Dollhouse at the Upfronts

The NY upfronts were this week. Essentially, it's the place where the media gathers to see and hear all about the fall schedules of all the major networks. They unveil their lineups, show presentations for new shows and roll out their stars for interviews, photos and the like.

On Thursday, Fox unveiled the Dollhouse trailer.

They also released a cast photo:

And a one-minute clip from the pilot episode.

Dollhouse will air Monday nights at 8pm on Fox beginning in January. It is the lead-in for 24.

Here is the show synopsis, as released by Fox.

DOLLHOUSE (Mondays, 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT): Joss Whedon, creator of groundbreaking cult favorites "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly," returns to television and reunites with fellow "Buffy" alumna Eliza Dushku for a thrilling new drama, DOLLHOUSE. ECHO (Dushku) is an "Active," a member of a highly illegal and underground group who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined to a secret facility known as the "Dollhouse," Echo and the other Actives including SIERRA (Dichen Lachman, "Neighbours") and VICTOR (Enver Gjokaj, "The Unit") carry out engagements assigned by ADELLE (Olivia Williams, "X-Men: The Last Stand," "Rushmore"), one of the Dollhouse leaders. The engagements cater to the wealthy, powerful and connected, and require the Actives to immerse themselves in all manner of scenarios romantic, criminal, uplifting, dangerous, comical and the occasional "pro bono" good deed. After each scenario, Echo, always under the watchful eye of her handler BOYD (Harry Lennix, "Commander in Chief," 24), returns to the mysterious Dollhouse where her thoughts, feelings and experiences are erased by TOPHER (Fran Kranz, "Welcome to the Captain"), the Dollhouse's genius programmer. Echo enters the next scenario with no memory of before. Or does she? As the series progresses, FBI Agent PAUL SMITH (Tahmoh Penikett, "Battlestar Galactica") pieces together clues that lead him closer to the Dollhouse, while Echo stops forgetting, her memories begin to return and she slowly pieces together her mysterious past. DOLLHOUSE revolves around Echo's blossoming self-awareness and her desire to discover her true identity. But with each new engagement, comes a new memory and increased danger inside and outside the Dollhouse.

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: 20th Century Fox Television, Mutant Enemy Inc.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon

CAST: Eliza Dushku as Echo, Olivia Williams as Adelle, Tahmoh Penikett as Paul, Fran Kranz as Topher, Dichen Lachman as Sierra, Enver Gjokaj as Victor, Harry Lennix as Boyd

Lastly, an interview with Joss Whedon in the LA Times.

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P.S. A very happy birthday to the hottest man in the universe, David Boreanaz!

The Friday Whedonverse Roundup

Two pieces of news caught my eye at the end of yesterday, thanks to the lovely people at Whedonesque.

Alan Tudyk, of Firefly fame, was cast as one of the leads in the new Kohan/Mutchnik (Will & Grace) pilot for ABC. The show is about two men - one straight, one gay (Tudyk) - who are business partners and best friends.

Tudyk as Firefly's Wash.

Tudyk is a great character actor and tends to shine playing semi-ridiculous characters in comedies (A Knight's Tale, Dodgeball, 28 Days). For a kid from Texas he also, inexplicably, is often asked to be British (A Knight's Tale, Death at a Funeral). He's great fun to watch and I'm crossing my fingers that the show gets picked up so I can watch him be front-and-center for once. He deserves it.

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Joss Whedon announced three new additions to his Dollhouse last week, and one's a very familiar face.

Harry Lennix (Across the Universe) has been cast as Echo's (Eliza Dushku) bodyguard, a former cop. Newcomer Miracle Laurie will play November, a recurring character who does not appear in the pilot.

Joining Dushku in the "second go-around with Joss" category is Angel's Amy Acker, who was just cast as Dr. Claire Saunders. Acker was, in my opinion, the weakest link in the Angel cast. I never particularly cared for her as an actress, and she only became mildly interesting after morphing into Illyria. However, I have endless trust in Whedon and his ability to put together a top notch cast, so I'll keep mostly quite on this front.

I'm ready to be dazzled, Amy.

The first Dollhouse table read was yesterday, which mean the pilot should start shooting in the next couple weeks.

Kristin from E! has more specific pilot details for those that are interested.

I'm getting so excited for Dollhouse that I can hardly contain myself.

Four more in the "Dollhouse"

Joss Whedon is infamous for casting relative unknowns in his television shows. Most of the central casts of "Buffy," "Angel" and "Firefly" had very few credits to their name before being welcomed into the Whedonverse (yes, that is what we call it). Joss has a knack for picking ridiculously good-looking, talented actors that work well together as a team and embody their characters so well and so fully that you wonder how they hadn’t been discovered before he plucked them from relative obscurity.

I know, it sounds like I’m giving one man an awful lot of credit, but all you have to do is watch a few episodes of any one of his shows to see just how well his ensembles mesh and work seamlessly as a team. No one is above anyone else; in fact, Whedonverse cast members often comment on how their costars continually forced them to “step up their game” onscreen.

I mention this, of course, because four new actors have been cast in “Dollhouse,” Whedon’s latest television venture (which received a seven episode order from Fox just before the WGA strike last year).

Tahmoh Penikett, best known as Helo on "Battlestar Galactica," has been cast as Paul Smith, an FBI agent (and romantic foil to Eliza Dushku’s Echo) trying to unravel the mystery of the Dollhouse.

Fran Kranz (“Welcome to the Captain”) will play Topher Brink, a young genius responsible for “imprinting” the dolls.

Dichen Lachman, an Australian actress, will fill the role of Sierra, a doll who tries to befriend Echo.

Enver Gjokaj is Victor, a male doll and friend of Echo’s with a gift for impersonations.


I’ll follow Whedon anywhere he goes, and I can’t wait for the first look at “Dollhouse.” Maybe Comic Con? *rubs hands together in eager anticipation*

The Joss has landed

Never mind that pesky potential writer's strike looming on the horizon...the television landscape has just gotten infinitely brighter.

Because this man has returned to TV.




















I know, fellow Whedonites, you are skeptical. Joss has been attached to many, many projects (on both big and small screen) in the past couple of years that never saw the light of day. Wonder Woman. Goner. Ripper. That Faith spinoff. Each one got our hopes soaring...only to crush us under the bitter heel of disappointment every time (my flair for the dramatic knows no bounds). So I sense your trepidation and I totally understand it.


After all, the deal is with FOX. The network with the extremely short leash, known to cancel shows as early as 30 minutes into a one-hour pilot. The network that shoved the brilliant "Firefly" onto Friday nights, aired multiple episodes out of order and then canned it halfway through the first season. The network Joss never wanted to go back to.



But I say, "Take heart, Joss lovers!" For Whedon himself has commented on the positive changes in the FOX regime since he last brought a show there. Also, he doesn't just have a deal, he has a show - complete with purchased scripts (seven - count 'em), a title and a star.






















The Queen of bad-assery, Eliza Dushku, convinced Whedon to come back to television with "Dollhouse," which Whedon half-jokingly describes as a "suspense-drama-mythology-comedy-action-horror musical."


Because I am currently too lazy to write out a synopsis, follow the link if you want to know what it's about (and who wouldn't?).


http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/10/whedon-returns-.html