james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2009-02-13 12:13 pm
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2009-02-13 12:13 pm
Joss Whedon's Dollhouse Deathwatch: Day One
The Dollhouse series premiere airs tonight on Global at 9.00 et/pt.
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The subject line of this post just made my day.
(Not because I want the show to fail or anything, it just seems kind of inevitable.)
(Not because I want the show to fail or anything, it just seems kind of inevitable.)
Well. It does feel like a countdown, doesn't it?
I've never been less excited about a show I think might be good.
I've never been less excited about a show I think might be good.
My reasoning is that it is on Fox so it's probably doomed. It is definitely doomed if it pulls in the same number of viewers as Buffy or Angel because numbers that made the WB happy [1] won't please Fox.
I note that My Own Worst Enemy over on NBC had a related premise and it only lasted nine episodes.
1: And in the case of Buffy arguably helped keep the WB alive a little longer.
I note that My Own Worst Enemy over on NBC had a related premise and it only lasted nine episodes.
1: And in the case of Buffy arguably helped keep the WB alive a little longer.
The way I figure it, it's 4-6 weeks of watching a hopefully interesting show, and then later I can pick up all 13 episodes on DVD.
It sounds really really stupid, yeah. About the only stupider premises I can think of are Confederate-era cowboys in space or SoCal teenagers fighting vampires. So, y'know.
Joe 90 got 30 episodes out the idea, back in the 1960s. Maybe someone should get Tim Burton or Nick Park to revisit the concept.
I'm totally uninteresting in it because if I want shows where women are treated as playthings and tools of men, I could watch most of prime time. Why would I watch a show where that is the *entire premise*?
Is it possible that Joss Whedon will use this setup to explore female empowerment? Would that be in keeping with the guy who wrote Buffy, nearly wrote Wonder Woman, and made Kitty Pryde the hero of his X-Men run?
Shush. Joss Whedon is a horrid misogynist. I read it on the internet.
Hoping it will be interesting - ! No way to know till I see it.
Huh. If that got broadcast in my area I missed it.
Thirty episodes in one season. Interesting times.
Thirty episodes in one season. Interesting times.
My Own Worst Enemy over on NBC had a related premise and it only lasted nine episodes.
That show had a harder-to-believe set of premises: (1) that the Sekrit Organization had the brain-tech to do what it did all the way back in 1990, and (2) that they chose to do what they did with it. Asking the audience to make two massive and independent suspensions of disbelief right off the bat like that probably contributed significantly to the show's failure.
I note that Fox, true to form, is promoting the back-to-back "Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles" and "Dollhouse" on Friday as: "Hey! Look! Smokin' hot SF babes!"
I still consider myself to be watching T:SCC, where "watching" means "all the episodes from this season are on my Tivo and I really will watch them eventually." I plan to watch "Dollhouse" until Fox kills it or it sucks enough for me to lose interest. I'm betting on Column A.
I still consider myself to be watching T:SCC, where "watching" means "all the episodes from this season are on my Tivo and I really will watch them eventually." I plan to watch "Dollhouse" until Fox kills it or it sucks enough for me to lose interest. I'm betting on Column A.
You mean the guy who created an idiot plot just so Kitty could be "killed" tragically? Yeah, not really seeing the feminism in that.
I give Whedon props for generally creating more than one female character in his stories, thus allowing a range of characterizations -- he's a lot less crappy on that then he is on his skanky race issues. That doesn't mean he doesn't fuck up lots.
I give Whedon props for generally creating more than one female character in his stories, thus allowing a range of characterizations -- he's a lot less crappy on that then he is on his skanky race issues. That doesn't mean he doesn't fuck up lots.
I don't understand why Whedon is going this route again when the results seem so obviously foreordained. Ah well.
Riddle me this: Whedon's style seems to me to be a much better match for HBO and its kin than for the networks. Why isn't he developing his concepts as intensively-plotted 6- or 13-episode series and pitching them to HBO?
Riddle me this: Whedon's style seems to me to be a much better match for HBO and its kin than for the networks. Why isn't he developing his concepts as intensively-plotted 6- or 13-episode series and pitching them to HBO?
Day 1? You are way behind, my friend. People started the deathwatch the day it was announced that Joss had a new show, started the campaign to save it the day it was announced that Fox would air it, and kicked said campaign into high gear when it was announced that it would air on Friday nights.
I wish I were kidding.
I also wish my DVR had not died during Tuesday night's thunderstorm, so I could watch this tonight instead of waiting for Hulu tomorrow.
I wish I were kidding.
I also wish my DVR had not died during Tuesday night's thunderstorm, so I could watch this tonight instead of waiting for Hulu tomorrow.
While I do love Joss Whedon, I feel the need to point out that no matter who the author, your average feminist will probably feel more optimistic about the premises "superpowered girl fights monsters", "Amazon is a superhero", or "mutant girl joins team of superheroes", than the premise "brainwashed girl in mysterious brothel."
Sure, but as I understand it, the actual premise is "hyper-competent woman is being used by an evil organization and secretly organizing resistance" or something?
I dunno, I haven't read too much in the way of spoilers.
I dunno, I haven't read too much in the way of spoilers.
Well, it will be nice if you turn out to be right. But then Fox needs to fire whoever's been doing their buzz generation.
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