January Mid-Season Return Dates

I relish in the yearly tradition of Christmas specials and TV marathons over the winter holidays, after a few weeks of indulging in some fluff (I'm talking marathons of Top Chef, House Hunters, Real Housewives and the like) and some more nerd indulgent marathons like the one's offered by SPACE like all 5 hours of Torchwood's Children of the Earth special all in one go, and the next day a consecutive run of the final 5 Doctor Who specials that featured David Tennant as our Doctor. I'm about ready to toss all that aside andget back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Here's a list of some shows premiering mid-season, and ones simply returning after the holiday break in January:

Friday, January 8th
Dollhouse (FOX, 9pm) - Kicking off the final three episodes of Dollhouse's run.

Sunday, January 10th
Chuck (NBC 9 - 11pm) Kicking off season three with a two hour block, then beginning January 11 will air on Mondays at 8

Monday, January 11th
How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 8pm) is back with it's 100th episode "Girls versus Suits" in full musical form!
Big Bang Theory (CBS, 9:30pm)
Castle (ABC, 10pm) Alyssa Milano guest stars in this week's episode

Sunday, January 17th
24 (FOX 8 pm)- Part 1 of a two part season premiere, part two airs January 18, 8pm. I might actually check this out to see Katee Sackoff and Freddie Prinze Jr. in their new roles.

Friday, January 22nd
Caprica (Space, 9pm) Season premiere of the highly anticipated sequel to sci-fi hit Battlestar Galactica

Dollhouse: "The Attic" (2.10) - Review

I'll see your sports analogy and raise you a Star Wars reference


The tension is rising, the gears are moving and the end is in sight. There is a heavy tone that accompanies "The Attic" the mood and the sets are claustrophobic, the feeling that everything is in a funnel, coming to a head. This is the last episode of 2009, when we return in January we'll be down to the final three episodes to round out this inconsistent (but these days consistently fantastic) series. Many shows announce that they will be introducing a "game changer", but discovering Adelle's true allegiance and Caroline/Echo's significance is truly the announcement that will spearhead this show into the finale.


All the pieces are coming together, we learn that Caroline holds a significance with Rossum, we learn more about Rossum, its founders and the chances (all but 3%) that they will end civilization. Throughout the series we've been privy to much of what occurs in the Dollhouse, although we do not know exactly how long they've been operation. We've seen plans begin to backfire, traitors in the midst, dolls glitch (Alpha, Echo, now Victor and Sierra), and we've seen how far Rossum's reach can extend as they've planted a doll in the government.

We've seen agenda's change and personalities flare. Now we're on the edge, close to the disaster we've seen in "Epitaph One", time is running out and our heroes are coming together to stop it.

Adelle is a woman who plays her hand close to the chest, we spend the episode watching her icy stare, having sent Echo, Sierra and Victor to the attic while berating Boyd, Topher, and scaring the wits out of Ivy. Adelle has had a change of heart after a breakdown, an alcohol infused bender perhaps brought on by excessive guilt as she feels her power slipping away and her complicit actions in Rossum's nefarious plans for the future. She knows Caroline/Echo is special, that's why she hates her, and it's why she needs her.

"Stop-Lost" was essential to this episode, both in depicting how powerful Rossum can be as it develops group think technology and is raising a private army, showing how fragile its technology is when Echo can take it out a whole base almost entirely on her own. It also gave us background into Victor, or Anthony's pre-doll history. He was a soldier who fought in Afghanistan who signed up to be a doll to be cured of his severe PTSD. His military knowledge becomes essential to his role in "The Attic" and his role in the right against Rossum.

The Attic

I felt as though the visual portrayal of the Attic was perfect, it has all the characteristics of a dream state, things don't quite make sense, mismatched scenery, and a dark, nightmarish atmosphere. The Attic is something that if Dollhouse were given more time probably could have been explored in greater detail, but I think this was perfect, it was hard, quick and we got to the bottom of it without dwelling on the details. When Echo arrives in the attic she is in Echo's head, not Caroline's. She explores a world filled with memories and fears from all the personalities that she's built from. Her nightmare is Echo's nightmare, that she won't be able to save them all, her friends and the world.


