Fox Commits to Airing All 13 Season 2 Episodes (YAY!)

Has the Cancellation Threat Passed? According to E Online's Kristen, it has. Kristen reports:

Despite Dollhouse's seemingly shaky future, Fox has revealed that it will produce and air all 13 ordered episodes of season two. Good network manners such as these must be rewarded and encouraged. Someone send these people cookies!

Her link takes you to "The Live Feed" which reports:

"Dollhouse" fans can breathe easier: Fox will air all 13 episodes.

On the heels of impressive DVR data for last month's "Dollhouse" premiere, network executives say they will run each produced hour of the show's current order despite the Friday drama's modest overall ratings.

"We're going to run all the episodes," Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman said. "We're not saying we're happy with those numbers, or accept them, but we don't have to overreact. During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show."

As for ordering additional episodes, or a third season, Fox says they will make that decision after the current run.

The news represents a relief to "Dollhouse" fans that the current season won't be cut short, yet also suggests a full-season order is unlikely. Waiting until all 13 episodes have aired before making a decision generally means allowing production on the show to shut down for the season.

Reached by phone, Joss Whedon (who has a terrible-sounding cold -- feel better!) said he's writing the 13th hour to give fans a degree of closure.

"We'll definitely have closure, but will leave some doors open," said Whedon, who's currently shooting the eighth episode. "When we got our first numbers, which were bad, the first thing [Fox president of entertainment] Kevin Reilly said was, 'You'll have all 13,' which was great. They're not going to pull the rug out from under us."

Beckman said DVR results have played a role in the show's fate, though wasn't surprised by today's results.

"It's one of the reasons that we brought it back; we knew it was DVR friendly," Beckman said. "We expected to see this, and hopefully we'll see [the overnight ratings] increase from week to week ... with some shows, you have to look at the bigger picture."

Beckman also humorously characterized deciding the show's fate as a bit of no-win situation when it comes to dealing with Whedon's passionate fans.

"If you cancel it, you're an asshole; if you renew it and then don't put it back on, you're an asshole," he said. "I'm still paying for 'Terminator.' 'Dollhouse' has a small rabid fan base that in the world of social media seems bigger than it is. We gave them another season knowing full well we were going to burn in hell if we pulled it."

(Reprinted from http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/10/fox-we-will-air-all-13-dollhouse-episodes.html)

So what does this mean? We'll get our full season, but that may be it. And we're not getting more than 13 episodes this year. We'll also potentially get another "Epitaph 1" (or maybe an "Epitaph 2?), as Joss promises the 13th episode will provide some closure. It also means our efforts haven't all been for naught. That last paragraph of the article above basically says we're loud, and we're being heard. But we're still recognized as just a loud minority. Is there hope for a Season 3? Probably not, unless the numbers increase significantly or a cable network thinks it profitable enough to pick-up. Maybe we should be lobbying for that? Numbers are of a whole different significance on cable, who is used to courting a loud minority. Cable just likes the "loud" part.

I think we just have to be glad we had our second season, and we have to enjoy it and analyze it as much as we can, because we won't have much more of it. If we're extremely lucky, it will be discovered by the DVD set somewhere down the line, and maybe will be revived as a movie or a miniseries. I also think that we'll see a change in the remaining episodes. I think they've been in kind of a holding patterns themselves, not really having a feeling how many hours they'd have left to write. I think we've seen that in these kind of stand alone episodes. After this announcement, I think they'll be moving toward closure, being that they only have 9 more hours to bring this story to its conclusion. (3 out of 13 episodes have aired; the fourth is already written and in the can.) I think we'll be back to the edge-of-your-seat, can't miss a second, have to watch it twice kind of writing and filming we saw the second half of the season and enjoyed in "Epitaph 1".

While I mourn it's assumed ending, I am also excited by the quality it is sure to bring. Wouldn't be ironic if its reported death was the very thing that elevated the series, finally bringing in the rabid audience it stumbled to find all along?

Summer Glau's New Role on Dollhouse

According to EW, Summer Glau's rumored appearance on Dollhouse has been confirmed. Summer will be playing a Dollhouse employee named Bennett, who shares a past with Caroline/Echo.

Are you all getting ready for the new season (which starts in less than a month)? Do you think bringing in all of these Sci-Fi vets will help or hurt the ratings?

