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New Joss Whedon show announced: Dollhouse (1 Viewer)

Scott-S

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Don't forget the premier is tonight!!!!!

I found it interesting that they have already finished shooting all episodes of the first season.

Should we start a Season 1 thread, or just use this one?
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I'll give it a shot. So far it's following the "Firefly" mold of extensive behind-the-scenes turmoil, though. The pilot airing tonight is what, the third pilot shot?
 

todd s

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Cool! Unaired episodes for the dvd release after Fox cancels the show half way through the season. ;)
 

mattCR

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The show that -was- the pilot is now the second episode which airs next week, and the show we see tonight was the second episode done, but re-structured for the intro.
 

Inspector Hammer!

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Sadly I agree, I have zero faith that this will survive. All signs of disaster are presant and accounted for...

Whedon + FOX + bad night = Heartbreak.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I'm hoping that TSCC makes it, and that this does not drag it down.
htf_images_smilies_smile.gif
 

Rocky F

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Well, call me the eternal optimist, but I think that the network will at least run all the produced episodes. Granted, this may all just be feel good PR fluff, but the Fox execs (most of whom were NOT at the network during the Firefly fiasco) are saying that they are going to give the show breathing room and a chance to grow, and that the Friday night time slot will have less pressure to perform at a certain level, so they can have more patience with it.
 

mattCR

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People forget, X-Files made it's hey in it's best years on Friday night. Years ago, ABC's TGIF was a big hit with Friday Comedies. The right audience is there on Fridays with not a hell of a lot going, which is why BSG does well.

I'm really looking forward to this and wish them success!
 

Nick Martin

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They've been advertising this at such random times over a long period that I didn't realize it was airing tonight until maybe 6 days ago. It was always 'coming soon' or something like that.
 

Joe_H

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So it just finished and I was pretty impressed so far. Assuming that this is shown in order, after the Firefly fiasco, I was a little surprised at how fast they just jumped into things with her getting 'treated'. Though, I guess its not so much her past that matters right this moment and that'll be a side story for a while.. at least based on that guy at the end.

Still, a good start. I'm a little annoyed about it being on Fridays, but that's what DVRs are for anyway, when I have other plans. :D

I think maybe that's part of what Fox is relying on, that DVRs are so prevalent these days that for all the people that won't watch it because its on Friday, there's a lot more who can record it and watch whenever they want. I'd also take a wild guess, but I bet among those who are interested in science-fiction shows in the first place that there might even be an even higher percentage of people who would have a DVR.

Edit: Actually read the last page and I guess assuming that it was shown in order was actually a mistake.
 

mattCR

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Way better then I thought it would be. I was hoping it would be good, but had lowered my expectations based on the pilot issues as above. I figured this might really struggle out of the gate but build into something. I was pretty surprised with how "polished" the first episode was (IMHO).
 

Inspector Hammer!

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Off to a great start. :emoji_thumbsup:

It was more multi-layered than I thought it would be and that was a very welcome thing.

One thing I didn't know was that the personalities that these "actives" are downloaded with are actually comprised of actual memories from real people and not completely fabricated. Very nice and human touch that will make things interesting in the future i'm sure.

Another thing is certain, the Dollhouse is an extremely unethical organization I thought, taking girls and essentially turning them into zombies, blank slates to "dress up" in any personality they choose that's appropriate for these "engagments".

I actually don't know who to root for yet, the Dollhouse or the FBI agent who wants to find it and shut it down and I like that conflict. :emoji_thumbsup:

Joss Whedon has created yet another example of why he's the king of different and fresh sci-fi television and I for one hope that FOX makes good on it's promise to let this one breath for a while.

BTW, seeing Amy Acker with the scars made me sad in some way. :frowning:
 

Patrick Sun

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Dullhouse was pretty much a flat line for about 2/3 of the episode, but it sort of picked up the pace in the final third of the episode, but I fear that people were tuning out half-way through.

The show feels really anti-septic, too insular. I realize it's a controlled space, but just the set design is very off-putting to my eyes.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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For all of its complete weirdness, this is probably the most marketable, accessible show from Whedon yet. It's certainly the first since early "Buffy" that provides an episodic framework within an ongoing storyline.

Some of the editing decisions were strange; if the pilot had opened with the FBI agent's debriefing, it would have taken care of a lot of the exposition upfront so the Dollhouse scenes would be less burdened.

Like John, I really appreciated that the personas were crafted from bits and pieces of real people. It gives you something human to root for, instead of having Eliza Dushku be a blank slate each week. The actives always have emotional baggage, even if it's a different person's baggage every week.

The one thing I question is why the Dollhouse lets its clients in on the secret; if they presented themselves as the highest-caliber temp agency in the world, it would explain why the uber-rich would be willing to hire a programmed approximation of what they need, instead of the real deal. When it comes to custom dating, it makes a little bit more sense for the client to be in the loop. The motorbike guy probably gave the Dollhouse a list of attributes he wanted from his ideal woman, and they shoved it into Echo.

The set design of the Dollhouse is Minority Report meets Princeton-Plainsboro from "House, M.D."
 

Romier S

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Yes, the client could go out and contract a high caliber third party negotiator who's supposedly an expert based on the credentials he/she has on paper. Or, being that he's wealthy and has likely been made aware of this Dollhouse agency through positive word of mouth from other uber-wealthy friends, you could pay said agency to create the perfect kidnap negotiator that can all but guarentee his daughter's safety. It's about percentages and I could buy someone with that level of disposable income wanting the very best his money could create to help save his daughter.

That may not fit every engagement from here on out but I didn't have an issue with it during the pilot.
 

Henry Gale

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KABB :frowning: in San Antonio thought that I would like to have a red, white and blue crawl throughout most of Dollhouse explaining that they were going ahead with digital broadcasting on the 17th.
KABB :frowning: in San Antonio was in error.
I really just wanted to enjoy Joss' new TV show and thought that the 3 people that weren't aware of the digital switchover were ignorant losers that deserved whatever inconvenience was awaiting them.
 

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