Small reminder post, Dollhouse will begin its last 9 episode run tomorrow, Dec. 4, with back to back episodes starting at 8/7c on FOX. Some shows haven’t gone on winter hiatus yet, so there’s still some competition (especially since USA Network’s Monk is ending its run at 9/8c). I have to DVR Monk and Medium, and record Dollhouse over the air, right to DVD, as 9pm hour is really congested, since Stargate Universe is also new, but Syfy re-airs new episodes later in the night, so I’ll catch the 11pm showing. Smallville is a repeat, so 8pm is just Dollhouse for me, and 10PM is just 2 shows that record fine on DVR, Syfy’s excellent Sanctuary and USA’s newest hit, White Collar.
Oh, and I’m working, don’t get off ’til 8pm, lovely huh?
I could come up with a more interesting title, but it doesn’t make the news any better. FOX has canceled Dollhouse. There is no surprise, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an uproar. FOX killed the show before it aired when they premiered it on a Friday. They surprisingly renewed it, yet kept it in the shitty timeslot, where it suffered even worse now. It was pulled from the November lineup, and will now air the remainder of its order (it’s currently filming the 11th episode of a 13 episode order) starting on Dec. 4 at 8/7c, with two episodes throughout December (the 4th, 11th, and 18th), then return to its regular schedule on Jan. 8th (9/8c), air on the 15th, which means the series finale will air on January 22nd, 9/8c.
Therefore, I updated the Countdown Timer I have on this blog to reflect each of those dates. I feel that this is an amazing show, that had a little rough and tumble in the beginning (also FOX’s fault, interfering with the man, Joss Whedon), but the last half found its footing, and now we have a true Joss Whedon series, innovative, unique, and very compelling drama. Which, in FOX’s terms, spells out the word ‘Cancellation.’
I guess the only good thing to come out of all this, Joss Whedon able to focus on a sequel to the Internet smash, ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.’
Hulu.com has the trailer for the upcoming 5th episode, which will guest star Summer Glau (Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicle, Firefly), here’s the link: Dollhouse Ep. 2-5 ‘Public Eye’ trailer
Tomorrow night, September 25, at 9/8c Dollhouse returns with its second season, and this time, Joss Whedon has control over it.
The first season suffered from network b.s., thinking they know better than Joss, but this season, it’s all JOSS WHEDON, as they aren’t gonna butt in to the creative genius’ vision of what Dollhouse is.
This season will see numerous guest stars, including two other former Whedon alums, Alexis Denisof (Angel) and Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles), a few more Battlestar Galactica actors (Jamie Bamber and Michael Hogan), as well as Ray Wise (Reaper, Twin Peaks) and Oscar winner Keith Carradine.
Today, the 2009 Emmy Nominations were announced. Unfortunately, it was 95% all joke. I didn’t watch Battlestar Galactica much, caught most of the first season, thought it was a great series for what it was, just not my type of sci-fi show. Well, this was the last shot for the Sci-Fi Channel’s (now Syfy, but that’s irrelevant) most talked about series. Apparently critical acclaim means squat to the Emmys. This is certainly a snub to sci-fi itself, as we continue to take a backseat to technical categories. The five categories Galactica is nominated for: Best Directing, Single-Camera Picture Editing, Special Effects, Sound Editing, and the prestigious, Outstanding Sound Mixing). These are the typical categories shows like Smallville (1), Sanctuary (first year nod, impressive, for Special Effects), and Heroes (2). There were a few birds that flew to the top ranks of Outstanding Lead/Supporting Actors, including Lost (which I got lost through all that crap back in season three).
One sad note, a non-sci-fi series, but a top draw back in the day, the last season of ER got 2 nods, but not any lead nods. So the most Emmy nominated show in history, ends with two more nods on the roster.
And again, the CW continues on the WB and UPN’s legacies of no major Emmys. Smallville has one technical category (the glorious sound-editing one, again), and, that’s about it. I blame the teeny-dramas of One Tree Hill, since that’s all the network is seen as. Wake up Emmy-Voters, Supernatural is a highly acclaimed drama and the fourth season has been labeled as one of the best, and deepest season yet, bringing in more mythology to the series. And I’ll bring this up again…
But the BIGGEST damn snub of them all: True Blood. In the past HBO was the network to contend with. True, it’s still the most nominated network (99, hmm, maybe if Lead Actress for a Drama included Ann Paquin, then HBO would’ve had an even 100), but this is an insult. True Blood has proven itself in ratings (increased recently, even after a week off), and is THE most talked about show (I’m reminded a few times where news journalists have dropped the name once or twice, irrelevant, but it doesn’t stop the buzz). And isn’t it enough that Anna Paquin won an Academy Award when she was like eleven? That Alan Ball had a previous series on HBO, Six Feet Under which was an Emmy winner. It has a great ensemble cast, which, actually is technically recognized for Casting in a Drama (strange, recognize overall casting, but not single out a few key players?). So what is the problem? Is it the vampires? Are we seriously going back to the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer, being one of the top cult hits, still loved by millions, and had highly snubbed episode “Once More with Feeling,” not to mention, snubbed actress Sarah Michelle Geller. The show had a strong female role, who kicked vampire ass, but that wasn’t enough for Lead Actress in a Drama Series? At least the one explanation we have for Buffy is the fact that it was on the WB/UPN. Maybe, with True Blood, not getting the top nods, maybe the Emmys just have something against vampires.
