The Dollhouse Initiative

Oct 03, 2009 Comments

wallpaper_1600_5Once again, my favorite little show that could Dollhouse is in trouble. The ratings are fluctuating and its got the Friday-night Death Slot, so things really just aren’t looking good. But why? What exactly is the reason that nobody will watch Dollhouse? Can someone please explain this to me?

Is it because the show is on Friday nights, and everybody is too busy “out on the town?” Somehow I highly doubt that. Sure, a lot more people go out on Friday nights than any other night of the week, but I’m confident that it really isn’t that many more. I’m sure there is still a very large number of people who sit at home and do…whatever on Friday nights. So why not just tune into the Dollhouse? Odds are in your favor that you’ll find something you like.

Which brings us to The Dollhouse Initiative. The goal here is to get more people watching Dollhouse, get the ratings to exceed the three million mark (which, in my head, is the line Dollhouse needs to cross to survive), and to get this deserving show its third season (or at least a back-nine pick-up).

But the problem isn’t with the die-hard viewers. There are upwards of two million die-hard viewers that tune into Dollhouse Every. Single. Friday. and watch the new episodes. So, what does this mean? It means that you, as the casual viewer, should start watching Dollhouse. Even if all it means is that you just put it on in the background while you do something else. Because even if you do that, I’ll bet you a hundred bucks you get sucked in.

So what’s Dollhouse even about? That’s the question I know you all want the answer to. So here you have it: Dollhouse takes place in a not-so-distant future world of ours, where the technology has developed to imprint personalities into people. This means that dollhouse1x06--09you can turn a person into anybody you want – but there’s only one catch. In order to imprint a person with a personality, you have to wipe their own, original personality clean. You have to get rid of the essence of that person. When wiped clean, these people – called “Actives” – are completely and totally innocent and have no memory of anything, which is why they live in the dollhouse, so that they can be watched over and protected. The Actives are assigned engagements, which appear whenever someone with a large amount of money pays for one of the Actives to be imprinted with a specific personality for a specific purpose.

So what’s the big deal? Well, there’s more to Dollhouse than just that. That’s just the basis of the show. The show deals with Echo (played masterfully by Eliza Dushku), an eliza-dushku-dollhouse-2Active who has signed a five-year contract with the dollhouse following making some bad decisions in her life. Echo is the star Active of the dollhouse and is given more engagements than any of the others. But Echo is special. Echo remembers things from her engagements – things that she should not remember. She’s no longer the innocent doll she’s supposed to be, and she’s secretly working to bring down the dollhouse. In the outside world, the government also is becoming aware that this underground dollhouse community exists, and they are trying to find enough concrete evidence to successfully shut it down.

Yeah, OK, but why should I watch? You are pretty much guaranteed to find something you like here. The show’s creator Joss Whedon is a genius when it comes to television, and he has already run two of the most popular shows on TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Don’t let that fool you, however. Here, Whedon isn’t dealing with vampires and sunlight. Here, he’s dealing with mankind itself. He’s discussing the difficult moral and ethical decisions that come with advancing technology. There’s a lot of grey areas when it comes to Dollhouse, and that is part of what makes it great – you never know what to think about the actual dollhouse establishment. Yet with all of the grey areas, there’s also a lot of humor. A lot of it. It’s witty and sarcastic and sometimes downright hilarious. There’s a lot of sex and a lot of violence, and if you like sci-fi, there’s no way to not like the show. Like any other television show, there’s the couples you root for and the villains you don’t, and there are a 3841135624_a04aa7227a_olot of brilliant dramatic moments. Not to mention, every once in a while, a huge jaw-dropping twist will be thrown in, and who doesn’t like that? Dollhouse has a little bit of everything.

That sounds awesome! Tell me more! The first season of Dollhouse aired last spring, so if you want to catch up on it, there are various avenues to try out. iTunes has the first season of Dollhouse available, which is a quick and easy way to catch up. The best route to take is to buy the DVD, which features a boatload of bonuses, including an exclusive episode that never aired. Plus, DVD sales have been known to save a show before, so you’d be helping the cause. A special note about the first season, however: the first five episodes of the series were created as standalone episodes. Although they are still awesome episodes, it isn’t until episode 106 “Man on the Street” that the series really begins and really picks up. So just keep that in mind. You’ll probably be hooked by then, though, so it won’t matter.

