This is a great way to describe it. It's like they are relying on their looks to pull them through.. or they overact and it comes across as disingenuous. Whereas, the Buffy/Angel actors were kind of all oddballs that worked hard at trying to be authentic in their scenes. When Sarah does emotional scenes, she does them in a natural way. Even in season 1, during Prophecy girl when she was yelling at Giles and Angel, she knew when to let more emotion out, and when to subdue it, all in one scene. Whereas most actors these days would just go all out. I feel like talent these days, when it comes to acting, are a different caliber than in the late 90s/early 00s. There are still shows that get there, but it's not the same.
The CW just relies on the teenage demographic, which is just the worst. For every Superman & Lois or Legends of Tomorrow you get a god awful season of Riverdale or the Flash standing around in hallways for half the episode.
The reboot isn't necessarily going to include the Buffy character as we know it, so she's not exactly "replacing SMG" as Buffy. They've stated the reboot would likely star a person of color, so that's why Buffy probably can't be blonde, or look exactly like SMG. I do hope the new protagonist would hold many of Buffy's personality traits, though. And I also think they could still hold onto the OG concept of the show, even with a slayer who doesn't look like Buffy; the premise was the dumb blonde who always dies in horror movies actually ends up saving the day; as Rona states, "the Black chick always gets it first," so they could hold onto the idea that the character who always dies in movies ends up saving the day, only through a new lens with a different character demographic that falls victim to the same trope. I think holding onto that concept with a new character would be a better reboot.
She couldn't be Kendra's daughter, because she said herself that she had never spoken to or been with a male (up until Xander) besides her watcher.
