Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Dollhouse

So what do you all think of Dollhouse? I know there’s a lot of love for Firefly and Buffy/Angel out there, but I’m curious. Everyone I know is basically shrugging and waiting, hoping it improves with time. It certainly hasn’t impressed me the way the first Fireflies or Buffy did.

The whole premise hangs on Eliza Dushku being interesting as different characters. I think Dushku is a decent actress, but so far the characters she’s portrayed haven’t been particularly compelling. Let’s see, there was a negotiator (and I’m sorry, she meets the man who kidnapped her original imprinter? A bit of a stretch), a sporty-girl, and a back-up singer. I’m kinda ‘meh’ on the whole lot.

Her handler (Henry J. Lennix) is cool and has had the most interesting character development so far. Amy Acker is great in the little bit she’s been in. I do think the ‘disgraced FBI agent’ storyline is a little too reminiscent of Agent Mulder on the X-Files.

There have been a few neat tidbits. I was wondering in the last episode if Dushku was going to rescue the singer or Sierra (she said ‘I need to rescue my friend,’ so I wasn’t sure who she meant, which got my attention).

Pretty much, I’m going to give it a season and see what happens. Joss Whedon hasn’t disappointed me yet, so I’m willing to let it ride and hope he delivers.

Thoughts?
-Jason

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I agree with what you said 95%, if it wasn't for Hulu.com (or tivo / dvr for most) I wouldn't even give it that long. I don't watch much tv, and I definately don't 'run home' to watch certain shows. I either watch what's on when I happen to sit down, or I pull up stuff on the net. Since Hulu works like a dvr for me, that's what I use, and I've got it on my queue, but it's not the first thing I watch if there's multiple things in my queue. I love firefly (which the entire season is on Hulu for viewing), and buffy was ok, but at that time I never happened to be near a tv when it was on, so I never got into it.
OH, and Dr. Horrible (which WAS on hulu, but expired for now) was awesome. While I know it's not for everyone, it grows on you. I had to give it more then a few minutes to get into it, but I found myself rewatching it to catch all the nuance's.
*ramble ramble*
Point being, It's rather blah so far, and if it didn't have a name behind it, I wouldn't even bother Queue'in it. If something like firefly didn't make it more then 1 season, I'd be surprised if this does. I suppose the difference is, Firefly was on scifi, which has a select audience as it is. Dollhouse is on a channel with a much broader audience base, so it's got a better chance all the way around.
The part I hate to say, Most of the stuff I don't think is that good seems to do well on the 'i'll watch anything' channels. :)
I probably hate saying it because I don't want to insult his work, more then I'm worried about insulting the general public, and the crap that's usually on.

MOO

Kammorremae said...

I think her handler and the FBI agent after the Dollhouse are the two best characters in the show.

As is, this show reminds me of early stage Buffy; not that hot.

Anonymous said...

T_Val, just FYI for you, Firefly originally aired on Fox, and had a following. Fox just likes to cancel stuff...

I haven't actually seen Dollhouse, but I think I'll look for it just to see...

I LOVED Dr. Horrible!

Jason Janicki said...

Yes, Dr. Horrible rocked (I was Captain Hammer for Halloween).

Huh, I should check out Hulu. I might be able to catch some stuff I missed. I actually own a Tivo, so I just have it record stuff I'm interested in. Granted, I tend to just delete it without watching it, but there you go. Just not enough hours in the day anymore to get everything I need done.

Yeah, but the early stages of Buffy and Firefly (especially) had a great energy to them that Dollhouse seems to be missing. Things happened quickly, the characters were quirky, and the dialogue was snappy. Dollhouse hasn't had any of that really. Frankly, if it weren't for Joss Whedon's name on it, I wouldn't have watched this much.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I didn't know Firefly was on Fox, makes sense though, Hulu is a joint venture between Fox and some other big station, I always forget.

Well Then Poo on Fox. I can see where not everyone would like firefly, my g/f is just like, Hmm ok so it's space cowboys?

Which I'm like. .well no..
well HELL YEAH... *chuckle*

Anyway, thanks for the info. Hulu has a bunch of their old programs that were decent but only had a season or two.
Oh, and that cheese stuff, like I let my daughter watch ALF on there. Buck Rogers for me and the boy, and old alfred hitchcock and twilight zone for me and the lady.

MOO

Snickering Corpses said...

I think it has potential, but I agree that it's going a little slow. Someone said the episodes were aired out of order, but I don't know if that's actually true. Fox did that with Firefly, so it may just be someone speculating.

I think the rock star episode is the beginning of the ramp up to where it should get actually interesting, if it's going to. When you mentioned about "saving her friend", I think that really was a question you were supposed to have. Note the interaction between Echo and Sierra right at the end of the episode.

I predict we'll soon see Echo, her Handler, Sierra, and possibly the female doctor become a little team vs the Dollhouse, whether they leave it or whether they just operate within it.

Jason Janicki said...

That's an interesting thought: Team Echo vs. the Dollhouse. I wouldn't be surprised if it went that way.

I did like the exchange 'twixt Echo and Sierra. The fact that Sierra is playing along is rather interesting in it's own right.

I hadn't heard that the episodes are being aired out of order. Always possible with Fox.

Anonymous said...

Buffy and Firefly had snappy patter that floated them through the parts where nothing was happening. Dollhouse just has nothing happening. Boring.