The Hoard Potato on Dollhouse, sight seen.

[athelind]

quelonzia and I just watched the first 45 minutes of Dollhouse.

We didn't bother with the last 15.

The MacGuffin for the pilot episode was a hostage negotiation. If they'd done the same "engagement" on Burn Notice or Leverage, there would have been a lot less twiddling, and a lot more Smart People Doing Smart Things, quite possibly punctuated by explosions. Even a fairly mundane police procedural like Law & Order would have mustered more tension.

Sure, this was a pilot, and had to spend some time to establish the premise -- but My Own Worst Enemy hit the ground running in its opener, while presenting an equally-complex, somewhat less "arty" premise in a way that should be the textbook chapter of "show, don't tell".

Our combined assessment: Joss is too in love with his Brilliant Idea to actually tell a story with it.

I, on the other claw, have been "meh" about that premise since I first heard about it months ago.

I keep thinking that maybe I'm just disappointed because it was so hyped up, and didn't measure up to the hype -- but, frankly, if Joss Whedon's name hadn't been attached to it, I wouldn't have bothered to tune in in the first place.

And now I won't.

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Oh, and I'm sorry if I was too busy being bored to notice if Dollhouse was "sexist".

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By the way, you can watch all 9 episodes of My Own Worst Enemy at NBC's web site. Ding DING ding.

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Comments

[wy.livejournal.com]

I see it as the setup for a story, right now, versus being a story in itself. Give it a few more.

Of course, at least it's not like Heroes. Which I refuse to watch anymore. Better a slow story than being one continuous plot hole.

[margaras.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree, sadly, but I will give it a few more episodes. Even Firefly started badly, with Fox using the mediocre train job as the first episode instead of the real pilot.

On the other hand, thank you for telling us about My Own Worst Enemy. I'm going to check that out soon. It sounds like it has a good hook.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Well, with Firefly, even "The Train Job" had me hooked, intrigued by the world, amused by the juxtaposition of Western and SF elements, engaged by the characters, and, most of all, wondering how Joss had gotten transcripts of my old Traveller campaign. It had the fast-paced, rapid-fire, wry-humored dialogue that I'd come to expect from Joss Whedon.

More importantly, though, is that I would have given Firefly a try even if the Whedon name hadn't been attached to it. I probably would have blown off Dollhouse entirely: the only interest I had in the show was that it was Joss Whedon's Next Project.

If we'd gotten Joss Whedon WRITING out of the first ep, that's all we'd have needed to stick with it. But Dollhouse is JWINO.

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Actually, is My Own Worst Enemy still on the air, or is it in midseason break/cancellation mode?

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Ah, nevermind. I found the answer in your previous post. Grauph.