The Dollhouse

[Friday]

For those who don't know who Joss Whedon is, he's the guy behind the TV shows "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel", "Firefly" (considered by some to be the most libertarian TV series ever), and motion pictures including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (the prequel to the TV series), "Alien 34" and "Serenity" aka Firefly the Movie.

Joss has a new TV series coming out on Fox this winter called The Dollhouse.  It's about a secret, illegal organization that provides human "operatives" to fulfill your every, highly expensive, need.  It stars Eliza Dushku (Faith from BTVS), and also features Olivia Williams (the wife in "The Sixth Sense") and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo on Battlestar Galactica).  One of the producers is Tim Minear, who, according to Gardner Goldsmith, is the hardcore libertarian who injected so much anti-government sensibility into Firefly.  I am really looking forward to this show!!

Here's a trailer.

[sgtusmc]

I am just replying so that there is not a 0 on the board next to your post.
Have a great day

[Puke]

Yeah, seen the trailer.
It looks interesting. I bet Fox will kill it half-way through the first episode. 

[margomaps]

Yeah, seen the trailer.
It looks interesting. I bet Fox will kill it half-way through the first episode. 

Can't really blame 'em if the ratings are low.  During the middle of the first episode might be a little extreme though. 

Fox really jerked Firefly around with its timeslot, and that's probably a big part of why it didn't do very well when it was on the air.  What I don't understand is this: now that Firefly is a bona fide cult-classic hit so soon after it was on TV, why doesn't Fox approach Joss and talk about reviving the series?  At the very least there would be legions of Sci-Fi enthusiasts/Firefly fanboys who would help prop the ratings up, and there might even be significant mass market appeal as well -- Serenity did pretty decently on  the big screen IIRC.

[KBCraig]

In the DVD extras for Serenity, I seem to recall Whedon saying he had no interest in taking up Firefly again.

[margomaps]

In the DVD extras for Serenity, I seem to recall Whedon saying he had no interest in taking up Firefly again.

Darn!  I guess he didn't enjoy it as much as his rabid fans did.   

[Puke]

Restarting a canceled TV show would be a total bitch.
They'd have to hire all the same actors and rebuild sets and find new financing.
It's not worth it.
I only show I can think of that did it is Family Guy.

[dalebert]

Restarting a canceled TV show would be a total bitch.
They'd have to hire all the same actors and rebuild sets and find new financing.
It's not worth it.
I only show I can think of that did it is Family Guy.

They had to move the manatee tank back and everything. Those are hard to move.

[slim]

I think if anyone started firefly up again it would probably be showtime. That media company seems to be fairly libertarian and it would fit right in with some of their current series (Penn & Teller's BullShit, Weeds).

[margomaps]

Restarting a canceled TV show would be a total bitch.
They'd have to hire all the same actors and rebuild sets and find new financing.

Same actors?  Most of the actors on Firefly aren't exactly hitting it big right now, though Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau are currently on other  shows IIRC.  Anyway, I don't think it would be a problem getting most of the actors back.  They'd be thrilled to have steady work I bet.

Rebuilding sets?  Yeah, I guess that could be a big expense, but maybe some of the sets were never destroyed.  I have no idea.

Financing?  I would think if Fox were interested enough, financing wouldn't be a huge concern.  As I mentioned, Firefly has the benefit of already having a rabid fanbase and a fairly recent movie that did pretty well.

It's not worth it.

It's worth if it Fox (or whoever) can make money off the project.  It's gotta be as cheap or cheaper than introducing a brand new show.

I only show I can think of that did it is Family Guy.

Quick google search turns up:

Twilight Zone, JAG, Jericho, The Mole, Futurama, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The Paper Chase, and a whole bunch of others that I haven't heard of (In addition to Family Guy).

[Puke]

Quick google search turns up:

Twilight Zone, JAG, Jericho, The Mole, Futurama, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The Paper Chase, and a whole bunch of others that I haven't heard of (In addition to Family Guy).

Futurama did  not return to regular TV. So I think that list could be flawed.
I'm no expert, but I love movies and the industry, and I'm pretty certain that the financial and schedule would be far to hard to secure. When compared to just starting new series anyway.
No one ever accused studio execs of caring about anything other than profit.

[margomaps]

Quick google search turns up:

Twilight Zone, JAG, Jericho, The Mole, Futurama, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The Paper Chase, and a whole bunch of others that I haven't heard of (In addition to Family Guy).

Futurama did  not return to regular TV. So I think that list could be flawed.

It returned to cable television.  I think that counts as a show being cancelled and revived on TV.

I'm no expert, but I love movies and the industry, and I'm pretty certain that the financial and schedule would be far to hard to secure. When compared to just starting new series anyway.

I'm definitely not an expert, but it's not at all obvious to me why the financial and schedule issues for reviving an existing/cancelled show would be worse than for a new series.  If anything it seems like quite a bit of the legwork would already be done, and it would be quicker/cheaper/easier to revive an old series than to start 100% from scratch.

[Friday]

I only show I can think of that did it is Family Guy.

By random coincidence, the star of The Dollhouse is dating Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy.

Remember to come here first for all of your vapid Hollywood gossip needs.  We don't just read Liberty and Randian philosophy; we also read People magazine and fangrrl lists!   

[Pat K]

[Puke]

It returned to cable television.  I think that counts as a show being cancelled and revived on TV.

Oh yeah! I forgot that they are putting the straight to DVD movies on Cartoon Network.
Never mind then.
Let's blame the Schnergenbergers for keeping a good show down.