Dollhouse

Network: FOX
Status: New Series
Timeslot: Fridays 9 PM EST
Premiere: February 13th
Website: www.fox.com/dollhouse/

Next to J.J. Abrams’ Fringe, Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse is probably the most anticipated new series of the 2008-09 season. It focuses on a group of people known as “actives” or “dolls” who work for an illegal organization. These operatives have had their personalities erased and are imprinted with new personas for each mission while behind the scenes “handlers” control their actions. Between missions, they exist in a childlike state and live in a special facility, but one of the dolls named Echo (Eliza Dushku) starts to become self-aware (no word yet on whether she and Henry Spivey from NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy will be joining the same support group to trade multiple personality stories). Along with the central character Echo, the show will also focus on the other “actives” working for this organization along with their handlers and an FBI agent trying to track the renegade group down.

According to Whedon, he came up with the idea for the show while talking with his former Buffy costar over lunch: "It came from my conversation with Eliza about her, about her life, her career, about what everybody wanted from her, what they wanted her to become and what she was trying to become. That's really what the show is about. It's about plumbing the depths of our identity."

Like Fringe, Dollhouse will run as part of FOX’s experiment called “Remote-Free TV”. This means the series will have fewer commercial breaks (in an attempt to reduce the likelihood that viewers will change the channel) which will add about six minutes to the length of each episode. Whedon also plans to shoot multiple webisodes as companions to the series.

Even though FOX cancelled Whedon’s much beloved Firefly (after botching up the episode run order), he has indicated that he feels no reservations concerning his return to the network seeing as a different crew now steers the ship. Still, the series has already experienced some behind the scenes turmoil, including a re-shooting of the pilot (while eventually scrapping the original), production delays, and some alleged disagreements with the network brass over scripts and the direction of the show (a Sci Fi Wire article delves deeper into the show’s woes).

The series shows a lot of promise and it is on target for a February 13th debut, but I have to admit that I am less than confident about its prospects. Its rather dark premise about operatives working for an illegal organization who change personalities from week to week has the potential to deliver some good stories, especially considering the pedigree of its creator. But it doesn’t sound like the type of show that standard network audiences would flock to, and you always have to worry about FOX’s quick trigger finger with cancellations (though they have shown patience with The Sarah Connor Chronicles this season). Its Friday night timeslot is also somewhat troubling, but maybe it can take up the mantle from the heyday of The X-Files and make that night appointment TV (and Whedon fans have already started a pre-emptive Save Dollhouse campaign).