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I just got word that FBC officially renewed Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. (THR's James Hibberd reported earlier today that Fox was "leaning" towards doing this.) .
I'm told NBC has officially passed on THE UNTITLED ADLER/HURWITZ PROJECT.
Primetime Pilot Panic: Fox Gives Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' Second Season; And NBC Passes On Adler/Hurwitz Project
By Nikki Finke | Category: Networks | Friday May 15, 2009 @ 5:11pm
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… and is Sarah Connor terminated? Fox is killing me with the suspense.
too bad they didn’t do this for a good whedon show like firefly
i think dollhouse sucks
This is surprising and AWESOME !
Wow,
So the question is whether Fox saw how the show was accelerating into greatness, or trying to capture us nerds home alone on a Friday night?
Hmmmm….
Nikke, this is great news for Dollhouse watchers like me.
But why is it we’ve heard nothing whatsoever about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? I know that cancellations aren’t usually announced, but all the actors are saying – Thomas Dekker said it today in a video to Dekker Daily – that they STILL don’t know if the show is officially canceled!
How can that be with the Fox upfronts on Monday?
Is WB holding out hope that the show can be shopped to another network? Have they not told Halcyon yet?
I’d really like it if you could find out why TSCC, considered dead by most analysts, is still not officially buried.
The show started slow, but the last six episodes were beyond great. Hopefully it is given a good timeslot other than Friday.
Normally I would be dancing for a Whedon renewal, but I have to say that I am disappointed by this one.
Uagh, that’s bad news for Terminator SCC I assume. Any info on that one, Nikki?
Any idea why TSCC hasn’t been confirmed dead and buried? Apparently the actors haven’t been told even at this late date with the Fox upfronts just three days away.
Thomas Dekker said today in a video to Dekker Daily that he still doesn’t know the face of the show, and swears he’s not lying.
How can that be? Summer Glau is reported to have signed a movie deal which means she had to be let out of her contract. And that could only happen if she knows the show is officially done for.
If Whedon is a huge talent with a rabid fanbase, how come ratings have been so piss-poor for Dollhouse, Firefly, and well the last year of Angel?
Reality is that Whedon’s time has passed. It’s not 1998 any more and his ability to draw audiences in any significant numbers with yuppie status-mongering tales is questionable at best. Particularly with a concept like Dollhouse. Which belongs on FX alongside other limited appealing shows like Rescue Me.
I’m sure Fox will regret this move, given that Eliza Duskhu is not the draw they think she is, and Whedon does not have the Buffy cast around him nor the concept.
Dollhouse veered off into straight bizarre but entertaining storylines in the second half of the season.
It will take effort and marketing to get fans and media to buy into a second season, but they need to accentuate the quality of the writing and push that aspect of the show. Selling it the Eliza superhero hour is not going to work. Selling at as a reverse X-Files where the Dollhouse is responsible for the unusual mysteries will.
What the show desperately needs? More cowbell.
I have loved every TV series Joss Whedon has put out – but halfway through the 3rd episode of Dollhouse, it was time to eject.
Other Whedon fans will point to the 1st seasons of Angel and Buffy, pointing out the flaws in those – but that’s in RETROSPECT, judging it on what came AFTER. I watched Angel, Buffy and Firefly in their first seasons and all had major promise from day one. They kept me watching – not debating if I really needed to be taking up that 5% of DVR space or I could use it for something else.
They’re keeping the insipid Dollhouse??!! But of course! They’ll wait till it gets better and people get hooked on it, and THEN they’ll cancel it. Where’s Terminator? Please tell me something of substance is coming back.
What a drag if Sarah Connor gets canned. TSCC had really hit its stride.
I confess I haven’t followed this one very closely but I believe though Joss created this show, unlike “Firefly”, “Buffy”, or “Angel”, he’s not the showrunner, meaning he doesn’t oversee the day to day writing of the episodes. (Josh Schwartz has a similar relationship with many of the shows he executive produces that are currently on the air.) That may account for the difference in style some of you are noticing. And it’s important to point out that these aren’t the same “suits” that canceled “Firefly”. Whedonites are consumed with the idea that the network is fundamentally eveel, which is just plain silly.
I think we are all missing here what’s really going on.
Dollhouse has had miserable numbers. Numbers that merit cancellation. The show-runner has never had big hits and Fox is built on BIG (24, House, Idol) hits. The show is only likely to get worse in the ratings.
BUT … what Fox had on tap to replace it was probably even worse. The strike hit hard. A lot of concepts, shows, scripts, were just not ready. Talent is thin, particularly in making broadly appealing shows that most people will watch.
You can’t walk down Melrose or Robinson without running into someone who is talented and capable of writing-producing “Battlestar Galactica,” or “Dollhouse,” or “Weeds,” or “Breaking Bad,” but none of those are HITS. To make a hit, skills are needed to create:
Interesting and sympathetic characters (to both men and women, young and old, rich SWPL yuppies, and middle/working class people).
Interesting and compelling situations for those characters (with the same broad appeal).
Like making a great souffle, very simple … and very hard. Fox has no one on deck with anything even as broad as Dollhouse. They’re buying time on Fridays until they can slot something in at midseason.
Broader lesson: too much “Showtime” worship of marginal, cable-only shows has left a whole generation of writers unable to craft broadly appealing shows. How pathetic is it that the only hit new show is a Columbor retread “Just one more thing …” aka “the Mentalist?”
Hopefully for the fans that love it, Dollhouse after midseason can move to FX, where on a limited budget it could probably find the same success as the Shield or Rescue Me.
