Angel: My nominee for best TV fight choreography (that I've seen)

[DeathShrike]

This show, specifically the last two seasons had the best fight choreography I have ever seen on television. It hit a high point in season 4 with the episode "Release" which feature a several act long protracted HK-style beat down between superpowered vampire Angelus and and superpowered Slayer Faith. Incredible. The best fight I have ever seen on television. For those entire 4th and 5th season the show had a real commitment to long, intricate and creative fight scenes. What other shows do you guys think have exceptionally good choreography? The fight scenes on Joss Whedon(creator of Angel)'s new show Dollhouse have been pretty excellent as well, though less frequent. I haven't seen the Woo Ping TV shows or Donnie Yen's. How enjoyable are they?

[Gaijin84]

Although I haven't seen it yet, I've heard that "The Master of Tai Chi" tv series directed by Yuen Wo Ping has choreography equivalent to his best in films, which obviously bodes well. It probably helps that it stars Wu Jing as well. Now I just have to find a full version with English subs!

[hkpyanfar]

Angel and Buffy both had dynamic fight sequences. They were a major draw for me. Dark Angel also had good fights, but Angel and Buffy had it beat.

[Atherton]

I thought the fights for Buffy were kind of uneven from season to season. Although not as fast or brutal as the best fight choreograph. When it was good it had proper rhythm and to me that's the key.

[Solid Ronin]

I didn't watch too much of either show but what I did I never cared for.

Best fights on TV I've seen are from GARO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbtAfDHURa0

[AlbertV]

Always been a fan of Jeff Pruitt's work (he was the choreographer of Angel and Buffy..his wife Sophia Crawford was Buffy's double). He is also one of the flashiest fighters on screen with brief roles in MISSION OF JUSTICE and SWORD OF HONOR. Always wondered why he never got a lead role...used to email him but that was years ago.

[kaleyboy]

I remember watching an interview with the guys who played Spike & Angel on TV, and at one point they talked about fighting on screen, and the angel-guy said he'd been practising kung fu for years and that it helped him with the onscreen fighting. He didn't say which style he'd learned, but it'd be interesting to know.

[massa_yoda]

When it comes to American TV, i think Stargate Atlantis had surprisingly good fight choreography. James (BAM BAM) Bamford was their guy and he had a certain flow to his fight scenes. Best of all, the director didn't chop them up either.

[blue_skies]

Buffy & Angel were prety enjoyable but let's not forget sammo's Martial Law.

[prometheus126]

Are we talking American fight choreography for a T.V. show or general choreography for a T.V. show?

Either way, I liked both Buffy (when it wasn't cramming feminism down my throat.) and Angel but I felt the action scenes were too heavily edited to form a rhythm to it half the time and the later tacked-on wire-work made me grit my teeth too much, it was too "we like the matrix so let's do the matrix!" kinda deal.

[AlbertV]

Black Sash (2003) had some pretty decent fight choreography. The use of bagua along with other various martial arts were used. The choreographers were Dean Choe and Andy Cheng (the latter who appears in the pilot episode dressed in drag). Wished the series lasted longer, but the whole Dawson's Creek meets Kung Fu angle didn't quite work well.

Vanishing Son, the TV movies had excellent fight choreography (I think John Cheung/Chang was the fight choreographer on them), and TV series version was not too bad either.

[DeathShrike]

...the whole Dawson's Creek meets Kung Fu angle didn't quite work well.

How could it?

[AlbertV]

I think they should have concentrated more on Russell Wong's character. He had to work as a bounty hunter to help his school as well as his custody battle. It would have been nice to see that he could see his daughter again without that scumbag of his ex-wife's new husband (some rich snot) getting in the way. I did like the Wong-Cheng chase that opened the series...have it on VHS somewhere.