Latest Dollhouse Scoop from Kristen: "Season 2 is All About Murder and Sex"

Source: Eonline

Head over to Eonline to read about what the cast says Season 2 has in store for us dolhouse fans. Sierra and Victor get closer, as well as do Ballard and Echo. Reportedly, "Eliza says, "Echo doesn't know entirely what's going on yet…[but] as she becomes more and more self-aware, she's recognizing this constant, tall, dark, looming man in the Dollhouse."...As Tahmoh explains it, "They have a connection. It's not a physical attraction, but I hope it's something that we explore a lot more this season. You're not quite sure what it is. There's a past, there's a history, there's an understanding between them that's very different. I think the audience is really going to like it and be really curious about where we're going in the first few episodes.""

Kristen also has posted exclusive video interviews with Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj and Olivia Williams.

Eliza Dishes Season 2

Check out this clip of Eliza dishing with Laura Saltman on Access Hollywood, outside a party for Anna Paquin. They talk about a season 2 wedding, involving Echo. Eliza says Season 2 will be racier, darker, and crisper than Season 1. Season 2 adds depth, and is less Sci Fi and more present day, according to Dushku. She also shares that they have just finished filming Episode 3, and that Keith Carradine will be joining them for the next episode. She says some Angel alumni will also be joining the filming soon. Eliza shares that she LOVED Episode 13, and that it's gotten great reception and helped to spur DVD sales. Watch the interview for yourself below.

In other news, I have heard rumors that Carradine's character will be a business man, somehow associated with Sierra. Could he be playing the guy who put Sierra in the Dollhouse to begin with?

Casting News

According to Ausiello, Keith Carradine has been cast for two episodes. He'll be playing a wealthy businessman. That's all Ausiello reports, so we don't know in what capacity he'll be joining the cast. Is he a repeat client? Someone associated with Rossum Corp? Your guess is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, I'm still watching the DVDs. Only a month to the new season!

Season 2 Artwork Released

DVD Release & Season 2 Scoop

As hoped for, I got the Dollhouse DVD set for my birthday. It arrived in my mailbox on August 1st. I finally had a chance to break it open today, and I started by watching the original, unaired pilot, Echo. I really enjoyed this pilot, and now, want to go back and watch Disk 1, episode 1, to compare and contrast the 2.

The original pilot focuses on introducing Echo, Ballard, Sierra, and Victor. I seem to remember the reveal of Victor as a Doll to be somewhat shocking; I guess, originally the audience knew from the start. Clips of Echo performing "pro-bono" and "do-gooder" type assignments, including helping a young alcoholic woman sober up and re-connect with her family. (And I could swear that drunk was the little girl from Growing Pains, all grown up.) Ballard prods Victor for info regarding a possible Borodine-Dollhouse connection, and when Victor sends Ballard to an abandoned hotel basement, Ballard encounters a Caroline look-alike who claims to be searching for her missing sister, but has really been programmed to assassinate Ballard. Meanwhile, Dr. Saunders and Topher spar back at the Dollhouse, and Saunders' seeming hatred for Topher is revealed as they discuss the "grouping" tendencies of Victor, Sierra, and Echo.

I originally came in on the 3rd episode. I loved the show so much I went back and watched the 2 I'd missed on Hulu. I'm interested in seeing the series again from the start, as I remember being a little more confused by the 1st episode. I'm thinking the unaired pilot would have been a better way to introduce the series, but perhaps, would not have built the suspense. I'll post again later, after I've had a chance to rewatch the 1st aired episode.

The 12 aired episodes are contained on the first 3 disks of the DVD set. The 4th disk contains the unaired Epitaph One, as well as the Special Features. These include the aforementioned original pilot, commentary on Epitaph One, Deleted Scenes, and 4 featurettes. I'll be posting reviews of these over the next month, as I re-watch the first season.

In the meantime, Kristen at E! Online reports some season 2 scoop:

Show runner Joss Whedon spilled some Dollhouse dish at the Television Critics Association tour about what's in store for Echo (Eliza Dushku). Joss says, "Echo starts really realizing that as a person, she not only exists, but that she has a mission—that she has something she wants. This year we are going to see the results of everything she went through last year, particularly the event with Alpha where she was downloaded with all of her personalities. We are going to see what effect that's had on her, and we are going to find her to be a great deal less passive and a great deal more directed in what she wants, and that is, of course, going to make her life a lot harder. And the more she finds out about what is going on around her and the more we find out, the creepier it is going to get, because creepy is what it makes it fun."

