Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

I don't know... Doug Petrie is best known for "Fool For Love," so he can't be that anti-Spike, lol. Kirshner's episodes don't stand out as being particularly pro- or anti-Spike, and she's not one of the more vocal writers (unlike, say, Espenson and Fury, who've made their feelings about Spike pretty obvious) so I don't know where she stands.