Dollhouse

[Ham n Cheese]

Just watched episode 3 (haven't seen 1 or 2 but the gf was telling me the deal) and this show is terrible. The acting I expected to be below par, but for Whedon I was pretty disappointed. The plot was just filled with over the top ridiculousness. If Whedon wasn't the writer everyone would criticize the writing part of this show because it's ridiculous and borderline lazy it seems.

[Wash]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Just watched episode 3 (haven't seen 1 or 2 but the gf was telling me the deal) and this show is terrible. The acting I expected to be below par, but for Whedon I was pretty disappointed. The plot was just filled with over the top ridiculousness. If Whedon wasn't the writer everyone would criticize the writing part of this show because it's ridiculous and borderline lazy it seems.

The writing hasn't been as bad as it has been boring. It's what I would expect from the writers of CSI or something. And when it is something that should be interesting, it's executed badly.

For example, when Echo is in the dollhouse, acting all childlike, her lines are simple and robotic, and she delivers them... badly. But I think a better actor could make those lines entertaining. Summer Glau had a lot of those weird lines on Firefly, and she pulled it off. Sarah Michelle Gellar had lots of lines like that when she was playing the Buffybot (not Buffy herself; I mean the actual Buffybot).

The difference is that Eliza Dushku is no Summer Glau. Just imagine Eliza trying to play River on Firefly. People would say "what the fuck is this, this is awful, what the hell is she saying?"

And next week, guess what... Echo is Blank-Echo for a large part of the episode (according to the previews, she gets zapped or something and loses her personality, and returns to a blank state). So that should be... fun?

Here's to hoping that next time, Joss returns to doing what he does well. And for the love of god, not FOX. Why not the CW, or even the Sci-Fi network? People think the CW is a joke but Buffy wouldn't have existed without it (the WB actually, which became half of CW). And it's doing all right with Smallville and shows like that. Those small networks are the only good fit for his shows, IMHO.

[column]

I've pretty much given up on this show. I'm just not interested in the characters at all,and Eliza's acting is just bad.

I might wait for it to be collected,and see how it turns out. For now tho it has gone off of Tivo status

[chthonic-anemos]

Dushku must have fucked Whedon's brains out to make this show happen.

[Gaereth]

Looked like she needs a sammich or 2. She has always been healthy looking...but she looked damn scrawny in the last episode.

[Angerz]

After watching the last episode, I can't help but wonder if Whedon is just absolutely terrified of what Fox will do to his show or how quickly he thinks Fox wants it to develop.

After 3 episodes there have been more subplots introduced than some shows have in a season.

We have Alpha and his relationship with Echo, FBI Guy and all his baggage (no respect at work, neighbor swoons over him, getting shot), Russian guy who is apparently an Active, Echo/Sierra 2.0 relationship, Sierra 1.0 decomissioned somehow (dead, sent to Attic?), WTF is the Attic, Echo being "special" and breaking the mold of her programming and to top it all off, the nod Echo and Sierra gave each other at the end of the episode means Echo isn't the only one retaining some of her past.

I'm sure I missed some, but that blob of text seemed long enough.

I did like when Echo hurled that dude over the rail and just blew it off and mentioned being from Southie. I thought that was pretty funny.

[Lost Ranger]

I didn't like episode 1 at all but 2-3 have been entertaining enough. They do seem to be introducing a lot of things at once but if it keeps things interesting then I am good with it. It hasn't reached that point of being over whelming yet so the more info the better I guess.

Echo shaking her head at her friend at the end of episode 3 is interesting. She isn't just keeping memories I am getting the vibe she knows something is really wrong with the doll house. Doesn't want to make a scene out of her friendship when the suits are around? I guess something similar happened to Alpha except he is completely psycho and likes to fuck people up with a knife. Not the greatest show on tv but it is not super terrible either. Well worth the hulu time while at work.

[mek]

I agree with ED's total lack of range being the Achilles' heel of this show. However, I do think the "doll" scenes where she is wiped are compelling, and I definitely empathize with her character despite her having none. She needs to stop recycling Faith for the active scenes, though.

I still hate hate hate hate Helo in this, the FBI plotline is just riddled with cliches and bad acting. I hope he gets turned into a doll at the end, maybe that will redeem all the bullshit. We were all expecting the neighbour to be the doll, so Victor being it was a bit of a twist - I'm guessing the neighbour is working for whoever wants Echo dead. Helo's delivery is just atrocious, I audibly groaned when he was rambling on the balcony when he started talking about the atom bomb.

Anyway, I think this show has got some serious promise now, but the acting needs to get better.

[Leviothan]

Yeah ED is fine when she is a blank slate but she has programming she sounds like Faith all the time. I liked episodes 2-3 but disliked 1. I think this could be Whedon's worst piece of work since Buffy ended. Firefly is still his masterpiece in my opinion.

[Qhue]

Dollhouse can only work if you have a really really good actor who can do a large variety of different persona-based characters. Kinda like those played by Tracy Ulman in either her FOX or HBO variety shows.

Eliza Dukshu doesnt seem to have an acting range at all...

[Blumpster]

Yes Dushku is not a great actress, which should be obvious to anyone who's been around the past ten years. She dropped out from major Hollywood films to do random TV shows...all though to be fair most teenage/early 20s movie stars drop off the radar until their 40s, if they even make it back. She's also a producer of the show, no idea what that has to do with anything, but meh.

The story really is going nowhere right now, but I hope it all starts to come together sooner then later. There are lots of pieces floating around but I've yet to get a "damn this show sucks" feeling from any part of any episode, unlike Seeker which I watched for 30 minutes (the pilot) before turning that shit off for good. It feels like these episodes are supposed to be character builders, but since Echo gets wiped all the time, and all the other characters get SHIT for screen time, all we're left with is a few pieces to try and get an idea of what this huge puzzle will end up looking like.

I don't think it's fair to compare this to Firefly. I'm sure we all feel it is quite possibly the most original, well acted, and engrossing TV show ever made, and that's what makes it so tragic. Also remember that Firefly didn't really have a direct storyline either. They were sorta just these people on a spaceship trying to survive and along came a psycho. It was all about the characters and their experiences(it was evident this was going to change if the series kept going, the focus on River was going to become much stronger), and it feels like he's trying to do the same thing with Dollhouse but something is missing, and I agree the acting is a big part of it, but structurally with the multiple storylines that for now haven't interacted at all with each other just makes it kind of irritating.

[Crizack]

the azn chick, Sierra, i think shes pretty much right on the ball where Dushku should be at.


imo at least, atm im more interested at Sierra, ep 3 was terrible.

[Leviothan]

Originally Posted by Blumpster

it feels like he's trying to do the same thing with Dollhouse but something is missing.

Malcolm Reynolds crash landing to save the show.

[Gwen Rockpounder]

I like the premise, I like the over-arching storyline behind it all. I just don't know if it's worth 35 minutes of "personality of the week" to get 5-6 minutes of storyline at the moment as indeed, the sparkling dialogue and situations he wrote for Firefly are highly noticeable for their absence at the moment

[Soygen]

This show seems more like something Joss Whedon put his name on, where as Buffy, Angel and Firefly seem like something he was more intimately involved in. If that makes sense. It's too early to write off Dollhouse though. I used to think Buffy was the gayest shit I had ever seen, having only seen a few of the first episodes. Now it is my favorite Joss Whedon show.
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