http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/b142144_david_boreanaz_births_bardot.html

No bones about it: David Boreanaz is a two-time papa.

The Fox-y daddy and wife Jaime Bergman welcomed their second child, daughter
Bardot Vita Boreanaz, in Los Angeles Monday, according to People.

Baby Bardot, who rendered her mama bed-rest-bound the past few weeks, tipped
the scales at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and is the second delivery for the
longtime acting couple. She joins 7-year-old big brother Jaden Rayne in the
Boreanaz brood.

Her arrival was slightly more subdued than the announcement of her pending
delivery, which Boreanaz "accidentally" let slip while visiting Regis &
Kelly last spring.

As for the family's next big due date? Bones' new season premieres on Sept.
17.

13 facts about Dollhouse 1x13 "Epitaph One"
Chicagotribune.com

"Dollhouse" fans who are going to San Diego Comic-Con will get to see
"Epitaph One," the "lost" episode of the show - the episode that was
made for DVD release and international distribution but never aired
by Fox.

That super-sized "Dollhouse" session on July 24 at Comic-Con will
also feature an hourlong Q&A with creator Joss Whedon and star Eliza
Dushku. And for those who aren't going to Comic-Con, "Epitaph One"
and the rest of Season 1 comes out on DVD on July 28.

So what do Comic-Con attendees - or DVD buyers - have to look forward
to ? Well, "Epitaph One" did what the best episodes of "Dollhouse"
do : It made me think, it had some great performances and it
contained some "holy [expletive]" moments. To say more would invite a
kneecapping from Fox, so I'll keep my yap shut when it comes to the
"OMG" moments of "Epitaph One."

But here are a few tidbits about "Epitaph One" based on two viewings
of the episode - one viewing to just absorb its many layers, and one
to hear the episode's audio commentary, which is supplied on the DVD
set by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. The duo, who also
collaborated with Joss Whedon and "Epitaph One" guest star Felicia
Day on "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," wrote the "Dollhouse"
episode from a story by Joss Whedon.

Below, there are some non-spoilery Fun Facts about "Epitaph One,"
followed by a few Teaser-y Fun Facts about the episode. I'll post a
more in-depth review of the episode after it screens at Comic-Con.

I've put all of the Fun Facts - even the non-spoilery ones - behind a
click wall so that if you really don't want to know *anything* about
the episode, you have that option.

Not-spoilery part next. Yet still ye are warned. Turn away if you'd
rather remain entirely in the dark about "Epitaph One."

Non-Spoilery Fun Facts about "Epitaph One" (by the way, the photos on
this post do not come from that episode) :

1. The director of photography for the episode, Rodney Charters, as
well as the entire film crew, came from "24."

2. The reason "Dollhouse's" regular film crew was not used was that
they were all off shooting "Omega," the show's on-air Season 1 finale.

3. Parts of "Epitaph One" were filmed at the same industrial facility
that was used for parts of "Omega." Joss Whedon said in one interview
that the episode was shot in six days, which is hard to believe since
it looks great.

4. Adair Tishler, formerly of "Heroes," does great work in the
episode (as does Felicia Day).

5. Jed and Maurissa wrote a song for the episode, which Maurissa
sings. On Twitter recently, she asked if they should release the song
separately before or after "Epitaph One" comes out on DVD. I think it
should come out the day of the Comic-Con screening, or the day after.
It's quite good.

6. The episode was shot for the studio, not for the network, so, from
what Jed and Maurissa said on the DVD commentary, it sounds like
there was more freedom to do what the "Dollhouse" team wanted to do.

Bonus Fun Fact : Not necessarily a Fun Fact about "Epitaph One," but
here's a Fun Fact about the show, from one of the DVD featurettes :
The chair that is used to imprint Actives did not work all that well
and ate part of Joss' soul. Well, that last part is just a surmise
but the look on his face during the discussion of the chair issues
pretty much said, "That accursed chair ate part of my soul."

Teaser-y Fun Facts about "Epitaph One" (this part contains a few plot
factoids. You've been warned) :

7. You'll see a relationship implied between two characters. I never
would have guessed that those two characters would form a (potential,
possible, not entirely confirmed) relationship, yet in retrospect it
makes a lot of sense.

8. You'll see Topher as you've never seen him before.

9. Dushku and co-star Tahmoh Penikett aren't in the episode a whole
lot. The reason Day and other guest stars took center stage is
because everyone else was off filming "Omega." By the way, speaking
of guest cast, IMDb.com lists Alan Tudyk as appearing in "Epitaph
One," but that is incorrect - he's not in this episode. (Digression :
Where was the world hiding Enver Gjokaj before he turned up to rock
"Dollhouse" ? He is, not surprisingly, terrific in this episode.)

10. You do see the entire regular cast, just to be clear. And how
those characters are used in "Epitaph One" is probably the most
interesting thing about the episode.

11. The opening shots features Day and her fellow guest stars in a
post-apocalyptic setting. Jed jokes that viewers may end up thinking
"this is the worst episode of 'Dr. Horrible' yet !"

12. Throughout the course of the series, Olivia Williams, who plays
Dollhouse boss Adelle DeWitt, had begged to carry a gun. She got her
wish in "Epitaph One."

13. The next part contains information about the time frame of
"Epitaph One" - check out now if you don't want to know that.

"Epitaph One," which is set in 2019, left me with a lot of questions,
not necessarily just about Caroline/Echo - but about the future of
the TV series and how that will work.

The episode is worth the wait, but it actually left me with one big
question. I'll write more about that on the day of the Comic-Con
panel, when I'll post more in-depth thoughts on "Epitaph One."

Variety.com article
Tim Minear takes on "Alien Nation" Tv Series Remake with Fox 21

Sci Fi is developing a new take on "Alien Nation," the 1988 feature
that previously spawned a spinoff series on Fox.

"Angel" alum Tim Minear - no stranger to sci-fi tales, having worked
on "The X-Files," "Firefly" and "Strange World" - is penning the
fresh take on the franchise. Fox 21, the alternative production arm
of 20th Century Fox TV, will produce.

"Alien Nation" centers on the partnership between a veteran cop and
his alien detective partner, set against the larger tale of alien
"newcomers" who move to Earth and attempt to assimilate into society.

Fox 21 topper Chris Carlisle said he believed "Alien Nation" could
rep the next franchise revival for Sci Fi, which found huge success
in dusting off "Battlestar Galactica" and reworking it for today's
auds. Carlisle said "Alien Nation" works both as a sci-fi piece and a
procedural drama.

"It's absolute perfect timing for this type of show," Carlisle said.
"They're looking for more grounded sci-fi and close-ended episodes,
and at the heart of 'Alien Nation,' it's a cop movie. It's grounded.
And it has a tremendous amount of dramatic possibilities and humor."

Sci Fi is also looking to broaden its footprint, as it preps to
rebrand itself as "Syfy" next week.

"It's very much in keeping with what we've been looking to do - find
themes that are more than just hard sci-fi, something that feels
contemporary and relevant and invites a broad audience in," said Sci
Fi original programming exec VP Mark Stern.

The new "Alien Nation" would include a mythology that evolves over
time and will also touch on some of the issues of the day, such as
the immigrant experience and how society integrates an incoming culture.

Minear said he's looking forward to incorporating a mix of all the
different kinds of series he's written in the past.

"It's genre mixed with procedural mixed with funny and mixed with
big, giant scary," Minear said. "I love serialized stuff, but this is
also a cop franchise. That 'Starsky and Hutch'/'Lethal Weapon' buddy
cop comedy is absent from TV right now."

Minear is currently busy outlining the "Alien Nation" script and
mapping out the project's mythology. The new "Alien Nation" will
likely take place in the Pacific Northwest, and will take place about
20 years after the first ship of aliens - who have been banished as
slaves - crash lands into Earth.

By the time the show begins, some time in the 2020s, the alien
population has multiplied from a few thousand to 3.5 million. And
much of the "newcomers" live their own segregated existence, in what
Minear compares to the North African ghettos in France.

"You can take (the original 'Alien Nation') a step forward and really
do a show that encompasses the clash of civilizations, and the idea
of a ghettoized minority," he said. "You can touch on racism,
terrorism, assimilation, immigration. And there's room for satire."

The original film, which took place in 1991, was helmed by Graham
Baker and written by Rockne S. O'Bannon (with an uncredited revise by
James Cameron). Mandy Patinkin and James Caan starred as alien cop
Sam Francisco and his reluctant human partner, respectively ; Terence
Stamp also starred.

In 1989, 20th Century Fox TV and Kenneth Johnson Prods. adapted the
movie for Fox, with Eric Pierpoint and Gary Graham in the lead roles.
The show lasted just a single season but spawned a series of books.

The TV show was revived in 1994 as a series of telepics for Fox,
starting with "Alien Nation : Dark Horizon." Five TV movies were
ultimately aired ; the last, "Alien Nation : The Udara Legacy," ran
in 1997.

Stern said Sci Fi had been looking at "Alien Nation" as a potential
franchise for several years and had talked to several writers about
ways to update the concept for modern auds.

"The challenge is how do you do it in a way that will reinvent it
without it feeling like a derivative rehash," he said. "We sat down
with Tim, who is someone we'd been looking to work with for quite a
while, and his approach felt like it wouldn't be a traditional
adaptation. We got excited."