Kristen also confirms reports that Amy Acker will be reprising her role as Dr. Saunders, despite being cast in Happy Town.

News from Comic Con

Comic Con is underway, and the Whedon panel happened yesterday. Lucky Comic Con attendees were treated to season 2 spoilers. Joss is reporting that additional Whedon alumni will be appearing on Season 2. Whedon confirmed appearances by Alexis Denisof (Angel) and Summer Glau (Sarah Connor Chronicles). Reportedly, Amy Acker will appear in at least 3 Season 2 episodes. Reportedly, Felicia Day will also be appearing in Season 2, building on her appearance in Epitaph One.

TV Guide reports: "Whedon kicked off the panel by raving that the staff he assembled for the Fox series' freshman run was "the best" first-season staff he has ever worked with. So expect no major changes there." They also report: "Amid the cheers and woots, Whedon gave the show's fans pause when at one point he teased, "There is one trustworthy person in the Dollhouse — and I'm going to kill them." I'm interested in hearing who others think may be killed off. Whiskey, due to her portrayer joining another show? Victor, due to the fact he now needs either reassignment or plastic surgery?

Comic Con attendees got to see Epitaph One. Although reportedly, this episode has also been "leaked" and can be found on the internet, I'll be waiting until I get my box set next week to watch it. Although Joss originally made this episode in anticipation of series cancellation, he promises Season 2 will "honor what was seen" in Epitaph One. He also said Season 2 will be more political, and will get out into the world more.

Whedon also thanked fans for setting their TIVOs and other recording devices to capture Dollhouse. Evidently, the largest numbers in the ratings came from the "record now to watch later" folks.

Reportedly, the panel was so popular that some rabid fans were left outside, and it was standing room only inside. This echoes Whedon's comment that the fans brought the show back from oblivion. Let's hope Season Two rewards our efforts.

Whedon Discusses Epitaph One

EW has an exclusive conversation with Joss about Epitaph One. Reportedly, Whedon wrote the episode so that it would be a good series coda, should they be canceled, or a very good lead-in for Season 2. SPOILER ALERT: EW reports that the episode begins with Ballard and Caroline returning to an abandoned Dollhouse in 2019. Whedon tells EW. "Every flashback answers something about where people are heading but brings up a lot more questions about where they end up or how they got there." (Whedon says the season 2 opener he's writing and directing won't pick up right where the May season 1 finale left off, with "We've got to find Alpha!", but a little bit later.)

Whedon also says he understands why Fox decided to hold back the episode. As I've already said, I'm planning on getting the DVD set, and cannot wait to watch both this episode and the unaired original pilot. And I'd rather have the second season than the opportunity to see Epitaph One on Fox. If you haven't yet watched the clip of Wiped Clean, Ghostly Whiskey, do so as soon as you can. It's worth a watch.

Clip From Epitaph 1 Released

A clip from Epitaph One has been released!

Granted, it's only a 30 second clip, but it sure whets my appetite. The clip features the mysterious Whiskey, looking and acting sort of vapid, being surrounded by 4 apparent feds with drawn guns.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Whiskey."

"What is your last name?"

"I don't know."

"Where were you born?"

"I don't know."

"How did you get down here?"

"I've always been here."

Doesn't give us a lot. But I'm sure loving every glimpse of Whiskey that I get, and thinking Amy was MUCH more interesting as an Active than as a doctor.

Watch it for yourself and see what you think.

Season 2: Good News & Bad News

The good news is that Joss Whedon, the man himself, will be writing and directing the season 2 premiere. The bad news is that premiere has been pushed back one week, to September 25. It is still scheduled to air on Friday nights at 9 pm. Curiously enough, Fox has scheduled Glee to run in Dollhouse's original premiere date.

Reportedly, Joss wanted to have 3 or 4 episodes in the can before airing the 1st, and asked Fox to push the season 2 start date back by a week. Reportedly, season 2 will involve Echo trying to discover her "inner Caroline" as well.

The DVD release is still scheduled for July 28. (And I am still hoping to receive the set for my August 1 birthday. I plan a re-watch of the 1st season before the late-September premiere as well.) However, Whedon has also produced a special, limited edition collectors' edition of the season 1 set. It will only be available at Comic-Con, and must be pre-ordered on the Fox website. (link) It includes special packaging, as well as an individually numbered letter from Joss. Only 5000 of each format are being made. If anyone reading this is lucky enough to be attending Comic Con, and/or gets his/her little paws on one of these babies, please tell us about it in the comments section below. I'll have to be satisfied with reports, as I, unfortunately, will not be there. If you know someone who IS going, you may designate that person to pick up your box set for you.

