Written and directed by Ben Edlund, with story by series creator Joss Whedon, it was originally broadcast on February 18, 2004, on the WB network.

In "Smile Time", Angel goes to the studio of a popular show after learning they are stealing the life forces of children, where he triggers a spell that transforms him into a puppet.

In the science lab at Wolfram & Hart, Knox brings Fred files on children who have been hospitalized in the same condition as the little boy.

The egg opens, forming a glowing smile, and a blast of energy tosses Angel across the room, turning him into a sentient puppet.

When Puppet Angel explains to the group what happened, Fred tells the lab to start recording Smile Time so she can analyze it.

Angel orders Lorne and Gunn to talk to the show's creator, Gregor Framkin, at the studio.

Gunn tries to tell him the laws he has violated, but he cannot come up with the right statute, and Framkin says he thinks he would be more likely to win than Wolfram & Hart in court.

Flora suggests that they remove the zombifying spell on some of the employees so that they can see future intruders, but Polo announces that since their "system" has now been perfected, they will drain the life from all of their viewers the next day, instead of one kid at a time.

Gunn, who has regained his law knowledge, announces the puppets are running the show - Framkin made a deal with some devils to improve his ratings.

Elsewhere in L.A., a little girl watches Smile Time and gets the message from Polo that all of the kids in the audience should put their hands on the TV.

"[2] Several puppeteers from The Jim Henson Company were involved in the episode, including Alice Dinnean-Vernon, Leslie Carrara, Victor Yerrid, Julianne Buescher, Tim Blaney, and Drew Massey.

[3] Producer David Fury says the writers talked about doing an evil Sesame Street show before Season Five aired, but "it wasn't until Joss came around going, 'I figured out how to do it - Angel gets turned into a Muppet,' that we kind of went, 'Hallelujah, that's brilliant.

"[3] In their "Year in Review", MSNBC singled out this episode for the tongue-in-cheek "Best appearance by a guest puppet" award, saying it managed to "send up not only children’s TV but the Angel series itself.

"[7] Writer Peter David was impressed that "they seemed to anticipate every single fan reaction" - for example, Knox's suggestion that the Joker was responsible for the children's illness.

Foreseeing that, there's a line bitching about how lousy the last several seasons of Happy Days was, the show from which the (frankly by now overused) phrase originated.

"[10] Inspired by the concept of Smile Time, IDW Publishing released a comic called "Spike: Shadow Puppets".