Minear said he'd been anxious to develop for cable - and in
particular, Sci Fi. The success of "Battlestar" fueled his interest
in reviving "Alien Nation," he said.

"Twenty years (after 'Alien Nation'), TV as a whole has evolved, and
you can explore issues and go deeper with subject matter than you
ever could before," Minear said. "On cable, you can play with
ambiguity. This is a place I want to be."

Io9 article: Sunnydale is one of the worst fake cities on Earth

Fantasy versions of urban life are on the rise, from a backwater,
vamp-infested Louisiana town to Robert Rodiguez's new privately-owned
Black Falls. It's time to check out our gallery of the worst fake
cities on the planet.

Sunnydale

Location : California near Santa Barbara

Where does it appear ? Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe

Locals : A slowly declining population of families and commuters,
with a thriving underground community of demons and vampires.

Dangers : It's situated directly over the Hellmouth, so there's that.
Think of this city as a magnet for everything in the world that wants
to do harm to humankind. Demons, vampires, plagues, ghosts, trolls,
witches...the list goes on. If you live in this city and wanted a
small family of two kids, I'd have three just to be safe.

Click on the link :

http://io9.com/5305971/the-worst-fake-cities-on-earth

Guardian.co.uk article
True Blood is biting into the Buffy effect

With its sanguine exploration of teen and twentysomething sexuality,
the urban fantasy genre is going from strength to strength - a
certain cheerleader would be proud.

It's six years since the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
was first transmitted. That, you might have thought, was that. After
seven seasons, we'd surely had enough of bloodsuckers.

Except it hasn't turned out that way. It's not just that, in 2007,
Dark Horse Comics unleashed "season eight" of Buffy, a direct
continuation from the series, partly written by Buffy's creator, Joss
Whedon. Now vamps, vamp companions and eldritch folk in general are
suddenly everywhere.

In July, F/X will screen True Blood, an HBO series produced by Alan
Ball. Instead of residing Six Feet Under, this time a sizeable
percentage of its characters are the walking undead, vampires who
have revealed themselves to humans and apparently want to join our
wider community. Anna Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic
waitress attracted to bloodsucker Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) in
part because she can't hear his thoughts.

It's appropriate the show is based on a series of novels, the
Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. Even as Buffy ended,
writers and publishers had already spotted an opportunity.

Welcome to the world of urban fantasy. This description covers a slew
of supernatural-themed books - many of which, it's worth emphasising,
pre-dated Buffy's demise. Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series
focuses on a reanimator who wakes the dead. Jim Butcher's Harry
Dresden novels feature a wizard-cum-PI. Then there's Kim Harrison's
Rachel Morgan series, Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels, Stephenie
Meyer's Twilight books . the list goes on.

The new wave of eldritch has subsequently migrated to TV and the
movies. As well as True Blood, we've recently had Toby Whithouse's
Being Human in which a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a house
in Bristol. In Sweden, John Ajvide Lindqvist adapted his own novel,
Let the Right One in, to create an acclaimed cult vampire horror.
Meyer's Twilight books have made it to the big screen.

So what's going on ? Why has this collective obsession gone so far ?
Is it really just about missing the presence of a certain Sunnydale
resident ?

For one possible answer to these questions, consider a supernatural-
themed show that didn't make it past a single series. ITV's Demons
starred the admirable Philip Glenister, and there lay its biggest
problem. Supposedly, Glenister's Rupert Galvin was an advisor to
young Luke Rutherford. But Glenister dominated the series. It was if
someone had reimagined Buffy with Anthony Head's Giles at its core.

Wrong. Urban fantasy, at least when it makes the leap from the genre
ghetto to the mainstream, finds its audience because it places late
teenage and twentysomething angst at its epicentre. It's no
coincidence that vampires are so often its staple, rather than
werewolves or witches, because the dangerous sexuality of
bloodsuckers fits so snugly with the bedroom confusions of young
adulthood.

It's for this reason that many are suspicious of Stephenie Meyer.
With 42m books already sold worldwide, you can't argue with the scale
of Meyer's success, but the conservative, just-say-no dynamic between
Bella and her bloodsucking squeeze, Edward, deliberately desexualises
urban fantasy.

There's no such squeamishness in True Blood. Just the opposite
judging by the amount of flesh on show in the first episode. That
doesn't mean the series is all about titillation. Rather, like Buffy,
it's about a strong central character who's often underestimated :
Buffy because she's a bouncy cheerleader type, Sookie because she's a
kooky waitress.

There's another unavoidable comparison between Sookie and Buffy :
both fancy a fella with fangs. For Sookie and Compton, think Buffy
and Angel. Without wishing to suggest that True Blood doesn't stand
up in its own right - the season two opener was the highest-rated
show on HBO since the finale of The Sopranos - or that either
character can't get by without a male presence around, some stories
are just too good to drive a stake through.

Guardian.co.uk
Dollhouse s.2 rights bought by Sci Fi UK

NBC Universal-owned UK channel Sci Fi has secured the rights to sword
and sorcery series Legend of the Seeker, executive produced by Spider-
Man director Sam Raimi, and the second series of Joss Whedon's
Dollhouse.

Sci Fi has acquired the first-run UK pay-TV rights to the first two
series of Legend of the Seeker, the fantasy epic produced by the team
behind TV hits Hercules and Xena Warrior Princess.

The show, based on fantasy author Terry Goodkind's best-selling
series of books The Sword of Truth, has been acquired from Disney-ABC-
ESPN Television. Each series consists of 22 hour-long episodes.

Sci Fi has also acquired the first run pay-TV rights to the second
season of Dollhouse, created by Whedon, which stars former Buffy and
Angel actress Eliza Dushku as one of a group of "beautiful and
seductive operatives" known as the Dolls.

Earlier this year Sci Fi acquired the rights to the first season. In
the US the first series ran to 12 episodes with the 13th, a "post-
apocalyptic instalment", reserved for release in the US on DVD-only
later this month.

However, Sci Fi in the UK has reached a deal to air as the US DVD-
only season finale on 11 August.

Dollhouse s.1 DVD - Bashinginminds.com Review

Good news ! I can tell you about most of the upcoming Dollhouse DVD
set !

Bad news : reviewers only get the first 3 discs with the aired
episodes, but not the final disc with the extra goodies. So I can't
tell you about the unaired episode 13 "Epitaph One," or the original
unaired pilot, or the features, or the deleted scenes. FOX wants to
keep those under wraps until the release date and I can understand
that even as I secretly hoped their shipping department would
mistakenly send me the wrong disc. But I did get to listen to the
commentaries from creator Joss Whedon and star Eliza Dushku, and
those were well worth it.

The show

The Dollhouse is an illegal underground company spoken of in
whispers, where you can hire an attractive young person for literally
any purpose you can imagine. These people, known as "actives," have
had their memories completely removed so that they can have new
memories and new personalities imprinted in them to order. Actives
can temporarily become perfect lovers, thieves, assassins,
companions, detectives, whatever the very well-heeled clients want,
and afterward their new identities are stripped away again so they're
ready for the next engagement. Only, one of them is starting to
remember.

Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku as Caroline/Echo ; Harry Lennix as Boyd
Langton, Echo's handler ; Fran Kranz as Topher Brink, the amoral
genius behind the Dollhouse tech ; Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt,
the boss of the place ; Reed Diamond as her creepy chief of security
Laurence Dominic ; Enver Gjokaj as Victor ; Dichen Lachman as
Sierra ; and Tahmoh Penikett as FBI agent Paul Ballard. Regular guest
stars included Amy Acker as staff physician Dr. Claire Saunders and
Miracle Laurie as Mellie. The series had an uneven start, with the
first episodes being mostly standalones that simply showcased what
actives from the Dollhouse are hired to do with only a passing nod to
any ongoing story arcs or show mythology.

The commentaries

Now, there are three types of DVD commentaries. There's the one where
the people talking get caught up in the show and forgot to comment on
anything, but I've rarely seen that on a Whedonverse DVD. Talkative
bunch, they are. Then there's the type where the commentators are
just having a blast, reminiscing and cracking each other up and
offering funny little behind the scenes moments. That's what Joss and
Eliza do in their commentary on the aired pilot episode, "Ghost."

dh_menu"Ghost" sets the stage for the series, with an active named
Echo (Dushku) being sent out on various assignments while an FBI
agent searches for the woman she used to be. Joss is in full goofball
form, Eliza is keeping right up with him, and they joke about sexing
it up for the network, Eliza's shirt-dress, Amy Acker's "mood scars,"
the problems of writing hostage negotiation scenes without the
slightest idea how they go, why things seem to go wrong in the
Dollhouse every week, and much, much more. I'm wildly tempted to just
transcribe the whole thing but I'll control myself and stick with my
favorite line from Joss about the broad strokes of the plot :
"Subtlety is for little men."

You don't get a lot of introspection about the complex themes of the
show but it's great fun to hear them point out some of the same
incongruities that the fans did. There's also a moment in the end
when they say something about the people in the closing "Alpha" scene
that I don't recall as ever being mentioned in the show, so watch for
that and let me know if I'm right.

Then there's the third type of commentary, where the creator of the
show tells us exactly what he was thinking, what effect he was going
for, what moral questions he was asking, and how the show was
crafted. That's what Joss gives us in "Man on the Street."

