Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse'

[dfergie]

Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' canceled

Sci-fi series expected to finish its 13-episode order

By Nellie Andreeva

"Dollhouse" is closing its doors at Fox.

The network has canceled Joss Whedon's cult fave, which in May beat the odds with a second-season pickup despite low ratings.

Source & More: hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Skyhi]

Sci-fi series expected to finish its 13-episode order

By Nellie Andreeva
Source & More: hollywoodreporter.com

Disappointing. At least we'll have an ending, though. I hate when shows go off the air on a cliffhanger.

 

[dfergie]

Yup... like Earl and many others...

 

[Zookster]

Firefly ... Sarah Connor ... Dollhouse ... probably missing a few others, but a disturbing track record for cutting down quality SciFi in the series' prime nontheless.

 

[Foxbat]

Sci-Fi and Friday Nights. Seems like it hasn't worked since NBC moved Star Trek to the 10pm slot in its third season. SciFi Channel made it work, but only because it specialized in Science Fiction.

I can't say as I'm surprised that Fox is shuttering the Dollhouse. It needed to overcome a lot of negative factors like how the Dolls are treated (too close to slavery for a lot of peoples' tastes) and the whole memory wipe process might hit too close to home for those dealing with Alzheimers or other dementia.

 

[bicker]

Firefly ... Sarah Connor ... Dollhouse ... probably missing a few others, but a disturbing track record for cutting down quality SciFi in the series' prime nontheless.

None of those shows were in their prime. None of those shows ever had a prime. My wife and I loved the premise of each of those shows, and appreciated the work of the writers, directors, and actors, but the shows never really had universal appeal -- never really achieved a level of excellence that would justify their being presented. They were good ideas that seemed to have some promise, but that promise was never really realized in anything other than a limited manner.

 

[KAB]

None of those shows were in their prime. None of those shows ever had a prime. My wife and I loved the premise of each of those shows, and appreciated the work of the writers, directors, and actors, but the shows never really had universal appeal -- never really achieved a level of excellence that would justify their being presented. They were good ideas that seemed to have some promise, but that promise was never really realized in anything other than a limited manner.

LOL. Firefly was one of the most "excellent" shows ever produced, and DVD sales proved it has mass appeal. Fox screwed that pooch.

 

[bicker]

Well I don't deny that some folks enjoyed the show. What I was saying was that the number of people who felt as you do was too small. That's why I said it never had a prime, and never achieved a level of excellent that would justify being presented. That would require a larger number of people enjoying the show as you did.

 

[jayn_j]

I never felt that Joss was putting his best efforts into season 2. The show became self absorbed and started using cheap tricks. I finally felt they had found themselves on the final episode before hiatus.

I don't think Joss ever planned a season 2. That was apparent from that unaired episode that was on the DVD. That one was a series finale, pre-shot and in the can and it did tie up all the loose ends. It will be interesting to see what Joss comes up with for the last episode. Will he fold in that unaired one? Will he do the set up for it? Or, will he let that one hang out there as some sort of parallel universe thing?

 

[MikeD-C05]

I predicted this show would be canceled at the end of last season. It simply doesn't have a believable concept as its main focus. I mean people with different personalities every time they have a "treatment"? I said it before and I will say it again: Sci-Fi doesn't do well on network tv. Unfortunately the Syfy channel doesn't show much true sci-fi either. If you get 3 seasons in the can , consider it a good run.

 

[Zookster]

Well I don't deny that some folks enjoyed the show. What I was saying was that the number of people who felt as you do was too small. That's why I said it never had a prime, and never achieved a level of excellent that would justify being presented. That would require a larger number of people enjoying the show as you did.

By "prime" I wasn't referring to Neilsen ratings or mass appeal. Obviously these shows would have never been cut down if they were getting good ratings when they originally aired. I was referring to their creative-production quality prime.

Yes, sadly Dollhouse started to go off-track this season, as others commented, perhaps due to it being on the cancellation block since it debuted last year. My girlfriend, who absolutely loved this show season 1, has been turned off at times by this season's "gimmicks," but still watches.

 

[Paradox-SJ]

Well when they canceled Sara...the show with the better rating, this being canceled was a forgone conclusion.

 

[bicker]

I was referring to their creative-production quality prime.

I find that reasonable people disagree about what constitutes a "creative-production quality prime". It's seems basically the same as saying, "when I liked the show the most".

 

[dfergie]

Maureen Ryan talks with Joss Whedon... The Watcher: Sex, secrets and 'Dollhouse': Joss Whedon talks about the end of his Fox show

 

[KAB]

I enjoyed last nights two eps, especially the second one...two Tofers, cracked me up. First time Summer Glau ever creeped me out.

 

[meStevo]

Those were 2 really solid episodes IMO.

This is going to end on a strong note and leave us all disappointed.

 

[bicker]

Hmmm... that's an interest pile of poo you're setting yourself up to fall into!

Yes, they were great episodes, and they do apparently look to be aiming for a strong finish. That would leave me very satisfied.

 

[jayn_j]

Hmmm... that's an interest pile of poo you're setting yourself up to fall into!

Yes, they were great episodes, and they do apparently look to be aiming for a strong finish. That would leave me very satisfied.

Really? I always leave Joss stuff wishing for more. I consider that kinda a good thing. Much better than shows that go on too long.

This show will have a conclusion.

 

[ripnbigc]

Great episodes last night. Only three more to go.

 

[mike123abc]

Great episodes last night. Only three more to go.

I agree the show has been mutating into something that is getting better and better. I suspect that these story lines were planned from the beginning to be long term arcs, but now they are all being compressed into a short series of episodes. Quite frankly I find it extremely good programming, but I do not think they would have been able to maintain the pace if they had to do multiple seasons. We are getting all the good stuff from about 3 more seasons packed into the last few episodes.