?Dollhouse? Joss Whedon's recent series

Ain't It Cool News is reporting two ex-Angel writers have been hired, and they're also saying "Dollhouse" will air in late October.
Sweet!

Link

 

New Whedon in October! I'm in!

**scowls as he realizes he must now get cable

 

Could be late October, could be early November. All depends on when the World Series actually ends, because I bet you anything "Dollhouse" will not air minute before the final out of "October Classic."

 

TV Guide's Michael Ausiello just posted a breakdown of the Dollhouse's casting call and his suggestions for it, Two for each cast discription, one from prior Whedonverses and one outside the Whedonverses.

I figured I would post the breakdown and suggestions and we could come up with our own suggestions until the cast is finally picked.

ADELLE DEWITT
The fortyish iceberg who runs the Dollhouse where the human Etch-a-Sketches reside
? If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Juliet Landau, so creepily heartbreaking as ubervamp Drusilla. They don't come any cooler, or hotter, than her.
? If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Shohreh Aghdashloo. The onetime 24 Mommie Dearest is the scariest thing we've ever seen that didn't have fangs.

Personally I would love to see Vanessa Marcil with the part. With Las Vegas cancelled she would be available and this would be a perfect oppurtunity to play against type.

PAUL BALLARD
The thirtysomething G-man who is slated to become an offbeat love interest for Dushku's "impressionable" Echo
? If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: J. August Richards, whose long run as Angel's sidekick, Gunn, only hinted at the dark side we have zero doubt he would bring to this conflicted character.
? If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Hands down, Ben Browder. The Stargate SG-1 heartthrob has proven a million times over ? or at least in every single episode of Farscape ? that he was born to speak Whedon's zippy dialogue.

Too bad David Boreaneaz is committed to Bones. *sigh* I would also suggest Josh Duhmael, but I think he'll probably be tied up with the Transformers' sequel now that the Writer's Strike is over (Barring a SAG strike)

BOYD LANGTON
Echo's handler and father figure
? If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Duh. With its Watcher overtones, Boyd is a character tailor-made for Anthony Stewart Head, aka Buffy's surrogate dad, Giles.
? If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Mitch Pileggi, who brought unexpected heart to what could have been the one-note role of The X-Files' gruff taskmaster, Skinner.

Somebody on the TV Guide boards suggested Jerry Doyle for this part, and you know what? It's not a bad suggestion. He could probably bring a different maybe more sarcastic take to the part (and could probably work well with Whedon take based on his wit in Babylon5) and he's been away from the TV and Sci - Fi scene long enough that he wouldn't automatically be remembered as Garabaldi right off the bat. The only problem could be when JMS decides to start up The Lost Tales again as he's said Garabaldi would be a part of the next TLT volume.

TOPHER BRINK
The technogeek who enjoys his job as a Doll programmer maybe a little too much
? If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Tom Lenk, who made such an indelible impression as Andrew, the amoral, ambiguously gay member of the Trio, Buffy's dorky "archnemeses."
? If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Jason Yachanin, the adorkable Troma action hero who deserves so much better than Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. (Hey, don't judge him based on his résumé!)

SIERRA
The knockout Doll who is as close to a friend as Echo has
? If the part is cast from within the Buffyverse: Bianca Lawson, if only so we can finally see alterna-Slayer Kendra play a part without the Jar Jar Binks patois.
? If the part is cast from outside the Buffyverse: Die Hard 4 butt-kicker Maggie Q. Too bad, what with her busy film career and all, she's probably gonna be a little too busy for the gig.

I would love to see "Bold and the Beautiful" and "Close to Home" star Jennifer Finnigan doing this part.

VICTOR
The distractingly handsome Doll who is called upon to play everyone from Errol Flynn to Robert DeNiro
? If the part is cast from within the Bu

 

We also learned that production on the pilot episode begins April 23 in Los Angeles, and that the recent script pages released for casting earlier this week were written solely by Joss. Fain and Craft will return to work on the show Monday.
Link

Information about the cast should be coming really soon.

I'm so excited about this! I had never seen any of Whedon's shows until last summer when I finally watched "Firefly," so it's going to be great to see one of his shows while it's still ongoing.

 

Cast starting to take shape.

*torpedos OPPM*

 

Sweet! Helo is in it


I guess it makes sense since Joss supposedly is a big fan of Battlestar Galactica, and the actors will be out of work with the series ending.


Very sweet.

 

Dollhouse's ruthless leader cast.

 

Angel alum joins Dollhouse.

 

Howdy - I've got the first HQ promo photos for the show!

Click to view!

I should have lots of photos of Eliza and the cast (if they're attending) from the Upfronts that are taking place in NY today too.

