Dollhouse, Firefly, Angel, Buffy : news, photos & videos

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - PaleyFest 2009 Panel - Watch The Videos

Webmaster — 2009-11-21T11:05:44Z

Dollhouse in the 10 TV Things TWoP is thankful for this year

Webmaster — 2009-11-20T23:21:23Z

While we're constantly grateful for our friends and family and jobs and health and all that jazz, we're really thankful for the gift of television and DVRs and for Grey's Anatomy episodes without Katherine Heigl. So instead of focusing on the negative, we'd like to spend this very special episode of TWoP 10 celebrating all of the good that has come to the airwaves this fall.

10. Dollhouse is Given Notice

While we're not happy Dollhouse was cancelled, we are happy that the show will get the chance to air its remaining episodes to finish out its second and final season. Unlike when unceremoniously cut off Joss Whedon's Firefly a few years back, Whedon will be able to wrap up Dollhouse the way he wants to, which hopefully means we'll see a lot of story resolution that might have been a long ways off under ordinary circumstances. We won't go as far as saying "blessing in disguise," but we will say that we can't wait for the finale, because nobody does them like Joss.

9. Charlie's Match.com Dating Profile (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Sunny in Philly's funniest moments usually involve delving into the mind of Charlie Kelly, but Mac and Dennis trying to interview him for his Match.com profile, in which we learned that his favorite food is "milksteak" (preferably with a side of fine jelly beans — raw), that his interests include "magnets" and "little green ghouls, buddy !" and that his dislikes are solely "people's knees" was one of the funniest short scenes in the history of this already awesome show.

8. Jim Parsons on The Big Bang Theory

Parsons scored an Emmy nom for his role on BBT and rightfully so. His character Sheldon is a masterpiece, the perfect blend of intellectual superiority, smug nerdosity and obsessive-compulsive disorder. From his intricate arguments about superheroes to his icy analysis of his roommate's love life, he's the bastard we love to hate, mostly because we know he likes to be sung to when sick.

7. John Lithgow on Dexter

It didn't seem possible, but somehow John Lithgow has managed to forego his usual overacting style in favor of delivering a genuinely terrifying and restrained serial killer foe for Dexter. He's the perfectly suburban Christian dad when the script calls for it, which makes his psychotic explosions all the more disturbing when they appear. Truly perfect casting, and very impressive work from an unlikely actor on a series returned to form this season.

6. The Office Wedding

Finally, the payoff we've been waiting five years for ! Although the rehearsal dinner was a nightmare and the ceremony itself devolved into a YouTube video tribute, Jim and Pam got the wedding they wanted by cutting out for an hour and getting married on the deck of a boat under Niagara Falls. In the words of Jim : "I bought those boat tickets the day I saw that YouTube video. I knew we'd need a backup plan. The boat was actually Plan C, the church was Plan B, and Plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her." Oh, Jim — you seem to have gotten something in our eye.

5. The Vampire Diaries Is Surprisingly Good

The first episode of this seemed to just be aimed at cashing in on the popularity of Twilight (even though the VD books were around first). But this silly CW love triangle has rapidly become a weekly addiction, not for the cheese factor, but because it's actually good — shockingly so. The well-developed rivalry between the brothers, some stellar acting on Ian Somerhalder's part and a bunch of really fun plot twists (and the cutest little witch since Willow) have made this a perfectly satisfying partner for our beloved Winchesters.

4. Nathan Fillion on Castle

We love Nathan Fillion wherever he pops up, so we were happy when his new series Castle got picked up for a second season because it's a fun, comedic procedural that keeps getting better the more we come to know the cast of characters. But the best supporting cast in the world would mean squat without Fillion himself, who hams it up in every scene as Rick Castle, the big-kid mystery author who gets to play cops and killers for real. And the Halloween-episode shout-out where he dressed up as his character from the late, great Firefly ? Icing on the cake.

