Joss Whedon's new show...

katiemac · Nov 1, 2007

Cult TV fans, set your emotions to thrilled: Joss Whedon is finally returning to the tube. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind has just signed a deal with Fox to create a drama series called Dollhouse. Better yet, he's chosen a very familiar face to inhabit it: she of Faith fame, Eliza Dushku.

The show, which boasts a seven-episode commitment for 2008 and a hefty license fee between $1.5 million and $2 million per ep, will chronicle the exploits of a group of individuals who are "imprinted with personality packages" — meaning that they can assume a variety of indentities (language skills, physical talents, memories, etc.) to be used for all types of tasks. When these missions are over, the individuals have their memories erased and reside in a guarded laboratory known as the Dollhouse; Dushku's Echo, however, is slowly coming of consciousness. "We call it a suspense-drama-mythology-comedy-action-horror musical," Whedon half-jokes of the show, which will bend and blend genres in typical Joss fashion. "The main thrust is the thruline of Echo as a sort of newly born character who goes, 'Wait a minute — I exist. Wow. So who would I be? And how dangerous is it for me to let anybody know that I know that I exist?' Not unlike the Frankenstein myth, it's, 'Who made me, who am I, and why am I?'"

Read the whole thing at www.ew.com: http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/10/whedon-returns-.html

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 1, 2007

*looks confused*

You mean Joss Whedon isn't that kid from Star Trek: The Next Generation who played Wesly Crusher?

sunna · Nov 1, 2007

That's it: I'm getting cable now.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! I was starting to worry he'd never do TV again.

:snoopy:

Bmwhtly · Nov 1, 2007

Didn't he say, after the Firefly debacle, that he'd Never work with Fox again?

An oath that, admittedly, lasted longer than his show.

Vincent · Nov 1, 2007

Bmwhtly said:
Didn't he say, after the Firefly debacle, that he'd Never work with Fox again?

An oath that, admittedly, lasted longer than his show.

Whedon's gotta eat.

CheshireCat · Nov 1, 2007

Vincent · Nov 1, 2007

I gotta say, I was a Buffy fan, I loved Firefly, but I'm not sure what to think about the premise of this new show. It sounds a bit like that lame The Pretender to me. Also, only 7 episodes? What's with that?

katiemac · Nov 1, 2007

beezle said:
I gotta say, I was a Buffy fan, I loved Firefly, but I'm not sure what to think about the premise of this new show. It sounds a bit like that lame The Pretender to me. Also, only 7 episodes? What's with that?

Actually, the seven episodes is a pretty big deal. Usually networks just order a pilot filmed, and then see if they want to pick it up for more episodes. (This is where they'll swap out cast members, etc., if something isn't right.) Fox is giving the green light on an extra 6 episodes on top of the pilot. Right now, it sounds like they have a lot of faith in it.

mkcbunny · Nov 1, 2007

I'll watch any Whedon show, but the erased-memory thing reminds me of Paycheck, a terrible Ben Affleck movie based on Philip K. Dick. Of course, Phil wasn't good with music the way Joss is.

MidnightMuse · Nov 2, 2007

I saw this yesterday and my first thought was COOL! Then I read the premise and thought STUPID!

But if it makes it on air, I'll try it - just because Joss is a writing god, and maybe . . . just maybe, there'll be something worth while in there.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 2, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
I saw this yesterday and my first thought was COOL! Then I read the premise and thought STUPID!

But if it makes it on air, I'll try it - just because Joss is a writing god, and maybe . . . just maybe, there'll be something worth while in there.

So it isn't the actor who played Wesly Crusher? I remember PeeDee used to blather on endlessly about Joss Whedon's blog said this and Joss Whedon's blog said that, and on and on and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he had a crush on some lousy actor.

CheshireCat · Nov 2, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
So it isn't the actor who played Wesly Crusher? I remember PeeDee used to blather on endlessly about Joss Whedon's blog said this and Joss Whedon's blog said that, and on and on and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he had a crush on some lousy actor.

Assuming you're serious -- How any writer could be oblivious to Whedon in the last ten years or so boggles the mind. There are only a handful of American TV writers who have had sole, or virtually sole, control over their series, and as such provide golden examples of the power of a single creative vision. There weren't many before Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry, and only a handful since. Chris Carter, Aaron Sorkin, Joe Straczynski, JJ Abrams -- and Joss Whedon.