 

Trailer

 

Well, that wasn't so much a trailer as it was a short clip in which nothing much happens. Come on, Joss... give us some action!

 

Instead of the 'Verse' as it was refered to in Firefly, it is now the 'System'?

I have a bad feeling that despite the fact it is a new show that has no connection to Firefly, Joss and Co are probably trying to capitalise on the Firefly audience which might just harm the show me thinks.

But we will have to wait and see...

 

Uhh.... what?


Chill dude. She's talking about the police (and the government), hence the donut comment. Calling the government or some other large organization "the system" is kind of an extremely common real world term. There is no connection to Firefly whatsoever.




Found another trailer here

 

You are probably right, but it sounded to me as if she was referring to the Universe... either way I still think this show will try to capitolise on the Firefly audience in a bad way (as well as bringing in a new audience of course as well!)

 

I think if they were really trying to capitalize on the fans they picked up from Firefly, we would see a lead from that cast. Instead the only lead from one of his other shows in Dushku, from the Buffyverse.


Other than that he seems to be using people new to him. Of the actors I know, I'm most excited about seeing Tahmoh Penikett. He is great in Battlestar Galactica, and has proved himself as a skilled actor IMO.

 

It's Joss working with Fox. Did you really expect Fox to distribute the show well?

 

I'm gonna choose to see the positive side of this: this obviously means the expectations are down, and it can survive with a lesser audience.

Sadly, I'm very prepared for this to end up being a one season thing.

 

this obviously means the expectations are down, and it can survive with a lesser audience.

I hope so, but this sounds just a few steps away from changing the airing order and randomly showing baseball games instead



For people who actually watch TV: have there been any advertisements for it yet? If so, how often? During popular shows?

 

A regular at Whedonesque wrote this:

"Certain elements of FOX absolutely hate the show. That's the sad truth.

I've known for a while Dollhouse has been in serious trouble, and I've kept (relatively) quiet about it online. In fact, I've pretty much kept my mouth shut about it, as I found the whole thing too depressing (yes, folks, I never thought email could be depressing as it's just words - but now I hate that wee Google Mail logo. Sod you, Google).

Dollhouse has gone from being this genre-bending, amazing sounding show pitched to people in New York last year (which, also, I kept quiet about) to being a long, protracted Agent Paul Ballard hitting-things to music scene. (You will all get that on Friday February 13th - which as Jackal points out, the day Angel got cancelled). The product Joss sold isn't what certain folk at the network really wanted, and what's happened (and is happening) is Joss and friends trying to mash Dollhouse into FOX's format. (Edit: well, that's my take) Its led to loads of problems. FOX refusing reshoots, an aborted pilot, episode reordering, it loosing its air date, it shifting to Friday... But wait, it gets worse! Dollhouse is shooting until the end of January, so unless they order more episodes... Head. Desk.

There's an interview Joss did with Neil Gaiman (who, co-incidentially, I met at a Jonathan Coulton gig the other night) -- in it, Neil went on about the creative process, and how well meaning execs can sometimes plow into a property and end up scent marking it to the point where it ends up stinking of piss. At the time, I thought that was funny - as was Joss' reaction in the interview. Now I feel the pain. Now I know how personal Dr Horrible, a silly internet musical, actually is. If this things dies, I know who fired the death ray."

He took it down because it was causing fans to have a heart attack, but I believe him because he's had a good track record when it comes to all things Whedon. The production problems this show has had is well documented.

He went on to say later that people working on the show learned about the time-slot from reading Whedonesque. If that's true, than Fox really doesn't have a clue or don't care. The PR disaster that this has caused shows they either don't care what the fans think or they are oblivious. What a fluster cuck.

I'm really bummed right now, but I think the idea of a Sci-fi block with T:TSCC and Dollhouse (and then BSG) could work.

 

I never watch TV live. I always download.

A BSG/Dollhouse/Terminator lineup would glue me to the TV for three straight hours, no questions asked, and anyone who got in my way would die a horrible and painful death.

 

Hm.

Well I tried watching this.

15 minutes in I couldn't take much more....it seemed juvenile, obviously geared towards young adults, with it's themes of indecision and search for identity. Way too obvious. I didn't like the acting, I didn't like the dialogue. Visually, it is uncompelling. There doesn't appear to be any larger mythology like BSG or Lost have. There's no air of mystery that I hoped for. The premise is cool, but that's about it.

I may try watching this in it's entirety some other time and see if I still think the same...

 

I gave this a chance tonight - it was okay. Not great, but not terrible either. The part with the abduction was drug out a little longer than I thought it should have, and overall the episode just kind of left me with an impression of "meh." I'll see what I think next week I suppose.