» How Steven DeKnight Survived Last Friday’s Dollhouse
io9.com talk to Steve S DeKnight about his Dollhouse episode and I am very excited to learn that he was a Middleman fan as well!

» Did Dollhouse Viewers Like What They Saw Second Time Around?
Zap2it takes a brief look at the last episode of Dollhouse and takes some snippets from other viewers.

» Dollhouse Doesn’t Thrill or Disappoint
Reviewer gives The Target a 3/5 rating, saying the show does have some potential.

» Dollhouse: The Target Review
IGN do their review on The Target, giving it a so-so review.

» Interview with Joss and Tahmoh
Comic Book Resources have a video interview with Joss Whedon and Tahmoh Penikett from the recent NYCC.

» MAJOR Casting Spoilers for Dollhouse
This is the link to those major spoilers I was talking about earlier. Don’t even hover over the link if you don’t want to know. Really, don’t touch it!

» Drawing Dru
Chris Ryall has a sneak peak at what Dru will look like on the cover of an upcoming Angel comic.

» Chris Hemsworth nabs Leading Role in Cabin
According to Dread Central Home and Away actor has been cast in the leading role of the upcoming Joss/Drew horror movie – Cabin in the Woods.

» Marc Cast in See Cate Run
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Marc Blucas has been cast in upcoming pilot See Cate Run.

Right then on with the news for today which is heavy on the Dollhouse, post second episode reviews, and some Sarah Connor bits in there too.

» Whedon’s World
The New Yorker picks up on Dollhouse and goes over the basics of what’s been said and lends its thoughts to the show so far.

» Dollhouse – The Target
Review from Mania.com on the most recent Dollhouse episode The Target.

» Dollhouse Ratings go Down
Dollhouse ratings slipped a little from the premiere episode, reported by TV Guide.

» Dollhouse: The Verdict
Despite only having seen two episodes, Digital Spy feel as though they can lay a verdict down on the show. Fair enough.

» Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Won’t be Back Next Fall
TV By The Numbers seem sure that Sarah Connor definitely won’t be back next season. Feels a sure fire bet right now as much as I don’t want to think it.

» Castle review: Nathan Fillion’s charm is show’s best defense
Review for the first episode of Nathan’s new show Castle, which is due to air on the 9th March.

Back to business – this morning we’ve got a mixture of Dollhouse and Buffy. If you’ve forgotten, though that’s unlikely, a new episode of Dollhouse airs tonight – The Target. Don’t forget!

» Life in the Dollhouse
A writer who thought Buffy was boring, ignored Angel and thought Firefly was a second rate Star Wars enjoyed Dollhouse. Leaves me feeling slightly stunned.

» Calling all Joss Whedon fans
Hulu’s asking for your questions for Joss for an interview with him. You have until Wednesday.

» Jim Krueger Slays Vampires Buffy-Style
A look at Buffy season 8 #24, which focusses heavily on Faith and Giles.

» Preview of Buffy season 8 #23
Newsarama has an exclusive preview of Buffy season 8 #23.

» Exclusive: The Middleman Returns to its Roots for Big Finale
Sadly not as exciting as I was initially led to believe, but really I should have read the title better. The finale of The Middleman will be produced as it was brought into this world – in comic book form, and be ready for this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Good day to release this news with Matt Keeslar (THE Middleman) appearing in tonight’s Dollhouse.

» Battlestar Actor moves into the Dollhouse
An interview with Tahmoh Penikett where he mostly talks about Dollhouse. They also interviewed him on Galactica, but that interview will be appearing at a later date.

» A Q&A with Joss Whedon, who never had a Dollhouse
What the title link suggests.

» Zoic’s Dollhouse Mind Wipe
Tara Bennett hears about the secret mind wiping Zoic Studios is doing for Joss Whedon’s new show Dollhouse.

» Behind the Scenes of Castle
Spoiler TV have a behind the scenes video looking at Nathan’s new show Castle.

» Ask Ausiello on Bones
Ask Ausiello has the inside skinny on what’s coming up for the characters on Bones. Major spoilers involved. Oh and talking about Bones, brand new Bones starts tonight in the UK on Sky One!

