from Variety:
Joss Whedon's cult following is no secret, but he seems assured of attracting the faithful and little else with "Dollhouse" -- a series that exhibits a kitchen-sink mentality, throwing in a half-dozen assorted plot threads that intertwine to create confusion. The writer-producer-director is clearly gambling on viewers to grant him time to develop this sci-fi concept, but the premiere's unflattering resemblance to NBC's already-axed "My Own Worst Enemy" -- and its scheduling on Friday with the meritorious but low-rated "Terminator" -- doesn't bode well for enduring long enough to complete the show's mission, whatever that might be. - read the rest on Variety.com
If true, that's bad news for Whedon, who has been demonstrably outspoken about his hopes of attracting more than his faithful following and reaching Joe Blow as well.
Kansas City Star TV critic Aaron Barnhart isn't as sour on it as Variety. He wasn't all that enamored with the pilot (other than how pretty the set is!) but says:
Having seen two more promising later episodes, I say give "Dollhouse" time. And in the meantime, enjoy the set. - read the rest on TV Barn
So, Variety needed to refer to the show description on the Fox website to understand the pilots and Aaron Barnhart’s best endorsement for the first episodes is “look at the pretty set.” The future does not look bright. Sure, it might get better after a few episodes, but how many people (Whedonites aside) are going to stick around that long?
If it really does get good after a few episodes, we’re looking at Firefly all over again, because who is going to want to come in after missing several episodes of a serial? They’ll wait for the DVDs.
I’ve now seen quite a bit of the show. The pilot as I said before wasn’t great, it wasn’t good, it was above average. The show does get better, and I’d go so far as saying it gets “good,” which is something I rarely say about TV.
They’re after SCI FI people, and all they have to do is keep people around. It very much does compare with X-FILES in the sense that like that show it doesn’t start off great (the pilot for the X-FILES was so-so as well).
It takes time for some shows to find their audience. Look at BURN NOTICE that has surprisingly jumped to the top of USA’s shows (and deservedly so). You never know. I don’t have much hope for DOLLHOUSE on FOX, but you never know.
Julia, because while it is a serial, each episode is its own “fantasy.” I think due to that it has a shot. The “good,” I described had little to do with the Serial aspects and more to do with the stories. They stand alone well.
Anyone who knows FOX’s history with fridays, will know that Terminator & Dollhouse is just another combo set up for failure. It may be a good show but since its friday, the viewership will just get lower and lower. My prediction, if Dollhouse is lucky it will get 6-7 million viewers and Terminator will get 4-5 million. Dollhouse probably will get more because its the premiere and its only competition is a Flashpoint repeat, Supernanny, and Friday Night Lights. In other words, not that much out there. However there is Monk and other cable shows in the way too. Since Terminator has to go up against Ghost Whisperer and its numbers have already been falling on mondays its likely to sink into 3-4 million territory. Which can bring Dollhouse down too.
“And the network has come up with an irresistible on-air ad campaign for the two shows in the spirit of the Quentin Tarantino-Richard Rodriguez “Grindhouse” flicks.”
*Sighs* I’m not sure how much I’m taking Aaron’s word at the moment, from the fact the only compliment the show got in the article was about the set (who cares?) and he wants us to stick around but refuses to mention why. Also, you might want to get ROBERT Rodriguez’s name right. It’s not like Grindhouse was his first film (Sin City, Mariachi Trilogy). I don’t think asking to get someone’s name right is too much.
Dan, FYI, apparently CBS swapped the rerun out for a new episode and instead ran a rerun this past Friday. According to CBS’ schedule it will run a new episode of Flashpoint, “Between Heartbeats” this Friday
The show is going nowhere
You really have to wow audiences with your first few episodes. Sure, the show can “improve” as it goes, but by then you will have lost your audience.
Man, Whedon had two shots at creating a pilot, and evidently blew it with both.
Dollhouse should be rename Dudhouse.
Maybe if the assassins were vampires it might have a chance. Only question is if it last as long as Firefly. Prediction? Axed after 8 episodes.
In the promos I’ve seen (and that’s all I’ve seen), I am very UNimpressed with “Dollhouse.” I take consolation in the Variety reporter’s mention of my exact thoughts upon seeing the promo – we saw this already with MOWE, and it flopped. My only addition to that thought is “I guess Fox is hoping beautiful women attract Joe Blow more than Christian Slater did.”