As of this writing (October 3), the second season of Dollhouse has already aired two episodes, which you can currently watch for free on Hulu, download on iTunes, or watch on Amazon On Demand.

Get a look at my review of Dollhouse Season One and the Season Two premiere, “Vows.”

Plus, there’s also an amazing list of guest stars lined up for this second season in addition totahmoh-penickett-joss-whedon-eliza-dushku-dollhouse-tv-series-2008-comic-con-photoshoot-mq-01-51748 the already fantastic cast – there’s Jamie Bamber of Battlestar Galactica; Alexis Denisof of Buffy, Angel, and a guest stint on Private Practice; Summer Glau of Firefly and The Sarah Conner Chronicles; and Michael Hogan of Battlestar Galactica. That’s a lot of great talent, people.

So, alright, you think it’s great. That’s great. What about other people? The results may surprise you, if you do a quick search on the reception to Dollhouse. While most reviews will probably cite a poor launch (which comes from the standalone episodes that made up the first five episodes), almost every single review will tell you that by the end of the series’ first season, they were hooked and that the back-half of the first season was some of the best television they had ever seen. The second season of Dollhouse currently sits with a perfect five-star rating on iTunes, with close to 300 reviews. Compare that to the first season’s iTunes rating of 4.5 stars, with close to 2000 reviews. People who watch Dollhouse love Dollhouse. There’s no doubt about it. So shouldn’t you dollhouse-season-2-9start loving it too?

Alright, so tell me what to do! It’s really very simple. All you have to do is every Friday night, turn on your television. Turn it on to your local FOX network at 9:00pm EST and just watch. Or don’t watch. Maybe you just leave it on in the background – I’m sure most of you have more than one television in your house, so you could put Dollhouse on one of them. The point is, turn it on. Maybe DVR it and watch it within the next seven hours. And then when you love it, tell your friends. Get them to tune in. Hold a Dollhouse Season One marathon, get them hooked, and then make a habit out of watching Dollhouse together every Friday night and talking about it. It really is just that simple, and more than likely, you won’t regret tuning it. Dollhouse delivers every week.

Check out the show. If you can’t catch it on the first run on Friday nights because you are out partying or hanging with friends, DVR it and watch it by 3 am that day. Or watch it on FOX.com. Or watch it on Hulu. Or buy the latest episode from iTunes. All of these are measures that really, truly do help the show, as it gives the network heads a better sense of just how many people are watching the show.

And if you love what you see, make sure to recommend the show to your friends. Word of mouth is a great way to help promote the things you love. So tell your friends. Get them to watch. And then discuss the show and keep spreading the word. Every little bit helps.

And that’s really it. Dollhouse deserves to be around to see the five-year plan series creator Joss Whedon has planned play out. It’s one of the only shows I know of that actually has a little bit of everything, has something to offer for anybody, and that’s why the Dollhouse Initiative can work. All it takes is a little help from you on Friday nights. Dollhouse isn’t over yet, and we need to make sure it stays that way.

You won’t regret it. Promise.

[ updated October 5, 2009 with new information ]

[ image credit | FOX / Newsarama / Superherofan ]

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  • Frank Watson
    I'm a very big fan of the work of Joss Whedon, but I must say that "Dollhouse" -- for whatever reason -- is simply not his best work.

    I watched all of the first season, stumbling along through this thousand-chef soup, all the time seeing the story's potential.

    But I only made it through the first two-thirds of its season two premiere. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on. There were strong emotions that seemed to come from nowhere, exposition that didn't expose anything, etc.

    I believe it may be possible that Mr. Whedon has spent too much time lately working in the comic book genre, because "Dollhouse" feels less like a TV show and more like a *storyboard* of a TV show.

    Flashing from one image and/or set-piece to another, with no narrative to connect them.