It turns out that agents conspiring to destroy Rossum are not limited to the real world. Dominic (Reed Diamond) who was sent to the Attic back in season one appears in Echo's head. He's been fighting Arcane, a mysterious figure that has been killing people from inside their nightmares. Everything that Echo is made of is dedicated to saving her friends. After annoyingly running off on her own, she agrees to work with Dominic to save Sierra and Victor, then capture and kill Arcane. Victor/Anthony proves to be invaluable offering his military experience to successfully capture Arcane.

This is where things get very interesting. The layers of Rossum begin to peel away. This is where we meet out warrior from the inside, and he's more inside than we might initially think. Meet Clyde, he was one of the original founders of Rossum, and the first resident of the Attic. Explaining that he was betrayed be his partner (whose identity has been erased from his memory), and a doll, Clyde 2.0 and put into the Attic to be the first part of Rossum's mainframe, a human CPU. Clyde has spent his days as Arcane killing the human CPU's to sabotage Rossum from inside the attic, and calculating the probability that Rossum will bring the world to its end, the end doesn't look good, in fact, it will probably look a lot like Epitaph One.

Echo finds a way to escape the Attic, she has to flat line, then revive back in the real world. She leaves along with Priya (Sierra) and Anthony (Victor). Dominic stays in the Attic with Clyde to fight from within.

Anthony/Victor must kill Priya/Sierra for her to escape, this scene is breath taking, they kiss as he stabs her, she slowly collapses in his arms, the fiery world in the background reflects the pain and the love in their faces. She leaves; he stares at the bloody blade, and allows the savages in the Attack to rip him apart.

Caroline

Clyde lets a significant piece of information out, that a woman got into Rossum, she learned something that put the company at great risk. This woman was Caroline. We now understand how significant a role that Caroline, and now Echo plays in the narrative of Rossum. Caroline becoming a doll was not a coincidence.

A conversation between Adelle and Boyd also gives us something to think about. He says that his only goal was to protect Echo. It seems like Boyd was transferred to the Dollhouse specifically to deal with Caroline/Echo. She was always special, they always knew it, and we're coming closer to understanding why.

This is their plan

When Echo leaves the Attic we learn that Adelle sent her in with a mission, to understand what the Attic is, how it works, and to come back, something that no one has done before.


Gathered in Adelle's office is our mighty group of rebel soldiers; Echo, Anthony/Victor, Priya/Sierra, Boyd, Topher, Ivy and Ballard (yes). They decide there is one more person needed to complete the group, that is Caroline, the woman who appears to have started this all.

Oh, and Ballard is back with the help of the Dollhouse technology as many of us predicted - I appreciate that it was not a quick fix and had to involve new ideas and hard decisions.

Some Final Thoughts:

I'm hoping that Alpha was (before his composite event) Clyde 2.0, or otherwise a central figure in Rossum. It would be a fantastic way to satisfy multiple story lines.

Also looking to see how Bennett was involved in Caroline's fight against Rossum. It seems as though Caroline abandoning Bennett has helped shape who Echo is as a person.

The Attic provided a lot of momentum moving forward, and it left a lot of questions that will hopefully be answered in the final three episodes:

When Topher and Ivy restored Ballard's personality to his body via active architecture, they left something out. What do you think that is?'

When did Adelle initially intend to take out Rossum, before or after Caroline, Or was it when Echo emerged as a person and challenged her did she decide that she needed to figure out the Attic? Or (and this is what my money is on) did Adele change her mind during her breakdown/bender?

Who is the original co-founder who betrayed Clyde, and have we met him or her before?

Hopefully all these questions and more will be answered when we return with the final three in January. As sad as I am to see a show that has improved so drastically come to an end. I know it's for the best, and I'm enjoying the ride!

