Posted Nov 11th 2009 4:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Cancellations, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
This seems to be the week for cancellation notices. ABC
canceled Eastwick yesterday and
Hank today, and now FOX has announced that they are
canceling Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.
Is this a surprise?
Not at all. In fact, a lot of people were rather surprised when the show was given a second season. I wonder how many fans of the first season didn't even bother watching the second season of the show because they knew it was a surprise that the show got renewed and they knew it was just a matter of time before FOX canceled it? Or maybe the Friday night slot was another reason a lot of people weren't watching.
The show will actually finish its whole 13 episode order, which is something a lot of canceled shows can't say. Now we'll just have to see if Whedon will have an actual ending for the show.
Posted Oct 24th 2009 1:14AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
(S02E04) It's somewhat ironic that upon news that
Dollhouse is going on
something of a hiatus and will likely not be back next year that it delivers one of the best episodes of its run. Co-written by Joss' brother Jed (and it wouldn't surprise me if he wrote the music to the episode as well) and Maurissa Tancharoen (both of
Doctor Horrible fame), we got the backstory of Sierra and received a major view of how dark the underbelly of the Dollhouse really is.
In another surprise, they redid the graphics for the opening credits and they're better. Does anybody else make up lyrics while listening to the theme or is it just me? If so, what are your lyrics? Mine begins with "This is the Dollhouse. We're in the Dollhouse. This is the Dollhouse song."
Continue reading Review: Dollhouse - Belonging
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 8:33AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
In a portent of things to come,
Dollhouse is
being shoved aside by Fox during November sweeps. The popular rumor is that November will see a repeat of
House shown on Friday nights. The upside is that December will have
Dollhouse go double-long as two episodes will be shown back-to-back on Friday nights.
At least Fox is living up to its promise to show all 13 episodes of the second season. Granted,
Dollhouse has not been Whedon's best effort, but Fox hasn't exactly been kind to the show what with relegating it to Friday nights.
This is just an example of how outdated the current ratings system is. I'm sure if DVRs or Internet downloads were taken into account,
Dollhouse's ratings would be much better than they are on paper. Sadly, we live in an unfair world (with an unfair Nielsen Ratings system) so it's likely we're looking at the last season of the show.
Posted Oct 19th 2009 9:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV Royalty, OpEd, The Office, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Glee, Joss Whedon
It's one of those things that you think would be cool if it happened, and then it actually happens. Joss Whedon is reporting that he'll be
directing an upcoming episode of Glee.
We know he has on occasion stepped outside his usual genre of sci-fi and fantasy based on his directorial work on
The Office. We know he's into musical theater based on his creation of the musical episode of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Now, he's merging all that he's done before. Or at least he would be if the episode of
Glee ends up involving evil scientists and vampires.
Despite my own history in musical theater, I haven't been watching
Glee. Whedon's involvement in an episode would certainly pique my interest enough to catch it. Perhaps he could get together with his brother Jed and write the music for the episode, as well, turning it into a 42-minute operetta. They've done it before.
Posted Oct 13th 2009 2:06PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
She saved John Connor, but can she boost the ratings for another struggling Fox sci-fi show?
Former
Terminator fembot Summer Glau joins Joss Wheodn's
Dollhouse on Oct. 30 for a recurring stint as Bennett, a programmer who shares a past with Eliza Dushku's Echo. During last week's episode of
Dollhouse, the network hyped Glau's upcoming appearance with a
special promo promising, "In three weeks, Sumer Glau joins the cast of
Dollhouse!" I could be wrong, but it seemed like Fox was banking on Glau's star power to get more people to watch the show. Sadly, I don't think that's gonna happen.
I love Summer Glau. I was a big fan of
TSCC and
Firefly, and I'm eagerly anticipating her appearance on
Dollhouse. I'm sure Whedon has crafted an interesting character for Glau, and I'm sure she'll be part of a compelling arc that will fold nicely into the
Dollhouse mythology. But I doubt she'll be able to attract a ton of new viewers.
Continue reading Can Summer Glau save Dollhouse?
Posted Oct 13th 2009 11:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Programming, Ratings, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
It's not the most encouraging news about the long-term potential of the show, but at least Whedonites can rest assured that
FOX will honor the entire 13-episode commitment they made to Dollhouse. Scheduling guru Preston Beckman said, "During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show."
Which means if they haven't already decided to yank the show for sweeps period, then they're about to. It doesn't bode well for the series at all, though it's still too early to say if the respectable DVR figures will help things at all. DVR usage is at an all time high, and
Dollhouse leads DVR usage, increasing its demo ratings by a whopping 50% (still only to a 1.5).
It's a big deal but I still don't think networks know what to do with DVR numbers. Many of those viewers are skipping commercials, so it may not matter in that sense. But it's telling that the Friday shows are the most DVR'd. It's a sign that their fans want to watch these shows, just not on Friday night.
Posted Oct 10th 2009 3:55AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
(S02E03) It looks like the production schedule had this one slated to be the second episode of the season, rather than the third. It was a little odd how much time was spent in showing Ballard getting used to the complete process in turning a Doll into an Active. I kept thinking, "He was fine with last week's mommy engagement?" Knowing that this was intended to be the first episode after he took on the role as her Handler makes more sense.
It also means FOX is screwing around with Whedon's intended schedule on his show ... again! I can't understand how network executives think narrative flow between episodes means nothing. Do they think that fans are so stupid we can't follow a thread between episodes, nor will we notice when things are out of whack?
This would probably have worked better as a second episode anyway, because it got a little more into the technology behind the Dollhouse, as well as how it can go wrong.