    I would suggest "Dollhouse" be allowed to die, so that Mr. Whedon can get on to something better.

    Thanks for your time.
  • ChrisfromTSCCLand
    Dullhouse is already dead; we want Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles back.

    Simply as that.
  • Janet Blumberg
    Thanks for zeroing in on the real problem here. That people aren't watching Dollhouse and don't want to watch it and even try it and leave it.

    People don't "enjoy" watching Dollhouse, even though it has all the good points you mention.

    The show makes us feel uncomfortable. It pushes our boundaries. It asks us to linger with very ambiguous questions. It aspires to be moral exercise and personal growth and not simply another piece of hella good entertainment.

    Let's encourage others and ourselves not only to try Dollhouse, but to stay with it because it disturbs us. To see, for example, why the show is not anti-feminist, when it portrays women being used and exploited and treated as non=persons as a part of its very premise. This requires us to notice the conventions it is using -- and how it is questioning them even while it uses them.

    Dollhouse is riskier than anything else Joss has tried and, as he keeps saying, it is MUCH darker. The future of humanity quite simply rests on whether Echo and the others can find themselves at their own cores and make themselves whole -- in spite of all the mind-wiping -- and in and through all the mind-wiping, because we cannot get away from it....

    So it might help to pretend that watching Dollhouse is like going to great play or reading of great work of art you'd never stick with all by yourself -- but you would stay with it if a professor assigned it in a literature classroom...and remember it for the rest of your life! Well, I'm a lit prof. And I'm assigning it, okay?

    As I think this show needs to stay around, but if we aren't willing to be asked a lot of and pushed out of our comfort zones we won't ever have the epiphanies that only the more difficult artistic experiences can give us.

    Sometimes even Whedonites fall into discussing each episode the way news anchors are reduced to discussing political speeches and events: how "successful" was it in terms of drawing in numbers? Will it appeal to this demographic or that? What if we talked instead about the issues that each episode deals with and, in this case, the various levels of satirical self-commentary operating in the show. What if we talked about the rather shattering experiences it gives us, and the moral ambiguities its characters deal with and make us face?

    Joss puts his characters "through hell" in order to put us "through hell" -- and not because he hates us.... He wants to do more than "run the daycare on the Death Star" as we hurtle into a dehumanizing future that could destroy us.
  • Jenny
    Comments from some people make me worry that people are too dumb to watch this show. I've tried not to think that, but I just don't understand how people don't understand the show and can't follow it from scene to scene. Yes, it moves fast, but I appreciate a show that isn't 90% filler. It's deep and relevant. It's good work.

    Though turning on the extra tvs is worthless if you're not a Nielsen household. I've been a diehard watcher from episode one (and believe me, I was worried going in that they would get it wrong), and apparently Fox doesn't care about me AT ALL. This is what they're telling me. I've watched from the beginning, every episode, on tv and on Hulu that weekend, I preordered the DVD, I've converted all of my friends, and they're threatening cancellation because on a night when MOST shows BLEW in ratings, Dollhouse did the same.