MOWE did seem like it could go somewhere – yet it was axed after what, 4 episodes? The current broadcast television market is not exactly conducive to giving low-rated series time to grow, especially if the critics pan what they have seen.
clutz, MOWE was about an agent who lived a double life, and his 2nd persona had no recollection of his other persona. DOLLHOUSE the “dolls,” have their memories whiped all the time and have no double life. MOWE he’s a spy, in DOLLHOUSE the dolls are whatever the paying client wants.
Nick, I did not say the plots were identical. I just said they are similar themes – undercover operatives who regularly have their minds erased. Who pays them, and what they do, is irrelevant to the mind-scrub theme. Obviously I am not the only one who noticed this resemblance.
In the first episode of MOWE, Christian Slater’s character begins to have flashes where one persona “remembers” the other. Is that part of what happens in Dollhouse? Are the “dolls” beginning to remember things that should have been erased? From the Variety article, I got the impression that could be part of the plot. I might be wrong, but in any case the mind-scrub theme is central to both series.
clutz, hmmm… in the first episode of MOWE, Slater keeps reverting back to the other persona. He has no memories of the other persona at all. He just keeps switching back between them. This went on for as long as the show ran. DOLLHOUSE, yes Echo starts remembering. The only comparison the shows have is in “mind whipes,” and that is it.
methinks they’ll wind up having a bit more in common than that. And I’m not talking about the story lines either.
Mr. Seidman, if youthinks what methinks…I’d bet you are correct
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Nick C,
The mind-wipe plot worked so well in MOWE that I cannot even remember exactly what happened. I vaguely recall that one persona was recalled in places the other persona should have been – family man on a spy mission or vice versa. I woud definitely go as far as to say both series have “technogical malfucntions” in common, as well as “mind wipes.” Variety article remembers the MOWE series pretty much the same way I do, and I hold their comparison of Dollhouse to MOWE as 100% valid.
OK, I remember what I saw in MOWE now. Here’s a cut from Variety’s review of MOWE:
“Rather quickly — and a rapid pace here is key to obscure lapses in logic — Henry begins to experience interludes in which Edward emerges, while Henry pops out at the most inopportune times, such as when Edward is in the midst of a perilous assignment.”
It wasn’t that the persona’s *remembered* each other, it was that the wrong persona would appear intermittently.
In going back to that review, Variety was ever-so-slightly more favorable to MOWE than they are to Dollhouse. Wonder if that means anything?
I hope Dollhouse succeeds and anyone who doesn’t is a fool. You insular wiseacres piss and moan about no new shows, and when done by someone with a proven track record – and I’m no Buffy fan – you pan it sight unseen. To paraphrase a famous philosopher, ” Contempt prior to investigation is bulls***. ” And Clutz,suppose I had said, ” I guess ABC wants to pull in the stupid housewives with hunks with no shirts on. ” Another example of the wretched double standard that turned me and others from a liberal to a libertarian.
jay, There’s a difference between hoping and predicting. I don’t really care either way, so I’m not hoping for Dollhouse to fail. However, based on the reviews and the general feeling I’ve seen about the show, I am predicting it will fail. I think the majority of the posters here would be the same.
Clutz, to quote the Variety article:
“before complications arise as her programming starts going awry — a development also found in “Worst Enemy,” the “Bourne” movies and “Total Recall”to name just a few –which all hinge on this notion that imprinting memories on the brain can have unintended consequences. Is poor Echo, too, remembering things that she shouldn’t?”
1. Bourne didn’t have his memory whiped. He had amnesia. His programming was to kill and wasn’t done with a computer.
2. MOWE had the character keep switching personalities.
3. TOTAL RECALL had the character remembering his other self in parts. However it was revealed those “parts,” were a fabrication to get him to find the leader of the mutants. So his mind programming worked perfectly.
So I’m going to go so far as to say Brian has a bad memory and his comparisons are mostly pointless. The show is about people who are barely people (if you watch you’ll understand) who keep getting programmed to be something specific based on the “renter,” and then has their memory whiped.
Robert, I’d prefer to compare it to GREG THE BUNNY. They’ll have more in common than MOWE.