Dollhouse: Don't Mess With Adele (2.7) - Review

I'm sad to say that after last week's double feature, my expectations for Dollhouse have gone way up making the first half hour of this episode hard to swallow. Despite "Meet Jane Doe" [almost] completely delivered with an excellent second half. The plot took some very interesting turns and made a lot of progress. Plus, and I cannot say this enough, Olivia Williams owned this episode.

Just to get the not so great out of the way first let's talk about Echo's storyline. With the exception of the gratuitous fighting scenes with Ballard and exceptional sexual tension between those two (or maybe I'm just a sucker for Tahmoh Penikett without his shirt on) this story was bone dry. We are already aware that Echo is able to sift through her different personalities and is developing a personality of her own, but I wish there was a more interesting way to communicate the progression of these trends without a weird jail break story line and cheesy special effects.

Now for the awesome:

It is absolutely to see the plot turning back to last season's unaired conclusion "Epitaph One". Last season's episode seemed like a dystopian projection. This season as we are beginning to see the development of this world changing technology, This episode felt like a real turning point bringing a darker tone to the rest of the series.

Olivia Williams, damn this woman can act. Without a word the physicality she brought forth as a powerless Adele communicated the demoralized state her character was in. I was feeling so terrible for this woman who is though lesser of the evils, still pretty evil. Williams then turns on a dime once Adele has her ammo, and reminds us what Adele on a mission looks like, shoulders back and her face glowing using her knowing eyes to stare a hole into her opponent.

I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that she has completely betrayed her house, or that she genuinely wants to help but needs to regain her power. We were offered a glimpse into the fact that the new management was putting dolls into more dangerous engagements and Adele was powerless to stop this. I think this story line may have been more effective if more screen time was devoted to this issue. That is unless this was kept ambiguous on purpose.

It seems appropriate to note that the L.A. Dollhouse had turned into quite the boys club upon Adele's demotion. This short scene about the opening of the Dubai house was representative of the sort of company she had to fight with to gain her standing in the company.

Topher is a fantastic, hilarious genius, but is unfortunately all too trusting. It was completely in his character to believe the best of people, and really believe that Adele would be on his side. He seemed so utterly crushed when Adele had what she wanted from him and then made him disposable to him.

Fran Kranz's acting this episode was also certainly something to watch, I really appreciate his consistency with all the little ticks Topher has. It was really interesting to notice the subtle changes in Topher once he was put in a position of more power and authority. As much as he appreciates free reign and budget to experiment, the spotlight isn't his thing. And once again, I loved his continuing rambling use of words as he tries to express ideas larger than he is able to articulate.

The age old dilemma of scientific experimentation, technological innovation and its dangers which is an overriding theme of Dollhouse was visited quite directly in this episode. Topher is not malicious, he is curious and brilliant. He was simply trying to figure out what the evil people were trying to accomplish so he could know, and possibly prevent it. This is a typical dilemma of scientists throughout history, where honest curiosity and experimentation has led to massively dangerous weapons when taken out of their hands.

I have to comment on the use of the high angle camera in Topher's office when he reveals his plans to Adele. I interpreted this as a camera feed from Dollhouse security. This added an extra layer of suspense when Topher discovered his plans were missing, I thought that perhaps someone else had seen the security feed and stolen the plans. This made Adele's betrayal even more painful to watch. (Except that it was sort of delicious because Olivia Williams plays evil impeccably).

Other little things I loved:

A return to the Victor/Sierra relationship, I lost it when the congratulations turned into a full make out session.

Perhaps it's the eternal optimist in me, but I think that Adele really did have her house's best interests in mind, this girl has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Do you think that Adele is going to remain on her fast track to Rossum's biggest bad guy, or will she use her power to save her house and her actives?

Will the world of the Dollhouse head into the dystopia of Epitaph One, or will the day be saved and by who?