And the only thing that can get me through, the fact that the magnificent Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) will host this year and is once again nominated for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (and his chances of winning have increased since Jeremy Piven (Entourage) was left off the list (he won the last three)). And, the one thing that really made my day was to find out that How I Met Your Mother itself has finally been nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. Other notable nods include Kristin Chenoweth (from the now canceled ABC series Pushing Daisies), for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and of course Tony Shalhoub (Monk) is up for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and House for Drama Series with actor Hugh Laurie for Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Then among the biggest surprises, Family Guy partying with Outstanding Comedy Series (first time for an animated program, since, the Flintstones).
Oh, and Bones got a nod too, eh, for Art-Direction, alongside True Blood, Heroes, Pushing Daisies, etc.
And one slight sunshine in all this, the Emmy’s Special Class category recognizing short-form web-based entertainment programs, which has seen the light as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog found a way to be nominated for an Emmy. Now, if only they could have recognized Dollhouse, even for a technical category.
Also a note, HBO’s Generation Kill got recognized for Miniseries, Art Direction, Casting, Cinematography, Directing, Single-Camera Picture Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and Writing (all these in Miniseries or movie categories), which starred Alexander Skarsgard (Eric on True Blood).
I just want to make a quick comment to an article I just read from io9.com on the subject of today’s vampires in tv and film are weak and pathetic because of Joss Whedon’s Buffy.
This came up after this weekend’s new YouTube mash-up of Buffy taking on Edward Cullen (Buffy v Twilight). [The YouTube video is at end of this post in case you haven't watched].
I get the whole Buffy is a Vampire Slayer (thus the name of the show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and she is supposed to be doing just that, killing vamps and other creatures that go bump in the night. In the beginning it was all that, with the exception of Angel, whom she was ready to kill (and as we do know, does sacrifice his life in the end of the 2nd season to save the world), but the complication emerges: he’s got a soul. Sometimes, the best way to win is to know your enemy, what better way than to have an alliance with what is your natural enemy (in her case, Angel is a vampire, and vampires are her enemies).
But Angel is not the main attack in the article, it’s Spike. Yeah, he was real badass, and yes, I found it pathetic of him to follow Buffy around with puppy-dog eyes. Nontheless, even when he was still evil, she let him go on a deal she made in order to save the world (he helps her possibly destroy Angel, she let’s him and Drusilla go). Then again, in the 3rd season, Spike returns for one quick episode (interestingly, though, the DVDs for S3 actually has Spike on the disc, despite being in only one episode in that season) wanting a love spell done on Drusilla (another vampire, might I add), but withdraws from it all when he realizes all he’ll have to do is prove to her he is the same badass vamp (I believe to tie her up and torture her, or something to that note). Then he becomes a regular in the fourth season, having had a chip implanted making him unable to feed on humans. He still helped baddies that could defeat the Slayer, but ends up helping them fight demons because those are the only beings he could fight and kill (and he’s still a badass vampire that wants to do some killing).
The whole chip thing only made him unable to kill humans, and it can be seen that spending time with the Summers girls (hanging with Buffy’s mom watching Passions or watching over Buffy’s little sis, Dawn), w/o being able to kill, he gets to know them and finds humanity himself (which is what eventually leads to the end of the 6th season, him fighting to regain his soul).
True, there can be mushy moments, but Buffy giving into Spike in the 6th was her coping with dying, going to Heaven, and being ripped out of there by Willow, Anya, Tara, and Xander. She was lost, and did feel empty, and as she said in the show, he was “convenient,” and was being used.
Plus, she saw no reason to stake him, since he was no threat to humans (chip worked, just not on her, and he had no desire to kill her).
As for all the other shows, such as True Blood, depending on how much of the book does get retained, there’s more supernatural reason behind Bill’s (and also Eric’s) attraction to Sookie, and just from the season two opener, Eric is still very much badass (ripping that dude to bits). Also, in the Buffyverse, our two soulful vamps, don’t feed on humans, while in <True Blood, they very much still do, even if there is an alternative. True Blood also has a more political tone that is practically paralleled to our world today (Highly religious societies close-minded toward vampires is same as same such societies close-minded to homosexuals, using scare tactics to frighten the public (yep, that’s the same too) to get their ‘message’ across).
