Joss Whedons "Dollhouse"

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Grand Master

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They should have moved it to some other day. Fridays nights is never a good time slot for shows targeted at young adults.

Yeah of course we all know last season the ratings were amongst some of the lowest

Grand Master

ahhell

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It's something the networks don't get, move your programmnig to a Friday night, if you want the show to fail.

No kidding. That time slot almost killed X-files.

The real kiss of death time slot is Saturday evening. If your favorite show gets moved there, stop watching it 'cause it's doomed.

Grand Master

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No kidding. That time slot almost killed X-files.

The real kiss of death time slot is Saturday evening. If your favorite show gets moved there, stop watching it 'cause it's doomed.

Yea because that makes any sense. If that happens, keep watching it to make it more popular, so it moves back to a better time slot. lol

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Watched Epitah One last night - I must say I enjoyed it; interesting to see how Season 2 plays out now we know the general storyline.

Gotta say - this show has certainly piqued my interest after watching S1 and if Whedon gets full control on S2 then we could be in for quite a treat! When does it start anyway?

Grand Master

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So I just watched Epitah One finally. And now I am extremly confused.

First off, they didnt really show in detail how they go to 2019 or whatever, at least if you ask me. And did that actually happen? Is that where we start in Season 2? Or...

Grand Master

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'Dollhouse' Season 2: Joss Whedon on what to expect next

The following feature on Season 2 of "Dollhouse" does not, to my mind, contain major spoilers, more general indications of where the show will go in its second year. The video in the middle of this piece is an interview with "Dollhouse" cast members Dichen Lachman (Sierra) and Enver Gjokaj (Victor).

"Welcome to the biggest surprise of my career -- our Season 2."


With those words, Joss Whedon welcomed journalists from the Television Critics Association summer press tour to the set of "Dollhouse," a show that shocked everyone, including its creator, by getting a second chance at life.

The vibe on the set was markedly different than it had been a year before; last July, when Whedon welcomed journalists to the lavish, two-story Dollhouse, the show was in the midst of its very public growing pains (in the summer of 2008, a new pilot was shot and production was shut down briefly so that the writers could tweak the early scripts).

Whedon is always self-deprecating, funny and articulate, but in a one-on-one interview after the 2008 on-set press session, Whedon had the stressed look of someone who has been given a terrifying homework assignment. This year, during the press session, he wore the energized expression of a kid who's been set in front of a lavishly stocked sandbox -- he looked happy and eager to play with all the cool toys.

The early going of "Dollhouse" wasn't an easy time, Whedon recalled on Friday. "The struggle we were going through was monumental," he noted.

This year, "we have more excitement and enthusiasm than we last year by a country mile," Whedon said. "Because we're in it now. Before it was an idea, and it was an idea that we had a lot of trouble defining and America got to watch that."

In response to a question, he said he had no regrets about being so candid about the show's problems during its difficult early days.

"If an episode was nothing more than diverting and we hadn't quite gotten inside the experience as much as I wanted, I wanted people to know that I knew that," Whedon said. "I can't put something out there that is less than what it could be without some kind of explanation." [Many thanks to Daniel Feinberg, who asked that question and who prompted Whedon to say he'd "clam up" in future. Well played, sir!]

Last year, when it was time for questions from the assembled journalists, Whedon and star Eliza Dushku were alone on the main Dollhouse set, but this year, after some initial remarks from Whedon, the show's entire cast came out and sat on either side of Whedon and Dushku. And in my opinion, that's where Season 2 will rise or fall. By the end of Season 1, the relationships and emotions between the characters had become suitably Whedonian -- inside the Dollhouse there was a complex brew of betrayal, loyalty, craftiness, fear and love. It's certainly a promising starting point for a second season.

"How far can we take this? How much can we twist the knife? Where can we find alliances that we did not have? Where can we pull people apart who seem to be together?" Whedon said of Season 2. "And most importantly, how can we build Echo up from nothing, which was basically where she started last year, and really give her a sense of momentum and purpose that will ground the show in a way that it couldn't be last year?"

