Dollhouse cancelled after 13!

[Ptrope]

Not a surprise to me, given that FOX also thought that an appropriate lead-in to the dark sci-fi world of Dollhouse was a couple of sitcoms ("Gosh, why don't we retain viewers from 8:00 to 9:00?"). The show has its problems, for sure - it's a difficult concept from the get-go - and as much as I like Joss, I think TSSC should've been the one of the two shows to be renewed (even Joss jested that FOX canceled the wrong show! ). In general, I think Dollhouse would've been better as a miniseries, where they could really focus on the morality of the concept, and the growth of Echo's underlying character; it's really not a weekly concept.

 

[Captain Craig]

Apparently it hasn't actually been canceled. Rather, Fox has decided not to pick up a back 9. A decision on cancellation will be made in the new year.

While this is true pending an official statement how much stock can one put into some writers "Twitter" blog?
Yes I know she is married to Jed Whedon but it strikes me as phony for her to tweet about it when Joss has a website he could simply post the info.

It may be true and I wouldn't be shocked if it was.
This "news" coming from a 'tweet' just doesn't hit me as concrete enough.

 

[Ptrope]

When the tweeter is one of the main writers on the show, I tend to offer her more credit than, say, Ain't It Cool News .

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
She still isn't an official Press Release.

 

[Ethros]

Again, not overly surprised. Shame though.
When I first saw that first cast photo, and "Joss Whedon show on FOX" I knew it had cancelled written all over it.
Even as a fan of his previous stuff I wasn't overly enthused by what I heard of the concept, and I even missed the first few episodes when it started airing in the UK, deciding to just wait and get the Season 1 DVD set later.

I did, and I it seems to me all the people who criticize it are basing are basing that on the first 4 episodes or so. IMO ep 1 was simply boring, ep 3 was pretty bad, and 2 & 4 were just "meh." Were it just a regular show and not a Whedon one I too would have stopped watching then on. But seen as I had faith in it, and the DVDs, I kept on, and I'm glad I did too. Ep 5 was interesting stuff, and from ep 6 onwards it really came into its own, and I've enjoyed every episode since then.

Still not the best show in the world, but once the scope opened up with what was possible, well then those possibilities were endless. It could have gone a long, long way, and I just hope the last 9 episodes are just as entertaining the last 11 have been.

 

[DigificWriter]

Y'know, if I have to read about or listen to one more person complain about FOX mistreating DH, or comparing this situation to the Firefly situation, I think I'm going to scream.

Rant aside, this IS sad news, but ONLY because I'm a Joss Whedon fan and a fan of the show. I would love to see FOX renew the series, but am not expecting it simply because of the realities of the television business and landscape. That said, however, I would like to make it clear that, IMO, Kevin Reilly and FOX have done more than fairly by Joss and the cast and crew of the series.

 

[Awesome Possum]

The news doesn't surprise me, though I do wonder why they made this decision before waiting for the December ratings. At least the show got one more season than Firefly, and at least they get to give it a real ending.

You weren't missing much. Dollhouse certainly wasn't Whedon's best work.

Whereas I think it's his finest, most mature work ever. And I don't mean "mature" in the sense of adult-only or non-sophomoric, but in the sense that it's more developed creatively, conceptually, and thematically than its predecessors in Whedon's body of work.

For one thing, the exploration of morality in Whedon's work has been getting progressively more ambiguous and immersed in gray areas. More and more, his stories have been becoming less about good guys and bad guys and more about people making morally ambiguous choices for complex reasons, and Dollhouse is the fullest, richest, most challenging development of that theme to date in Whedon's work.

For another thing, it's the most genuinely science-fictional series Whedon has ever done. Science fiction in the truest sense is fiction that postulates a scientific, technological, or sociological advancement and examines its consequences to human nature, society, ethics, morality, identity, and so forth. And Dollhouse does that in spades. Once it got past its early "mission of the week" phase, it became a fascinating examination of the social, psychological, and philosophical consequences of the technology to overwrite or modify minds. With this series, Whedon has truly matured from using genre concepts as trappings or allegories for personal stories to actually engaging in fully developed science-fictional worldbuilding. And that's something few producers of genre television or film ever actually achieve.


