Feb. 18, 2004, 5:04PM

'Angel' to bow out with a proper send-off
By KATE O'HARE
Copyright 2004 Zap2it.com
LOS ANGELES -- The WB has decided that this fifth season of Angel will be its last.

"It's official enough to know it's real," said David Greenwalt, who created the series with Joss Whedon. "I haven't talked to anybody at the network or the studio, but I can tell you that it makes Mr. Whedon and myself very sad, that we wish it had kept going and we thought it was only getting better."

It's the network's regard for the show that prompted it to give the producers an early enough heads-up for a proper send-off at the end of the season.

"Like some of the great series that are leaving the air this year, including Frasier and Friends, the cast, crew, writers and producers of Angel deserve to be able to wrap up the series in a way befitting a classic television series, and that is why we went to Joss to let him know that this would be the last year of the series on the WB," the network said in a statement. "We have discussed continuing the Angel legacy with special movie events next year, which is still on the table."

Tonight, Angel airs one of its most innovative episodes, called "Smile Time." Written and directed by Ben Edlund (The Tick), and based on an idea by Whedon, it sees the show's title character, a crusading vampire with a soul, forced to fight evil after being transformed into a walking puppet.

"It's so brilliant," Greenwalt said. "I just love it. It's one of the finest pieces of filmmaking I've ever seen. It just cracked me up. It's so ridiculous and silly, and yet there's all this heartfelt stuff in it. It's just quintessential Whedon.

"But wait until you see the episode that follows it in terms of abject heartbreak. It's just searing."