Thursday, November 01, 2007

Oh...My...GOD
There's a scene in the book, Shelf Monkey, where a bookstore employee -- on Halloween, no less! -- runs through the store after having heard the best news she's heard all year, yelling, "OhmyGODohmygodohmygawdohmygodOHmyGODohMYgawd..." It's November 1st, so imagine me without the Halloween costume, but running through my house, sleeping infant in my arms, whispering the same words with gleeful excitement.

Then imagine me reading the REST of the article and slumping to the couch in dire disappointment.

Yes folks... I have awesome news, awesomer news, and terrible news. Prepare thyself.

Awesome news: Joss Whedon has developed a new sci-fi TV show and IT HAS BEEN PICKED UP!!!!!!

Awesomer news: His star? Eliza Dushku. GAAAAH!

And now, the terrible news...

It's been picked up by FOX.

Sigh... Joss, how could you?? Didn't you learn from the perils of your buddy, Tim Minear? Didn't they hurt you enough when they killed Firefly? Haven't you noticed that sci-fi + Fox = certain cancellation??

For now, let's rally together and vow to get every friend, family member, enemy, and casual passerby to watch this new show. If it can get the numbers of "When Good Chickens Go Bad" then they'll be sure to keep it...

Oh come on, a girl can dream, can't she??

The new show will be called Dollhouse (love the title already!) and here's the basis:

"Dollhouse" will feature Dushku as Echo, part of a group of young people programmed with different personalities and skills for different assignments (the trades are a little fuzzy on what these "assignments" consist of or who's sending the people on said assignments). In between gigs, their minds are wiped clean and they return to live in a lab/dorm known as the Dollhouse. Things go a wee bit pear-shaped when Echo begins having actual memories and she tries to seek information about her past.


Variety quotes Dushku as saying, "He's my favorite genius," Dushku said. "And my favorite friend. He's been like a big brother ... and the only person out here I've ever wholeheartedly trusted, because he's never let me down."

Aw... and the always funny Joss says, "It was a mistake!" Whedon said. "I sat down with her to talk about her options, and acted all sage, saying things backwards like Yoda and laying out what I thought she should do. But in the course of doing it, I accidentally made one up. I told it to her, and she said, 'That's exactly what I want to do.' "

You can read articles on it here and here. In the meantime, who wants to take out the URL, http://www.savedollhouse.com/??

4 comments:

Crissy Calhoun said...

excellent excellent news!

remind me to show you a story i wrote in first yr university. pretty similar concept, except the girls in the 'dollhouse' were named geri, emma, victoria, mel c, and mel b. (it was 1997/8.) i think it was geri who escaped and began questioning her past...

Anonymous said...

'Buffy' veterans playing in 'Dollhouse' at Fox
Reuters News

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon is returning to television with "Dollhouse," a sci-fi project starring "Buffy" alumna Eliza Dushku.

The project has received a seven-episode commitment from Fox. It marks Whedon's first TV project since his short-lived 2002 Fox drama "Firefly."

Dushku plays Echo, a member of a group of men and women who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. In between tasks they are mind-wiped, living like children in Dollhouse, a futuristic dorm/lab. They have no memories of their previous lives, until Echo begins to try to find out who she was.

"Joss has been my favorite friend, genius, ally and confidant in the business since I was 17," said Dushku, now 26, who also will serve as a producer on the project. "It's incredible how much energy and excitement I have for this; I can't wait to be this Echo character."

"Dollhouse" came out of a lunch between Whedon and Dushku in September, shortly after the actress had signed a development deal with Fox and sibling studio 20th Century Fox TV. Whedon was giving her advice about writers and types of shows that might be good for her, but he wasn't interested in venturing into TV himself because he was trying to get a couple of movie projects off the ground at the time.

"In the middle of the conversation, I went, 'Oh, God. I thought of the show, and I had the title,"' Whedon said.

Dushku came on board immediately. Within a week, the show was set up at Fox.

Anonymous said...

It gets better. Tim is involved. On a FOX show.

The idea sounds pretty wacky, but so does one about a guy who can bring dead people to life with a touch, but has to touch them and kill them again in one minute.

But why does it have to be FOX?

Anonymous said...

Anyone heard about The Office spin-off? Not sure what I think about that, yet.