult, and then slay, every demon in the known universe.

Things get interesting in the series's two-hour pilot (which happens to also be it's season finale) when she crosses paths with, and consequently teams up with, Malcolm Reynolds and crew. The finale (aired in week two) centers around a final confrontation with the Big Bad: the mysterious yet ugly Reavers.

If only TiVo made new shows based on the ones I like...