Stay tuned for my review of "A Love Supreme", it'll be up as soon as the fan-girl in my head catches her breath.

Dollhouse: Going out in High Gear - Review

I've often noticed that shows that are either conceived as a fixed length (or mini-series) or shows that have an established end date tend to really ramp up the intensity.

After viewing "The Private Eye" and "The Left Hand" (episodes 2.5 & 2.6) it appears that Dollhouse has certainly caught the bug. I have been a dedicated Dollhouse fan throughout its run, but I will admit that it the overarching story hasn't always been the most captivating part of the show. The majority of episodes have been heavy in stand-alone engagement structure that begins and ends in the hour with little overall plot advancement.

If this first two-hour block is any indication of what Joss Whedon will be dishing out in Dollhouse's final episodes it seems like we will be treated to a more complex narrative structure involving all the different characters in a strongly motivated forward moving storyline that will actually be serving a means to an end.

The world of Rossum is opening up to us and we've only begun to understand the the extent off its reach and the L.A. Dollhouse's role within it. Personally, I can't wait to find out more, and am hoping that Enver Gjokaj and his constantly show stealing performance as Victor is at the center of it all.

The cancellation of Dollhouse hasn't all been bad news. A finite number of episodes can lead to top notch TV. At least FOX has agreed to air the entire season unlike the untimely fate of Whedon's previous project Firefly.

I think this FOX imposed end date will be worth it for the quality TV it will produce.

Do you think Dollhouse ending is a blessing in disguise or are you still reeling from the cancellation news?

This review has been featured on Sidereel.com: check it out!

This Week in TV News

Casting News Alan Tudyk will be reprising his role of Alpha in the seventh and eight episodes of Dollhouse's second and final season. These episodes will air Friday December 11 on Fox. (source)

Sneak Peeks - To hype up the revamped incarnation of what was once Scrubs, ABC is offering eight sneak peeks of the premiere episodes. I'm still unsure about this whole new Scrubs thing, but I'll watch to find out. View the previews here



Bringing Bon Temps Home - In July 2010 you will be able to take True Blood home with you. DC Unlimited picked up the rights to manufacture the characters; Sookie Stackhouse, Eric Northman and Bill Compton will be the first figurines to be introduced. (source)

Can't wait? Bring True Blood into your home... actually. HBO is selling a full party kit equipped with a 24 of True Blood, 8 pint glasses and a bottle opener.


Dr. Horrible is Coming for you - But in what medium? In an interview with TVGuide, Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory) who played Dr. Horrible's sweaty sidekick Moist in the webseries provided fans with good news regarding the sequel to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog:

My understanding is that it might be a movie, but it also might be another Internet thing. I don't quite know. I know they're working on the next installment. It will happen. When I talked to Joss [Whedon], he sort of told me some things, but what he was talking about was so intricate that I would not do it justice if I tried to explain it now! But it will happen and we're all going to be there

Do you think that Dr. Horrible which worked so well as a web series will translate to the big screen, or should it stay online?

In other horrible news, the recently unemployed Eliza Dushku is looking for a part in the Dr. Horrible sequel. (source)
Do you think Whedon will call Dushku in for Dr. Horrible, or should she stop waiting by the telephone?

This Week in TV News

ActuallyNPH - Neil Patrick Harris got twitter and his tweets are actually a pleasure to read. Better yet, he's using his 140 characters to link us to pictures of himself (yay!) with guest stars working on HIMYM. Icing on the cake; picture posted of Zach Woodlee (see photo to the right), choreographer for FOX's musical hit Glee is choreographing HIMYM's 100th episode's musical number. These guys look good together, do we see Glee in NPH's future?


