Farewell to the Dollhouse

Well, it's over. Back on Friday the series finale of Dollhouse aired on FOX. I really enjoyed the episode though I think it would have been much better if it had aired after several more seasons. It always kinda sucks when a show you really like gets cancelled before it's has a chance to really get going. Fortunately for this show however, creator Josh Whedon knew going into this second season that the show would likely be canceled so he had a chance to try to put together a good ending and wrap up the various storylines. But, it still leaves me feeling like if it had been able to run longer it would have had a chance to be a lot better. It's a bit like if J.K. Rowling upon publishing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone had been told by her publisher that they would only allow her to write one more book. She likely would have been able to find a way to bring the story to some kind of conclusion but, anybody who knew that she had a plan for seven novels would know that they had missed out on some pretty good stuff.
So, as much as I liked this show I have to ask myself why it was that it ultimately didn't make it. Here are some of my ideas:

• It came from the mind of Josh Whedon. Now that is not meant as an insult to the show's mastermind but the fact of the matter is, Josh Whedon tends to make some really quirky shows that often don't have mass appeal.
• Eliza Dushku is kind of a twit. Sorry, she's a decent actress (as she clearly showed in the finale) but when it comes down to it she probably just wasn't the right person for this role. She simply doesn't play the "butt-kick chick" part of her role very convincingly. It also didn't help that she's the star of the show and she seemed to be upstaged by Fran Kranz, Enver Gjokaj and most every other member of the cast.

So, whatever the reasons may be, it's over and I for one am sad to see it go. I shall however, take comfort in the fact that at least LOST returns this week.

2009 In Review

Let's be honest; 2009 kinda sucked for me and my little family. But, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time talking about that. Instead, I have decided to list some of the good things that happened over the past year. So, here we go:

• I increased the size of my coin collection.
• The International Astronomical Union did not eliminate any more planets from the Solar System.
• Josh Whedon gave the world of television a wonderful, albeit short lived, gift. And the gift was called "Dollhouse."
• Alisa got prettier
• Patrick Rothfuss turned in his first draft of The Wise Man's Fear to his editor.
• Collin got cuter.
• I acquired The Ultimate Recording Device.*
• J.J. Abrams' remake of Star Trek was just plain awesome.
• Chuck got renewed for a 3rd season.
• I got a new nephew and a new niece.

*The Ultimate Recording Device is a VCR/DVD Recorder Combo with a digital tuner. This device allowed me to continue to record my TV shows after the digital transition.

You'll Never Believe it!

It is official, Dollhouse is returning next season. In a move that surprised a lot of people FOX announced that the show that most TV industry people had given up as dead will indeed be renewed next season for a run of 13 episodes.

SWEET SASSY MOLASSEY!!

Call the fire department; someone’s trying to burn down the DOLLHOUSE!

So, last night I watched the season finale of Dollhouse and it was really, really good. This show just premiered this season and I was surprised at how quickly and completely I got hooked on it. Unfortunately, the show has experienced low ratings and is therefore in the same boat as one of my other favorite shows (and the subject of my last blog post) Chuck. Dollhouse may very well be canceled and the decision as to whether it will return next season is still up in the air. Thankfully, like Chuck this show has a pretty militant online following. There seems to be a good amount of opposition to this show’s return though. There are definitely strong opinions on both sides. Much of it revolves around whether Dollhouse is a feminist show or not and whether the main character Echo (played by Eliza Dushku) is a strong female lead or a weak one. Blah, blah, blah; who cares? I just like the show.

One of the arguments (besides the feminism angle) that has been made against the show's return has to do with the story’s ability to maintain another season. This is one of those shows that relies greatly on back story. Like my current favorite show LOST, Dollhouse’s premiere basically dropped you into the middle of the story and as the show goes on it gives you brief little glimpses of the back story through flashbacks. Dollhouse relies greatly on this to keep the story exiting and interesting. But, some people have expressed the concern that Dollhouse’s creator Josh Whedon has essentially exhausted the back story and therefore, there would not be enough left to reveal about the characters or the mythos of the Dollhouse to maintain the show through a second season. I can certainly see the logic in this thinking and if Whedon and the others associated with the show don’t feel like they can make the show work for another season than they should pull the plug now. That would certainly be better than having it come back just to see it get canceled after a couple of episodes.
However, now that I have seen the finale I don’t really think that argument holds water. In this last episode of the season some new ideas were introduced and many things were left unresolved so I think there would definitely be enough material to produce another season. But, if it is not renewed at least it went out with a bang and those of us who were fans will remember it as an action packed show that kept us very entertained for at least twelve Friday nights.