The relationships inside the Dollhouse are what Whedon and his writers will be taking advantage of in Season 2, he said. Though he didn't rule out doing self-contained episodes, he show would move away from an "engagement of the week" for Echo and move more toward the conspiracy-flavored character drama we saw in the last few episodes of Season 1.

"Ultimately it was the ensemble, the characters, that we wanted to talk about," Whedon said. "As soon as we had license to do that, as soon as the inner workings of the Dollhouse became as important as the engagements, we felt the show started to work and the network felt the same way."

The way to make Echo more engaging has been to give her a "mission," Whedon said.

"This year we're going to see the results of everything she went through last year -- particularly the event [in the finale] with Alpha, where she was downloaded with all the personalities -- we're going to see the effect that's had on her and we're going to find her to be a great deal less passive and a great deal more directed in what she wants, and that of course is going to make her life a lot harder," Whedon noted.

"We're going to see Echo as we knew her and then we're going to see something very different, and that's all I'm going to say," Whedon said later in the session.

The dolls themselves will start to be more "three-dimensional," Dushku said.

The events of "Epitaph One," the season-ending episode that is only available via DVD, will be referenced in the first episode of Season 2, and Felicia Day as well as other actors from that episode will appear in the Sept. 25 season premiere. And that won't be the only time we'll see the post-apocalyptic world glimpsed in "Epitaph One."

"We're fascinated by that world and its connection to this world and all the things we saw there," Whedon said. "We will basically make ['Dollhouse'] for both audiences [those who have seen 'Epitaph One' and those who have not]. ? But if you haven't seen that, it will explain itself."

Whedon says he "tends to think" that disastrous future can't be avoided, though not all the events of "Epitaph One" may transpire on future seasons of "Dollhouse" exactly the way we saw them in that episode.

I asked about something Whedon said at Comic-Con -- that some scenes we saw in "Epitaph One" may actually be faulty memories. I wondered whether that would allow the writers a bit of wiggle room when it came to how those future stories would unfold.

"I did say that for that exact reason -- we may want to fudge that," Whedon said. "There is no way you can map out a television show exactly in the first year. Because in the fourth year, you find out, 'Oh, this other thing works out so much better,' and to be wed to the other thing would be a disservice. ?

"[Also] this whole show is about perceived reality. It's about the difference in how I think of you and how you think of you," Whedon added. "We are moving towards those [events], but we are being very cagey about the context. The great thing about all those scenes is that they asked as many questions as they [answered], and some of the answers to those questions will not be what people expect."

As for "Vows," the first episode of the season, which he wrote and directed, expect a certain amount of exposition for new old viewers alike, to get them up to speed on where things stand with the characters.

As Whedon put it, "The fact of the matter is, the first episode of a season is going to contain a lot of, 'So this is Brooklyn. Six months have passed, my brother, and I have become king.'"

Some news bits from the panel and interviews afterward (spoilers/casting news ahoy):

* * "The bulk of the show takes place three months after the events of 'Omega,'" Whedon said.

* * Jamie Bamber guest starred in the first episode of the season, which wrapped Friday.

* * Victor is not in the first episode much, but he's featured heavily in the second episode, which was written by Tim Minear.

* * Amy Acker, who has a role on another network show this fall, is not in Season 2 as much as Joss would like, but she will be in "a few episodes."

* * Alan Tudyk will be back on the show at some point.

* * When asked at the end of the video interview if dolls would ever have cross-gender engagements, let it be noted for the record that Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman did not say a word. But I would guess that there will be those kinds of assignments, based on their "Oh, how did you guess that?" facial expressions.

* * According to Alan Sepinwall's "Dollhouse" story, Whedon is glad that Fox is ending its "Remote-Free TV" experiment.

