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guy44 · 02-14-2009, 01:00 PM

Dollhouse finally premiered last night. My early thoughts: Good, not great.

The Bad:

Whedon's signature dialogue was missing, which may or may not be a feature instead of a bug. I guess we'll see.

The show was very...slick. In that overproduced, Fox Network kind of way. Which worries me, because I know how Fox likes to have all their shows be shiny and shallow and that Whedon likes them to be, you know, good, and that there's already been substantial disagreement between the two. Hopefully, the show thrives anyway and Whedon will be allowed to do whatever he wants but with a massive budget.

Eliza Dushku was alright, but I need to see more out of her in the future. This show was literally created to display her acting chops, and she needs to step it up a bit. That said, Whedon's gotten fantastic performances out of some pretty shitty actors (Sarah Michelle Gellar, anyone?), so it isn't out of the realm of possibility.

I hate straight-jacketing shows to be more "stand-alone" and less serialized. I'm a massive geek, and I love to delve into a huge and uncompromisingly intimidating mythology, which is part of why I love Joss Whedon shows. No human being could pick up Angel or Buffy smoothly by season 3 or 4. Fox clearly hates this, and may force the show to be too one-off for my tastes.

The Good:

The show was action-packed, sexy, complex and complicated, touched upon a huge range of moral and ethical questions, and still managed to get out an ass-load of exposition. In other words, it many ways it was a typical Whedon series premiere.

Whedon's shows tend to get better and better over the first 5 or 6 episodes, as he has to explain the basics of his always complicated fictional universe less-and-less. Huge amounts of exposition is the curse of sci-fi/fantasy TV, and things tend to look much better after that initial awkward phase is dealt with.

The set looks simply incredible.

Olivia Williams and Amy Acker. Oh yes.

The show is clearly bursting at the seams with possibility. The cast is really, really talented (Harry Lennox, anyone) and the show's very premise allows it to stretch in many different interesting directions. So long as Fox doesn't, you know, do anything to it, and enough people watch despite Fox putting into a Friday death slot, Dollhouse could really go places.

I can't wait to see what happens from here.

P.S. Dollhouse, Friday Night Lights, Psych, Battlestar Galactica, and Terminator: TSCC are all on Friday nights right now. How come Fridays have better shows than the rest of the week put together?

02-14-2009, 01:00 PM	#22 (permalink)
guy44 Somnabulist Location: corner of No and Where	Dollhouse finally premiered last night. My early thoughts: Good, not great. The Bad: Whedon's signature dialogue was missing, which may or may not be a feature instead of a bug. I guess we'll see. The show was very...slick. In that overproduced, Fox Network kind of way. Which worries me, because I know how Fox likes to have all their shows be shiny and shallow and that Whedon likes them to be, you know, good, and that there's already been substantial disagreement between the two. Hopefully, the show thrives anyway and Whedon will be allowed to do whatever he wants but with a massive budget. Eliza Dushku was alright, but I need to see more out of her in the future. This show was literally created to display her acting chops, and she needs to step it up a bit. That said, Whedon's gotten fantastic performances out of some pretty shitty actors (Sarah Michelle Gellar, anyone?), so it isn't out of the realm of possibility. I hate straight-jacketing shows to be more "stand-alone" and less serialized. I'm a massive geek, and I love to delve into a huge and uncompromisingly intimidating mythology, which is part of why I love Joss Whedon shows. No human being could pick up Angel or Buffy smoothly by season 3 or 4. Fox clearly hates this, and may force the show to be too one-off for my tastes. The Good: The show was action-packed, sexy, complex and complicated, touched upon a huge range of moral and ethical questions, and still managed to get out an ass-load of exposition. In other words, it many ways it was a typical Whedon series premiere. Whedon's shows tend to get better and better over the first 5 or 6 episodes, as he has to explain the basics of his always complicated fictional universe less-and-less. Huge amounts of exposition is the curse of sci-fi/fantasy TV, and things tend to look much better after that initial awkward phase is dealt with. The set looks simply incredible. Olivia Williams and Amy Acker. Oh yes. The show is clearly bursting at the seams with possibility. The cast is really, really talented (Harry Lennox, anyone) and the show's very premise allows it to stretch in many different interesting directions. So long as Fox doesn't, you know, do anything to it, and enough people watch despite Fox putting into a Friday death slot, Dollhouse could really go places. I can't wait to see what happens from here. P.S. Dollhouse, Friday Night Lights, Psych, Battlestar Galactica, and Terminator: TSCC are all on Friday nights right now. How come Fridays have better shows than the rest of the week put together? __________________ "You have reached Ritual Sacrifice. For goats press one, or say 'goats.'"