"Man on the Street" is the 6th episode and teh one where the show
really took off. Joss wrote and shot it like a second pilot and it
feels that way, giving us a very different show than we'd previously
seen. From this point on every episode moved the plot forward with
secrets and hidden agendas and wheels within wheels, and a headfirst
dive into the moral complexities of using human beings.

dh_josselizaThe show itself is packed until you can't believe they
fit it all into an hour minus commercials. Every moment contains a
revelation or development, every action has several layers of
meaning, and everyone involved has a story to tell. And so does Joss.
I thought this was similar to his non-stop, detailed commentary on
Firefly's "Objects in Space" in the way he explains how carefully
they presented the story to evoke specific expectations in the fans
which would be dashed to the ground moments later, such as the love
scene between Ballard and Melli :

"They are clearly into each other," he said. "And he wants her to
help him, and she believes him. This is a huge thing. What it is, of
course, is me saying 'I'm going to kill her now.'"

And he talked about the moral aspect, the most troubling and
interesting aspects of this show. Fans have been discussing the
competing issues of the Dollhouse and its employees, clients, and
enemies, and while he doesn't provide any answers, he does address
the questions head on. Is it right to sell people if they've
previously agreed to be sold ? Once a person has agreed to let their
body be used, does it make a difference who's using it ? If you don't
remember what happened to you, did it really happen ? What makes a
person want to rent another human being ? What person would consent
to be rented, and why ? And when you take away a person's memories,
is there anything left ?

"Man on the Street" was the first episode to tackle these questions
head on. Interstitial clips of a news feature on the "urban legend"
of the Dollhouse tell us what the public thinks of the idea, and we
see a schlubby Internet mogul (played beautifully by Patton Oswalt)
with a very good reason to hire an active. The episode mixes
political correctness and layers of moral entanglement and the fact
that they can do that is, according to Joss, "what scares me about
the show and is absolutely what makes it worth making."

The extras

dh_promoAs I said I haven't seen the extras so I can't comment on
them. And I don't know if the screener copies I have are identical to
what you'll be buying, so the fact that I couldn't find any easter
eggs may not mean that you won't (I'm hoping for bloopers, me).

I can tell you that the final episode, "Omega," which aired without a
promoted scene that was cut for time, is presented here just as it
aired. Hopefully the deleted scenes feature will include the missing
Sierra/November bounty hunter segment.

The stats

The regular Dollhouse DVD is presented in widescreen format with
English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital plus English, French, Spanish
and Portuguese subtitles. The Blu-ray version is in 16×9 aspect ratio
with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio.You get all 12
episodes, with the two commentaries I described above. Then you get
the never-before-seen episode "Epitaph One" with commentary by
writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, the original unaired
pilot "Echo," deleted scenes, and the featurettes "Making Dollhouse,"
"Coming Back Home," "Finding Echo," "Designing the Perfect
Dollhouse," and "A Private Engagement."

Dollhouse Season One goes on sale July 28. You can preorder it from
Amazon now ($31.99 for the regular one, $48.99 for Blu-Ray), or if
you're going to the San Diego Comic-Con you can get a limited edition
copy with a note from Joss.

And there may be other ways to get one, he said foreshadowingly.

Eliza Dushku: Bostonherald.com Interview

Despite new film, TV show renewal, the Hub is No. 1 in Dushku's heart
Boston's favorite Doll

Eliza Dushku wastes no time when she gets a chance to return to Boston.

On a recent weeklong trip, she filmed her part in the movie
"Valediction," went to a Red Sox [team stats] game, spent time with
friends and made the rounds to see all her relatives. On the day of
this interview, she was in the car driving to visit her uncle before
heading back to Los Angeles.

"I love this city," she said. "I will be back and living in Boston at
some point."

Dushku described "Valediction," which also stars Ben Barnes, Brenda
Fricker and Sarah Roemer, as a contemporary psychological thriller.

"First and foremost, it is just a beautiful script," she said. "It
centers around this young couple in a horrible car crash with their 6-
year-old daughter. I sort of play the other woman." The film is due
in theaters next year.

On July 22, Dushku returns to the set of "Dollhouse" to begin
shooting the second season of the Fox drama. Dushku is delighted the
show, from executive producer Joss Whedon, was renewed. She was
returning from a trip to Uganda when she got the word.

"When I landed in Boston, I turned on my phone. The first message
that popped up was from Joss and it said, 'We're back, kid.' It was
really kind of sweet to touch down and get the news."

"Dollhouse" struggled in its Friday night time slot but did well in
DVR and online viewing.

"It's alive because of the fans and because people found the show.
This show is back because it's a new era. It's not just a Nielsen
world any more. We really feel like the show was starting to find
itself. If we hadn't gone back, it would have been such a mean little
tease. We found our rhythm, and we know what worked, we know what
didn't work and now we get to really get dirty."

Her company, Boston Diva Productions, is about to begin production on
"Mapplethorpe," a movie about the famous photographer that will star
her brother, actor Nate Dushku. Director Ondi Timoner ("We Live in
Public") is attached to the project. Dollhouse trailer (Story
continues below)

"We have the support of the Mapplethorpe estate first and foremost,
which is just unbelievably valuable, and we really want to do this
right," Dushku said. "This has been in our life for eight years now.
We're about four weeks away from starting to bring in cast members.
We're definitely on the fast track."

Dushku spent some of her time off from "Dollhouse" traveling to
Uganda on a socioeconomic tour with the group Global Exchange. While
there, she saw firsthand the plight of former child soldiers.

"It's just remarkable, especially after living in Hollywood land,"
she said.

She and boyfriend Rick Fox are putting together a video of their time
there that they hope to post soon on MySpace [website].

"We want to give people a better understanding of what we were doing
there," she said. "I don't think people realize how much they can
contribute."

im enthralled at the new real activity in the group :D

    what is everyone upto ? lol

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/03/angels-andy-hallett-dies-at-age-\
33.html

http://tiny.cc/rC6i3

Dollhouse Is About to Get Damn Good

Today 1:12 PM PDT by Kristin Dos Santos
Eliza Dushku, Tahmoh Penikett, Dollhouse, Joss Whedon Isabella
Vosmikova/FOX; Fox

If you were disappointed by Dollhouse's early episodes and walked
away, please do consider a return visit this Friday, when Fox airs
episode six, "Man on the Street," which is a vivid and thrilling
turning point for the series.

In the way episode seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer unveiled Angel's
series-altering secret, episode six of Dollhouse completely
reenergizes the series and reveals some huge character secrets (The
remote activation of Actives is key). And, oh yeah, there is also a
brutal, totally badass and blatantly passionate fight between Paul
Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) and Echo (Eliza Dushku) that marks the
beginning of their adversarial and exciting relationship.

Bottom line: "Man on the Street" is crazy awesome craziness. Look for
the kind of dramatic and wordy excellence that makes us all love Joss
Whedon.

Speaking of Joss, we just caught up with him by tellyphone, and he
spilled some very juicy secrets about what's to come from the
denizens of the Dollhouse. Read on for news about the sex, violence
and comedy to come...
Dollhouse Kurt Iswarienko/FOX

Love Among the Actives: Despite Paul and Echo's radioactive chemistry
at their first meeting, the true romance of the show is about to
become Victor and Sierra, despite the fact that both characters are
largely trapped in childlike emotional comas. Without spoiling too
much, it turns out to be true for Actives as much as for garden-
variety humans that love conquers all. As Joss notes, "For certain
people, there could be some romance, but it's never simple." P.S. Mad
props to Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman for bringing so much charm
and depth to their roles-they're rapidly becoming new Jossverse faves.

Man on Fire: Don't except to find out in season one why Paul
(gorgeous, gorgeous Paul) is so obsessed with the Dollhouse in
general and Caroline in particular. Instead, says Joss, "We don't go
back into his story, but that's because we are about to send him
forward. There's a thorn in his side, and we feel that we can push it
further, twist it and possibly hit a vital organ. We want to
challenge him [in this obsession] and make it as hard for him as
possible."

Holler: What happens Friday with Paul's neighbor is stunning. Shoulda
seen it coming, and heck, slightly suspected, but the spoiler-free
surprise was wonderful. Suffice it to say, she's at the center of the
most harrowing scene of Friday's episode.

Who Watches the Watcher? Something cool is coming with Harry Lennix's
character, Boyd. Says Joss, "Boyd definitely cares about Echo more
than his job requires. Their relationship is going to have to shift."
Hmmm...in the meantime, on Friday, when a crime goes down inside the
Dollhouse, it's superhandy to have a readily available badass mofo
with finely honed cop instincts.

Cut From the Sane Cloth: Look for a multitude of reveals about the
mysterious and beautiful Claire Saunders in the weeks to come. Says
Joss, "I love that character, not just because it's Amy Acker, but
because she wears misery and torture on her face literally, and we
definitely learn how Claire came to this fabulous career. In the last
few eps we get to turn the Acker up pretty high." Yay!

Now, where do you stand on the Dollhouse right now? Hot, cold or
lukewarm-like? Which characters have caught your fancy the most? Post
in the comments!

