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Dollhouse site is up!

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Dollhouse:

Joss Whedon's new show about mind-wiped puppets for hire is casting two new characters for episode 7, and they may be recurring. One is Leo, a cute politically active guy with a slight Pacific Northwest nature-boy air about him. The other is Sam, an African American college student, age 20, who worked hard to get out of the 'hood and wants to stay out.

There’s been lots of talks and rumors about genius Joss Whedon’s new series, Dollhouse, which Whedon himself answered so that everyone could stop spreading it for no reasons. And now, instead of that, let’s all focus on the goods as a new trailer has just been released.

Dollhouse:

Some casting script pages from episode seven, "Echoes," have turned up. In a flashback, we meet Leo, a goofy guy whose girlfriend Caroline knits him a penis costume, in case his penis wants to go incognito. They're waiting for some mysterious guy to call �?and then he does. They clasp hands as Caroline answers the phone.

In another flashback, Caroline is telling Leo, plus their friends Penny and Trevor, about some research in 1941, when the Rossum Corp. got $17 million, which mysteriously vanished. But it turns out the Corporation was building mysterious lead tunnels underneath the college, leading to the Rossum Building. Leo warns Caroline that this could be dangerous, but she says Rossum is exploiting animals in its research, and they can't back out. Leo says he's not backing out.

In the present day, a high-up guy in the Rossum Corp. tells Adelle at the Dollhouse about a worker named Owen, who's working on an experimental Alzheimer's drug and may be stealing samples for himself. The drug improves synapse function, but Owen may have been selling it as a party drug on the college campus. And now Owen has killed himself under the drug's influence. The Rossum suits want a "doll" to help clean up this mess before the company's reputation is damaged. And it sounds as though the "dolls"' activities are funding some ongoing research at the company that supports the Dollhouse.

Echo goes to the makeshift memorial on campus for Owen. She meets a smart, strong-willed student named Sam, and asks him why Owen killed himself. Sam asks if she's a reporter, and Echo says no, she's a dominatrix. "I left a client. I never leave a client." She saw Owen's picture in the paper and couldn't help herself, she had to come there. Echo says she has to help "him" but she doesn't know who "he" is �?maybe it's Sam. But Sam already had his spanking today.

Echo insists that Sam is in pain and she can help. Sam is angry because last night Sam's girlfriend tore into her own eyeballs, leaving herself blind and a semi-vegetable, thanks to a mysterious drug called "Blue." She wasn't the type to do drugs like that. "I see a lot of people who aren't 'the type.' For all sorts of things," Echo says. Turns out Owen worked at the Rossum lab, and maybe he was making the drug that messed up Sam's girlfriend. Owen had a secret stash of the drug, and Sam wants to find it before anyone else gets hurt.

But it turns out Sam is the bad guy �?he and Owen were in cahoots to sell the nasty drug. Sam gets Echo and her fellow "Doll," Victor, tied up and doses them with Blue, so their brains go crazy. Turns out Owen died because he ODed on his own product, but he didn't tell Sam where to get more �?so Sam used Echo to get to Owen's stash. (And it seems as though maybe Echo gets a bit of self-awareness from being dosed with that drug.)

Is It Time To Say A Pre-Emptive Goodbye To Dollhouse?

Is Dollhouse going to go down in history as the most troubled show ever to make it to air? The LA Times is reporting that production of the show is about to be delayed again because of concerns over the quality of the script - and this is after the show's second longterm pause to retool. Is the Friday 8pm timeslot a bad omen after all - and, as much as we don't want to say this, could Fox be doing the right thing?

The LA Times says that production on the show's seventh episode is to be delayed for "at least a day" because the script is "in such bad shape," according to the paper's anonymous outsider (Charlie posted a summary of pages from the episode yesterday, and... I can kind of see why Fox would be worried, to be honest). Similar problems afflicted the shooting of the sixth episode, according to the same source, causing more production delays "that left the cast and crew very frustrated."