However, those factors also mean that it's a difficult show for commercial television, maybe a bit too niche to succeed. I don't think it would be fair to blame FOX for this. If anything, FOX gave it more of a chance than it would probably have gotten on any other network, and I think they deserve credit for trusting in this challenging and unconventional show enough to give it two full (if short) seasons.

And it's not like the show's potential went unfulfilled. Heck, this show was doing the kind of big stuff in episode 6 that most shows wait until episode 13 to unleash. It had a bit of a slow start, but it packed a lot into its first season and it's packing even more into the second.

I completely agree. It's been a fascinating show to watch. It took the characters that could be considered the villains and made them sympathetic. It even took Paul, who in any other show would be the hero, and broke him down completely to the point where he works for the very thing he fought to take down. I'm sad that the show isn't going to go as long as Whedon wanted it to, but I hope they can at least wrap things up. They still have two episodes to film and I think they kind of knew the show wasn't getting another season. Which is why the last episode is practically a prequel to Epitaph One.

The show wasn't for everyone, even less so than most of Whedon's work. I hope that in years to come people to come to it thanks to the DVD/BRs.

 

[Lindley]

Y'know, if I have to read about or listen to one more person complain about FOX mistreating DH, or comparing this situation to the Firefly situation, I think I'm going to scream.

Rant aside, this IS sad news, but ONLY because I'm a Joss Whedon fan and a fan of the show. I would love to see FOX renew the series, but am not expecting it simply because of the realities of the television business and landscape. That said, however, I would like to make it clear that, IMO, Kevin Reilly and FOX have done more than fairly by Joss and the cast and crew of the series.

There were some things they could have done better, I think. Pairing it with Brothers was just strange. But they have been more than fair about letting it go this long given what they *did* do.

 

[Guy Gardener]

My one true interest in Dollhose was in this series would conflict with Olivia's movie career, saving the girl from blemishing her record with another credit to the frighteningly banal X-Men franchise.

However, for last 12 seconds, I truly ACHE to see this pretty woman have a cameo in bored to death next (8 episodes is not a season Jonathan!) season for a Rushmore reunion with Jason Schartzman.

With all these genre actors scattering, big bang theory better nab a few to poke fun at the process failure that it is to market science fiction to fox.

 

[DigificWriter]

Lindley: I agree with you that maybe they could've done more, but having been around the DH fandom since its inception, I have to tell you that a lot of 'dyed in the wool' Joss fans have behaved and continue to behave as if DH has been intentionally mistreated the way that FF was, which is entirely NOT the case, and it's kind of gotten on my nerves. I also feel that, instead of focusing on what they DIDN'T do, we as Joss fans should be focusing on what they DID do, and have felt that way since Day 1.

 

[DarthPipes]

A disappointment to be sure but not a surprise. At least they got a second season, which a lot of shows never did.

Hopefully they'll finish up strong.

 

[blockaderunner]

I hate to say I told you so.

No. Wait. No I don't.

TOLD YA SO!

What do you expect when an overrated hack showrunner narrows his audience by writing exclusively to a small, rabid, freakishly loyal fanbase that is barely a pimple on the ass of the populace? On SOMEONE ELSE'S DIME no less?

It's about time he's exposed as the fraud he is. This had better get him back to earth and he can start writing for the rest of us. Or just disappear into comics.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I hate to say I told you so.

No. Wait. No I don't.

TOLD YA SO!

What do you expect when an overrated hack showrunner narrows his audience by writing exclusively to a small, rabid, freakishly loyal fanbase that is barely a pimple on the ass of the populace? On SOMEONE ELSE'S DIME no less?

It's about time he's exposed as the fraud he is. This had better get him back to earth and he can start writing for the rest of us. Or just disappear into comics.

Does that make you feel better? To act like you won some great debate. I'm sure that shows that you like have been canceled. Some people like the show, some don't. Those who do like it are going to miss it. There are shows that don't like, but I don't rush into threads attacking it when they do end.