    I don't trust Fox anymore. If they cancel Dollhouse, I'm not watching anything on their network anymore. And I hope most of the Dollhouse fans do the same.
  • Gene
    I love all of Joss's work.This show has great potential.Eliza is great,and the rest of the Buffy/Angel alum.(Amy Acker and Alex Densnof are also as usual great.I would suggest maybe getting a better supporting cast,and maybe crossing over the show to Buffy or the Angel world somehow!
  • Greg
    Dollhouse is, by far, the best show on television today. And, from an intellectual standpoint, it may be the most important TV show in a generation. (Admittedly, a strong case could be made that Battlestar Galactica was more intellectually important; but, at least in my view, Dollhouse deals with even deeper philosophical and ethical issues than those dealt with on Battlestar.) For those of us who like our entertainment to be complex and thought-provoking, Dollhouse is a great show. But, let's be completely honest here: Dollhouse will never be popular. And, as much as I hate to say it (especially after what they did to Firefly), it's not entirely the FOX network's fault. Sure, we can blame FOX for sticking Dollhouse on Friday nights (where shows are sent to die), for doing a lousy job of promoting the show, and for ham handedly meddling in Joss Whedon's creative process (especially in the early episodes of the first season). But even if FOX had chosen to air Dollhouse right after House on Monday nights, had run a multi-million dollar ad campaign to promote the show, and had given Joss complete creative freedom to develop the show as he saw fit, I still don't think it would be popular. Why? Because Joss Whedon doesn't make shows that are designed to appeal to the masses. He makes shows that are targeted to a relatively small niche audience of viewers who actually "get" what he's trying to do. Let's be blunt here: Dollhouse will never be a popular show because it isn't "mindless entertainment". It's not the sort of show that allows you to just sit down in front of the TV, unplug your brain, and let the entertainment wash over you without any effort on your part. It's not the sort of show that makes you feel good, and leaves you with a pleasantly satisfied feeling at the end of each episode because everything worked out for the best -- the good guys won, the bad guys got what they deserved, the damsel in distress was rescued, the noble hero rode off into the sunset, and all is right with the world. That's what most TV viewers want; and that's what most TV shows deliver. But Dollhouse isn't like that. Rather, Dollhouse is a show that forces you to think. It forces you to wrestle with complex moral issues. It forces you to ask, and try to answer, serious philosophical questions -- the sort of questions that most people are not comfortable thinking about. It leaves you unsatisfied most of the time, because there is no simple moral resolution to the story: You're not even quite sure who the good guys are and who the bad guys are -- who you should be rooting for and who you should be rooting against. And you can't help but be uncomfortably aware of the fact that many of the "heroes" of the show are really villains. (BTW, Joss has explored the ambiguity between "heroes" and "villains" in all of his works; with each successive project -- first Buffy, then Angel, then Firefly/Serenity, then Dr. Horrible, and now Dollhouse -- further blurring the line between the good guys and the bad guys.) Most audiences just can't handle this. They're uncomfortable with the moral complexity and ambiguity. They like shows that pit good guys in white hats against bad guys in black hats. They don't like "shades of gray". But Joss Whedon and his fans love shades of gray; and Dollhouse is, by far, Whedon's "shadiest" project. Dollhouse makes lots of demands on the audience. You can't unplug your brain when watching Dollhouse. Most of Joss' earlier shows worked on multiple levels, so that viewers could unplug their brains while watching and still be entertained; but those who wanted to use their brains could see the deeper meaning underneath the entertainment. (But unplugging your brain when watching a Joss Whedon show is kinda like blindfolding yourself when you're on a date with a supermodel: You CAN do it. You might even enjoy it. But you're really missing out on something.) But, unlike Buffy, Angel, Firefly/Serenity, or even Dr. Horrible, you can't really enjoy Dollhouse if you unplug your brain. (Except, perhaps, on a voyeuristic level.) Unless you're willing to put in the mental effort to wrestle with the deep moral and philosophical issues in this show, you're not going to enjoy it much at all. You'll find it either boring or offensive. And most TV viewers aren't going to be willing to put in that sort of mental effort. Sadly, Dollhouse will never appeal to more than just a tiny, niche audience. And most of the people who are likely to enjoy Dollhouse are already huge Joss Whedon fans, because he is one of the few producers in Hollywood who make the sort of shows that appeal to folks like us.