3. Two Awesome New Comedies in Community and Modern Family

Usually if we get one halfway decent new comedy a season we're lucky. And ones that start strong and don't need a lot of time to build like Parks and Recreation or The Office are even more rare. This season we were blessed with two fantastically funny new shows that started off fabulous and have kept up the momentum. Community focuses on an oddball students in preposterous situations and Modern Family focuses on an oddball group of relations in preposterous situations, both happily laugh track-free. Community is filled with pop culture references and features a selfish jerk as the lead, while Modern Family delights in exposing as many awkward family moments as possible. Both are awesome in their own right and we're hoping that we'll be thankful for them for many years to come.

2. The Mad Men finale

Aside from the regrettable likely loss of Kinsey and Ken for good, the new business endeavor between Don, Bertram, Roger, Pryce, Peggy, Pete and Harry was one of the most exciting season finale plot twists and next-season set-ups we've ever seen. The band's back together (with Joan in tow, thankfully), the Draper marriage was put out of its misery at just the right time and we can't wait to see what happens with that rag-tag rogue advertising company full of crazies cooped up in a hotel room. Dear Bones, House and Heroes : this is how you do it right.

1. All Things Glee

We may quibble and nitpick about plotlines that don't make sense or about Mr. Schue's annoying wife, but it comes from a place of love. This show is just such a wonderful delight, filled with pop songs and good cheer, that it just brightens up our week. Jane Lynch is phenomenal and someone needs to give Amber Riley (Mercedes) a recording contract, stat. And seriously, iTunes can't post the songs fast enough for us. So while we might not love a preachy story about being nice to people in wheelchairs, we love this show with open arms and are willing to forgive all of its flaws.

"Dollhouse" Tv Series listed in the remakes of the future

Webmaster — 2009-11-20T12:26:29Z

#2 — Dollhouse

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse was only cancelled recently, but it already deserves a remake. It wasn't a bad piece of television by any stretch of the imagination — it was just…slow.

It started off as an interesting enough concept, but the ratings began to flounder when it didn't develop much. Sure, Echo was getting back her memories, but what did it matter ? It took a few episodes for the series to even get heated up, and once it did, it still didn't go anywhere. There was no real overarching plot (well, there was in the unaired episode "Epitaph One," but it went, well, unaired).

I like Joss Whedon, but the series could have used a little help. Maybe a remake from a fresh perspective would give Dollhouse a better light.

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - 2x05 "The Public Eye" & 2x06 "The Left Hand" - Press Release

Webmaster — 2009-11-19T09:15:19Z

DOLLHOUSE

Air Date : Friday, December 04, 2009

Time Slot : 8:00 PM-10:00 PM EST on FOX

Episode Title : (DOL-205/206) "The Left Hand/The Left Hand"

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4

**2-HOUR EPISODE**"DOLLHOUSE"(8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) CC-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1

ECHO RACES TO STOP THE DOLLHOUSE'S SECRETS FROM BEING EXPOSED ON AN ALL-NEW "DOLLHOUSE" FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, ON FOX

Summer Glau, Alexis Denisof and Keith Carradine Guest-Star

Echo is sent to stop Senator Daniel Perrin (guest star Alexis Denisof) before he can expose the Dollhouse's secrets, and Adelle and Topher travel to the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse to meet its genius programmer, Bennett Halverson (guest star Glau), a woman with a mysterious past connection to Echo. In the second hour, Echo and Bennett have a shocking meeting as Adelle goes head-to-head with the ruthless head of the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse (guest star Ray Wise). Meanwhile, Topher sees double when he involves Victor in his espionage, and Perrin finds a surprising witness to testify against the Rossum Corporation in the all-new "The Left Hand (Part 1 of 2)/The Left Hand (Part 2 of 2)" episode of DOLLHOUSE airing Friday, Dec. 4 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (DOL-205/206) (TV-14 D, L, S, V)

Cast : Eliza Dushku as Echo ; Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard ; Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt ; Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton ; Fran Kranz as Topher Brink ; Enver Gjokaj as Victor ; Dichen Lachman as Sierra

Guest Cast : Summer Glau as Bennett Halverson ; Ray Wise as Stewart Lipman ; Miracle Laurie as Madeline/November ; Keith Carradine as Matthew Harding ; Alexis Denisof as Senator Daniel Perrin ; Stacey Scowley as Cindy Perrin ; Nelson Franklin as Burt Styne ; Maurissa Tancharoen as Kilo

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - Rossum Company website has a TV commercial