The problem seems to come from Fox's concern over the show's tone, and creator Joss Whedon's attempts to give them what they want - Something that, Whedon has admitted, caused a major crisis in confidence for everyone involved on the show. But as recently as two weeks ago, Whedon was optimistic that everything was back on the right track, and Fox co-chair Dana Walden was describing the problems as simply "creative retooling". But with this latest production hiatus - it's third since production started last year - and the announcement of a timeslot for the show that Time Magazine's TV critic James Poniewozik calls "the place networks send shows to die," it's time to start facing the very likely possibility that Dollhouse may even break Firefly's record for early death.

And now, here's the part where I ask the question that will get small objects thrown at me: What if Fox is right? What if Dollhouse, in all its various incarnations, has just proven to not work? Yes, it has a great creative team and an interesting concept... but that doesn't necessarily translate into a successful finished product, and reading things like this confusing recap of the show's second episode make that a more likely possibility than we'd like to admit.

(As recapped - and it's hardly the easiest to read recap, I'll be the first to admit - the episode offers a lot of what you'd think that Fox would want to see - Eliza Dushku in the shower! Explosions! Dryhumping! - in amongst the creepier mindwiping and programmable personalities that Whedon has discussed at length, but what's missing is any idea that the show is actually about something. As opposed to Whedon's other shows, where the episodes seemed to have a point even if you weren't paying attention to the uberarc, this Dollhouse ep, "Gray Hour," just seems to be a collection of things happening without any real purpose. It doesn't just feel pointless, it feels somewhat soulless - which may, in itself, be a point in a show about the fluidity of personality and dehumanization, but nonetheless doesn't do anything to make me care about what happens, or any of the people it happens to.)

It's easy to make Fox out to be the bad guy in this scenario, the cruel corporation asking for changes to the artist's great work being one of the easiest and most compelling myths to fall for. But consider what little we know about Dollhouse's reshoots and hiatuses so far (with the possible exception of this latest one): They're all Whedon's doing.The second pilot?:

Well, the idea to do a new first episode wasn’t the network’s. It was mine. I understood their consternation, and saw the gap between my style and their expectations, and I suggested I shoot a new ep and make the one I’d shot the second. It isn’t going to be buried, like the pilot of Firefly. It’s simply coming after another, slightly cleaner ep.

The junking of the original pilot?:

The original pilot was in fact thrown out. Again, at my behest. Once it became clear what paradigm the Network was shooting for, it just didn't fit at all, even after I'd reshot more than half of it (see above re: despair). To get a sense of how completely turned around I was during this process, you should know there was a scene with Eliza and the astonishing Ashley Johnson that I wrote and shot completely differently three different times, with different characters in different places (actually I wrote it closer to eight times), and none of it will ever see air.

Similarly, Whedon has gone out of his way to defend Fox throughout these changes:

They're not wrong. Oh, we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, but wanting the first episodes to be exciting and accessible is not exactly Satanic. Being Satan is, but that's in their free time and hey, there's no judging in the Dollhouse. This kind of back and forth has happened on every show I've done, so if you liked those, chances are that was a part of why. And the need to focus on the essentials of what makes this universe tick - and which wire to cut to make it stop - really does bring up our game. So we as a staff have gone from blinking like unhoused moles to delving in with the same relish we had when we started.

(He's also said "We both know from years of experience that I’m a crap soldier, though I am an accomplished fan-dancer. No, this is a very cold look at what’s going on, and it’s not an Us vs Them," lest you think that's just playing the role of the good soldier.)

Taking Fox's obvious anti-Whedon agenda out've the equation for now, what seems to be left is a show that is having trouble finding its feet and coming together; yes, the network have asked for it to be more accessible, but that isn't the same thing as shooting a new pilot and later junking the original after telling people that that's not going to happen. The real problem with the show, I think, isn't Fox; it's Joss Whedon not being able to make the show that he imagines in his head, and getting so frustrated by that that he'd rather throw what he's done away and start again.

In one way, this is admirable - I'd rather have an overly ambitious show than CSI: Mindwipe, after all - but it's also worrying. What if Whedon isn't able to bring the show together in the short amount of time he has (Remember, the show was only given a seven episode order by Fox)? Are we going to be left with the SF equivalent of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, and if we are, the question is worth asking: Is a flawed, unsuccessful (but probably interesting, let's face it) show that pleases no-one involved with its creation better than no show at all?