    One more thing: For those Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles fans who are mad at Dollhouse because it was renewed while Terminator was cancelled, your anger is misdirected. FOX was not making a choice between Dollhouse and Terminator. The decision about Dollhouse's renewal or cancellation had nothing whatsoever to do with the decision about Terminator's renewal or cancellation. Both decisions were made based on financial considerations. Terminator was cancelled because it was expensive to make (because of its high special effects budget); which meant that FOX was losing money on the show due to its low ratings. Dollhouse was renewed because it was relatively cheap to make (because if its lower special effects budget), and Joss agreed to a major budget cut for the second season if it was renewed; which meant that it could still turn a profit for FOX even with low ratings. It's as simple as that. And canceling Dollhouse won't bring Terminator back. (Nor will canceling Dollhouse help bring Firefly back, as some misguided Firefly fans seem to hope. In fact, quite the opposite. If Dollhouse succeeds, Joss will have lots of clout with the network; and he might be able to use that clout to bring back Firefly. But if Dollhouse fails, then it is unlikely that FOX will give Joss another chance -- with Firefly or anything else. Never forget that FOX owns the rights to Firefly. So, if it gets remade, it will be because FOX has faith in Joss's ability to make money for the network. So, Browncoats really ought to be rooting for Dollhouse to succeed.)
  • ladyluck523
    I'm a big follower of Whedon. Fanatical about Buffy, Angel and Firefly. I certainly see the potential of Dollhouse and I like the ethical dilemnas posed. I watch every week and try to convert friends and family.
    However, I can see why audiences are not following this show.
    On Buffy, Buffy was clearly the "good guy." On Angel (for all that Angel was a vampire who might get happy and become Angelus) Angel was clearly the good guy. Even Mal was clearly the good guy on Firefly who was fiercely loyal to his crew as any good captain would be even if his interpretation of the law was sometimes loose.
    Echo's the "good guy" on Dollhouse right? Even when she's imprinted with the personality of an assassin? Even now that Alpha's fooled with her and she has who knows how many "bad" personalities?
    Handler Boyd is the good guy who protects her? Or maybe that FBI Agent Ballard who's trying to rescue her? I happen to like complex storylines but I think the standard audience will find it harder to follow. With the previous 3 shows, even if you don't know the exact story, you know to root for the "good guy." Things are not so clear cut on Dollhouse.
    One thing I do miss on Dollhouse is the witty dialogue which may help draw some viewers in. I was crossing my fingers and hoping against hope last May that Fox would see the error of their ways and renew Dollhouse for another season. I'm hoping Whedon can tweak the show enough so that it avoids cancellation.
  • MikeO
    While turning on Dollhouse at all is good, turning on the TV at the time of airing won't help ratings unless you're a Nielsen household.

    So if you do turn on that TV in the background and decide you'd like to see more of Dollhouse, help support the show by doing the following:

    Purchase episodes from Amazon.com on Demand or iTunes if you can. All of the episodes all the way back to the beginning are available for purchase.

    Watch streaming video of the episodes for FREE on Fox.com or Hulu.com. Not every episode is available, but Hulu does have a Season 1 recap that will help get you up to speed. Fox, of course, doesn't.

    Most of all, tell a friend or twelve about it. Fox has done next to nothing to advertise or promote this show they took such a risk to renew. Why is a mystery, but I'm still finding people online that didn't even realize the new season had started.

    This really is a good show if you take the time to get into it and think a little about what they're trying to explore.
  • David
    Tuning your TV in to Dollhouse does not matter unless you have a Nielsens Box. You will not make one bit of difference in how the ratings turn out. They will not even know you are watching. If you want to show that Dollhouse is being watched and you do not have one of those boxes, then DVR it or watch it on Hulu.

    People do not watch Dollhouse because most of the time it is not a very good show. Then about 3 episodes pop up out of 12 that are actually good. And now with Terminator no longer there to draw in more viewers the ratings are lower than ever.

    The show has potential but it is squandered almost every week. I don't think they realize most people do not care to watch The Eliza Dushku Show, they would rather the show focuses on the rest of the cast, that are much more interesting. Dichen was not even in the last episodes for more than 2 minutes.

    I just hope it does not get canceled before the Summer Glau episodes air and we have to wait for DVD to see them. Because honestly, if Summer was not going to be on the show I would have stopped watching by now. The Season 2 Premier was mediocre in my opinion. The worst episode of The Sarah Cancer Chronicles was 10x better than that premier...
  • jenny in canuckland
    Okay, you've convinced me. In a previous twitter, I said I was done with DH, but ... your comments have given me pause to reconsider. So, happy to stay tuned a bit longer and see how it all turns out. Cheers!
  • Janet Blumberg
    I think Greg is right on. Preach it, Brother.