-Reporting by Jennifer Godwin

Ew.com
SMG in "The Wonderful Maladys": Casting news

Sarah Michelle Gellar's siblings cast for HBO pilot: We're liking the
family

Just when we started wondering what was up with Sarah Michelle
Gellar's HBO pilot, The Wonderful Maladys, announced last September,
word comes of more casting: Nate Corddry (Studio 60 on the Sunset
Strip, United States of Tara) and Molly Parker (Deadwood, Swingtown)
will play her siblings. The show, written for Gellar by screenwriter
Charles Randolph (The Interpreter, The Life of David Gale), revolves
around three dysfunctional adult siblings who lost their parents at
an early age. Gellar is the middle child, previously described by
Randolph as having "a kind of zealous immaturity - like a drug addict
with a to-do list"; Corddry is the baby, now a bookish grad student;
Parker is the eldest Malady, now a therapist.

I'm loving this family for multiple reasons: I'm a Gellar fan, who
thinks she knows a good TV show when she sees it (and belongs on it).
Corddry makes me believe that the half-hour show will be a dark
comedy. And Parker has me betting that it will actually get a series
order. (Also, don't they all sorta have the same nose and cheekbones?)

variety.com
Eliza Dushku secures the rights for Robert Mapplethorpe Biopic

Eliza Dushku, star of Fox's frosh series "Dollhouse," is bringing a
biopic on iconic photographer Robert Mapplethorpe to the bigscreen.

Dushku has secured the exclusive rights and the full cooperation from
Mapplethorpe's estate and has enlisted two-time Sundance grand jury
prize winner and indie darling Ondi Timoner ("DIG!") to helm the
film, which is titled "The Perfect Moment."

Timoner's Interloper Films and Dushku's Boston Diva Prods. are
producing the pic, which will chronicle Mapplethorpe's career from
his rise to fame in the 1970s for his portraits of socialites and
rock stars until his death in 1989 at age 42 from complications
arising from AIDS.

Documentarian Timoner, who will make her feature directorial debut on
the project, called "The Perfect Moment" a dream film to make.

"He is an artist who could not help but express his vision of the
world, despite the tempest it spawned," Timoner said. "A pariah to
some, a hero to others, Mapplethorpe's talent combined with his
irreverence toward social norms made him a cultural lightning rod."

Dushku, a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum who also co-produces
"Dollhouse," has starred in a number of indie films including "Bottle
Shock" and "Nobel Son" and become a regular on the fest circuit.

"The Mapplethorpe Foundation was impressed by Ondi Timoner's vision
for the project and her strengths as an artist, and we're very
pleased she has chosen to tell Robert Mapplethorpe's story," said
Michael Ward Stout, president of the foundation, which holds all
rights to the late photographer's work.

Timoner's credits include this year's Sundance grand jury prize
winner, "We Live in Public," which chronicles the Internet's impact
on human interaction as told through the eyes and artwork of Web
pioneer Josh Harris.

Jamesmarsterslive.com
Join James Marsters for a Marstersclass in London!

Sign up for a day with James including an exclusive acting
"Marstersclass" on Saturday, May 2, at The Drill Hall in London.

James will be taking to the stage to offer people a rare opportunity
to see how he tackles acting roles and gets under the skin of a
character as part of a day and evening that also includes a concert,
Q&A sessions, personalised autographs, photos and much more.

The masterclass will see him join forces with Torchwood co-star
Gareth David Lloyd to offer a behind-the-scenes peek into the world
of acting followed by a question and answer session about stage, TV
and film work. Find out what happened on the set of new movie
Dragonball Evolution or what really went on in the Torchwood Hub. How
did James become Spike? How did Piccolo evolve?

Click on the link :

http://www.jamesmarsterslive.com/may09_saturday.shtml

shocktillyoudrop.com
Charisma Carpenter stars in the movie "Vivid"

Vivid stars the beautiful Charisma Carpenter (Buffy and Angel) and
Paul Sculfor (Christian Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier model ) and also
features Sean Chapman (Frank from Hellraiser), Justin Hawkins (former
frontman of The Darkness), Ricci Harnett (Rise of the Footsoldier, 28
Days Later ) and, I hear, there's even a bit part for Axelle Caroyln
Marshall (Doomsday).

The film is directed by one of the smartest dressed and politest
directors, Reg Traviss, who is an up and coming independent British
filmmaker who shot a huge war movie called Joy Division. On
cinematography duties is Bryan Loftus who is the man behind the
camera of In The Company of Wolves. Special effects is by one of the
UK's best, Tristan Versluis (Sweeney Todd, Book of Blood), James
Boyle (Quantum of Solace) is on sound design and, of course, you've
got me doing the production design!

Throw into the mix Red Sparrow/Kingsway Films - the production
company linked to Zombies vs. Cockneys and John Landis' The Bone
Orchard - and the rest of the cast and crew thriving with ambition,
I'd say we got a bloody good show going on here!

Vivid is a slight adaptation of a short film made in the late '70s
called The Dreamhouse. Reg has added a lot more beef to the
screenplay and added some dark scenes and character undertones. We
are led into the mind of Susan, an American crime writer who has
recently married David and moved to a quiet part of the British
country to finish her latest novel. She finds herself questioning her
own sanity, whilst others around her are almost playing her as a
game. There is a definite Straw Dogs element to this movie mixed with
The Amityville Horror and classic, soft '70s Hammer tones. This is
more in line with sophisticated thriller/horror movies and is very
British. I will be following up soon with a full set report including
interviews with director Reg Traviss, Sean Chapman and, of course,
Charisma Carpenter.

http://watchingdollhouse.com/1.01-ghost-ratings/
1.01 "Ghost" Ratings
By Roco . February 15, 2009

Dollhouse averaged 4.72 million viewers and a 2.0/6 rating share among the
18-49 year old demo. TVByTheNumbers has more:

At 9p, the series premiere of DOLLHOUSE increased to a 2.0/6 among Adults
18-49, ranking No. 2 in its time period among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34
and No. 1 among Male demos. DOLLHOUSE built upon its 8p lead-in by +54%
among Adults 18-49 (2.0/6 vs. 1.3/5), by +55% among Adults 18-34 (1.7/6 vs.
1.1/4) and by +27% among Total Viewers (4.7 vs. 3.7 Mil.) while delivering
FOX's highest rated Friday series premiere in over four years (since
1/14/05, Jonny Zero) among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34.

The series debut of DOLLHOUSE also out-delivered FOX's prior season average
in the Friday 9p hour by +25% among Adults 18-49 (2.0/6 vs. 1.6/5) and by
+21% among Adults 18-34 (1.7/6 vs. 1.4/5). Finally, DOLLHOUSE was the
highest rated Friday FOX entertainment telecast of the broadcast season
among Adults 18-49.

from Ign.com
Dollhouse's 2009 New York Comic Con Panel - Ign.com Report

The IGN Theater was completely packed today at New York Comic Con,
with thousands of fans in attendance to see Joss Whedon, as he
introduced his new series Dollhouse, premiering this Friday on FOX.
Joined by one of his stars, Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica),
Whedon showed the first act of the premiere, establishing a series
Whedon described as one where "Certain people [called Actives] have
had their personalities removed so they can be implanted with
personalities of another person," by clients willing to pay a fortune
for someone to be everything they want, whatever that entails.

Spoilers for the first few minutes of Dollhouse follow in this
paragraph: The opening of the show introduce us to Eliza Dushku's
Echo in what is presumably her true identity, a woman named Caroline.
We see her meeting with Olivia Williams' character Adelle DeWitt,
discussing her entering the Dollhouse program - which DeWitt refers
to as a volunteer decision, while Caroline/Echo says she has no
choice. We then cut to sometime later, with Echo in a much different
persona - a sexy, wild child on a motorcycle, spending an exciting
weekend with a man she clearly cares deeply for. only for her time
with him to be up, and for her to be escorted away. We see her mind
wiped, as she reverts to the childlike state she and the other
Actives retain while inside the Dollhouse. We see her handler Boyd
Langdon (Harry Lennix) display some clear doubts about what is going
on, while programmer Topher Brink (Fran Kanz) is the opposite -
excited by what they do. We then are introduced to a clearly wealthy
man being driven in a car, talking to his young daughter, when his
car is stopped - only for his daughter to meanwhile be grabbed at
home by masked men, who take her away.

Penikett's character was not seen in the footage shown, causing
Penikett to quip, "That clip would have obviously been a lot better
if I was there." Penikett said his character, Paul Ballard, was "an
FBI agent given the case of the Dollhouse; trying to expose the urban
myth of the Dollhouse. Nobody has any confidence he'll get to the
bottom of it, because nobody really believes it exists." Penikett
noted, "Paul on the other hand absolutely believes it and he becomes
quite obsessed and driven to expose it."

Whedon said that when it comes to Paul's investigation and how it's
portrayed on the show, "He can get close to it; even get close to
her, but she won't remember. So they can meet for the first time all
year! But he does make progress." However, he noted that the people
behind the Dollhouse "are as anxious to not be discovered as [Paul]
is to discover it."

Whedon described Dollhouse as "far and away the most disturbing thing
I can remember doing, at least since Season 6 of Buffy, and probably
more than that." He then noted that there were potentially disturbing
elements in the show, regarding Echo seeming somewhat enslaved, and
the fact that she sleeps with clients, only to not remember it. He
said that for those offended, "they're not wrong" and "I went for
something that is very dark." Or as he joked, "I'm such a bitter, sad
man, and this is my bitter, sad show. Welcome to it!" He noted that
his intention was "The audience comes away as unclean as the people
in the show - everyone is compromised."