Webmaster — 2009-11-18T21:06:16Z

Click on the link :

http://www.rossumcorporation.com/preview.html

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - 2x06 "The Left Hand" - Stills - High Quality Photos

Webmaster — 2009-11-18T19:31:01Z

- Graphics

Good-bye, Dollhouse, It's Been Nice ; Hope You Find Your Paradise

Webmaster — 2009-11-18T14:05:56Z

To quote Joss Whedon's favorite musical creator, I'm sorry/grateful that Dollhouse was canceled. (Basically, my feelings mirror those of our wonderful recapper Joy Press, who tweeted, "It had potential. But like a lot of people, I was too ambivalent about Dollhouse to feel sad about cancellation.")

But I'm unambiguously happy that Whedon will get to do something else, whether it's Dr. Horrible 2 : The Horribling or that new digital studio he's supposed to be founding — the one I dream will turn him into the entrepreneurial Moses of online distribution. And while I'm flipping all over the emotional dial, I'm irritated by Lisa De Moraes's acrid suggestion that the show flopped because Whedon was money-hungry : "Joss Whedon needs to think more about his fans and less about his wallet. If he did, he would do his work for a cable network which can sustain a show that attracts this sized audience. He did not serve you well. Shame on him."

From my POV, this is crazy-talk, since from what he's said in interviews, Whedon developed the Dollhouse concept in the first place because Eliza Dushku (a friend since her role on Buffy) already had a development deal with Fox and asked him to collaborate on a vehicle for her. For better or worse, he's spent his adult life as an ideological populist, trying (à la The Simpsons) to plant subversive myths in mass culture. Now, this particular subversive myth definitely didn't work — not in the ratings, not in Dushku's performance. (The role Whedon had written to demonstrate her versatility highlighted exactly the opposite trait, while her unspellably named castmates, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj, kicked ass in their multiple roles.)

I certainly don't think that Dollhouse's fate makes Whedon the martyred Christ of network villainy, but it also doesn't mean he is the villain himself. There's such a thing as an interesting failure, and that's the category I'd put Dollhouse in : At once ambitiously conceived and weirdly unbaked, it had moments, even whole episodes, of brilliance. In the end, it was a failed genre experiment, in which a feminist sci-fi creator tried to use a police-procedural format (the type most frequently used as an excuse for endless close-ups of nude female corpses) to stage a metaphor about false consciousness and sex slavery.

In a way, maybe the series is even more admirable because it now looks, in retrospect, so truly impossible to pull off. Unlike something as purely girl-powered as Buffy — a juvenile myth with adult philosophical resonance — Dollhouse was designed to freak viewers out from the start. When it was kicking on all engines, the series was a sick-making essay about rape culture, and I've never seen one of those hit a mass audience. (Although it had a strange thematic sibling this year in AMC's Mad Men, another ambiguous dream-world stocked with brainwashed women.)

For those still grieving, here are some Dollhouse epitaphs — plus one proposal for the future of Whedon that I personally hope comes true :

i09's Graeme McMillan's wry 5-stages-of-fan-grief model for TV cancellations.

James Poniewozik admires the show's ambition but says that "Fox gave it as much of a chance as it reasonably could have."

And Devin Faraci argues that Whedon belongs online :

"Whedon needs to fully leap into the world of direct to DVD and On Demand programming. He's already dipped his toe in those waters with Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, which was an artistic success and apparently fiscally successful enough to warrant an impending sequel. Instead of going through a network, dealing with their interference and their programming whims and the need to appeal to a very wide audience so as to sell time to Viagra advertisers Whedon can concentrate on serving his fanbase with his vision ...

Imagine a world where a show like Arrested Development or Battlestar Galactica isn't constantly in fear of getting the axe, where shows don't have to dumb it down to reach the widest audience, where creators don't have to worry about skittish advertisers, where fans put up or shut up by supporting what they really like."

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - Season 2 - Sierra & Victor Spoilers

Webmaster — 2009-11-18T14:03:07Z

Shel in Colorado : I love Victor and Sierra ! Are we going to get to see any more of them as a couple before Dollhouse goes off the air ?