    I also think it makes sense for Fox to let Dollhouse have its little Friday-night "deathtrap" niche and let the show deeply please a small but intensely loyal viewing audience as long as Joss will produce it cheaply. (It will have a cult following in years to come.)

    I really wish we knew about the download numbers on fox.com and hulu. I don't have TV and so I wait up Friday nights until it comes on at Fox. When I was doing that last week about 12:45 Pacific Coast time, I noticed that Dollhouse was noted as "most downloaded" along with a very popular series (was it House?). Fox might be seeing very good numbers there. And Clorox was advertising VERY TASTEFULLY a new line of eco-friendly products called Clorox Green. Let's reward THEM!!!

    Does anyone know why Joss backed off on having cuts to the "Epitaph One" future story line in the Season 2 opener?

    I happen to think the first two episodes carried us much deeper into central Dollhouse issues. For men (and others) who don't want to see Dushku breastfeeding, such it up!!! Be a little more self-critical, okay? What happened to that old liberal-arts value of becoming more self-aware?

    But I love ALL Dollhouse viewers, so forgive me, okay?
  • XFEver
    "I also think it makes sense for Fox to let Dollhouse have its little Friday-night “deathtrap” niche and let the show deeply please a small but intensely loyal viewing audience as long as Joss will produce it cheaply. (It will have a cult following in years to come.)"

    Given DVD sales that would make perfect sense.

    I disagree with comments that Dollhouse needs more humour, it's a noir show, it needs to be gritty and dark, not funny and glib. I must say however, I prefered last season with the far more convincing Boyd\Echo relationship front and centre. Ballard is bleh, but other than that it's a fantastic show.

    As for the TSCC fans who search out Dollhouse threads to make their trollish comments about their very, very poor show. Very sad.
  • David
    XFEver I like both shows, but even Joss Whedon said he would have renewed Terminator rather than his show. TSCC never had ratings as low as Dollhouse are now. If it was owned by Fox it would not have been canceled. TSCC have already sold more on DvD than Dollhouse S1 and it was just released a couple weeks ago.

    I want Dollhouse to be great, but it just isn't. They better get their act together. Right now it is only appealing to hardcore Whedon Fans. After all that they did in the last 3 episodes of last season, they really dropped the ball with S2 premier and made it pretty boring.

    WHERE IS ALPHA!? The most interesting part of the show and he is gone...

    Last weeks episode was an improvement, but it is still anticlimactic compared to the few good episodes that raised my hopes last season. And Amy Acker probably my favorite person on the show is gone, she got a new gig. Not even Summer Glau and the power of ':3 can save Dollhouse from the looks of it. And it is better than Angel...
  • XFEver
    I was refering to ChrisfromTSCCLand rather than anyone else. He's living in denial if he thinks he'll get his show back. And to be honest, these negative campaigns by the likes of him, pathetically spiteful and small-minded. However, this deserves some comment:-

    "TSCC never had ratings as low as Dollhouse are now."

    During the times the shows were paired together, which one got the higher ratings most nights? I'll give you a clue, it ain't the one that was on earlier.

    "If it was owned by Fox it would not have been canceled."

    And if wishes were horses, i'd own the Playboy mansion, but I don't.

    Let's not ignore the fact that DH is far cheaper to make, so they might have cut TSCC anyway. Shrug.

    " TSCC have already sold more on DvD than Dollhouse S1 and it was just released a couple weeks ago.""

    And who gets the profits from DVD sales from TSCC?

    I'll give you a clue, it's not FOX. They get profits from DH DVD sales, regardless of number.

    100% of 300,000 is way better than 0% of ten times that number (for example).

    "I want Dollhouse to be great, but it just isn’t. They better get their act together. Right now it is only appealing to hardcore Whedon Fans. After all that they did in the last 3 episodes of last season, they really dropped the ball with S2 premier and made it pretty boring."

    After Season 2 of TSCC, TSCC fans would be experts in boring, take out the Wheeler sub-plot and it was utter junk. However I don't see the point on going on sites, boards, and threads devoted to it to spread my bile about it.

    Unlike certain small-minded (chris etc) people.
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