I do agree that “Terminator” is by far a superior series. It has creative vision, talented actors and writers, and is far from the horrific disaster/”Smallville”-like sellout I anticipated.
But alas, no news is never good news.
I’m surprised Dollhouse has not been renewed sooner given the fact that it appeals towards those who enjoy rape, sexual slavery and dehumanizing women thus the GOP in its entirety.
It’s hard to understand the rationale behind renewing Dollhouse. Whedon’s fans may be passionate, but they’re not numerous. They can make a big impact on DVD sales for one day, but that’s it. It’s all smoke and mirrors with the Whedonites. There is no broad sustained interest Dollhouse at all.
All of the credit has to go to Whedon himself. He’s not short on hustle and is proof-positive that personal passionate persistence can pay-off even in the most unlikely circumstances. All that he is missing is broad mainstream interest in his programs post-Buffy. The Internet fringe just isn’t enough.
Whiskey,
You make some great points. It’s hard to craft a hit. But don’t blame it all on the writers. The audience has fragmented, splitting into niches like Showtime, FX, AMC, etc. That is a result of technology. Not writers. As for developing great “hit” shows, networks also bear some responsibility, as they seem mostly interested in smoking reality crack.
In any case, we live in a time when the viewer has MANY more choices. And choices are a good thing! I don’t know about you, but growing up, I was often bored with the offerings of network television. Even the good shows. You’d rather go back to five channels, music videos and endless L&O reruns?
@Whiskey:
I’m familiar with Melrose…but have never strolled down “Robinson”. I also beg to differ that all the wankers sitting with there laptops at the coffee shops looking more at everyone coming in and out of the cafe than they are at there script that they have up for everyone to see could so easily run a show like BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or WEEDS etc…
I did love your fist post though…well said.
whiskey:
“If Whedon is a huge talent with a rabid fanbase, how come ratings have been so piss-poor for Dollhouse, Firefly, and well the last year of Angel?”
Nobody said many. Even though millions are a lot, the networks are far greedier than that.
I heart bHo:
“I’m surprised Dollhouse has not been renewed sooner given the fact that it appeals towards those who enjoy rape, sexual slavery and dehumanizing women thus the GOP in its entirety.”
Given that is not in evidence in the show, they probably wouldn’t be interested.
(Yeah, I got that you are to stupid to understand the layers)
Another silent scream here for TSCC. If only Fox would bring it back. The season ender threw it into awesome new territory.
I wish they’d pulled the second season events forward. Too many thread were pulled out too long, in a way that reeks of Network insistence upon turning a serialized genre concept into a “family drama”. It killed the momentum
But I watched every episode and would continue to do so… c’mon Fox. Surprise us in a good way.
Joss Whedon has publicly gone on record to say that FOX handled “Firefly” atrociously and cancelling it after only one season. He was very vocal about his heart being broken, never wanting to do TV again, etc.
And before you can say never he had a deal with FOX for “Dollhouse.”
This show was always going to get picked up.
Just wondering, how many pilots did Mitch Hurwitz and the talentless Tannenbaums ruin this season? Was it something like 5 out of 6. Why writers feel they need to be in business with people like them is beyond me.
Did Hurwitz get any of his pilots picked up to series? He sure had a lot of them.
Dollhouse was failing because it’s a show about the villains victimizing the same young woman every week. The Houston Chronicle TV columnist applied to it the moniker Assassination Brothel (with Eliza Dushku as the Harlot Ninja). There’s no one to root for.
Dollhouse? Really?
Absolute garbage. Firefly rocked. Buffy Rocked. I just can’t figure out why networks dump decent shows like LIFE and keep absolute shit like Southland.
I am not a Joss Whedon fan, but I liked firefly and I am liking dollhouse (although less so). It is very different and challenging, plus slightly uncomfortable and a lot of people are over-analysing it. Just treat it as a show, impartial of wheather or not Joss made it and give it a chance. Sadly, since fox and most networks are built around profits, a lot of good shows are likely to get cancelled because not enough people ‘get’ them. I just wish that at least one successfull network had the courage to show more interesting programmes and try to educate their audience (Impractical I know but a guy can dream). Oh and if anyone so much as mentions reality tv around me I’ll go all Alpha on you
I sincerely doubt the show truly promotes rape, dehumanizing, women and the like. As a fan of Firefly, and an potential fan of Dr. Horrible, I don’t think that is something Mr. Whedon would do. I have not seen Dollhouse, but I suspect that you probably missed to point.
I am not sure of if I like all of his recent work or not, but I do know why shows like Firefly get horrible reviews, then go on to be hugely successful with DVD sales. Firefly to me is a simple case. Star Trek attracts a very similar crowd. Many people despise Star Trek and see no value in it. I didn’t even know Firefly existed until it was off the air. If Fox had advertised it better, explaining the premise thoroughly I would have watched. And in my opinion most of the episodes stand alone, you can watch many of them without knowing the whole story. Many many people went to see Serenity because of friend’s recommendations, and are now going back to watch Firefly. It has better character development than Star Trek, and has far more humor in each episode. Firefly failed because FOX didn’t promote it correctly, and were too quick to cut it. Mr. Whedon truly can profit from only selling DVD’s and never putting shows on TV. Just look at Dr. Horrible. Regardless of my opinion on Dollhouse, I know that it in large part because Whedon fans would be infuriated with FOX that he was given a second season, regardless of if all Firefly fans like the show or not. It would have been complete bullshit for FOX to do it again, especially because Dollhouse clearly appeals to a slightly different crowd.
There are very few writers to know how to create a good show for this type of crowd (dorks/nerds), and I know of only three. JJ Abrams, Aaron Sorkin, and Whedon.