And so, I ask again: What if Fox is doing the right thing by quietly trying to kill Dollhouse?

'Dollhouse' Gets a New Promo, Experiences More Production Delays

I initially had a lot of hope and excitement for Joss Whedon's upcoming FOX series Dollhouse, but that hope has slowly dwindled as the network has interfered with the show time and again. The latest blow came yesterday, when FOX announced that the series will air on Fridays at 9pm beginning February 13. This is the same time slot that Whedon's late, great Firefly died in many years ago, which leads me to believe Dollhouse won't make it past its first handful of episodes. Though I'm fairly certain the series will soon be nothing more than another great genre show canceled before its time, I plan to watch every episode before the axe falls.

A day before FOX doomed the show with their scheduling announcement, a nifty promo was released online to get fans pumped for Whedon's return to television. Check it out below and decide for yourself if Dollhouse has a chance at survival.

Production delays have plagued the series since the filming of its pilot episode, which Whedon had to reshoot after receiving negative feedback from the network. In mid-September, the set was shut down for over two weeks as the creator scrambled to put together rewrites and reshoots. Things looked to have stabilized since then, but according to the Los Angeles Times, production delays have plagued the sixth and seventh episodes as well. FOX apparently isn't happy with the scripts, which has left the cast and crew feeling frustrated.

The time slot situation and behind the scenes drama seem even more unfortunate after viewing the new promo for the series, which is truly fantastic. The show may be too strange to become a breakout hit, but it looks like it'll allow Whedon the chance to explore the concept of what makes us human. A little show called Battlestar Galactica has been tackling that question successfully for four seasons, and I'm betting Whedon's vision would be just as strong were it allowed to play out that long. Maybe he should have pitched the idea to the Sci Fi Channel.

Dollhouse:

You know those ginormous scars Amy Acker has on her face as Dr. Claire Saunders, the doctor who takes care of the mindwiped puppet people in Joss Whedon's new show? We'll eventually find out where those scars came from, and why Claire chose to keep them on her face, says Acker.

Dollhouse Will Be Joss Whedon's Greatest Work Ever

Is Joss Whedon's edgy new show Dollhouse doomed before it starts? I know as much as you do. I do know one thing, though: it's going to be the best thing he's ever done. Don't let the nay-sayers weigh you down �?Joss' tale of a woman whose mind has been erased (to make way for whatever personality a paying client wants) is going to be better than Firefly or Buffy. And I'll tell you exactly why, but you'll have to read some spoilers to get there.

It's a much cooler concept.

Let's face it: Firefly and Buffy had weak concepts, and they soared thanks to masterful execution. A gun-slinging crew of Western frontier bandits in space? A teenage girl who fights vampires and demons in between running for homecoming queen? Neither of those ideas particularly screams "masterwork" to me.

Meanwhile, Dollhouse? It has one of the most intriguing concepts I've ever come across, right off the bat. In a sea of "ordinary person gets brainchip/spy computer in brain/mutant powers/introduced to a mad scientist" shows, Dollhouse instantly stands out.

It's the story of Echo (Eliza Duskhu), who's basically the property of the eponymous Dollhouse. For a fee, you can have Echo imprinted with any personality, any memories, any skills, you require. (And she does pro bono work sometimes.) But Echo, who's supposed to be a blank slate, is starting to gain self-awareness, and remember who she really is. She has to fight for her identity, but the Dollhouse stands ready to destroy her if she shows any signs of self-awareness.

Yes, that's a high-concept premise, and it's hard to make it work as a weekly TV show. Luckily �?see above �?Joss Whedon's strong suit is execution. He's actually much better at making things work than he is at coming up with intriguing concepts in the first place. So, if he starts out with an intriguing concept and then brings his mastery of execution to it? It will rule. Automatically. Which brings me to...

Each episode is twisty and thriller-ish.