I know that those of us who roll around blissfully in the Whedonverse must seem like fanatics (That sounded fanatical, didn't it? To say the least.), but it's only because writers with a gift for character and language come along rarely enough; pair that with the ability to take old ideas (vampires and those who fight them, space travel, war, identity and created or real amnesia) and spin them into fresh and wonderfully shiny gold, and you have writers to study and just plain enjoy.

And if you want to listen to a brilliant man who's totally down to earth and has a lively sense of humor, just listen to some of Whedon's commentaries on the DVDs of his shows.

(And Wesley Crusher was played by an actor named Wil Wheaton, who also starred in Stand By Me.)

Okay, I'm done now.

KTC · Nov 2, 2007

I hope you don't consider this a derail. I just wanted to let you all know that there's a great anthology being assembled right now as a direct result of an essay written by Whedon on the death of Dua Khalil. If you are interested, you can read about at: NOTHING BUT RED

Deadline for stories is Dec. 1/07

Spiny Norman · Nov 2, 2007

Boy, he really is gung ho on the existentialism, huh.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 2, 2007

CheshireCat said:
Assuming you're serious -- How any writer could be oblivious to Whedon in the last ten years or so boggles the mind. There are only a handful of American TV writers who have had sole, or virtually sole, control over their series, and as such provide golden examples of the power of a single creative vision. There weren't many before Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry, and only a handful since. Chris Carter, Aaron Sorkin, Joe Straczynski, JJ Abrams -- and Joss Whedon.

(And Wesley Crusher was played by an actor named Wil Wheaton, who also starred in Stand By Me.)

I am completely serious. I couldn't name you ONE TV writer. I don't pay attention to script writers at all. I watch TV but I don't care who wrote it. Call it a quirk, but it isn't important to me since I have no desire to write scripts. I apologize to any script writers here, but that's how it is. And I never watched Buffy and wasn't even aware of it until it was off the air.

Wheaton, Whedon. You can see the confusion, especially since I'm really bad with names, Worcestershire Cat.

Sage · Nov 2, 2007

Spiny Norman said:
Boy, he really is gung ho on the existentialism, huh.

Yep

But.... but... but Fox is eeeevil.

Vincent · Nov 2, 2007

Sage said:
Yep

But.... but... but Fox is eeeevil.

Fox is no more evil than a man-eating shark is evil. It's just in their nature.

CheshireCat · Nov 2, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
I am completely serious. I couldn't name you ONE TV writer. I don't pay attention to script writers at all. I watch TV but I don't care who wrote it. Call it a quirk, but it isn't important to me since I have no desire to write scripts. I apologize to any script writers here, but that's how it is. And I never watched Buffy and wasn't even aware of it until it was off the air.

Fascinating. I've always considered TV and movies important in my writing because it's so much a part of popular culture and because I've learned so much about story structure and pacing, to say nothing of characters. I find it amazing, for instance, that Joe Straczynski imagined an epic story that would fit into a five-year arc of a TV show; if you watch Babylon 5, there are portents in the very first episode of events that don't happen until the fourth and fifth years of the series. I mean, come on, that's just cool!

Rod Serling not only imagined twisted morality tales and used words the way an artist uses paints, but made viewers think in a way few other shows managed to do.

Aaron Sorkin makes viewers pay attention with his fast-paced dialogue and complex, intelligent characters. (Sportsnight, The West Wing, Studio 60.)

Chris Carter made a lot of us feel really, really paranoid about a lot of stuff.

And Joss ... Well, if you never watched Buffy or Angel or Firefly, raving about Joss would only convince you (or deepen your conviction!) that I'm a fanatical nut. So I won't.

But he's a genius. Really.

Shadow_Ferret said:
Wheaton, Whedon. You can see the confusion, especially since I'm really bad with names, Worcestershire Cat.

That's okay, Weasel.

Really.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 2, 2007

I think you made my point better than I did.

because it's so much a part of popular culture

By the way, Chris Carter was a Wide Receiver for the Vikings, no?

The only one I know anything about was Rod Serling and that's because he was doing things no one else at the time was doing. He was an innovator and a genious, to use an overused phrase.

As far as pacing and structure, I try not to make mine like tv or movies. I think that's what I've not enjoyed about Stephen King's books, they read too much like a movie or television show.

Will Lavender · Nov 2, 2007

Ferret, tell us.

Is there anything you don't dislike? I'm really curious. I read all your posts because I'm interested to see what you're claiming to (1) have never heard of or (2) detest this time.

Is it an act, or are you being serious?

CheshireCat · Nov 2, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
I think you made my point better than I did.