There will most definitely be more Victor and Sierra sweetness on Dollhouse before the show goes off the air for good. An insider whispers, "We learn just how deeply in love Victor and Sierra are across several more episodes—especially when they are separated..." Ack ! Don't love the news about a separation, but they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Who else is terribly torn by this news ?!

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - The five stages of fan grief

Webmaster — 2009-11-16T20:39:29Z

Wednesday's announcement of Dollhouse's cancellation came as no surprise to most, but that doesn't mean that we're not here to help those for whom the news means emotional turmoil. Let us walk you to happiness, one step at a time.

Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, in her 1969 book On Death and Dying, introduced the concept of the Five Stages of Grief to help those dealing with personal tragedy get through it as easily as possible. We've discovered that those Five Stages are almost applicable to less serious emotional issues, such as the cancellation of a favorite television show. As The Aristocats' Thomas O'Malley once said, let me elucidate here :

1 : Denial

How many times did fans deny Dollhouse's falling ratings, or tell themselves that miracles could happen despite a tiny audience and uneven quality - A self-delusion not helped by the series getting a second season in the first place, admittedly - and everything could turn out okay ("Look what happens when you add in the time-shifted audience !") ? The writing may have been on the metaphorical cancellation wall for sometime, but that doesn't mean that plenty of people were pretending that they couldn't read when they saw it.

2 : Anger

As those who've survived the loss of Firefly should remember, the cancellation of Dollhouse will have one clear effect on fans : Blaming Fox. Never mind that they gave the show two seasons with a promise to show the complete second season despite reruns of House getting more viewers and making them more money in the same timeslot, Fox will very clearly be the bad guy in the fan version of this story ; as Preston Beckman, Fox's VP of strategic programming told Broadcast & Cable, "I'll still get hate mail and death threats." But why stop there ? There's lots of mad to go around : Why not get mad at Joss for going back to Fox after the clusterfuck that was Firefly (By which I mean, the way Fox treated it, not the show itself. I'm not pissing off those River Tam fans) ? Or at the rest of America who, quite clearly, didn't see the entertainment value in a morally-ambiguous show about brainwashed slaves even with the amount of gratuitous T'n'A thrown in ? Or Smallville for somehow managing to build on its ratings on a Friday night even in its ninth season ? Or Ghost Whisperer just for existing in the first place ? There's a lot of mad in there. Just let it out. You'll fell better afterwards.

3 : Bargaining

We'll throw this one over to Syfy's senior VP of digital Craig Engler's Twitter stream from Thursday November 12th to illustrate this point for us :

Whenever some other network cancels a sci-fi show, I've noticed a distinct trends in the type of tweets I receive about it : 80% Polite : Could you please pick up X show ? I think it'd be a great fit with your network ! 8% Analytic : X shows has more viewers than your show Y so why wouldn't you pick it up ! 5% Bribe : I'll star watching/will watch more of your network if you pick up X show ! 4% Less Polite : Why don't you pick up X show ? It's better than any of the crap you air ! 3% Blame : You suck for canceling X show and/or not picking it up from another network ! (OFTEN SENT IN ALL CAPS !!!!!)

I think you get where we're coming from here.

(And in case you were wondering, Craig directly addressed Dollhouse later that day :

Leaving aside viewership, the biggest issues are, we simply can't afford network budgets and no one has even offered it to us AFAIK. Then you have to consider, it had much more exposure on Fox than it would ever get on Syfy, but the audience never quite materialized. We'd of course LOVE to do a project with Joss Whedon for Syfy that was affordable. Overall we're big fans of his work... If we could hold [the audience size from the Fox airings] (doubtful), it *could* be a good number if the budget were remotely in our ballpark.

So now you know.)

4 : Depression

What's the point in watching any new shows ? Won't they all run into network interference issues (V) or get canceled early (Eastwick, but, really, does anyone care that much about Eastwick ?), like Dollhouse ? Isn't Fringe also supposed to be having cancellation woes - and it's on Fox ! If Joss Whedon can't make television work, what chance does anyone else have ? We understand that it can be hard to believe in the healing power of television at a time like this, but think of it like this : Sometimes early cancellation can be a good thing. Imagine a world without Angel Starbuck or Deanna Troi being turned into a cake in Data's dream, and suddenly your silver lining has been found.

