Save Dollhouse from Fox - its doesnt suck
POSTED BY: JaynezTown
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 17:38
VIEWED: 5365
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Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:Quote:That event was called: cancellation of Firefly.
Originally posted by Stoweaway:
If outrage is a genuine, powerful feeling, mustn't there be an event to evoke that feeling first?
cancellation of darkangel
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Cancel me once, shame on you. Cancel me twice, shame on me.
da and firefly forever
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http://television.gearlive.com/tvenvy/article/q107-joss-whedon-rearran
ges-dollhouse-schedule/
Quote:
Although we still have months to go before the premiere of Dollhouse, Joss Whedon followers may already have a reason to be worried. The show’s creator has just announced that he’ll be shooting a whole new pilot for his FOX show.
Dollhouse, the second Whedon creation for that network (he was also the man behind Firefly), stars Buffy vet Eliza Dushku as one of several agents for hire. Their abilities and memories, which are specifically crafted for each client, are immediately erased after an assignment is completed.
After showing Episode #1 to FOX execs - and even friend David Lynch - it was agreed that series could start off on a better note. In fact, some apparently found the segment confusing. To remedy the situation, Whedon is crafting a prequel that will air just before the pilot episode. He believes this will help introduce the characters better.
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INTERVIEW: JOSS WHEDON TALKS "DOLLHOUSE," FEARS AND WORRIES
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20090106_dollhouse
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Quote:
JOSS
You don't pitch "Buffy" with "The Body." You earn that"
Sometimes I worry that Joss needs to be saved from Joss. Okay, so you're here to do a show that's going to cost 2, maybe 3 mil an ep, and occassionally you're going to throw us a lemon?
If I recall a few years back Whedon refered to The Body as the worst mistake he made. It didn't get the show cancelled, the show had already been cancelled, but he said "We were all down about the cancellation, and our mistake was that we let it show" He admitted that the down stolid tone had cost the show 1/2 its viewership.
I think being tied to Sarah Connor is good. Once or twice she's already thrown us a lemon, but I hope that this isn't something to be looked up to.
I think I know what killed Firefly. If you read the boards while it was still on the air, the anime crowd was calling it a rip off of bebop or outlaw star. And that's probably 1/2 the sci fi audience. He needed to show them something unique, like more of the verse, weird worlds, etc.
If you start out on Fox, you have abnormally high standards to meet (not I mean vs. some of the garbage that fox puts on) vs. the what Murdoch is going to expect for his money. He's only doing the cost/budget analysis. Notice that Farscape and others have gotten away for seasons on sci-fi or some other corner before really getting good. On fox, you have to be polished right out the gate.
Either that, or you have to be really cheap to produce.
just some random thoughts
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Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:Quote:
J
If I recall a few years back Whedon refered to The Body as the worst mistake he made. It didn't get the show cancelled, the show had already been cancelled, but he said "We were all down about the cancellation, and our mistake was that we let it show" He admitted that the down stolid tone had cost the show 1/2 its viewership.
Huh? Are you thinking of The Message?
The Body aired looong before Buffy ended....
"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."
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No
Buffy was cancelled in the middle of season five. The Body and ep after it were the first two they made after they heard the news.
Buffy wasn't cancelled after season 7, weak as it was, it was renewed, but sarah refused to do another season as she had a great film career awaiting her :)
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That wasn't really a cancellation. There were disputes over episode costs, and then they moved networks when UPN was willing to foot the bill. But WB never literally pulled the plug in the show.
"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."
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Welcome to a world where creative control doesn't exist:
Joss Whedon---"shooting a new pilot was my idea. Because the network, they were looking for something specific. I thought I delivered it because they were very excited about the script. They weren't as excited about the show so we talked about why and why and why and I figured out what they wanted. We talked about those things and it was obvious they wanted more of an action feel than a noir feel. What I had done was very sort of dark and moody."
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I just don't understand how J.J Abrams can make anything he pleases, but Joss always seems at the networks mercy. Fox might as well create a show and just put Whedon's name on it. After all it's THEIR idea of what Joss should or shouldn't do. Joss has to feel a bit strange about this one. It was Fox that said"more action, more action" about Firfly. He's in that exact position he was in before, with the same message. Fox doesn't want this show. It's already apparent.
I don't want a brilliant show watered down by the network brass!! Sad.
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SM, technically, you may be correct, but there is an interview where Joss says that they were told that they were cancelled. After the show was over, they still thought there was no renewal. Somewhere in the off season, they got the more positive news and started shooting again. I've heard conflicting reports on who negotiated the sale to Fox. Someone said it was Joss, I heard that it was that Fox wanted to buy it after hearing that WB was giving up. At any rate, that was the time that they were told that it was cancelled. At the end of seven, it was never cancelled. He begged Sarah for some time, and then he begged her to do a movie. Failing that, he pitched "Faith the vampire slayer" Which might have flown, but while it was still in debate, Eliza got an offer for Tru Calling. She said that basically, a bird in the hand being worth two in the bush and all... means that everyone else is fired.
Anyway, she's coming back.
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I disagree, I think Fox wants the show. They scuttled firefly, but they've been pushing Dollhouse+Sarah Connor Chronicles, and that's a double meat medley. They also are shelling out some cash. I think that Murdoch wants to be entertained. He pours money into things that disagree with his political perspective and lose him money. Because he likes watching girls throw cops throw walls.
If firefly had thrown a few more people through walls, it would have stayed. It needed a little more serenity and a little less melodrama. Joss wanted to built up to the big crazy, and he did, but by the time he got there, he was already long cancelled. I mean, even by late eps.
Here's a strategy that would have worked better: Start with a disposable action thread, write it as pre-story. If the action was plausible, if could have involved the past, underworld dealings, battle of serenity war story stuff, engaging, and unique, it could have pulled in both Fox and an audience, and then he could have idled down into the story he wanted to tell. He has said in interviews that on Buffy they were very hands off. On firefly they were much more panicky, scrambled the order, screwed everything up. This is understandable because buffy had an established following, no reason to panic. Firefly was untested, they needed to make it fly, and they're Fox, they only know one way to make something fly: Pick it up and throw it, preferably through a wall.
Earlier today I said in reference to someone mentioning a headline that Fox had run, "Always bear in mind that the headline that Fox is always really looking for is 'Man Bites Crocodile'." Fox is what it is, but OTOH, what it is compared with other networks of power, is a lot less wussy. True, there are some out there cable only channels that run some intense stuff. But CSI Miami? Give me a break. And that's supposed to be action.
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