The TV Addict 

I am so with you on this, dear TV Addict. ::runs off to post it on Whedonesque::

The show would have been so different had they stuck with the unaired pilot. Echo was already aware of Caroline’s existence by the conclusion of the unaired pilot yet that ended up taking until the end of the first season! One of the major complaints is that viewers can’t relate to Echo but she was on the fast track to being a real character and they totally messed with it. Such a shame this show wasn’t what they originally intended for it to be!

Good article, I’ll be second in line to press ‘Buy’, especially if it continues Firefly! Just don’t restrict the ‘Buy’ to US alone (like Dr. Horrible was restricted). Put it online, make it international, and open the floodgates. I’m sure Whedon would become a rich, rich man as a result of cutting the suits out of the fan picture.

What Joss needs to do his take his next show to HBO or Showtime, just imagine the possibility’s!

I’m very confused at the folks who keep saying that FOX chose Dollhouse OVER T:tSCC. Has this been quoted or posted *anywhere*, or is it something that people are just assuming?

I get a weary of folks assuming without proof, I must say. I never thought this was two fandoms competing. I’m always sad when a well-crafted show goes (even though I tried but couldn’t get into T:tSCC).

I agree Joss should head to cable or internet only…I keep reminding folks of Eliza’s deal with FOX (thus the FOX route). Imagine a Whedon show on the level of Ball’s “True Blood”!

Dollhouse is getting better and better imho, and I’m in for whatever ride the teams wants to take us on–if the script stay fresh and well-written, like they’ve been this season thusfar.

@John Joss works best when he has small stories that contribute to the overall arch of the season. Hush gave us a incredibly clever way of letting Buffy and Riley learn each others secrets and introduced us to Tara. Once More with Feeling dealt completely with the arch (ie Buffy not knowing what she’s living for, Willow’s overuse of magic, Xander and Anya’s fear of their wedding, Giles leaving, Spike’s love for Buffy) I would venture to say that Waiting in the Wings is the most episodic of those episodes you mentioned but it still had a connection to the rest of the season.

While Firefly was quite episodic it was still going to have a storytelling arch about River and her captives. (Two by two, hands of blue anyone?)

@Margaret They chose Dollhouse over Terminator because it was cheaper to make.

Wow, I have to disagree with about 90% of what everyone is saying.

First, the only thing groundbreaking about Southland was that it would have been a more intense show for networks to air on primetime. The Shield did it better, but for NBC and its dearth of quality, I guess Southland may be considered a gem to some people.

I loved Firefly. I regret that I didn’t catch it the first time it aired. Having said that, I tried to at the very least enjoy Dollhouse. The last few episodes of the first season really picked up and I did enjoy them. But that probably had more to do with the fact that Alan Tudyk and Amy Acker were showcased.

It’s hard to relate to Echo/Eliza Dushku. It can’t be done. It’ easier for humans to relate to Summer Glau’s always-robotic-emotionless acting (Sorry, Glau, I still love you).

So you know what, I’m glad that I’m not bawling over Dollhouse’s all but announced cancellation. I used up my anger on Kings cancellation (I’m still so upset that I never watched another episode after they moved it to the summer. I’m going to pretend the King Solomon/David story lives on).

John – The majority of the complaints over the stand-alone epsiodes aren’t over the fact that they’re stand-alone, it’s that they’re poor stand-alone episodes.

You know what annoys me about Television? It’s that the pirates provide a better product for free. Don’t have to watch commercials, don’t have to tune in at a different time, don’t have to buy and program a pvr to grab the show for me… I can set up an RSS feed to automagically grab the torrent and download the show to my pc, and I can watch it whenever I want – commercial free.

TV is dead. Bad distribution model, bad renumeration model (really, who watches commercials anymore anyway?) and unnecessary overhead, simply to live and die by the whims of a network.

You really want to make this work? Make it Fan-Funded… Have Joss post his idea on a website somewhere, fans buy into the concept by paying in advance. Hell, make it profit sharing – I toss $10 towards an idea for a show – if it makes a crapload of money from post production sales, then maybe I get to pocket $15 for having some faith, PLUS I get to decide what to watch, instead of having Fox do my thinking for me.

John, about standalones: The Buffy/Angel/Firefly standalones were awesome because we loved the characters and they were allowed to evolve, and be their awesome selves with each other when killing whatever monster was up that week. The trouble with Dollhouse is that we want to see the characters being their awesome selves, but they have no awesome selves! We need to care way more about a new client than about a new monster (or a new job in Firefly I guess). And even with Echo remembering more, she’s still someone else every week. So that’s why I think standalones are less liked in Dollhouse than in the other shows.

>>>@Margaret They chose Dollhouse over Terminator because it was cheaper to make.

They also get profits from Dollhouse’s DVD sales while they didn’t with T:SCC. Since they only partially owned T:SCC they were not getting as much return for it.