5 : Acceptance

Yeah, okay, this is the one that - for some fans - may never happen. Fandom in all its forms knows how to hold grudges, and if Firefly has taught us anything, it's that fandom never forgets. Now that Fox has killed two Joss Whedon shows (and Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles, for that matter), there's going to be an element of fandom that will never be able to trust the network again, never believing that Fox had good reasons to keep us from the full run-up to "Epitaph One."

Of course, identifying all the stages doesn't mean that you should rush through them, especially when there are nine episodes still to air, and an ARG still to decipher. We're not saying that you should hold onto your sadness until mid-January, of course... but if you want to, we're going to be here for you no matter what. And possibly going through exactly the same thing.

"Dollhouse" Tv Series - The Networks Take Out the Trash

Webmaster — 2009-11-15T17:56:54Z

Broadcasters dump underperforming shows and start to shape midseason lineups

With the often-telling month of November halfway gone, network executives are getting clearer pictures of which players in their lineups are ready for primetime, and which are headed to the bench for good.

The CW's The Beautiful Life got the booby prize for the first new show of the broadcast season to get the ax, but the nets have now begun to weed out the underperformers. ABC has canceled Hank and Eastwick. NBC has pulled Trauma and Southland, which was subsequently picked up by TNT.

And last week, Fox chucked Joss Whedon's Dollhouse on the scrap heap. Though the network has promised to air all 13 of the show's commissioned episodes, loyal Dollhouse fans aren't likely to go gently into that good night. “I'll still get hate mail and death threats,” says Preston Beckman, executive VP of strategic program planning at Fox.

As network executives look to midseason, several more shows are awaiting decisions on their fate, including NBC's long-running Law & Order ; CBS' Cold Case, Numbers and Three Rivers ; Fox's 'Til Death and Brothers ; ABC's Ugly Betty and The Forgotten ; and The CW's Melrose Place.

Midseason replacements awaiting the call include ABC's Romantically Challenged and Happy Town ; NBC's 100 Questions and Parenthood ; CBS' Miami Trauma, Flashpoint, Rules of Engagement and Undercover Boss ; and The CW's Life Unexpected and Fly Girls.

At Fox, Friday is up in the air after the cancellation of Dollhouse and the dismal prospects of Brothers and 'Til Death. The network is mulling the fate of Lie to Me and has Human Target and Our Little Genius in waiting.

NBC is still being buffeted by its Jay Leno decision, with advertisers concerned about the ratings hit the network has taken. ABC has some of its own issues, but can happily put three of its four Wednesday-night comedies in the success column (The Middle, Modern Family and Cougar Town). The CW has launched a hit in Vampire Diaries. And while CBS has multiple aging dramas, it has created a juggernaut on Tuesday nights with NCIS, NCIS : Los Angeles (repeats of which have already been sold to cable) and The Good Wife.

Kelly Kahl, executive VP of program planning and scheduling for CBS, points to the stability of the network's schedule in allowing a little more time for new shows to find their audience. CBS ordered five additional episodes of Accidentally on Purpose and the network has no plans to yank Three Rivers, according to Kahl.

“We were encouraged by the ratings [for Accidentally] over the last few weeks and wanted to give that show every chance,” he says. “If you have a fairly stable schedule, you can give shows that haven't really proven themselves one way or the other every chance to succeed.”

Fox has managed to climb out of its autumn doldrums with a solid fall schedule, including new hits Glee and The Cleveland Show, and a strong World Series featuring big-market teams from New York and Philadelphia.

“The real dog race is for second place,” says Brad Adgate, senior VP for research at Horizon Media. So far this season, Fox is leading with a 3.5 rating in the 18-49 demo, while ABC and CBS are each at a 2.8 and NBC has a 2.7 (7:45-11 p.m. through Nov. 8, 2009).

The ratings spread may narrow as Fox gets further from its World Series bump, but Beckman predicts a fourth-quarter win heading into the network's perennially dominant midseason.

“There have been other years where we've had good baseball [ratings] and we've been right there with the other guys, and then after baseball we drop back to third or fourth place,” he says. “I don't think that's going to happen this time.”