Whedon noted "The subject matter is daunting and potentially creepy.
We want to make sure we're not just objectifying people - it's a very
fine line."

Asked about those working for the Dollhouse, Whedon said they weren't
all necessarily evil, noting, "They are, sadly for them, people -
people with power, who do one thing, which is abuse it." As for the
clients, "A lot of them are [evil], but not all of them. Some of them
are just lonely and strange." He remarked that some people hiring an
Active, "Are misguided, but not terrible."

Looking ahead through the thirteen-episode season, Whedon described
episode 6 as a "key episode" and "involves Paul Ballard getting a
little bit closer and meeting a client and not finding what he
expects." As for the end of the season, Whedon said, "We didn't hold
back - We didn't wrap everything up, but [the finale] makes
statements on how corrupt people can be."

Dollhouse has gotten a lot of attention for what has been perceived
as a troubled history, with the original pilot discarded and other re-
tooling along the way. Whedon admitted that during this process,
"There was a period where I said, 'I don't know what this show is
anymore.'" He added, "It was the same with Angel. We didn't find it
for five years!"

While he described this as "a dark and scary Joss period," he said
that eventually, "We not only found the show that we were excited
about making and the network was excited about airing, but the show
actually ends almost exactly the way we had [originally] intended to
end this season." While he admitted that in the early episodes, "I
think you'll see some growing pains," he also remarked, "I've been
pumped about what we've been putting out the last few months."

Whedon had an infamously bad experience with FOX on Firefly, but said
that when it came to working with a very different regime at FOX on
Dollhouse, "They've been completely honest and totally supportive.
except for the things they don't like!" He said that he felt a very
collaborative vibe with FOX this time, and as for the show being put
on Friday nights - which is feared by some fans as a death sentence -
he said he completely understood the decision, noting that he and FOX
both felt the show would be allowed to grow on Friday nights and "Our
expectations are that people will come to this the way they come to
all my shows, which is usually kind of gradually."

When it came to Dushku getting to play a different character each
week, as Echo is reprogrammed, Whedon remarked, "It's an actresses
dream, but also a nightmare - every episode is a pilot [for her]! She
has to rethink how she moves; how she thinks. It's an exciting
opportunity for her and for us."

Returning to the darker themes of the show, Whedon noted that he is a
vocal feminist, but that because of the storyline of the show, "I
expect there to be some kind of backlash" because, depending on how
it is handled, the show could end up either being "A fight for her
identity or just a misogynist fantasy." Remarked Whedon, "I'm scared
witless by how people will react, but I find I do my best work in
those situations."

Publishersweekly.com
The Joss Whedon Encounter by Barbara Vey

Since for all intents and purposes Sunday was Joss Whedon Day for me,
I'll just start with meeting one of the most brilliant, seriously
talented, funny men I know. As I was walking to the press room, I saw
a man saunter up to the balcony railing and look down on the crowd
gathered for one of the events. Once they noticed him, the masses
erupted in cheers and whistles for the man they came to worship, Joss
Whedon. After he waved, I asked him if I walked over to the railing
and waved, would they cheer for me. He said "Absolutely, they'd cheer
for anyone who waved." Somehow I doubt it, but Joss talked to me, so
I was ready to cheer.

The interview had about 15 of us crowded into a small room, in a semi
circle around the man of the hour as he sat next to actor Tahmoh
Penikett (Helo of Battlestar Galactica), one of the stars of Joss's
latest tv offering, The Dollhouse. Tahmoh was just there to look
pretty because this was all "The Joss Whedon Show." According to
Wikipedia, the Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they
can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory,
muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments.
They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and
occasional good deeds. Then one of the "Dolls" becomes self-aware.
Apparently there's some concern about the angle of prostitution, but
Joss is quick to point out that the show looks to talk openly about
"What parts of our identity are positive and decent and what parts
aren't? What is truly a sin?"

Click on the link for more :

http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/640040064.html

Variety.com
Dollhouse, 1x01 "Ghost" - Variety.com Review

Filmed in Los Angeles by Mutant Enemy in association with 20th
Century Fox Television. Executive producers, Joss Whedon; co-
executive producers, Liz Craft, Sarah Fain, David Solomon; producers,
Kelly A. Manners, Eliza Dushku; writer-director, Whedon;

Echo - Eliza Dushku
Boyd Langton - Harry Lennix
Adelle DeWitt - Olivia Williams
Topher Brink - Fran Kranz
Paul Ballard - Tahmoh Penikett
Sierra - Dichen Lachman
Lubov - Enver Gjokaj
Dr. Claire Saunders - Amy Acker
Laurence Dominic - Reed Diamond

Joss Whedon's cult following is no secret, but he seems assured of
attracting the faithful and little else with "Dollhouse" - a series
that exhibits a kitchen-sink mentality, throwing in a half-dozen
assorted plot threads that intertwine to create confusion. The writer-
producer-director is clearly gambling on viewers to grant him time to
develop this sci-fi concept, but the premiere's unflattering
resemblance to NBC's already-axed "My Own Worst Enemy" - and its
scheduling on Friday with the meritorious but low-rated "Terminator"
- doesn't bode well for enduring long enough to complete the show's
mission, whatever that might be.

Trying to explain the first hour required a bit of cribbing off Fox's
website, but here goes: Eliza Dushku plays Echo, a young woman who
either volunteers or is drafted into an illicit organization that
provides exclusive services to the mega-rich, using people that can
be programmed for any occasion. Between tasks, these near-perfect
specimens stagger around dreamily in something called the
"dollhouse," where - with their memories wiped - they speak in
monosyllabic sentences, kind of like Tarzan. Dushku first appears in
a micromini dress, showcasing her most formidable assets. This
triggers an obvious thought: If you had the equivalent of a human
blow-up doll resembling Dushku, one suspects her assignments would
primarily be more of the indoor variety than action-adventure.

Ah, but where's the fun in that, unless you're producing the show for
Cinemax? So the premiere involves Echo serving as a bespectacled
hostage negotiator, before complications arise as her programming
starts going awry - a development also found in "Worst Enemy," the
"Bourne" movies and "Total Recall"to name just a few -which all hinge
on this notion that imprinting memories on the brain can have
unintended consequences. Is poor Echo, too, remembering things that
she shouldn't?

Meanwhile - and there are a lot of meanwhiles in the debut
installment - a tough, rule-bending fed ("Battlestar Galactica's"
Tahmoh Penikett) is investigating the dollhouse, an operation so
shadowy that Echo's taciturn handler (Harry Lennix) mutters to a co-
worker, "We'd spend our lives in jail if anyone ever found this place."

Viewing a second hour, which dribbles out a bit more of the
backstory, helps matters only marginally. Dushku (who co-starred in
Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," followed by Fox's short-lived
"Tru Calling") does wonderful things to a tank top, but her grasp of
this vague, personality-changing character is a bit of a muddle.
What's left, then, is a series with a hollow center that doesn't
initially make you care about its mentally malleable protagonist.

Nor do the technical elements particularly impress - beginning with
the dollhouse itself, whose design isn't as creepy as it should be,
instead resembling a cross between a Silicon Valley office and a
children's playroom, a la Gymboree.

So is there a series here? Frankly, two hours in, it's still
impossible to say - which is why the low-risk timeslot is an
expectations-lowering godsend. Even so, attempting to unravel this
convoluted package suggests that by the time "Dollhouse" finds
itself, there won't be anybody but hard-core Whedon worshippers left
to play with.

Tvweek.com
Joss Whedon on Vampires, Battlestar and more - Tvweek.com Interview

Whedon Q&A: On Vampires, 'Battlestar,' More

'Buffy' Creator Admits He's Not That Fond of Vampires, but He Loves
'Battlestar'

Joss Whedon is finished sucking blood-at least for a while.

While the undead are currently red-hot in Hollywood, the man behind
two of TV's biggest vampire dramas ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and
"Angel") tells TelevisionWeek Deputy Editor/Columnist Josef Adalian
that he's in no hurry to return to the genre that made him famous.

Joss Whedon

"I've really kind of had my fill," Mr. Whedon said.

But while Mr. Whedon isn't rushing back to the graveyard himself any
time soon, it turns out he actually kind of likes the beautiful
creatures in "Twilight." He's also a big-time "30 Rock" fan, is open
to the idea of working for cable and has some strong ideas about the
aftermath of last year's writers' strike.

What follows is an edited transcript of Mr. Adalian's recent
telephone interview with Mr. Whedon. For Mr. Whedon's thoughts on the
process of making "Dollhouse," click here:

TelevisionWeek: What do you think of the fact that a "Save Dollhouse"
campaign started months before the show even premiered?

Joss Whedon: In a way it's sweet, and it's very funny. And in a way
you sort of go, "But let's not put this in people's heads that this
is something that only a few people know about before it's even begun
to be advertised."

TVWeek: You've been supportive of Fox's decision to move "Dollhouse"
to Fridays.

Mr. Whedon: At the end of the day the move isn't about getting the
fans. The fans are called fans-that's already covered. That's doesn't
mean they'll all love ["Dollhouse"], but it means they're more likely
to check it out than Joe Blow. And we need Joe Blow.

