The Dollhouse Metaphor

Did Joss Whedon and Eliza Dusku play a prank on Fox by getting them to air a show about how bad the TV industry is?

I tuned in this morning to watch the Dollhouse (season/series?) finale (loved it). This show is rumored to be on the brink of cancellation, so I wanted to find out what other people thought. While I was looking around (mostly on IMDB and Twitter), I found out that there have been some rumblings with Eliza Dushku and her contract with FOX.

And then it hit me.

The whole show is a metaphor for the television (and movie) industry. I don't work in the industry, so I apologize if it was obvious to everyone else.

The main character of the show, Echo/Caroline (played by Dushku), is a young woman whom we know little about. For unknown reasons, she enters into a five year contract with this agency. Her memory is wiped clean and she becomes a slave of the agency. She periodically gets an "engagement" where she is imprinted with someone else's personality (or a hybrid). During each engagement, she becomes someone else for the duration of that scenario. When it's over, she returns to the Dollhouse, and has her memory wiped until the next engagement. Furthermore, Echo (and the other dolls) are expected to behave like soulless zombies between engagements. Once her contract is up, Echo is supposed to be free to return to a normal life.

Eliza Dushku is under contract with Fox right now. She can't make a show with another network. She just has to keep trying on different role after different role on Fox until her contract ends. She was in Tru Calling which got canceled, and apparently had a spot on a show called Nurses, which never aired. Now she is executive producer on Dollhouse, but still stuck with Fox until the contract ends. They take her out of the dollhouse, dress her up in pretty clothes, and give her a new character.

The real irony here, is that despite my admiration for Joss Whedon's body of work, I really did not like this show when it first started. The premise seemed to be a hybrid of Alias/La Femme Nikita like with a new mission every week (I like procedurals less and less). The formula has worked (Alias, X-Files), but I felt that there really needed to be strong characters and an some overarching theme (see Alias, X-Files). I asked, "How can I bond with a character if she changes each week?" That's when the metaphor really hit me...

We follow celebrities around from TV show to TV show to movie all the time. We follow them on Twitter and in magazines. We don't really know what these people are like, but we follow them. I don't really know what Angelina Jolie is like, but I will check out movies that she's in, even though it's a different character each time. And I have started to realize that the same holds true with the Dollhouse. The dolls, Echo, Sierra, and Victor, are still interesting as characters...especially since the show has started to imply that there is some quality in that doll that continues to persist despite the role that he/she is playing.

It was also reported that Joss and Fox butted heads on what the show should be during the first five episodes (the mission-of-the-week episodes that I hated). Looking back at episode 6, when Joss supposedly reasserted his creative control, the show began to feel much more like a Joss Whedon show.

Hopefully Fox will let the Dollhouse live. But even if they don't, I think Eliza and Joss got a good jab in at Fox.

You must see the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season Finale

If you have not seen it, go watch (hopefully it will be at http://www.fox.com/terminator/?src=home_page_whats_on_tonight soon).

About two weeks ago, I started rewatching the old episodes that I have DVR'd, so they are all relatively fresh. This finale was hands-down the best one of the series! The whole episode was good, but my jaw was literally open from the time the window broke until the end of the episode.

It better not be the end of the series. This show needs budget. It needs another FULL season, so they can get the stars (like Lena Headey, Summer Glau, Shirley Manson, Thomas Dekker, Brian Austin Green, and Garret Dillahunt) to not worry about jumping to other opportunities. The whole cast is great. They need to keep up the promotional efforts. Most of all, they need people to watch!

If you like this show, and you're on Twitter, tweet to @Foxbroadcasting and let them know you are watching. Let them know that tweets can spread the word about a GREAT show. And if you are not on twitter, sign up at www.twitter.com and then go to www.twitter.com/foxbroadcasting and tell them you love this show! Then go watch Dollhouse!

No fate, but what we make...

Getting ready for the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles SEASON finale!

Must have a season 3.

Brian Austin Green as Derek Reese was awesome, but I like his character's death. As the lady said this week, "Keep moving."

I really hope that John (the writers) is smart enough to not go after his mother right away (learned his lesson from T2). All terminators in 2010(?) will see the TV coverage and waiting. I think we already saw one in the crowd of officers.

If they do, i hope Cameron goes into the police station Terminator 1 style. It would be a little cheesy but a good callback.

Finally, I do believe that Weaver is the same T-1000 we saw on the sub. I just think her mission is different. She could have followed Ellison to Sarah to find John, but I don't think she cares. I actually think her goal is to create the AI that creates her own sect of machines. I think there are definitely 3 camps in the future-the humans, Skynet, and a third group that probably views the whole was as inefficient. I think the writers have evolved from the 80's "machine-bad, people-good" view of things. Or at least I hope so.

I am finally liking the John Henry character. Let's keep it going FOX! (also watch Dollhouse).