Dollhouse

I really want this one to succeed because it has the potential to be really good. Having said that, I wasn’t too thrilled with this past episode. It had its good points. I liked the premise of the unfunished business story and finding out more about the actives’ pasts. Also seemed to be more humor this week. But it felt like drinking soda from a bottle with a loosened cap…good familiar taste, but slightly flat. Pick it up, Joss.

I really liked this last episode - I thought it was very interesting and I am very quickly becoming a Victor/Sierra shipper.

I really liked this weeks episode.
I admit that the clothing choice of Mellie was a little odd but i kinda just put it down to her original personality coming out and that that was what she felt most comfortable in.

I really wanted to see that blank actives freak out and run back to the dollhouse as soon as they got outside. I like the idea that many of them are there by choice. I guess i just don’t like the good guys to always be right.

I’m really confused about Sierra though. Did that guy put her in the Dollhouse originally because she didn’t frak him or was that about some time he’d “had” her since she was already in the Dollhouse. And if it is that he put her there originally thats pretty messed up. I preferred the idea that even if the actives didn’t volunteer there was at least a reason for them being there. A more valid reason like not screwing some dude.

It seemed to be a powerful guy exerting his influence to have Sierra pressed into Dollhouse service. Very, very ugly sequence of events, since he then rents her out to get his way.

Yeah, I’m rooting for Victor and Sierra, too. Think that they were trying to show us that there are a variety of reasons why people ended up at the Dollhouse. I think that most of them turned to it as a last resort and that they volunteer (albiet under duress).

However, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that Sierra was put there by force…we have already seen unscrupulous behavior inside the Dollhouse (like her handler), so it’s perfectly possible that she was brought, wiped, but management was told that she volunteered. Or the Dollhouse was told that she was irreversably scarred and this was a humane way of helping her. Either way, I don’t think that Adele was aware that she brought in against her will.

There was an article on another blog I read about this and I have to agree: Dollhouse is at its best when, ironically, its star is off screen. Sierra is quickly becoming a more compelling character than Echo.

I think that Joss has a knack for bringing together actors that make great ensomble (sp?) casts and then adjusting the stories to fit the characters that they all create. The problem I think that we may have here is that Elisa D. is a good actress, but not someone that meshes with an acting team well. And this kinda shows up with the stories being stronger when ED isn’t the focus of the story.

Ugh. Just browsing Scifiwire and io9 and the news of the day seems to be that Fox has decided to air episode 12 of Dollhouse as the series finale and just release #13 and the original unaired pilot on the DVD. It all sounds disturbingly familiar.

Grrr! Arrgh!

I can only think of one reason why they would do this…and it isn’t a reason I like.

I told you. Once The GF and I take a cotton to something, it’s doomed.

I should just watch MSNBC from now on…

A Whedon show I’m starting to love, on FOX, looking like it’s about to get the axe prematurely? No, that’s impossible! Things like that just doesn’t happen!

You would think that before Joss kicked this off Nathan would have given him a call.

Nathan: Hey! J-dawg! How are things?
Joss: Good, good. Have you heard about my new show on Fox?
Nathan: New show? On Fox?
Joss: Yes, I am calling it, “Dollhouse”
Nathan: On Fox?
Joss: Yes, it will have Eliza in it.
Nathan: Fox. The Fox that cancelled Firefly?
Joss: Same one old boy!
Nathan: Same Fox that cancelled my shows Drive after four episodes?
Joss: That’s the one!
Nathan: This doesn’t sound like a bad idea to you?
Joss: Nonsense!
Nathan: Really?
Joss: Absolutely!
Nathan: Ok. You always have a home over on Castle if things change. ABC tends to let shows run an entire season before killing them.
Joss: Killing them…hmm…it is about time I started killing characters off on Dollhouse. Thanks for the idea, gotta run! Have characters to kill!

If only that worked with shows I hate! Horrid, horrid shows like ‘Jon and Kate plus 8’ would cease to exist just because I tuned in and feigned enjoyment. Then again, maybe that’s just what Fox wants me to think, because goodness knows that’s the only way I’d ever watch that stuff!

Eh. All those warm, happy feelings I got from watching ‘Trash’ on hulu during lunch are disappearing quickly…

As it turns out…truth is stranger than fiction.

The reason we won’t see episode 13 here

Fox killed Firefly and Arrested Development. ABC killed Pushing Daisies and The Middleman. These things make Tray very sad.

The media business is so very frakked up. This shows how the left hand doesn’t acknowledge what the right hand is doing. It could otherwise be the Baltar on New Caprica school of management, perhaps.

Ok, here’s what I don’t understand. If the show has already been made, then it’s already paid for, right? What does Fox lose by airing the episode now?

What? Did they have BSG jealousy and decide to one-up them with the math?

Yeah, I’ve never gotten that either. The only thing I can think of that they lose is advertising revenue. Low ratings=fewer people watching commercials=companies won’t pay for commercial time during your show; the network, then, takes a hit. (Still, they aired that stupid Osbournes special that no one wanted to see, to the point that several affiliates refused to air it and very little advertising off network was able to be sold for it.)

Let’s face it, shows like this (which, while I haven’t LOVED it, I admit has a lot of potential to be really special as it starts getting going now) are a niche market that belongs in “boutique” cable networks. The numbers Dollhouse has been seeing (or that Arrested Development and Pushing Daisies or Dirty Sexy Money saw) would constitute a hit over on F/X, USA or SciFi (sorry, SyFy), where, give current models, they’d also bring increased chache to their studios (why Firefly wasn’t aired on F/X is beyond me. It could’ve been BSG a couple of years before BSG).

To be fair, though I love the show and still wish it was on air, I thought Fox did everything it could for Arrested Development, giving them almost 3 full seasons (It’s one of those shows that probably would have benefited from being on a channel like HBO instead of network; it probably wouldn’t have worked at the time with any other network channel, really) even though the bastards did destroy Firefly in every way they possibly could have.

And now, Dollhouse. I think it’s a show with potential, but at the same time, I’m not particularly angry if Fox decides to cut it either, because there are significant plot/character problems with the show in itself that have very little to do with Fox. Given the premise, I was surprised the show even made it on air, so to speak. But, for now, I suppose we should just enjoy whatever’s left of the show. At least there would be the DVDs.

Now, if Dollhouse being axed means a possible teeny tiny chance of Terminator surviving another season (though, I suppose, also kind of doubtful, given the cost of that show), maybe it’s all for good.