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Anyone who stuck around with Dollhouse after the uneven first five or six episodes was rewarded with some classic Joss Whedon storytelling.  Luckily for those peeps, FOX was kind enough to bestow a second season on the show — something they don’t normally do for low-rated sci fi. 

Season two starts tonight and hopefully it’ll really find it’s sea legs.  Based on the adendum episode “Epitaph One” we know the show is eventually going in the direction of a fullblown apocalypse with zombie human wrecking havoc on the world. 

That’s where we are headed, but for now Alpha is still running wild, Echo is beginning to remember her life and hold on to her identity, Ballard is now working for the Dollhouse and given the way Joss Whedon tells stories it’s going to make for some juicy tv.

We finally caught up on the last few remaining episodes of Dollhouse last night and while we’re not still hooked on it, it’s a fairly solid show, with an interesting premise.  It’s also not a lawyer, cop or doctor procedural so that makes it practically apointment viewing.

Now, FOX just needs to take their hands off and let Joss be Joss.  He’s done a good job of establishing the show’s universe and the big bad for Season One – known as Alpha.

And now that Alpha’s “identity” has been spoiled by the show’s set designer Leonard Harman, we’re definitely not giving up because of the actor portraying the first active to go completely screwbluey.  MORE »

Joss Whedon says that starting with episode six, his new FOX show Dollhouse, might ascend to the heights of his previous efforts. 

In a note to reporters (or “Newsly Types,” as he puts it) accompanying a DVD of “Man on the Street” (airing March 20) and “Needs” (April 3), Whedon says, “These two episodes represent a much stronger vision of what I consider the show to be.”

The show has been a decent enough effort, but not appointment television.  My interest began to wain after episode three, not because the show was bad or anything, but because I don’t have time to waste my television hours on a ho-hum show. 

Still, Whedon knows how to build a show.  He’s laid a solid groundwork of characters, created an interesting universe, layered several mysteries to unravel and set up the season one big bad.  Not bad considering I’ve only watched three out of five episodes. 

With Battlestar Galactica ending next Friday, I’ll have room to replace that show with another.  Will Dollhouse solidify itself in my television lineup?  Hard to answer that question, but if Whedon is correct (and I trust him implicitly) then I may have to give his sci fi show another shot. 

Says Whedon in his missive, “For me, the question isn’t just whether a show is enjoyable, but whether it’s more than the sum of its fun, whether it truly touches, surprises or connects with you. These [episodes] may do none of the above — I’m not the boss of your opinion — but I feel strongly that they, and the eps to follow, are pretty intense, and very much worth the watching.”

I get the sense that the first six episodes had FOX meddling in them, but since the show lasted beyond that point, hopefully afterwards Whedon’s fingerprints will be much more evident. 

Prove it to me.

Matt Ausiello at EW got his hands on a new clip from Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. It’s strange that FOX seems to be doing everything possible to sabotage this show and we find it curious that Whedon after having the excellent Firefly assassinated by the network would allow that to happen again.

“Fox has saddled it with the confidence-killing, viewer-allergic time slot of Fridays at 9, meaning it’ll probably get canceled halfway through its first season and we’ll just end up disappointed,” writes the guys over at Vulture.

And with this clip, they’ve done Whedon fans and potential new viewers no favors by releasing what could be a boring clip.? There is nothing they are doing to get people excited about the Feb. 13 pilot.? Basically, the buzz is that despite being created by Joss Whedon people are still confused/not sure what to make of the show.? But because Whedon is involved and his track record is sheer excellence most are willing to hold out hope.

I would expect that this show could become a Hulu favorite, with lots of people watching on Saturday morning while nursing a hangover. That’s how this show should be judged and not be network ratings. What FOX should have done is paired this with American Idol or some such thing.

In the clip, we see the first time we see Echo (Eliza Dushku) wake up after having her memories wiped in the special memory-flushing chair which leads into a discussion between lab tech Topher (Fran Kranz) and Echo’s handler Boyd (Harry Lennix) about her last date, delving into just what being a doll/active means.

So, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had a chance to post, and I’m going back to an old favorite of mine: Totally Hot Women on TV.

Lest you think that I’m some wretched fanboy living in a basement who has nothing better to do than fantasize about women that I’ll never meet, I should point out that I live in an attic and not a basement. And that I passed whatever the maximum age is that can be classified as “fanboy” several years ago. As to the rest, no comment.

In one of my last posts, I was arguing for the idea that we had entered a new Golden Age in television, particularly for the hour drama. I think we may have achieved Diamond status for the IBBSI (incredibly Beautiful Babes per Square Inch). Telemundo and Univision are solidly in the Platinum category (if you ignore futbol) but we have definitely narrowed the gap.