I've read a ton of script pages from various episodes of Dollhouse, and one thing is pretty clear to me: This show is not a slow, cerebral dystopia where people look at their hands and say things like, "Why are these hands not free?" Or whatever. At their best, the Dollhouse scripts remind me of season-two Buffy: there are bad guys, and weird, horrible schemes, and every week nothing is quite what you think.

For example, the person who's hired Echo doesn't always have the motives you think he or she does. The person that Echo has been programmed to be isn't always who you expect at first. There are always more layers, and it's wrapped up in an action-adventure framework. Think Alias, except that it all makes sense in the end. Cracks are wised, faces are punched, explosions are exploded. It's a thrill-ride.

And then laid on top of that are the show's ongoing plots and themes about Echo discovering herself. Which leads me to...

Echo's not just a tool, week after week.

That was the danger with this show �?that Echo would just be carrying out missions, week in and week out, without any real self-awareness or free will. That would be hard to identify with, and even harder to root for. I asked Joss Whedon about this, when I got to interview him briefly at Comic-Con, and he had clearly thought this through. His answer: it's not just about Echo being whoever she's programmed to be, from week to week. It's about her fighting to be a person, in spite of all the forces wanting her to be a tool. And meanwhile...

It has a pretty great supporting cast.

I would pretty much watch Tahomoh Penikett try to refinance his mortgage. As Paul Ballard, the FBI agent who keeps investigating the Dollhouse even though everybody insists it's a myth, he's bound to be a compelling character �?even if they don't keep in the scene where he does Thai kick-boxing while brooding about his tough case. And from what I've seen from clips and trailers, the rest of the cast is equally strong, delivering the trademark Whedon quips and knife-edge dialogue with panache.

They're all going to have subplots and backstories, and I'm kind of fascinated to see it all unfolde. Like, just where did Amy Acker's Dr. Claire Saunders get her scars? Why does Boyd, the handler of the mind-wiped "Actives," keep doing his job even though he has moral qualms about it? And why is Topher, the computer geek who programs the "Actives," such a sadistic weirdo? All questions I'm going to be obsessing about for months, and hopefully years.

You can read a lot of stuff into its underlying metaphor.

That's really the litmus test of great art: can you see different messages in it, depending on what you bring to it? Or is it going to hit you with a sledgehammer until you accept the message it wants you to have?

Firefly passed that test with flying Adam Baldwins, and so will Dollhouse. (Without the Baldwin part.) Are you a Conservative who believes in rugged individualism? Dollhouse is about someone fighting for her individuality, who can't be suppressed or destroyed by oppressive forces. Hate our orgiastic, hedonistic society, that turns people into pieces of meat? Dollhouse is right there with you. Do you think corporations are the devil, with better shoes? Dollhouse is about an evil corporation. Do you fear technology? Come on in. Etc. etc.

Basically, we won't know until Dollhouse airs quite how well the whole shebang comes together. But I'm already predicting, based on what I've seen so far, that it'll be Whedon's masterwork. Whether it'll be his doomed masterwork or his triumphant return is up to the sadistic gods of television, of course.

Dollhouse:

Joss Whedon's blank-brain-for-hire show is casting some characters for its eighth episode, "Needs" �?which, absolutely, will air. You heard me. Anyway, we'll meet a new "Active," which is the show's word for one of the blank-headed agents: he's a handsome blond guy named Mike. Also, we'll meet a new handler, a sexy-but-tough woman named Sophie. Also, there's a tough Army surplus store owner named Jimmy, and a forty-something named Nolan, who's "handsome and respectable, with a touch of something not right."

Dollhouse:

Eliza Dushku gave away some plot details for upcoming episodes of Joss Whedon's mindwiped vessels-for-hire show. "Last episode, they surgically implant cameras into my eyeballs and send me into a cult compound as a blind woman. I was playing this tripped-out blind woman. Then I'm playing a 50-something-year-old woman in my own body in this next episode." She also gets to do a six-page Muay Thai fight scene where she kicks a six-foot-five-inch man's ass. Also, the difference between Joss' original pilot and the new version is that the original was more film noir, and the new version is more straight-up action.