Also, UK viewers are going to get a chance to see the still un-aired "epitaph 1" without having to buy the dvd set. Evidentially, the UK viewers are a lot more fanatical than those of us here in the US. Be can thank their enthusiasm for helping to sway TPTB to renew our beloved show. Dollhouse airs on Sci Fi in the UK. (Is it called SyFy in the UK now too?)

Hopefully, Comic Con will bring us even more Dollhouse news to tide us over until September.

EW.com Posts Exclusive Scoop on Season 2

Joss and his team have started writing season 2, according to Entertainment Weekly. Joss reports that season 2 will expand on season one, and that he's "pumped".

Source: http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/joss-whedon-buffy-dollhouse-1.html

Exclusive: Joss Whedon on 'Dollhouse' -- 'Back with such a vengeance'

Jun 11, 2009, 09:12 PM | by Mandi Bierly

Joss Whedon is two weeks into breaking stories for Dollhouse's second season, and we're happy to report that he sounds like a happy man even without that season 1 budget. Whedon wrapped his top-secret horror film The Cabin in the Woods on May 29 and hit the Dollhouse writers' room on June 1. "I just wanted to die of tiredness," he tells EW.com exclusively. "About two hours after starting to talk to the writers about story, I was back with such a vengeance, and so energized and so pumped because we really understand the show now. We understand what works, and what didn't work so well or what we weren't so thrilled about. We don't have the onus of trying to be a big hit sitting on our shoulders. We can just be ourselves. And so the stories we're breaking are pure, and exciting, and everybody's on-board in the room, and it's never flowed better."

What does that mean for Season 2? "I'm really proud of the second half of season 1, and we're just expanding on that in a huge way: Finding out the different things that Eliza [Dushku] can be, at the same time as extending our mythology," Whedon says. "Really, just every meeting is like, 'What's the most fun we can have with this actor?' about the whole cast. All I can say -- 'cause I'm gonna be Mr. Un-Spoiler -- is that we're having a crazy amount of fun, and usually, that tends to translate onto the screen."

Speaking slightly spoilery, Whedon tells us that season 2 won't pick up right with "We've got to find Alpha!" but a little bit later. Alan Tudyk has a role on ABC's midseason series V, but Whedon hopes he'll be able to use the character sparingly: "Alpha will always be a part of the equation." Whedon's also hoping to work out a similar loan with the producers of ABC's Happy Town, who nabbed Amy Acker, aka Dr. Saunders/Whiskey. For more insider scoops, keep reading after the jump.

More scoop: Whedon says that Echo's last word in the finale, "Caroline," was the beginning of her season 2 quest. "Echo wants to find not just Caroline, but what's going on behind everything. She doesn't have all of the skills. [Laughs] But she does have this weird super power of becoming a different person all the time, so she might start using that more specifically to find out who Caroline was and what happened to her and why this place exists." So she still has all those past imprints in her? "Well, they're supposed to have wiped them out of there. But we'll see how well that went..."

Other burning questions: Summer Glau hasn't signed on for any episodes of Dollhouse yet. "We're still breaking the episodes," Whedon says, "but we didn't honestly go into the season going, 'Now how can we figure out how to service Summer?' when we already have a huge ensemble. I adore Summer and she's phenomenal, but I have to service the cast I have first. If something comes up that's good enough, my God, I'd hound her. But the rumors of her becoming a big part of the show are greatly exaggerated."

And, sorry, but don't hold your breath that Whedon might become involved in the big-screen Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. "I believe [the producers] did ultimately reach out to my agent after the news broke," Whedon says. "I think that's something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck."

Fox Announces Fall Premiere Dates

Today, Fox announced premiere dates for its fall shows. Dollhouse is scheduled to return on Friday, September 18. So we won't have to wait all that long after the DVD release for our second season. (The DVD release is scheduled for the end of July.) However, although Fox is leaving Dollhouse on Friday nights, it appears to have ditched the sci-fi Friday concept. The lead-ins to Dollhouse are a pair of sitcoms, including the very mediocre "til Death." I hope the weak lead-in doesn't kill our beloved show, and that Fox takes into account the DVR numbers.