Blueberry,

The ground breaking quality for Southland was in how it was shot. If you disagree. you must not have watched. I you watched and still disagree, you are entitled to your opinion.

People, Joss will not leave FOX with Dollhouse. The ONLY reason Dollhouse was ever created on that network was because it was Eliza Dushku’s thing and she wanted to work with Joss again. Eliza has a CONTRACT with Fox, which would mean Dollhouse won’t go anywhere without Eliza and Fox wouldn’t allow Dollhouse to leave and take her with it, so no on the leaving the network thing.

He already plans on using the NET to his advantage. And with this devastation of COURSE he will. He will ride out Dollhouse and then move on. Oh, and FOX never tried. They BARELY promoted it and, granted they gave it a shot to be on television, they don’t actually care about it. They could have tried HARDER but, your right, its not vampires or Glee Club.

He will survive, and his fans will follow him, like always. Its just so sad that he most likely will never be on TV again unless a miracle happens on another station, but us fans should be glad we have the WEB for this of this nature.

GO JOSS.

I would even subscribe to HBO or Showtime if Joss would make a series with Spike or even one with James as not a vampire. Would prefer if it was on SyFy so would not have to pay extra. But even at that I do buy the DVDs when they come out. I just want to see James back in a series with Joss and would love it to be Spike. I am watching Dollhouse but just can’t get excited about any of the characters, Eliza is just not strong enough to pull off a different character each week. To bad Amy Acker was not the lead.

[...] an­ op­en­ letter p­os­ted at The­ TV­ Addic­t, Whe­do­n to­o­k to­ hi­s o­wn bl­o­g to [...]

IS FOX INSANE????? DOLLHOUSE is THE BEST NEW SHOW ON TV.

FIREFLY was also brilliant, and this is just outrageous. They put Firefly on at an obscure time in my area and they didn’t give it a chance. Everyone we bought the DVD’s for loves that show…. BONES BORES ME TO TEARS. Bumped for Bones? You’re joking.

Why should we trust these Nielsen ratings when they can be so tailored demographically to whatever the networks really want, frankly. I don’t trust 5000 households, that could possibly have a majority of which related to those in the film IDIOCRACY, to speak for me.

Nielsen Ratings:

“To find out who is watching TV and what they are watching, the company gets around 5,000 households to agree to be a part of the representative sample for the national ratings estimates. Nielsen’s statistics show that 99 million households have TVs in the United States, so Nielsen’s sample is not very large. The key, therefore, is to be sure the sample is representative. Then TVs, homes, programs, and people are measured in a variety of ways.”

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question433.htm

That’s a B.S. sampling to base whether or not to kill a show. If that were the case, companies like PIXAR would never be in business creating films about geriatric old men and mice who can cook. At least Disney respects that they are artists and brilliant.

Forgive my venting by I must:

I thought they (Fox) were IDIOTS when they pulled Firefly, and now to hear Dollhouse is getting pre-empted or possibly snuffed is really freaking upsetting. What is WRONG with whoever is calling the shots there? I enjoy House, but I don’t anxiously await it like we do Dollhouse – it’s actually keeping us home on a friday night those MORONS.

Everyone should really fraaaaaking protest this or they’ll do the same as they did with Firefly. Frankly, I’m shocked Fox has even had quality sci-fi like this on their network considering how over the top conservative they are.

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! : SOME OTHER NETWORK BUY THE SHOW ASAP SO WE’RE NOT STUCK WATCHING IT ON FOX & BEING AT THEIR MERCY EVERY TIME THEY DON’T HAVE THE BRAINS TO REALIZE THEY HAVE A GREAT SHOW ON THEIR HANDS!!!!

JOSS WHEDON IS BRILLIANT you freaking IDIOTS (at FOX)!!! ALL of the other shows on tv, SUCK with these few exceptions: The Closer, House (though that gives you NO excuse to bump Dollhouse for it!!!), Lie to Me, Leverage. That’s IT.

HEY TNT NETWORK – GO SIGN JOSS WHEDON WHILE YOU CAN!!!! His work is more creative & probably better belongs on TNT….Fox can be the network of the ULTRA LAME REALITY SHOWS.

NOW I SEE WHY THIS EPISODE WAS ABOUT SOMETHING BAD COMING, AND HOW EVERYONE (AT THE FOX NETWORK) NEEDS TO WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!

I miss Mal. Enough of Summer G. already, where’s Mal? And dang it all, Eliza is just fabulous, as pretty much every character is on DH. Don’t let them cancel it people, spead the word, and make your voices heard.

Dollhouse sucks and should die a rapid death so Whedon could concentrate his efforts to something better. Like Firefly.

Little wonder Dollhouse is attracting less and less fans. It’s not good and that’s Whedon’s fault, not Fox’s.