[Previous TV executives] have made the mistake of just targeting
[fans]. We need to find a way to communicate with people who wouldn't
normally find a way to watch this show, and Friday night is a better
night to do that.

TVWeek: Is the show you're doing now the same show you originally
pitched to Fox?

Mr. Whedon: Yes and no. There are elements of the show that got, if
not lost, put on hold. But if the show were truly different than what
I pitched, I would have walked away-as I did at one point with
"Firefly." The executives [wanted changes] that went to the heart of
what the show was, and I said, "OK, now we're talking about a
different show-don't pick it up."

TVWeek: Do you think it would be interesting for you to try a show
for cable?

Mr. Whedon: I think it would. Ultimately I've never really had a
relationship with anyone in that field, and nobody's ever approached
me and said, "Do you want to do this cable show?" I wouldn't say no
to anything wherein I get to tell people stories.

TVWeek: Let's talk "Dr. Horrible." Why did you completely shut out
the networks and studios from the process?

Mr. Whedon: I never pitched it to the networks, because no network
would have bought "Dr. Horrible" as a concept. And if they had, I
wouldn't have been able to make it with Neil [Patrick Harris],
because he already had a job. Or Nathan ]Fillion]. Or Felicia ]Day].
. It was just a question of, we made this thing-do we give up control
to shoot for the moon monetarily, or do we maintain control and make
this mean something a little different? I'm much happier that we made
an impact in the writing community and the Hollywood community as a
step toward a new understanding of that media than we would have by
just making something that people liked for a studio.

TVWeek: The characters from "Buffy" and "Angel" live on through fans
and through the comics you've done. Any talk of reviving them for TV
or movies?

Mr. Whedon: It's certainly possible, but it isn't something I'm
pursuing. I feel like we did our thing. The comics were kind of a
lark, which then it became the (speaks slowly) heaviest lark I've
ever had to carry. It was a mariner's albatross.

We could come back to those characters, but I would probably focus on
something new before going back there. That was seven years of my
life, even before the comic. Eventually your pony gets tired of doing
its trick.

TVWeek: What about a "Star Trek"-like reboot?

Mr. Whedon: You could do something like "Star Trek," where you
reinvent it. You definitely have a whole mythology around it. But I
think that . so much of [fans'] love depends on those particular
characters [Buffy and Angel]. And I feel like I still haven't had a
chance to stretch my legs as much as I'd like to.

TVWeek: Aren't the folks at 20th constantly bugging you to bring back
"Buffy"?

Mr. Whedon: Nobody in the business ever approaches me about a "Buffy"
project. It's only fans. It's not like I have people holding bags of
money who are full of excitement about another project. We talked
about a project with Faith (a "Buffy" character portrayed by
"Dollhouse" star Eliza Dushku), and after that it hasn't come up.

TVWeek: What shows on TV do you have to watch?

Mr. Whedon: "Battlestar [Galactica]" is back on, so, you know, life
is worth living again. Other than "Battlestar," I just moved, so I
don't have a TV and I'm behind. But "Terminator," "30 Rock," "The
Office"-those are my bread and butter.

TVWeek: Vampires are big in pop culture right now. Have you seen
"Twilight'?

Mr. Whedon: I saw "Twilight." And it's-what can you say? It's
absolutely like crack. It strikes a tweener chord that's just as loud
as the apocalypse. You cannot deny the power of it. It just works.
And I sort of like that.

TVWeek: What about HBO's "True Blood"?

Mr. Whedon: I've seen less of it. "Twilight" makes its own rules, as
we all do. It takes what it wants and discards the rest but
ultimately, it is kind of classical. They're puffy-shirt vampires in
a sense.

"True Blood," I think, is more what we see in a lot of the comic
books, which is, "Let's deconstruct this and explore what it would be
like if [vampires] were really among us." It's more postmodern.

TVWeek: Did you watch "Moonlight"?

Mr. Whedon: I did not. I actually don't love vampires. Anne Rice was
definitely a life-changer. It was wonderful. But at the end of the
day, I've really kind of had my fill.

You know, Buffy wasn't going to necessarily fight vampires. The idea
was always there's a monster, she fights it. And when I did the Buffy/
Angel romance, I thought, "There's no way in the world I'm getting
away with something this cheesy." I thought, "People are going to
laugh at me."

Over the years, I've gotten a better understanding of why vampires
resonate so much. I even came up with an idea for a vampire film
recently . but then I saw there was this glut, so I thought I better
ease off of that. It's still in my consciousness. But I think I need
to spend some time with some Frankensteins.

TVWeek: Looking back, do you think the writers strike was worth it?

Mr. Whedon: Necessary. We lost. But I'm not going to say it wasn't
worth it. And to me personally, "Dr. Horrible" would have never
happened, and my eyes would have never been opened to things that I
was [previously] able to ignore. I was in a fortunate position, and
now I feel that I have a much better handle on what's necessary from
people like me at this time in our industry.

Fox.com
Eliza Dushku - Maxim Magazine March 2009

Eliza Dushku Likes Tattoos and Tough Guys

Eliza Dushku notices something when she takes a shower.

Her tattoos.

"I love catching a glimpse of my tattoos when I strip down and take a
shower," the actress tells Maxim in its upcoming March issue. "Kat
Von D did a beautiful symbolic feather on my ribs."

Good thing she's not afraid of needles. The former Buffy star has a
new Fox series coming out, Dollhouse, in which she plays a lab-
created being who's implanted in each episode with a new personality.

In addition to her own tattoos, Dushku, 28, likes a good tat on her
man, as well.

"I like guys who play hard and have calluses on their hads," she
tells the magazine. "Any guy who's been raised in a bubble hasn't
lived enough for me. Scars and broken body parts and tattoos are hot."

Dushku's Dollhouse premieres on FOX Friday, February 13.

The March issue of Maxim hits stands February 17.

Joss Whedon: Amctv.com Interview

Buffy and Firefly creator Joss Whedon addresses the controversy
behind his new series, Dollhouse, and fans' demands for a Dr.
Horrible sequel.

Q: Where did the inspiration for Dollhouse come from?

A: It came from me and Eliza [Dushku], and talking about how
versatile she is and realizing that somebody ought to prove it. We
talked about what she should play and what people expect of her, and
that came together with some other stuff that I'd been thinking
about. It became Dollhouse, as legend has it, while I was in the
bathroom - which, sadly, is true.

Q: The show is also an opportunity for you to prove your versatility,
essentially writing in a different genre for every episode.

A: It's both the blessing and the curse of the thing - it keeps us
from getting bored, but it isn't like we can fall back on a formula.
Every week we have to figure out how to write a whole new thing and
make it still matter. It sounded simple and great, and then I got
there with my staff, we all looked at each other, and we realized
that I'm an idiot.

Q: Which genres have you had the most trouble with?

A: Part of why the show got shut down for a bit was that we were
varying things too much. When we wrote a romantic comedy, Fox pretty
much said, "You don't have license to do that. You have license to do
a thriller structure within which romantic comedy might take place."

Q: The drama behind the production has fans convinced you're not
going to get a fair shake.

A: I'm not worried about getting a fair shake. I'm really just
thinking, "Did we find it soon enough - are the first episodes more
than the sum of their parts? Did we engage enough? Did we keep it
going?" I think the first episodes are compelling. I also think we
find our voice much more strongly in the second half, so hopefully
people will go there with us.

Q: You're a feminist. How does a show about women being subjugated
fit in with that?

A: It's terrifying. There's no way you can avoid the idea that this
feels like high-end human trafficking. But what I'm interested in is
the idea of a woman who has no identity, who is gradually becoming
self-aware and saying, "I think I know more than they want me to." It
hurts me and intrigues me.

Q: Tonally, this show is darker than most of your other work.

A: It is a little darker. There are places in the show where I don't
know which way is up. I'm like, "That's either very beautiful or
completely offensive." There's an episode called "Man on the Street,"
which has a framing device of people on the street saying what they
think of Dollhouse or whether it was evil. I could be all of them.

Q: There's also an upcoming episode about a crazed fanboy. Are you
trying to say something?

A: It's about Echo [Dushku] being the backup singer for this pop
star, and there is a crazed fan who is stalking her - and
occasionally setting people on fire.

Q: Which I'm sure you yourself have experienced.

A: [Laughs] Not only is it not a representation of any of the fans
I've ever known, but the episode is also not really about that. There
are interesting things to say about fandom, the unreality of it, and
that's definitely in there. But I think my poor fans think I'm
picking on them more often than I actually am.

Q: Is that as close as we'll get to a Dollhouse musical?

A: That's it. The fact of the matter is, Buffy lends itself to that
kind of genre in a way that none of my other shows have. I will say
that if I was going to hire a human being to be the perfect person,
she better be singing with me and there better be an orchestra that
suddenly plays out of nowhere.

Q: You'd have to hire the orchestra, too.

A: Don't get me wrong - it's complicated. But in the fantasy I'm a
billionaire, so shut up.

Q: We're all dying for a Dr. Horrible sequel.

A: And we're striving for it. We have a lot of ideas, and one of them
is good, so we just need to figure out how, when - all that good
stuff. We've thought about lengthening it; we've thought about
movies; we've thought about Broadway. The fact of the matter is, all
we know is that we don't want to do exactly the same thing. Part of
the fun of Dr. Horrible was the unexpectedness of its structure. Even
if we fell on something more traditional, we just want to do
something different.