I, for one, will probably be taping Dollhouse. 9 pm on a Friday night is not exactly prime viewing time for a single gal. And since we managed to save Dollhouse for at least one more season, I will be re-capping episodes here, once season 2 begins. (In fact, I plan to review all the 1st season episodes, as well as the 2 DVD only episodes, as soon as I get my little paws on that box set.) I'm hoping the numbers remain high enough for a 3rd season. After all, I need some new loves now that Lost is reaching its final season.

Latest Scoop from Ausiello: Summer on Dollhouse?

Source: EW

According to Ausiello, Summer Glau might migrate over to Dollhouse, now that Sarah Connor has been canceled:

Question: With Sarah Connor Chronicles canceled, please tell me there is a possibility of Summer Glau making an appearance on Dollhouse! --Jenn

Ausiello: The noise you're about to hear is the sound of the Whedonverse exploding. Joss confirms to me exclusively that, well, he's one step ahead of you. "If anybody thinks [bringing Summer onto Dollhouse] hasn't occurred to me already then they have not met me," he says. "I mentioned it to her before [SCC] was canceled. I was like, 'You know, we should get you in the 'house.' But first we have to come up with something that works." And casting her as a doll would not work, insists Whedon. "Summer would be perfect to play an active, but she's done that [type of role] a lot," he says. "I'd rather see her play someone who talks too much. The most fun I have is when I get somebody who's good and comfortable at doing something, and then I make them do something else. Summer said to me, 'I would like to play a normal girl before I die of extreme old age.'" Got any ideas? Head to the comments section!

These little tidbits only make me want those "two lost episodes" even more. Lucky for me, the DVD set comes out just a few days before my birthday. Guess what's #1 on my list!

More Renewal News

All of the popular sources have confirmed that Dollhouse will be back for a 2nd season. Evidentially, the renewal involved slashing the budget, which sources say is not that big a deal, as the sets are already built. Guess that means no more fighting on top of sleeping pods! I'm hoping Amy Acker's new show being picked up does NOT lead to Whiskey being sent to the Attic, and to a new doll being imprinted as Dr. Saunders.

I love Washington Post's TV Reporter's comments:

"We hear Sony is practically paying Fox to keep " 'Til Death" on the air until it has enough episodes for syndication, and the budget on "Dollhouse" reportedly was sliced as part of the deal to get a second-season pickup late last week -- an order that caused The Reporters Who Cover Television's eyebrows to rise until they nearly disarranged their bangs.

After all, Joss Whedon's latest exercise in feminist heinie-kicking-and-tight-tank-top-wearing hadn't even copped 3 million viewers the other day. That's not even a decent FX number, much less a stat that would merit renewing a series on the country's No. 1-ranked network. The reporters suspected that "Dollhouse's" eyebrow-raising pickup had something to do with the fact that the company that produces "Dollhouse" is owned by the same company that owns the Fox broadcast network. They sensed that the renewal had more to do with keeping the show going for the sake of DVD boxed sets, overseas sales and other ancillary interests than with copping the largest audience possible for Fox, and they said so yesterday during a Q&A with Fox execs.

Those execs were braced to meet that suggestion with stout denial. They are great believers in stout denial and they are very good at it.

"It's a bet on Joss Whedon," Reilly insisted when asked about it, adding that Fox is committed to having original scripted programming on Friday nights.

Unless it's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," Fox's other scripted Friday drama this season. "Terminator" is canceled because, Reilly explained, they looked at that show's ratings and "the trend line was not pointing in the right direction."

Hey, let's take a look at the ratings track on "Dollhouse" -- shall we? It's 4.8 million, 4.2 million, 4.2 million, 3.6 million, 4.3 million, 4.1 million, 3.9 million, 3.4 million, 3.5 million, 3 million, 3.1 million, 2.7 million."

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051802744_2.html?sid=ST2009051900007 (Lisa de Moraes, Washingtonpost.com)

Never got into Sarah Connor myself. I love true sci-fi, but am not a fan of the shoot-em-up-action-movie-set-2000 years-in-the-future type of thing. But I'm not sure Fox isn't dooming Dollhouse by leading in with comedies. But then again, didn't the Simpsons originally lead into The X Files? And we didn't even have TiVo in those days. Me, I'm still a good old VCR gal. I'm also single, so my Dollhouse habit rarely involved live viewing. Hulu serves as a backup for the occasional power outage.

I wonder how others think scheduling will effect viewing. I'm also wondering why Fox doesn't try a Dollhouse/Fringe block...