As for Twilight, yeah, Edward is a wuss. I mean come on, vampires fry in the sunlight, the whole sparkling thing, ehk, LAME. Not to mention the whole “I feel protective of you.” But remember, also, this series is targeted toward more so to young teenage girls, so there’s not gonna be a lot of blood and gore, which is present in HBO’s True Blood.
The point is, yes, vampires have taken a different turn, but doesn’t make them any less cool. Look at the Underworld trilogy, the first movie showed that they too had synthetic blood, and they live in the shadows as a high society, high-class, minimal feeding on humans (only a flashback mentioned anything of humans getting killed by vampires). Most of the killing in these movies, among their own kind (or Vampires killing Werewolves (Lycans) and vice versa). There’s no mention of sympathies to humans, but they do see them as lower beings, not worth their attention (at least, that’s what I got from them).
Okay, no more rambling, so onto the little Buffy vs Edward mash-up:
And a quick note, I happen to love vampire stuff. I was actually named after a Dark Shadows character, which was a popular daytime soap my mom loved as a kid that feature vampires, werewolves, witches, and ghosts. That’s why I love Supernatural, Buffy/Angel, and True Blood so much. I do find it somewhat disgusting knowing that Moonlight would’ve saw a second season, had it premiered a year later (last fall with True Blood and Twilight making their debuts), and because of this Twilight thing, we’re now gonna have Vampire Diaries on CW, and IFC are interested in bringing the Anita Blake series to film (I think as a TV-Movie, though it would benefit more on Showtime or something [not HBO, since they have True Blood, that may be too much]). So, yeah, CBS would definitely had kept Moonlight had it premiered in the 2008-2009 season to benefit from the increase in vampire interest. Now, I’ll end the ramblings.
Eliza Dushku stars as Echo on Dollhouse. Image:FOX promo.
We are less than a day away from the premiere of the new series by Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind, Joss Whedon. Starring former Buffy alumna, Eliza Dushku, Dollhouse follows a group of people who are called “actives” that get their memories wiped and then re-written for certain tasks. This secret agency hires out their actives to clients that need a certain job performed that requires a specific skill, or they want a fantasy played out for them. Whatever they need, they can get. Dushku stars as Echo, an active that is becoming aware of herself, and wonder why she volunteered to become a “doll” in the first place.
Overall, this is the first series by Joss Whedon since Angel went off the air in May 2004. So it’s good to have a new series by him, but also to keep in mind, he had Firefly on FOX, on Friday also, and that didn’t do so well, despite the acclaim (wonderful show, if you haven’t seen it, I recommend catching the pilot episode on Hulu.com, or better yet, renting/buying the complete series on DVD (now on Blu-Ray)).
But through it all, one thing you have to admit, Joss Whedon’s shows are creative, and among the best you can ask for from television. If you’re not gonna go to the movies (afterall the same movie will be playing on Saturday), and you’re not gonna be on a date (might as well hold for Saturday, being Valentine’s Day), and you love quality scripted programming, then might I suggest tuning to FOX on February 13th (FRIDAY) at 9PM ET for the series premiere of Dollhouse. And then afterwards, tune to CBS at 10PM for a new Numb3rs, with special guest (I say special guest, they may not) James Marsters (Spike from Buffy/Angel and Brainiac from Smallville).
But the BIGGEST damn snub of them all: True Blood. In the past HBO was the network to contend with. True, it’s still the most nominated network (99, hmm, maybe if Lead Actress for a Drama included Ann Paquin, then HBO would’ve had an even 100), but this is an insult. True Blood has proven itself in ratings (increased recently, even after a week off), and is THE most talked about show (I’m reminded a few times where news journalists have dropped the name once or twice, irrelevant, but it doesn’t stop the buzz). And isn’t it enough that Anna Paquin won an Academy Award when she was like eleven? That Alan Ball had a previous series on HBO, Six Feet Under which was an Emmy winner. It has a great ensemble cast, which, actually is technically recognized for Casting in a Drama (strange, recognize overall casting, but not single out a few key players?). So what is the problem? Is it the vampires? Are we seriously going back to the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer, being one of the top cult hits, still loved by millions, and had highly snubbed episode “Once More with Feeling,” not to mention, snubbed actress Sarah Michelle Geller. The show had a strong female role, who kicked vampire ass, but that wasn’t enough for Lead Actress in a Drama Series? At least the one explanation we have for Buffy is the fact that it was on the WB/UPN. Maybe, with True Blood, not getting the top nods, maybe the Emmys just have something against vampires. 