Also, in episode 10, "Four Engagements," we'll meet Ramirez, a tough-as-nails Latina who's a handler in the Dollhouse.

Dollhouse: Eliza Dushku Confident about Show's Timeslot

Is it possible to look forward to something and mourn it at the same time? Such is the case for Dollhouse, Joss Whedon's new series starring Eliza Dushku. Ever since FOX released its 2009 mid-season schedule last month, fans have started to worry about the show's chances of survival, given that the network scheduled to the series on Fridays beginning February 13, 2009. This may seem like a death sentence since, more often than not, Fridays are where TV shows go to die. However, the former Tru Calling star is not worried about being on the alleged “death slot.�?

“We're in the age of DVR, man,�?Eliza Dushku told TV Guide. “People watch what they want to watch, and we feel confident that we're going to bring [existing] fans and welcome new ones. The show is extraordinary. It's cool and it's hot and it's different. It's nice being paired with Sarah Connor Chronicles as a sort of female empowerment night.�?

“It takes a little bit of the pressure off [versus airing on Mondays], with 24 coming on after two years. I think the time slot gives us time to come on, air all of our shows and hook people. And I truly believe it will,�?she added.

On Dollhouse, Dushku plays a young woman who becomes self-aware that she's part of a group that has had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. The science fiction series also features Tahmoh Penikett, Dichen Lachman, and Fran Kranz, just to name a few.

Meanwhile, fans can catch Eliza Dushku as she rocks a rather wild role in Nobel Son, a twisty indie film about a dysfunctional family that hits theaters today. The movie also stars Bryan Greenberg of October Road fame, Harry Potter's Alan Rickman and Mary Steenburgen, whose credits include Time After Time and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Dollhouse:

Okay, so you know that Joss Whedon's new show is about empty-brained people who can be hired to be anyone or anything you want. But what kind of person would want to hire an empty-brained puppet anyway? Joss says that's the whole question the show will answer, week after week:

”Who would want them to do this and why?�?is sort of what keeps it interesting every week. Sometimes it’s somebody extraordinarily nefarious and sometimes it’s somebody very decent, but usually, it’s all the way in between. I mean, as long as nobody gets hurt, as long as the Actives are not harmed, everything’s good, everything is game. Some people would abuse that and some people need it.
Ultimately, you’ll find the one thing that every episode has in common is that Echo is the person you need at that point in your life to either turn your life around, to give you the moment you thought you’d never have, or to pull you out of a place you think you can’t get out of. Or to rob the bank. Whatever it is, she’s a kind of life coach, without even meaning to be. She’s always the perfect person for whatever it is you need.

Sometimes there will be B stories �?we’ll always see the workings of the Dollhouse, but we’ll also see other Actives on other engagements, and sometimes they’ll just be B stories, sometimes they’ll cross over or sometimes they’ll just connect thematically.

Are The 'Dollhouse' Webisodes Dropped?

Oh, Dollhouse, beleaguered Dollhouse. Your premise is interesting—I think so, at least—but you're getting all these blows that sometimes I wonder if the effort is futile or not. You've been placed on Friday night, which traditionally is the time slot where shows being killed off, or at least have low expectations, are placed. You've lost your pilot episode, since Fox figured the money's better off placed on that elaborate dollhouse set—it's something I understand, since the show's called Dollhouse, after all, but it's just a weird decision. Now you're going to lose your webisodes?

Then again, that isn't exactly a sure thing. Joss Whedon, the show's creator, previously mentioned his plans to release a significantly huge amount of webisodes. It won't be something like what The Office does, if he had his way; instead, there will be “literally a full season of them.�?nbsp; For each one of the 13 episodes of Dollhouse, there will be one webisode, and although there's still no word on whether those clips will be tied into the story, or be an entirely different beast altogether, it's just proof of how much time and effort Whedon is willing to commit to get the series off the ground.