[/color]

So you disdain popular culture? Not being snarky, just asking.

Shadow_Ferret said:
By the way, Chris Carter was a Wide Receiver for the Vikings, no?

*winces* The X-Files. Surely you were aware of that one?

Shadow_Ferret said:
The only one I know anything about was Rod Serling and that's because he was doing things no one else at the time was doing. He was an innovator and a genious, to use an overused phrase.

Well, yeah. As is Whedon. He made a musical episode of Buffy, for crying out loud. A Broadway Musical sort of musical. Wrote the lyrics, wrote the music. And it worked. He made an episode totally without a musical score, called The Body, and in a show about vampires, it was terrifying in its utter this-is-life-and-death normality. He made an episode in which the first 20-odd minutes were totally without spoken dialogue.

He took the "high school is hell" metaphor and brought it alive in a way no one else has ever done.

Shadow_Ferret said:
As far as pacing and structure, I try not to make mine like tv or movies. I think that's what I've not enjoyed about Stephen King's books, they read too much like a movie or television show.

Well, you can learn without duplicating. Still, if that's not your thing, it's not your thing.

What's your genre, by the way?

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 2, 2007

Will Lavender said:
Ferret, tell us.

Is there anything you don't dislike? I'm really curious. I read all your posts because I'm interested to see what you're claiming to (1) have never heard of or (2) detest this time.

Is it an act, or are you being serious?

There's a lot I don't dislike. IN fact, the things I like actually outnumber the things I don't like. In fact, I don't recall saying I disliked Joss Whedon or Buffy. I merely said I wasn't aware of who he was. Why should I pretend to know about something I never heard of?

CheshireCat said:
So you disdain popular culture? Not being snarky, just asking.

Yes.

CheshireCat said:
*winces* The X-Files. Surely you were aware of that one?

I've seen one or two episodes of the X-Files in reruns. Missed it the first time around.

CheshireCat said:
What's your genre, by the way?

Believe it or not, fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. In most cases television, even if it is in my genre, just bores me.

Will Lavender · Nov 3, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
There's a lot I don't dislike. IN fact, the things I like actually outnumber the things I don't like. In fact, I don't recall saying I disliked Joss Whedon or Buffy. I merely said I wasn't aware of who he was. Why should I pretend to know about something I never heard of?

I've never seen an episode of Buffy either. That's not what I was picking at. However, in this thread you've told us that

* you don't like Stephen King;
* you don't like popular culture;
* you've never heard of Joss Whedon;
* you dislike most television;
* science-fiction, fantasy, and horror TV shows bore you.

All in a day's work for the Ferret.

CheshireCat · Nov 3, 2007

Will Lavender said:
I've never seen an episode of Buffy either. That's not what I was picking at. However, in this thread you've told us that

* you don't like Stephen King;
* you don't like popular culture;
* you've never heard of Joss Whedon;
* you dislike most television;
* science-fiction, fantasy, and horror TV shows bore you.

All in a day's work for the Ferret.

I see this fairly often, writers who work in commercial fiction who claim to be oblivious to popular culture -- and I find it remarkable and, honestly, baffling. I mean, how can you write for an audience you have no understanding of or sympathy with?

And, yes, I've heard the "I write my stories for myself" and "I write my stories for their own sake" replies to that question.

Still find it baffling. And I really don't think it's a coincidence that the most successful writers I know are not only widely read (both in and out of their genres), but also love movies and TV, and make it a point to keep a finger on the pulse of popular culture.

Hey, that's my audience, and I want to know what interests them.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 3, 2007

Will Lavender said:
I've never seen an episode of Buffy either. That's not what I was picking at. However, in this thread you've told us that

* you don't like Stephen King;
* you don't like popular culture;
* you've never heard of Joss Whedon;
* you dislike most television;
* science-fiction, fantasy, and horror TV shows bore you.

All in a day's work for the Ferret.

That's me in a nutshell. I guess you've summed up everything there is to know about me in 5 bullet points. Congratulations on successfully pigeonholing my entire existence.

Joss Whedon's new show...

Five by Five

Court Jester

Yes, I'm back.

Cheers

Mostly purring. Mostly.

Cheers

Five by Five

Bufflehead

Midnight Reading

Court Jester

Mostly purring. Mostly.

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Court Jester

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Cheers

Mostly purring. Mostly.

Court Jester

Everything is what it seems.

Mostly purring. Mostly.

Court Jester

Everything is what it seems.

Mostly purring. Mostly.

Court Jester