Today is one of those days when I can’t seem to organize my thoughts. That ever happen to you? Anyway, while I usually have my Weds blog entry up and ready by 6 AM—here it is five hours later and I’m still floundering.
Now Mario just called me with a great piece of news—You can download Nymphos of Rocky Flats for FREE at this
link—you heard right—it’s FREE. Kind of an advance promo for his newest book, Jailbait Zombie, due out in a few weeks. If you haven’t tried Felix Gomez yet, jump all over this. I know I kid Mario a lot, but he’s a damned good writer. You really owe it to yourself to take advantage of this limited time offer.
Okay, maybe now I can get going. This will be a stream of consciousness entry so let’s jump in.
Of course, foremost on my mind is Joss Whedon and Dollhouse. Which is perfect because this just came in on today’s
Shelf Awareness:
Joss Whedon has won the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America's Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting. The creator of hit TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse, as well as the Web hit, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, will be honored during the Nebula Awards Weekend, April 24-26, in Los Angeles, Calif.
"Like everyone who picks up a pen, I was a rabid Bradbury fan and as greatly influenced by him as any other writer I read," Whedon said. "To receive the award named for him is an honor I'd not dreamed of. In my defense, it didn't exist back then. What did exist were the very lovely, very twisted and very human stories that warped my impressionable mind, and that I have tried, in whatever medium they will let me, to measure up to."
It’s nice to see my hero honored in such a wonderful way.
Which of course, is a perfect segue to today’s theme—Dollhouse.
I have so many links and videos to share I don’t know where to begin—that may, in fact, be my quandary for today. I will start, though, with an interview Joss did on
Fresh Air—on NPR. He was a guest on Feb. 12
Then there was this, a
video from New York ComicCon.
Another interview with Joss by the
New York TimesAll leading up of course, to Friday, Feb 13th’s debut. Turns out not to have been bad luck at all. According to
Entertainment Weekly:
More than a fair share of Joss Whedon fans tuned in Friday to see the premiere of Fox’s Dollhouse. The mythological drama starring Eliza Dushku attracted 4.7 million viewers — a pretty decent jump over the eyeball levels for The Sarah Connor Chronicles at 8 p.m. (which lured a mere 3.7 million), according to fast national ratings. In fact, Dollhouse helped Fox double its viewership levels among women versus Chronicles and helped the net finish in second place among adults 18-34 and in first place across key male demos for the night.
So what does this mean for Dollhouse’s long-term prospects? Although 4.7 million isn’t that great — Fox typically averages 5.5 million on Fridays — the Whedon drama has a better chance of making it over the long haul if it stays put on the night. In fact, network insiders have long cautioned that if the series were scheduled earlier in the week and ended up attracting these kind of (low) viewership levels, it would have been axed by its second or third airing. So relax, Whedonites — Dushku and Co. appear safe for now.
Chronicles will remain as Dollhouse’s lead-in until Fox runs out of episodes; later, the Terminator franchise will be replaced by Prison Break for its final six episodes.
So, who watched and what did you think?
I belong to a group that calls itself The Buffybuds. Early comments are:
Julie Herman
I'm not getting the mythology yet. Echo has something big from her
past that will come into play, and she was recruited for some misdeed?
but the rest of it is not entirely clear. Still willing to go with it
because it's Joss and he does such wonderful stuff.
Loved seeing Fred. Interesting facial scars. Is she a dollhouse member
who has been imprinted as a Doc? Also love seeing Helo from BG.
Clean your shoes...had to laugh.
I am inclined to like everything I've seen of Joss's so far, so am
more than willing to keep going with him on this. I didn't start
watching Buffy until Season two, mostly because I refused on the face
of it to watch anything with Buffy as the lead character. Angel was
fun, but not my favorite of his shows. Firefly was wonderful and
whoever pulled the plug on it ought to be taken out and tied to the
screen of a spaceship...
Maryelizabeth Hart:
We thought episode #1 was ... okay. It's my understanding from discussion
elsewhere that, like Firefly, this was not Joss's choice for a pilot, or was
otherwise tweaked by the network.
We will stay tuned, at least for a while, because it's made by a great team.
It's not just Joss, but also David Solomon, Tim Minear, Steven DeKnight,
Elizabeth and Sarah, etc..
FWIW, we liked but didn't love Buffy upon initial viewing; really liked
Angel; adored Firefly (space cowboys! such a good match for us!), so clearly
our first responses can vary, and we have a lot of faith in the creative
team.
Laura Condit:
I agree with Maryelizabeth - we weren't blown away by the pilot, but
as it's Joss, we'll stick with it. I'm sure all will be explained in
the fullness of time...
Dina:
I just watched it and will continue giving it a try. I actually liked
it more than I expected to because I have never particularly cared for
the concept. But the main story was well done and ED was much better
than I expected. I never liked Faith that much and in Tru Calling she
seemed to be kind of a Faith clone. But here she was really good.
And there were just enough mystery scenes to make the underlying story
seem interesting. It was also nice to see Amy Acker though I thought she
was a bit wasted if this were her only appearance but I checked and she
is supposed to be in at least 7 episodes so hopefully her character will
develop.
Samantha Sommersby:
Ditto for me. I really loved seeing Amy, I hope they develop her
character more.
Kathy Lynn Emerson:
What just about everyone else has said about Dollhouse---waiting to see. I
think what I found missing was that trademark Joss wit/comic relief. The
body count got pretty high without much to redeem it. And I seem to have
failed to recognize Amy A. Driving myself crazy now trying to think how I
could have missed her. Thanks to whoever identified the cop as the guy from
Battlestar Gallactica. Him, I did recognize, but I couldn't put my finger on
where I knew him from.
Carol Malcolm (my GA friend):
I did enjoy Dollhouse, how about you? It's no Buffy or Angel, but it isn't supposed to be. I didn't read many of the articles that are out everywhere, but I think the criticism of Eliza is unfair. She is much more than a one-trick pony. (I did find her character in the opening scene to be quite Faith-like, but they have been even a bit of a homage). Suspense was maintained throughout the premiere. I feel as though the show has a lot of potential, and I look forward to watching the rest of the episodes.
Me:
I liked it. I think it’s going to get better and better. The set is spectacular, in fact, I think I read somewhere it is one of the most expensive ever built for TV. Nice to see Amy Acker, though, if you didn’t know it was her, you might easily have missed her. She was always in the shadows and there’s a nasty scar on her face. I liked the way the show was introduced with Summer Glau and Eliza.
Here’s a taste if you missed it:
They also interspersed the episodes of both Sara Connor and Dollhouse with the two actors doing their super chick routines.
A bunch of
screencaps from the first episode if you want to check them out--
and a
teaser for episode deux.
Okay—that’s it. Now the fun part—email a comment and you may be chosen as the winner of a Trade Paperback copy of Many Bloody Returns—The tie in to Dollhouse, you ask?
We dedicated the book to Joss Whedon with the following: This is dedicated to Joss Whedon, who may never read it, and his enthusiastic fans known as the Buffybuds, who will.
So—contest is open from now until midnight next Tuesday. That gives you time to watch the second episode and comment if you missed the first. PS Here's the
hulu link so you can catch up with the first-- thank you Leia for reminding me.
PS—the trade edition of MBR was released Feb 3rd and made the NYT Bestseller list—that’s two for two.