TV is the New Reading

Joss Whedon casts the perfect doll in “Dollhouse”

Complicated genre guru Joss Whedon and FOX got together to produce a mysterious action series featuring Eliza Dushku called “Dollhouse.”

Fans are already preparing the “Save ‘Dollhouse’” campaign.

They’ve seen it before. A few years back, Whedon put together a ragtag collection of actors and turned them loose in a Western-themed space adventure called “Firefly” – another Friday night FOX production, another mysterious action series. FOX programmers aired the episodes out of order, pre-empted them for anything at all – from sporting events to home video submissions – and not surprisingly, even diehard fans got discouraged and gave up.

It wasn’t until the DVD set was released and people got to see the show as it was meant to be viewed – including the order the episodes were supposed to be in – that it gained enough popularity to merit a feature film to wrap up some of the storyline.

That, of course, was the canceled sci-fi epic “Firefly.” Whedon’s “Dollhouse” also airs Friday nights – premiering tomorrow night, actually. Friday night time slots don’t always bode especially well. On the plus side, however, it’s pairing with “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which features another doll – Whedon’s “Firefly” alumn Summer Glau. Glau plays Cameron, an android sent from the future to protect John Connor from a rogue android cabal called Skynet.

For her part, Dushku – a rogue warrior in Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and visionary in “Tru Calling” – is an “active” in the Dollhouse, a super-secret operation able to deploy operatives for the widest variety of tasks.

Once hired, an active is implanted with the muscle-memory, skills and attitude required to perform whatever task is required (within a very few limits). Afterward, the active’s memories and personality are wiped, and they exist in a sort of childlike fantasy until being activated again.

Since this is a Whedon production, there are several layers and complicated backstories and mysteries that will reveal themselves little by little as the show (with any luck) continues. It’s also likely to wander into ethical territory about feminism, the control people have over their own destinies and the nature of being.

It also features Eliza Dushku running around being impossibly beautiful, so you know it’s going to work on a more basic level as well. And combining her looks with her acting abilities and a complex storyline ... well, it’s like they’ve cast the perfect “doll.”

“Dollhouse” premieres Friday at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Back Back to Shows Back to Main Page Next