Buffyfest.blogspot.com
More news on Illyria's crossover in "Fallen Angel" Comic

Apparently, this is the first time anything has been done this way
and they had to get special permission from Joss Whedon to make this
happen. The story will take place during season 5 after Illyria had
lost her powers. She goes on a journey to get those powers back.

Click on the link :

http://buffyfest.blogspot.com/2009/02/idw-follow-up.html

Joss Whedon talks Dollhouse with Latimes.com

In a conference call to the media for "Dollhouse" on Thursday, Joss
Whedon was asked many questions that are sure to be topics of
interest to some. A few of his answers:

In terms of 'finding the show': It was probably most similar to
"Angel" in the sense of what we had in our mind about what "Angel"
was ultimately was different than what the network did. In our minds,
it was darker ... The mandate was "give us the world of the show and
not just the structure of the show" ... But there was some real
questioning about what exactly we wanted to get at in terms of the
humanity, what they do, and why people hire them, and you know,
there's a sexual aspect to it, and it makes some people nervous. Part
of the mandate of the show is to make people nervous.

On humor: There is a lot of fun and a lot of humor in it. What it
doesn't have is an inherent silliness that both "Buffy" and "Firefly"
had, and even "Angel" ... This has to be a little bit more grounded
in order for it to play ...

Why Eliza?: She's overcome her homely shyness over these years.
Eliza, apart from being, in my opinion, as great a star as I have
ever known, has a genuinely powerful and electric and luminous
quality that I've rarely seen. She's also a really solid person.
She's a good friend. She's a feminist. She's an activist. She's
interested in the people around her and she's got a lot of things
going on.

What keeps him going? Chardonnay. Will there be a comic book? No.
Topics that he'd like to address? Identity, brainwashing, and
perversion.

And on the questions went for an hour or so. But the last question
seemed to genuinely interest Joss in its mildly confrontational tone.

Sexyliza Lisa Fary with Pinkraygun.com asked Joss about the Fox promo
site the Echo Chamber and Joss' support of a sexually suggestive/
exploitative campaign: I do support it. I saw the photo shoot, and I
mostly support it because Eliza was very comfortable with it and very
pleased with the photos. She's very comfortable with her body. The
premise of the show involves these men and women being hired, and
obviously some of that has to do with sex. This is something that was
in the premise from the start ... I think some things will offend
some people, some things will not. There are things in it that I'm
not positive I support, and some of the things that bother me don't
bother any of the other writers, and that's something that I've been
a little bit afraid of, but I haven't shied away from ... The idea of
this show was never to play it safe ... I may have crossed the line.
Let's find out.

Staying on the sexy track, in an earlier talk with Times reporter
Maria Elena Fernandez, Whedon gets more in depth on his working
relationship with women on the show, and the aspect of sexuality that
the show will address:

Joss Whedon: I never set out to hire women. I set out to hire good
writers. The exception being that I did want women running the show.
I did want them as co-exec with me. Because this premise is very
delicate. There were times when I'd wake up in the middle of the
night and go, "Oh my God, I've just written the sexy human
trafficking show."

It's terrifying to me. The show in the wrong hands would just be an
exploitation fest. It would be "Red Shoe Diaries" without the class
or panache. I want to do something that is sexy. That's one of the
things Eliza and I talked about. She's interested in sexuality, not
just "I'm a cute bunny," but human sexuality interests me. It's part
of who we are and it's something that I'd like to talk about. That
was one of the things she said before I had the idea.

And sex is not the raison d'etre of what the actives are. But it's
part of it. Everybody's fantasy, a lot of Castinsert is going to
involve a sexual aspect. It's not something I think is ugly. I think
it's true. It's something I'm interested in and Eliza is too. But
again, in the wrong hands, to walk the line between identification
and objectification. Particularly with this premise. For this, I want
a woman watching my back. And there are a few women I know who are
great writers. Because they gotta be that. Liz [Craft] and Sarah
[Fain] were the first ones I was hunting. When they got off "Women's
Murder Club," I called them that day.

They helped me break the pilot as soon as the strike ended. It's been
invaluable. And beyond that it just wound up that way by luck. But
then I noticed it for the first time when I heard some girl talk. "I
really like the cuff of those pants." I was like, "Ah, girl talk. I'm
safe. I'm home." Actually that was me and Tim Minear, by the way.
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   5.
   Joss Whedon: Nytimes.com Interview
   Posted by: "miss mona" mona@...   thebagladiesuk
   Mon Feb 9, 2009 10:29 am (PST)
   Nytimes.com
   Joss Whedon: Nytimes.com Interview

   JOSS WHEDON may be as much a cult figure as the characters he
   conjured for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," but since 2004,
   when his vampires faced the final apocalypse, he has been everywhere
   but television. "Dollhouse," his new Fox series, is his welcome back.
   In the show Eliza Dushku (Faith in "Buffy") stars as Echo, a blank
   slate of an underground operative whom clients transform into
   whatever they desire, be it negotiator, assassin, friend or lover.

   But even fame and a hard-core fan base couldn't protect the 44-year-
   old Mr. Whedon - who wrote a movie ("Serenity," based on his TV
   series "Firefly"), an Internet musical ("Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along
   Blog") and a thriller (the forthcoming "Cabin in the Woods") during
   the interregnum - from a dreaded Friday night time slot. In a
   telephone interview with Kathryn Shattuck, Mr. Whedon spoke about
   expectations for Echo, and for himself.

   Q. So where did you come up with the idea for "Dollhouse"?

   A. At lunch. I came up with the idea with Eliza. She had made a deal
   to do a show at Fox, and we were sort of talking about the kind of
   show she ought to do and the kind of people she ought to play and
   what people expected of her, and then lo and behold the show just
   sort of popped up and started barking at me.

   Q. You said she had made a deal. Did that deal include you?

   A. No, I had no intention of doing another show. I just sometimes
   spend time with Eliza and talk about her career and how she can work
   it and take control of it and, you know, make the kind of television
   she's proud of and interested in and that will challenge her in
   different ways as often as possible. And because we were covering all
   the things she wanted in a show, this show then came out of that.

   Q. What was the next step?

   A. I told my people, "I think I accidentally made up a show, and
   maybe we should try this." I did go to Fox. Within a week we sat down
   and gave them the concept, the episodes, the five-year arc, a one-
   sheet, and everything just sort of fell into place, and they said:
   "We're not really interested in a pilot. Why don't you give us seven
   episodes instead?" Which was quite a vote of confidence. That later
   became 13 episodes before we'd ever shot a foot, and so it was
   slightly, you know, kismet. Obviously it became more complicated, but
   it definitely was an organic process.

   Q. Tell us about Echo. She's going to start remembering, and then
   what happens?

   A. Oh, all heck breaks loose. The arc of the show is really her not
   remembering so much as becoming self-aware, knowing things in a more
   complex way than she should, knowing that she exists and eventually
   knowing that she used to be different than she is now. We as an
   audience are searching for her identity, but she is more searching
   for the concept of identity, at first.

   Q. What personalities is Echo going to take on?

   A. She's going to be a rich older woman who has died, she's going to
   be a blind cult member, she's going to be a dominatrix, she's going
   to be a backup singer for a pop star, she's going to be a
   safecracker, she's going to be a somebody's wife. She's going to be,
   you know, whatever's next.

   Q. The show has been moved into a tough time slot. How do you feel
   about that?

   A. It's a tough time slot if your expectations are to take over the
   world. If your expectations are to hold your own in a tough time
   slot, then it's not a tough time slot. Knowing that genre shows have
   a life outside of their airing and that so many people are watching
   TV at a different time than it airs anyway, it's certainly not the
   same as it used to be.

   Q. What was your thinking behind "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"?

   A. Twofold. On one hand I wanted to set an example of the creative
   community making something without any help from studios of any kind
   and actually getting it out to the public and making a profit on it.
   And the other half was my feeling that there are not nearly enough
   supervillain musicals.

   Q. I guess not. Will "Dollhouse," like "Buffy," have a musical episode?

   A. Not in the same sense, though Echo does play backup singer at one
   point. "Buffy" lent itself to that kind of thing in a way that my
   other shows don't. I would say that "Dollhouse" is a little more
   grown-up. But don't worry. I'll never completely grow up.

2009 NY Comic Con's Dark Horse Panel: Buffyfest.blogspot.com Report

There will be no Buffy comic in June, The Tales of the Vampire one
shot will be replacing it instead. The covers done by Jo Chen and
will be about a boy in high school.

We asked Scott Allie the following in response to that:

Buffyfest: "We already know that the "tales of the vampire" you story
just announced won't feature characters from Buffy (CBR announced
that earlier), but since it will be in the present timeline of the
buffyverse, will our usual characters play a part somehow? Does Joss
Whedon approve a side project like this story-wise?"

Scott Allie: "Yes, because we wanted to make this part of season 8
and because Tales of the Vampire was something he came up with first,
he's not co-writing it to the extent that he does with season 8 but
everything is going through him, the craetive team got approved by
him, and he gives feedback. It will have his finger prints on it more
than the old [pre-season 8] comics did [and has final approval]."