» Daisies’ Final Episodes to Air this Spring – But Not on TV
The last three episodes of Pushing Daisies will be presented at this year’s Paley Festival.

» The Dead Like Me rise! Exclusive cast video interviews
Another show I loved and saw get axed in a blink of an eye. The movie’s been doing the rounds and Sci Fi Wire has some cast interviews for you to watch.

» Gray Hour Press Release
Press release for the fourth episode of Dollhouse – Gary Hour.

» Ourselves Alone Press Release
Press release for The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode Ourselves Alone.

» James Promotes Dragonball: Evolution
James Marsters and his cast mates of Dragonball: Evolution promoting the movie in South Korea.

» Joss Whedon Answers your Questions
Remember earlier on TV Guide was asking for questions to ask Joss? Well here are said questions and answers.

» Charisma Carpenter Guesting on CSI
As the title suggest, she is guesting on CSI, with the episode airing later this season.

» Joss Whedon to receive SFWA Bradbury Award
Joss will be presented with this award for excellence in screenwriting.

» Maxim Interview Joss Whedon
Maxim have an interview with Joss, heavy on the Dollhouse, but some mention of his work on Astonishing X-Men.

» Will Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse find a place in today’s science-fiction genre?
Another news article going over the Dollhouse pilot.

» Dollhouse – The Target Episode Preview
Not another trailer, but a handful of minutes from the episode itself.

» 10 Questions with Christian Kane
Now a star on TNT’s Leverage, Christian Kane’s interviewed – there’s a mention of Angel and his wish to have David Boreanaz guest on the show.

» Castle – First Episode Preview
Spoiler TV has an abundance of promo images and a description for the first episode of Nathan’s new show Castle.

» Battlestar Galactica Preview
Feels like a day for previews – EW have got a preview clip from this week’s episode of Battlestar.

» Spinning with the Stars
A look at the NBA All Star Weekend, which Eliza appeared at.

» Eliza Dushku not sure what Happened to her Horror Movie – Open Graves
Eliza talks about her not so upcoming horror movie Open Graves.

» Fair Friday Ratings for FOX
Variety take a look at the ratings for FOX for Friday, citing a poor showing for Sarah Connor could be why Dollhouse didn’t fair so well. But does say it had ‘credible’ ratings.

» Does Dollhouse have enough Whedon-ness?
The Guradian takes a look at Dollhouse and the writer has some worries about it.

» Dollhouse needs time to lay the Foundation
Review of the first episode of Dollhouse and while on the face of it the review feels pretty negative, the reviewer wants to see more.

» Dollhouse: A Dystopian Drama
A pretty positive review of the pilot.

» Dollhouse moves Whedon from Magic to Technology
Brief and superficial review of the pilot episode of Dollhouse.

» Why I Loved Last Friday’s Dollhouse Premiere
A very positive set of thoughts from the good people at io9.com, listing all the good things they saw in the pilot.

» Eliza Talks Dollhouse
Eliza lets a few secrets slip on the final scene in the pilot of Dollhouse. You know the one. Spoilers inolved!

» Felicia on her role on Dollhouse
Well not really – she briefly mentions it towards the end of her blog entry saying that it’s a different role for her.

» What’s up, Chuck? We look ahead at the rest of the season
A look forward to the last half of the second season of Chuck.

» Top 10 Worst Places to Work on TV
The top worst place goes to Wolfram & Hart, in at #5 is Giles’ Magic Box and Chuck’s Buy More takes #7.

We’re introduced to Echo – a doll in the Dollhouse. She’s finished one assignment, which entailed her having a motorbike race and then the perfect night with a guy who could be perfect for her. Though by the end of the night (or morning) she doesn’t remember a thing.

Somewhere else a girl gets kidnapped and her father goes to the Dollhouse to get help. Echo’s the one called in to help. She’s imprinted with the personality of a profiler and kidnap situation expert. And from there we have your average kidnapped girl story. With the added bonus of the profiler having close, personal experience with the kidnap situation.