* * Fun fact that has nothing to do with anything: Enver Gjokaj and Eliza Dushku are both half-Albanian.

* * A note on the video interview: I was one of a few people asking Dichen and Enver questions, as you can probably hear from the audio on the recording. Also, sorry that I'm very bad at editing and shooting video. It is what it is.

[chicago tribune]

Grand Master

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Battlestar Galactica?s Jamie Bamber and Michael Hogan Appearing in Dollhouse Season 2

Following the news that former Whedonverse member Alexis Denisof will appear in Dollhouse season 2 (and that Summer Glau could likely show up as well), we?ve also learned that members of the Battlestar Galactica cast will be appearing in the new season. Jamie Bamber, who played Lee Adama in BSG, will be showing up as a character ?heavily involved? in an engagement according to E! Online. And just a few minutes ago, we learned from Mo Ryan?s Twitter account that Michael Hogan will be appearing in the second episode of the season.

The premiere of Dollhouse season 2 is shaping up to be one of my most anticipated television events this year. Not only do we have all this great casting to look forward to, but I?m increasingly anxious to see where Whedon takes the story post-?Epitaph One?. One of my favorite experiences at Comic-Con was seeing the lost Dollhouse episode with a packed crowd of like-minded fans (You can read Adam Quigley?s rundown of the experience here).

These delicious casting announcements are just the icing on the cake for Dollhouse fans. I?m just hoping that the Friday time slot isn?t going to continue hurting the series. With ?Epitaph One?, Whedon has crafted a mythology that completely changes the scope of the series, and something I consider his Terminator. It would be a shame to lose all that potential just because the show is airing at the wrong time.

Grand Master

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Linda in Pomona, Calif.: Got any Dollhouse news?

Boy do we. Show runner Joss Whedon spilled some Dollhouse dish at the Television Critics Association tour about what's in store for Echo (Eliza Dushku). Joss says, "Echo starts really realizing that as a person, she not only exists, but that she has a mission?that she has something she wants. This year we are going to see the results of everything she went through last year, particularly the event with Alpha where she was downloaded with all of her personalities. We are going to see what effect that's had on her, and we are going to find her to be a great deal less passive and a great deal more directed in what she wants, and that is, of course, going to make her life a lot harder. And the more she finds out about what is going on around her and the more we find out, the creepier it is going to get, because creepy is what it makes it fun."Tim in Pittsburgh: With Amy Acker now on Happy Town, will she be in Dollhouse next season?b>

Dollhouse boss Joss Whedon can answer this for you: "Yes, and it is not nearly as much as we would like, but we are going to make the most of [Amy Acker] in those few."

Grand Master

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Studio Fought Hard To Bring 'Dollhouse' Back, Joss Whedon Says

The creator says he may have renewed a different Friday night show on Fox

The Fox network may be known as the network that celebrates instant hits and tosses aside those that don't get quick followings by audience, but it had to approach "Dollhouse" a little differently last spring.

The series was created by Joss Whedon, the man who had a few years back brought them "Firefly," which they never really gave a chance, and has since become a cult hit. And if the plug was pulled too early on "Dollhouse," they may lose yet another chance on what the potential of the show is.

"I'm not a hit guy, I'm a slow burner guy," Whedon told Airlock Alpha and other reporters on the red carpet of the Syfy/Entertainment Weekly party at San Diego Comic-Con last month. The studio gets that and "a longer term investment is worth it. We want to shake it up and they love us."

That doesn't mean that "Dollhouse" will continue the same route it did last season. There will be some differences, Whedon said.

"Budget-wise no, but I think changes will be noticeable because we're trying to do something that is much more cinematic and visceral and really live inside the stories," he said. "I was really disappointed in our ability to get inside the virtual sense of the experience, and so I made some mistakes, and this is not a diss on the crew. They did a great job, but I think I need to loosen up the way I work a little bit."