Even sticking with only the shows that might be worth watching—ie., not much CW or Fox, no E! or Lifetime or Spike—the list is long, so I’ve separated it into two parts. First, the dramas. Second, reality shows and traditional sitcoms.

I’ll try to limit individual comments, and just list the women by show, but obviously feel free to add to the list in the comments or give us grief/props for our selections.  MORE »

Zap2It has script reviews for two highly anticipated television projects. The first is for Fringe by JJ Abrams, starring Joshua Jackson (Pacey) and the second is Dollhouse by Joss Whedon, starring Eliza Dushku (whom I attended high school with when she was there and not filming some movie or whatnot).

Both series will air on FOX in the fall season.

Fringe is “going to be sold as FOX’s attempt to reclaim the X-Files demo that the network has jeopardized with the swift cancellation of too many shows from folks like Whedon and Tim Minear. The script lends itself to a large-scale pilot and it should leave viewers knowing exactly what to expect in the episodes to come, which is more than can be said for.” Also, getting into the JJ Abrams business is a good thing. His track record is fairly spotless and his following is very loyal.

The same thing can be said about Joss Whedon. His following is not so much loyal as it is messianic. But his track record with FOX is horrible. They’ve canceled every good show he’s done and not just his shows, but shows from Whedon’s acolytes like Tim Minear.

“While recognizably Whedonesque, Dollhouse finds Joss going in different direction, one that may be less quippy and less plot-driven than some might expect. The fans will still love it, I suspect, but will Dollhouse be able to find an audience beyond the Whedonverse? I’m not sure. So this could be one of those “Enjoy it while you’ve got it” gems.” That doesn’t sound good. Well it does, it just sounds like it will get canceled too soon.

In case you’re wondering how these could potentially play out as pilots, the article goes on to expound on what makes a compelling pilot.

A good pilot should do one of two things: It should either lay out the blueprint for the rest of the series or it should intrigue you so much that you can’t wait for the second episode. Fringe falls into the first category. It leaves almost nothing to the imagination in terms of what’s coming next. Dollhouse falls into the second category.

There’s a big rhinosaurus in the room for a lot of my friends. Many of them don’t quite no how to react when I admit my undying love for all things Joss Whedon. Sure, there’s probably a few of them who get it, but the majority of people don’t understand just how wonderful Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly truly are. I suspect this is the same for a lot of Whedon fans, because I suspect that we are a vocal majority on the internet and find comfort in people from across the globe that share that love. Out in the real world we are viewed as something akin to lepers.

I won’t bother with the histrionics of Whedon acolytes or with trying to convert the unconvertable. But I will say, that I have no shame in loving his television programming, his sense of female empowerment, his sense of verbal foreplay, or his deft blend of action and humor. His voice is unique in the same way that Judd Apatow’s voice is reshaping the scope of what a comedy can be. Both manage to make geek chic, in their own identifiable way.

And for that we say welcome back to the small tubes Joss. Hopefully, your next series with Eliza Dushku will be more of a success than your last venture with FOX.

Dushku will star in the Whedon-penned series “Dollhouse,” which has been given a seven-episode order by Fox. News came as an extra-big Halloween treat for Whedon fans, considered some of the most passionate in all of TV.

Produced by 20th Century Fox TV — the studio also behind “Buffy,” “Angel” and Whedon’s late, lamented “Firefly” – “Dollhouse” follows a top-secret world of people programmed with different personalities, abilities and memories depending on their mission.

After each assignment — which can be physical, romantic or even illegal — the characters have their memories wiped clean, and are sent back to a lab (dubbed the “Dollhouse”). Show centers on Dushku’s character, Echo, as she slowly begins to develop some self-awareness, which impacts her missions.

Sounds like an interesting concept, one that won’t see the cathoray tubes until Fall of 2008. Apparantly, the show started as a germ when Whedon and Dushku sat down for lunch to discuss her options after signing a talent deal with FOX. Tim Minear, a long time Whedon collaborator, is also involved with this project.

“It was a mistake!” Whedon said. “I sat down with her to talk about her options, and acted all sage, saying things backwards like Yoda and laying out what I thought she should do. But in the course of doing it, I accidentally made one up. I told it to her, and she said, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.’ “

It should also be noted that Eliza Dushku went to high school with me, not that we were friends or anything but it was a small enough high school and she always seemed like a good person. I once acted in a few plays as a young lad. So you know, I’ve got that going for me.