Right, where do I begin? I’ll start here – I didn’t hate this episode. Though I didn’t love it either. Sadly I found the main plot with the kidnapped girl all very mundane. There was nothing interesting about that assignment. And nothing different about it. No twist that I hadn’t seen. It was all very normal. Which is the biggest shame really considering the talent behind the show. As the opening credits rolled by I see all the recognisable names – Steven S. DeKnight, Kelly A. Manners, Sarah Fain & Elizabeth Craft.

Sadly I found none of the dialog all that engaging. It was all the usual stuff, nothing quotable for me. Well apart from Topher’s reaction to Echo telling him that something heavy fell on her:

I bet it was something great!

Apart from that there was no snappy dialog I’ve come to associate with Joss’ work. Not that anything should have that trademark Joss spark, but in the premiere episode I thought it’d be pretty important. Something to set it apart from everything else on the TV these days.

Finally I’m going to comment on the acting. I’m not saying the acting has to be Oscar-worthy, but I felt there was something lacking in the episode. I didn’t think much of Eliza’s acting. She’s great as Faith on Buffy, but that’s who I thought about when I saw Echo in her two personalities. And I really didn’t think much of her version of the kidnap expert. There was no depth to it. It was just lacking to me.

As for everyone else – it was average. I like Harry Lennix from his little stint on 24, so I’d like to see more of Boyd, definitely. He’s the only other character I’m vaguely interested in. Paul Ballard seems like he’s got a point to him, and Tahmoh’s pretty easy on the eyes, so I’m not complaining there on a completely fickle level!

Enough of the bad though, there were some aspects of the show that I do like and would like to see more of. The whole moral compass of the show. It’s an interesting thought – basically using people, who appear to have consented. Right or wrong? But I have a feeling it’s not going to get explored as much as I want, what with this being a less arc heavy and more standalone type of show.

I’m going to stick around with Dollhouse. As a rule I never rule a show out based on the first episode. Besides the next episode has Matt Keeslar guesting as one of the clients. That’s enough of a reason for me to watch.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Check out screen captures for Ghost here
Discuss this episode at the forums

*sigh*

I know, I’ve yet to actually write my thoughts of Dollhouse here already, and I will. But this little topic has angered me just a little bit. Well maybe ‘angered’ is too strong a word, but it’s lit a fire under me! What exactly has had this reaction in me? It’s this post at Whedonesque. Seems harmless enough right? Well maybe not. It feels like the ‘browncoats’ all over again. I understand what they’re trying to accomplish – help give Dollhouse some kind of chance and at least get Fox to air all the episodes initially contracted. But for some reason I still think it’s all led by blind faith.

What really spurred me onto writing this right now was the fact that so many of the commenters there are so willing to pin the blame on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles! I had a feeling that if Dollhouse’s ratings were a bit poor that show would be an easy scapegoat. I may be a bit bias – I love Sarah Connor, think it’s a fab show, if a little bit up and down in terms of quality sometimes. I was more upset that that got moved to the Friday night slot instead of Dollhouse getting it.

One commenter mentions that there was too much Sarah Connor in the episode, which might have put viewers off after seeing Summer and Eliza doing the promo for the Friday night. Erm … it’s called The Sarah Connor Chronicles, not the Cameron Chronicles. Though that’s not the first time I’ve seen someone complaining there wasn’t enough Summer in the show. Something I still fail to understand the reasoning of.

Then there are the fans who are just blaming the timeslot. Sure it’s not the best timeslot, but other shows can survive in it. Different shows. Not anything quite like Dollhouse.

You could say that this is fans just going into blind panic. Which I think at the moment. We don’t really know what this will mean for Dollhouse, so we’re assuming. And we all know what happens when you assume something, right?

I don’t claim to really know anything about ratings and what this all really means but this is a TV show. Personally I didn’t think they were terrible, just that fan expectations were a bit too high! Dollhouse is a well produced show with a good deal of excellent promotion done for it. It’s up to the regular joes out there who watch TV to decide what happens to it – not the fans. If anything let’s not go to the block-voting, campaign starting fan groups that tainted the ‘browncoats’ for me so much.