Although Whedon is dedicated to "Dollhouse," he did admit that if there was left up to him to choose what show survived Friday night, he might not have picked his own. Instead, he would've picked "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

"I am an apocalyptic future nut. I love that stuff," he said. "I can never get enough of it. If they had put a gun to my head and told me to choose, I would say renew 'Sarah Connor.' I wasn't trying to imitate it but it's definitely in my vocabulary."

There are two other projects that involve the Whedon name in the works, but the man said he was only going to be taking part in one of them.

"We are working on another story for Doctor Horrible," Whedon said. "We haven't done any venue or format, but we're dying to do this again. We want to do this a little different this time, but it's coming along, and that's all I can say."

But that's not the same he can share about a potential "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie being planned without him that would ignore the television series that ran on The WB and UPN.

"We were officially approached, but that is other people's deal and I'm not getting into it," Whedon said.

Is he worried that the new movie might tarnish the strong reputation he built with the television series after the misstep of the original 1992 movie?

"No," Whedon said. "It's like when I wrote Astonishing X-Men, there were a lot of X-men books, and some real good. But you can't worry about that. This is yours."

"Dollhouse" returns to Fridays this fall on Fox.

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Grand Master

Xero

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Hard for me to choose, but I'd rather have Terminator back than Dollhouse. Both are great but I'm a Terminator fan and like Whedon "I am an apocalyptic future nut"

Eitherway glad its back. Also ordered my Season 1 BluRay the other day. I haven't watched E13 or the Pilot yet so I'll be in for a treat :)

Grand Master

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Some set pics from the first episode of the new season show Joss filming on the steps of L.A. City Hall. Is someone getting married? Fighting City Hall? Speaking of fighting the law, Joss play-acted getting "arrested" by one cop/fan, as you can see in one of the photos. More images at the link! [Akinius on Flickr, via Whedonesque]

In episode three of the new season, we'll meet a new recurring character: Cindy, a smart, attractive politician's wife, who's like a young Hillary Clinton. [SpoilerTV]

This year, we're going to visit the Attic and seeing what's inside, and we'll meet some "old friends." And we'll find out first hand why people don't want to go there. We'll also learn more about the origins of the Dollhouse. And there's a new Big Bad ? someone Echo has a history with, but is unaware of. (Maybe Caroline's supposedly dead boyfriend?) [Wired]

Grand Master

Xero

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Finally watched the Pilot and Epitaph One. Both real amazing. Stupid Fox for not airing them. I really hope he ends season 2 with Epitaph Two. I love the story he made with it and think it would be a really cool finale to end the seasons with. We still need to find out how they got to where they were in that episode so I'm hoping Season 2 fills some of those holes. The Pilot was also really good and explained everything better. I was ****ed when they jumped right into it when Fox aired them. As much as I love Terminator I'm really glad Dollhouse was picked as I'm anxious to see what happens next. Then again I'd probably be saying the opposite if it were renewed instead. Btw, anyone hoping Cindy might be Summer :) Not so much for the character just to see her again haha

Grand Master

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Finally watched the Pilot and Epitaph One. Both real amazing. Stupid Fox for not airing them. I really hope he ends season 2 with Epitaph Two. I love the story he made with it and think it would be a really cool finale to end the seasons with. We still need to find out how they got to where they were in that episode so I'm hoping Season 2 fills some of those holes. The Pilot was also really good and explained everything better. I was ****ed when they jumped right into it when Fox aired them. As much as I love Terminator I'm really glad Dollhouse was picked as I'm anxious to see what happens next. Then again I'd probably be saying the opposite if it were renewed instead. Btw, anyone hoping Cindy might be Summer :) Not so much for the character just to see her again haha

Yeah I really hope we see an epitaph 2 the surrounding and the sets were awesome for that gave you the feeling you were there as well, as like you Xero I am pleased they picked up Dollhouse really I know we all love SCC but the ending gave it closure while with Dollhouse there's so much more to tell.

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