Power Comedy Couple - Amy Poehler's hilarious husband Will Arnett (Arrested Development) will be guest staring on one episode of Parks and Recreation in January. (source)

Playing with Dolls - FOX has launched a Dollhouse themed web game in anticipation of the show's December 4th return. The game begins on the Rossum Corperation homepage, the mysterious entity behind the Dollhouses. Check out arg.net for more info on the game. Click on the "ditch the tech" logo to the left to receive a message, possibly from rebels attempting to prevent the post-apocalyptic future depicted in the un-aired "Epitaph One"



Kickstart my TARDIS - "Waters of Mars" the first installment in the series of specials to end the story of David Tennant's tenth Doctor aired on the BBC this past Sunday and will be appearing on BBC America (and hopefully the CBC) in December. Russel T. Davies has been quite busy stirring up new ideas for the BBC. After the devastatingly heartbreaking five-part mini-season, Davies intends on creating a re-vamped fourth season of Torchwood.

TV Round-Up

Since I seem to have other things going on in my life apart of TV (blasphemy I know) I've gotten behind on updating this blog. Here's a round-up of a few exciting bits of what's been going on.

We all saw it coming, Joss Whedon + Friday night slot = cancellation. FOX finally dropped the other foot and announced the cancellation of Dollhouse.

Whedon reflects on the cancellation of Dollhouse and promises another project in the near future.

More Chuck news! Any morsel is good news in anticipation of the third season. Seasoned action and sci-fi vet Robert Patrick(Terminator, X-Files and much much more) will be appearing as Col. Keller, a mysterious figure from Casey's past.

Micheal Trucco (Battlestar Galactica) has joined the cast of Facing Kate a new pilot for U.S.A. alongside HIMYM alum Virginia Williams.

Good News for Dollhouse - Fox will air all 13 Episodes

Due to the rise in overall ratings thanks to the DVR audience, FOX has promised to run all 13 produced episodes of Dollhouse's second season.

As for a third season, it doesn't seem likely considering the low ratings so far this season but FOX says they will reserve judgment until after this run.

Joss Whedon promises to provide Dollhouse fans with a degree of closure in the season finale.


Source

Eliza Dushku interview on TWOP about Dollhouse

Gearing up for episode 2, of Dollhouse's new season TWOP's Zach Oat talks to star Eliza Dushku about this season of Dollhouse.

Dushku divulges some info about what's happening as Echo evolves and what's in store for the rest of the Dollhouse crew including the highly anticipated appearance of Summer Glau (Firefly, Sarah Connor Chronicles) as a programmer from another Dollhouse. Dushku talks about what it's like working with Glau after Dollhouse beat out Sarah Connor Chronicles for the last spot in the line up.

Is there a behind the scenes rivalry between the two Joss sweethearts?
Read the interview and find out!
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2009/10/dollhouse-nobody-puts-eliza-du.php

Those BSGers Really Get Around - Dualla is back in "Children of the Corn"

First we've got Jamie Bamber running around spreading his sexy all over Law & Order: UK, then hitting us again with a guest star spot on the season premiere of Dollhouse alongside Tehmoh Penikett.

Now we're hit with another shot of BSG awesome as Dualla (Kandyse McClure) stars in a SyFy remake of Steven King's "Children of the Corn".


When I first glanced at this TWOP article I completely goofed, seeing the name Dualla and Anders used in the same sentence I came to the very logical conclusion that Michael Trucco would also be starring. Then I actually *read* the article and felt a bit cheated.

Check it out:
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/goingthroughchannels/2009/09/saturday-september-26-2009-chi.php

Joss Whedon interview on TWOP: Dollhouse

TWOP's Zach Oat interviews Joss Whedon about Dollhouse, the past season, the present and the future. Joss discusses the changing nature of the television industry, working with his favourite actors, and how much he loves his fans (of whom he all expects to buy a DVD, then some for their friends...)

Highlights from the interview:
Joss on guest stars "It's a death match between Firefly and Battlestar and which of them is going to get all their people."

Joss on his loyal fans
"I love each and every one of you very much, possibly inappropriately."


Enjoy the rest of the interview here:
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2009/09/welcome-back-to-the-dollhouse.php