Continue reading Dollhouse: Belle Chose
Posted Oct 8th 2009 1:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Web, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
This isn't a big surprise: fans have started a
campaign to save FOX's Dollhouse.
Other campaigns have popped up on the web over the past few years to save shows. While most of them are unsuccessful, once in a while a network will actually listen. This happened to
Jericho after fans of that show
sent so many nuts to CBS that the network finally decided that producing another seven episodes of the show would be cheaper than having fans send even more nuts to them and having to get rid of them somehow.
[Watch episodes and clips of
Dollhouse and other shows at
SlashControl.]
Posted Oct 6th 2009 3:05PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
Suppose you were the head of a real-life
Dollhouse that wiped volunteers' personalities, downloaded new ones into their brains, and rented them out to the super rich and privileged. Would you let your Dolls walk away, no strings attached, after they've honored their contract?
Yeah, me neither.
The last episode of Joss Whedon's
Dollhouse,
"Instinct," featured the newly liberated November/Madeline (Miracle Laurie) returning to the Dollhouse to undergo a "diagnostic." According to Adelle, the procedure is necessary to make sure Topher's tech didn't permanently blow a fuse inside Madeline's pretty head. Madeline was understandably cautious when Adelle came to visit her and prod her into getting the check-up. "I have this irrational fear that if I say the wrong thing, men in suits are going to throw me in a black van and take me away," she said.
Can you blame her?
Continue reading Dollhouse: Can Actives really earn their freedom?
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 12:55AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
(S02E02) So, um, what happened?
Dollhouse came back last week and posted its lowest ratings to date. It's a shame, because the show continues to find its footing. What was impressive this time was that the episode was compelling and dramatic, and it had virtually nothing to do with the overall story-arc for the series.
Just like some of the best episodes of
The X-Files were "monster-of-the-week" installments, this "imprint-of-the-week" chapter was simply brilliant. It explored the full capabilities of the Dollhouse technology, where we got our first hint that Topher's genius can sometimes push him to doing things he shouldn't. At least not without testing. It's this character flaw that led to his failures in "
Epitaph One."
Continue reading Dollhouse: Instinct
Posted Sep 30th 2009 10:00AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Dollhouse
In last week's
season premiere of Dollhouse, we learned that the usually empty-headed Echo is becoming self-aware and is now able to access memories from her many personality imprints.
This puts her in a very dangerous place, star Eliza Dushku told reporters during a conference call this week. While a self-aware Echo might be more fun and challenging for an actor to play than a "dumbed down Doll," Dushku reminded us that any sign of Echo's evolution in the Dollhouse might get her sent to "the attic," aka Doll hell.
The vulnerable Echo will be looking for allies this season, Dushku said. She and former FBI agent Paul Ballard (Tamoh Penikett) "may possibly be trying to bring down the Dollhouse from the inside," she teased. During the conference call, Dushku also talked about the unaired first season episode, "Epitaph One," working with Summer Glau, and she teased more origins and back stories for the show's other characters.
Continue reading Eliza Dushku on Dollhouse, Epitaph One, and Echo's evolution
Posted Sep 25th 2009 10:00PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
(S02E01) For those who have seen the DVD-and-iTunes-only episode of
Dollhouse (
"Epitaph One") which deals with an apocalyptic future, we're not there yet. Instead, this episode (written and directed by Joss Whedon) deals with Paul Ballard using his connections to the Dollhouse to go after an arms dealer that he couldn't put away as a simple FBI agent.
We see the beginnings of the Boyd Langton/Doctor Saunders relationship hinted at in "Epitaph One," but once again, considering that Amy Acker has a limited appearance this season in order to go to
Happy Town, she was the highlight of this episode. I honestly hope that show fails, so that Amy will be around this one more for next season. Is that wrong?
Continue reading Dollhouse: Vows (season premiere)
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 4:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Video, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
A lot of people thought that the phrase "second season of
Dollhouse" wouldn't even be something we'd be saying at this point. It was assumed that FOX would be one of those sci-fi or action shows that FOX cancels quickly and we'd be writing
Short-Lived Show posts about it.
I guess if this is the last season we could still write those posts, but until then, here's a trailer for season two, which starts Friday.
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 1:01PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
You can chalk this one up under the "stranger than fiction" category, but if/when the series
Dollhouse is shown in Japan, they can use the subtitle "based on a true story". It seems that a
similar organization exists there in which people hire other people to pose as spouses, partners, etc. to avoid certain social embarrassments. Granted, the whole "memory implant" plot device isn't actually used, but at least they're halfway there.
The organization is called Hagemashi Tai (translated to "I want to cheer you up"). I cannot help but wonder if Joss read an article somewhere about this phenomenon and loosely based his show on it.
On the other hand, isn't this a standard episode plot of every sitcom ever made, in which a character has to pretend to be another character? In America, I'm aware that you can hire actors as characters for parties but not to this level of organization. Truth truly is stranger than fiction.
Posted Sep 18th 2009 2:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV Royalty, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon
I was lucky enough to participate in a conference call today with
Dollhouse (and
Buffy and
Angel and
Firefly and
Dr. Horrible) mastermind
Joss Whedon. While he was very good at giving vague answers to questions asked so as not to spoil the storylines for season two of the show, he did drop a few tidbits that certainly make me want to watch.
The most interesting of this is that Amy Acker, who plays Doctor Saunders a.k.a. Whiskey, is only contracted for three episodes this season (apparently she's committed to another show). I found that surprising considering her important role in the apocalyptic future of "
Epitaph One," but I'm sure the writers have figured out a way around it. It was stated that the world of "Epitaph One" will be revisited later in this season.
Continue reading Some Dollhouse tidbits from Joss Whedon
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