 

[AntonyF]

I swore I wouldn't watch it until after it was cancelled, but relented. I managed three, then never watched it again. I probably will at some point, but that wasn't the Joss I knew and loved. It wasn't very good.

 

[Timby]

I hate to say I told you so.

No. Wait. No I don't.

TOLD YA SO!

What do you expect when an overrated hack showrunner narrows his audience by writing exclusively to a small, rabid, freakishly loyal fanbase that is barely a pimple on the ass of the populace? On SOMEONE ELSE'S DIME no less?

It's about time he's exposed as the fraud he is. This had better get him back to earth and he can start writing for the rest of us. Or just disappear into comics.

Hey, cool, you got your cheap jabs in at fans of Joss Whedon. Awesome. Stop getting so ludicrously over-the-top, though, or we'll spank you.

 

[Bad Bishop]

This is another setback for Eliza Dushku, but I think she'll land on her feet. I hope she can find success in something that isn't targeted to the youth or SF audience.

 

[Starbreaker]

Go beg for your job at Marvel back. I need more Astonishing X-Men that's good.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I love this show, but of course have been expecting the cancellation.

Ah, well.

For one thing, the exploration of morality in Whedon's work has been getting progressively more ambiguous and immersed in gray areas. More and more, his stories have been becoming less about good guys and bad guys and more about people making morally ambiguous choices for complex reasons, and Dollhouse is the fullest, richest, most challenging development of that theme to date in Whedon's work.

For another thing, it's the most genuinely science-fictional series Whedon has ever done.

All true.

Of course, there are people who mistakenly think that Star Wars is worthwhile "science fiction."

What do you expect when an overrated hack showrunner narrows his audience by writing exclusively to a small, rabid, freakishly loyal fanbase that is barely a pimple on the ass of the populace? On SOMEONE ELSE'S DIME no less?

You're looking for the Babylon 5 or Crusade topics. They're elsewhere.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

At least, if there's any possible silver lining, it's that they've maybe got time for some form of closure in episode 13 of season 2, which will leave the story "clean cut" and less awkward to pick up later in a television movie, mini-series, or comic book.

I think we'll probably get a good ending to things. Joss tends to treat his seasons as discrete stories within a larger whole. Dollhouse's 1st season ended with some closure. Buffy could have ended with any one of its 7 season finales and not left you hanging too badly. Even a cliffhanger-happy show like Angel almost never ended its seasons on a cliffhanger. (Season 3 doesn't count because Joss had an absolute guarantee that the show would be picked up for a 4th season.)

Firefly is the only one that ended with no resolution. But other than River's storyline, I don't think Firefly ever really had much to resolve.

In general, I think Dollhouse would've been better as a miniseries, where they could really focus on the morality of the concept, and the growth of Echo's underlying character; it's really not a weekly concept.

That's what I've thought ever since I first heard the concept. That Joss has been able to make it work as a weekly series as well as it has has been a miracle.

Best of luck to Joss Whedon on his next endeavor.

Even more luck to the real break-out stars of this series-- Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen. So far, they've written the 2 best episodes of the series-- "Epitaph One" & "Belonging." And "Stage Fright" was, IMO, the most interesting & complex of the mundane mission-of-the-week episodes.

This is another setback for Eliza Dushku, but I think she'll land on her feet. I hope she can find success in something that isn't targeted to the youth or SF audience.

In her case, Dollhouse had exactly the same problem as Tru Calling. She's the lead on a series in which her character is the least interesting thing on it. For a show ostensibly designed to show off Dushku's acting versatility, I think "Man on the Street" & "Haunted" are the only 2 times she's ever been asked to show off something significantly outside what we're used to seeing her do.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I thought the first two episodes were cheap sexual exploitation and as such I didn't bother continuing. If it's true that the show actually managed to explore the morality of its premise, then that is good news (again, if true). But why wait that long? There's little doubt that the first two episodes preyed heavily on the sexualization of Eliza Dushku as a sex slave as a means to draw in audiences. It was, at best, a juvenile approach.

If the show really grew up afterwards, then kudos to it. But really, given its missteps to begin the series, there's little surprise or remorse for this news.