But with the news that Fox has scrapped the original series pilot to tweak the way the show will eventually look like, there's been some noise from the rumor mills suggesting that the plan to have webisodes have been dropped. Representatives from Fox told website Pie Spoilers that the production will focus on ‘[just] the actual show for the first season,�?and also added that they “do not believe that there will be supplemental webisodes.�?BR>
Now, there's no actual word on whether this is true. The website itself suggests that it could probably be a case of Fox not knowing what Whedon is up to, or the other way around. Maybe it means webisodes will be out only when the show has settled—a season season, perhaps? But with fans and observers already heavily speculating that Dollhouse's first season, which will kick off in February, will be its last, it seems to have raised quite a howl, both from fans and from those who think Whedon is better off elsewhere. Which leaves me to this: oh, Dollhouse, beleaguered Dollhouse�?/DIV>

Dollhouse: Explaining the Friday Night Time Slot

Dollhouse is still, roughly, seven weeks away. While I still remain very much interested in its premise, I can't help but feel that it would fail in a way—no, it's not going to be Joss Whedon's fault, but more of the network's fault, with all of its interfering in the months leading to its February 13 premiere. But here's something that perked me up: a sneak peek at what the show will bring!

The show's premise is pretty simple: a group of people, called “actives�? have their memories added and erased as they see fit, before they are hired for different missions. It's a simple idea that's already been elaborated on the promo that went online over a month ago, but nothing beats seeing a little more, and that's what we got. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello first got his hands on two minutes of footage from the show, and shared it to the world—and that's what we're going to do, too. Sure, some of it is in the promo, but hey, who's complaining? The clip, and a little more, after the cut.

So, why again is Fox putting this on a Friday night, on a time slot that's generally considered as a low-expectation spot where shows are left to die? Why not, say, right after American Idol, which will surely give it a guaranteed huge audience?

“It's a night where there's not a hell of a lot of competition,�?Peter Liguori, chairman of Fox Entertainment, explained to the Los Angeles Times. “[That's why] we're able to get the show on there. We're able to allow the show to grow. The expectations may be slightly lower for its performance.�?BR>
“By nature, this show has a particular kind of audience,�?Kevin Reilly, president of Fox Entertainment, added. “That's just what Joss does. You could say, ‘why Lie to Me after Idol [on Wednesdays]?' I think that's a broader show. You don't want to put something with more of a sci-fi bent.�?BR>
But what about Fringe? It's another show that I really like—and yet, despite its sci-fi slash geeky nature, it's not on Friday, but instead on a lucrative Tuesday night slot, which means it'll come after Idol next year. A nd, it premiered with low ratings, before settling down with around 8 million viewers weekly. “We were never worried!�?Reilly admitted, before mentioning that baseball, the presidential debates and the Olympics kept ratings down despite people liking the show.

Well. I still hope Dollhouse gets the due it deserves. And yet, I hope it doesn't fail me. But it doesn't seem to be going that way right now. Again, the show premieres on February 13, from 9pm ET, on Fox.

Dollhouse:

A new review of the Joss Whedon show's replacement pilot, "Ghost," includes some details I haven't seen before. In this version, we actually meet Eliza Dushku's character before she becomes a mind-wiped puppet. When we first meet Dushku, she's playing Caroline, a girl who's gotten herself into a tough spot. She winds up at the Dollhouse, where Adelle DeWitt offers her a five-year contract, and promises the organization is there to help people. The next time we see Caroline, she's having the time of her life dancing with a man she met three days earlier. But then she goes back to the Dollhouse and all knowledge of that encounter is erased from her mind. Now she's an "Active" known as "Echo." And as we mentioned in our review of a partial copy of the script, most of the episode's plot involves Echo serving as a hostage negotiator for a Mexican businessman, Gabriel, whose daughter has just been kidnapped.

A new character we meet (who isn't in earlier scripts, I think) is Lawrence Dominic, Adelle's right-hand man who puts the well-being of the Dollhouse above everything else. Also, in this version, Echo has lingering memories of walking in on computer geek Topher reprogramming her fellow "Active," Sierra. And her hostage-negotiator personality has an unforeseen flaw. The rest of the script seems to be the same as the pages we read, including another "Active," Topher, trying to confuse FBI agent Paul Ballard, who's on the trail of the Dollhouse.

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