joss whedon-related stories
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 27th 2009 2:32PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free, Castle
Mal Reynolds,
Nathan Fillion's character from the short-lived
Joss Whedon series,
Firefly, made a triumphant return to television last night. Granted, it was only for a little bit, and Fillion wasn't specifically playing Mal, but the costume was there, in all of its spacey glory.
Last night's episode of
Castle was Halloween-themed, and, well, you can probably see where this is going. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Fillion had a section in his contract for
Castle that says, "if ever the opportunity arises, I will be able to dress up as Mal, because damnit, I miss that (brown)coat." So last night, the worlds of
Firefly and
Castle collided, and Nathan Fillion once again donned Mal's brown duster as part of his "Space Cowboy" Halloween costume.
Continue reading The return of Firefly's Mal Reynolds
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 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 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 25th 2009 3:09PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Joss Whedon
"But wait," you say. "There was a season eight?" Yes, there was. It was in
comic book form. And season eight will be in the same format. This is according to
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon.
If you haven't been reading the comics, shame on you. Without the restrictions of a television budget, some crazy cool things have been happening. Like Dawn growing to enormous size and Buffy teaming up with Dracula to take out a band of rogue Asian vampires. Also, Buffy travels to the future to meet Slayer-from-the-future Malaka Fray (who was in a previous comic series of her own).
Whedon is obviously a fan of comics. The good news is, in comic books, the series never has to end. We could all be enjoying
Buffy season 337 in a few centuries. Well, our descendants would be anyway. It's something to look forward to.
[Watch
clips and free episodes of Buffy at
SlashControl.]
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 21st 2009 1:27PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Video, Celebrities, Emmys, Reality-Free, Joss Whedon
In case you missed our
live blog of the event and you haven't been checking around the Interwebs, Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris did a quick skit starring his character Doctor Horrible from
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The sketch guest-starred Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer and a couple of other cast members. Oh, and by the way, that particular Internet series
won an Emmy itself.
One can only wonder if Joss Whedon had a hand in the sketch. It certainly seems that way. The sketch used his sort of style and humor, particularly the bits where the screen was "buffering".
Fortunately, and perhaps in appreciation of the existing rabid fanbase of anything Whedon-related, a clip of the segment has already made it to YouTube (so TV Squad itself cannot be sued for taking someone else's intellectual property. You hear that CBS?). Hopefully it remains up there for a little while. The clip of the Dr. Horrible appearance at the Emmys follows after the jump.
Continue reading Dr. Horrible's Emmy appearance
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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