We then asked about the idenity of season 8's Twilight and when we'll
be finding out who he is. Scott's funny dramatic pause was punctuated
by a vague "Eventually."

Oh, and Twilight's identity? We later found out he's George
Washington. You heard it hear first, folks.

In response to a Serenity comic question someone asked - Scott
explained that "Joss is so busy with the stupid Dollhouse thing" (in
jest, of course) "it's kind of taking up a lot of his time". Allie
went on to say, "Buffy is so demanding for Joss. He edits every
script, every page of atwork goes through him, every cover
concept...cover concepts often come from him. He has a Shepard Book
outline in his head but he has to wait until there is time to work
with Joss properly. He just agreed to write something that he
probably should've said no to, but that's the kind of stuff that
pushes Serenity back."

Click on the link for more :
http://buffyfest.blogspot.com/2009/02/dark-horse-dark-horse-dark-horse-theyre.ht\
ml

Joss Whedon talks Dr. Horrible with Rollingstone.com

Joss Whedon Goes Where No TV Man Has Gone Before

The genius behind television's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" turns to
the Web

In the current issue, Joss Whedon, the George Lucas of television,
reveals why working on his triumphant return to the small screen,
Dollhouse, has convinced him to abandon TV for good. His alternative
medium: Web serials. He began making the sci-fi musical Dr.
Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which stars Neil Patrick Harris) during
the writers' strike, streamed a few episodes online for free, and
struck it big when they went onsale at iTunes. Here Whedon discusses
his early foray into Web shows and reveals his plans for the near
future. Plus, check out five must-watch Web series - several of which
are Whedon-approved.

What what was it about Internet series first appealed to you?

I had been very interested in the idea of making things on the cheap
with the people that I love and trust - low risk, medium yield kind
of stuff where you can just do what you think is right and not have
to worry.

Your fans have created so much fiction online. To what degree was
that on your radar? I'm aware of it and but most of the fan stuff is
a continuation of something that already exists. The one that really
got me was the Star Trek episode, the New Voyages, which was over an
hour of film and extraordinarily artfully scripted entertainment that
streamed perfectly. I'm not a trekker, and I was riveted. I was
sitting on a stool in my kitchen, and I cannot move. I was like, this
is amazing.

Amazing in what sense?

It was probably the best episode of the original Star Trek I'd ever
seen. The only [bad] part of it was that the special effects were a
little too good. Apart from that they really aped the camera work,
the acting, the story structures and the over-quoting of Shakespeare.
And it worked tremendously. And I had also been watching The Guild
with Felicia [Day, actress in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr.
Horrible] and it was small, it was delightful and it was her. She
wrote it, she produced it, it really was her and she is a massive
gamer. So here was another really great example from a different mold
of just somebody who got tired of not getting the gig, creating the
gig. And Felicia and Eliza [Dushku, of Dollhouse] have that in
common, both people are taking control of their careers, which for an
ingénue is the hardest thing in the world.

So I started going to all these meetings. People were like, "Let's
get $200 million from this hedge fund and make TV on the Internet and
then sell it back to TV!" And I was like, "I don't think that's my
mission statement." And at the end of the day I basically made a deal
or agreed to a deal with a company, a Silicon Valley company who
shall remain nameless because that deal is still being made.

For Dr. Horrible?

No, it was for something else. The idea was possibly creating a
portal and using this as the first thing. And possibly creating a
real relationship. Which, by the way, could still happen. But before
Christmas I sat down with this very, very sort of profitable maverick
company and said, "Look, I want to do this and I will do it for you
cheaper than anybody in this town and make it look good. I don't
care." They were talking about doing a genre portal and they talked
to me and I said, "I have three ideas." The third was Dr. Horrible, I
knew they wouldn't go for that.

Could you tell me what the other ones were?

No, because I might still do them. In fact, I plan to do them.

Thefutoncritic.com
Emma Caulfield & Leonard Roberts guest star on Private Practice on 19
Feb!

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Air Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009

Time Slot: 10:01 PM-11:00 PM EST on ABC

Episode Title: (#217) "Wait and See"

ARCHER AND NAOMI GROW ROMANTICALLY CLOSER, WHILE ADDISON SUSPECTS HER
BROTHER IS UP TO HIS OLD TRICKS, ON ABC'S "PRIVATE PRACTICE"

Guest starring Grant Show ("Melrose Place," "Swingtown") as Archer
Montgomery

"Wait and See" As Naomi and Archer grow closer as a couple, Addison
suspects that her brother may have returned to his old, bachelor
ways. Meanwhile, Dell, Addison and Naomi heatedly debate the pros and
cons of gender reassignment surgery when their patients' newborn
child is born with both male and female sex organs, and Violet and
Sheldon settle some of their own issues when they co-lead a couples'
therapy group, on "Private Practice," THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19
(10:02-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Private Practice" stars Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery,
Tim Daly as Dr. Pete Wilder, Audra McDonald as Dr. Naomi Bennett,
Paul Adelstein as Dr. Cooper Freedman, KaDee Strickland as Dr.
Charlotte King, Chris Lowell as William Dell Parker, with Taye Diggs
as Dr. Sam Bennett and Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner.

Guest starring Brian Benben as Sheldon, Sharon Leal as Sonya, Marin
Hinkle as Beverly, Erik Palladino as Mitch, Emma Caulfield as Leanne,
Leonard Roberts as Ryan, Alexandra Lydon as Eleanor with Grant Show
as Archer.

"Wait and See" was written by Steve Blackman and directed by Michael
Zinberg.

"Private Practice" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's
selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish
audio via SAP. A TV parental guideline will be posted closer to airdate.

This episode of "Private Practice" will be available on ABC.com the
day after airing on the network for users to watch online.

Joss Whedon on Dollhouse: Collider.com Interview

Joss Whedon is an icon among geeks. To some, he is the man who can do
no wrong. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is landmark in television
history and "Firefly" is one of the most tragically short-lived
series ever. The airwaves have been Whedon-less since the
cancellation of "Angel" in 2004 but now he returns with "Dollhouse".
It's a fascinating concept and the following interview will probably
give you as much insight into the show as possible with very minor
spoilers.

Yesterday, Whedon was on a conference call with various outlets and
I'm just glad I got to be a part of it. In addition to a lot of talk
about "Dollhouse, he speaks about his future in writing comics, his
upcoming film with Drew Goddard "Cabin in the Woods", and if there
are any more Dr. Horribles on the way.

This is a really great interview because not only Joss funny, but
he's incredibly thoughtful and while he can give some very long
answer, they're intelligent responses from a man who's highly
confident in his ideas and his talent for storytelling.

I was hoping you could talk a little bit about the process of finding
this show through the rewritten pilot, and then the early episodes,
and then talk about how it differed from finding your earlier shows.

JOSS WHEDON: I think this show definitely went through a tougher
process, tough in a different way than the other shows. Probably most
similar to Angel in the sense of what we had in our minds about what
Angel was ultimately was different than what the network did. Our
version was a little darker, and in this instance, it wasn't so much
a question of reworking what the show was as it was a question of
reworking how we get into it. There were definitely some differences
of opinion about what was going on and what we were going to stress
in the show, but mostly it was about how do we bring the audience in
and the mandate was very much once they had seen the pilot.

They made some noise about this before. I don't want to say that they
just thought it up out of the blue, but the mandate "was give us not
just the world of the show, but the structure of the show." The
original pilot explained everything that happened, but came at it
very sideways, and they said let the audience see an engagement so
that they understand that every week she's going to go to a different
place and be a different person and that they have that sense of
structure.

That part was simple enough. It was my idea to do a new pilot,
because once I was clear on what it was they didn't have that I had
planned to provide in the show anyway, it seemed like a no-brainer to
give them something they could get behind more.

But there was some real questioning about what exactly we wanted to
get at in terms of the humanity and what they do and why people hire
them and there's a sexual aspect to it that makes some people
nervous. Part of the mandate of the show is to make people nervous.
It's to make them identify with people they don't like and get into
situations that they don't approve of, and also look at some of the
heroic side of things and wonder if maybe they were wrong about what
motivated those as well.

So we're out to make people uncomfortable, but not maybe so much our
bosses.

Following up quickly, do you feel like you've found the show now, or
is it still just an ongoing process?

WHEDON: Well, it's always an ongoing process to an extent, but I
would say emphatically yes. We had all of the elements, the
characters, none of which were changed really, and none of the
regular characters, and the premise, the concept, the way we were
able to explore what makes us human, all of that is in there.

As the season progresses, it ends up going exactly where I had hoped
it would go before all of this happened, so I do feel like we got
back to our vision in a way that really works for the network. And
the last few episodes that we just completed shooting got all of us
extraordinarily excited.

I just wanted to ask you: what do you have to say maybe to the fans
who are already in a panic and have formed these save Dollhouse
campaigns long before the story even ends, maybe even starting last
summer? Do you have words of calming for them, or anything like that?
What do you say to people who are already worried about the show
before it airs?

WHEDON: Usually, words of calm in these situations lead to panic. If
you say there's nothing to panic about, somebody says, he said the
word panic. Basically, we found the show. My concern isn't whether
the show gets saved. It's whether these fans who are panicking about
it love it. They may get over their panic. They may see it and go,
you know, actually, we're okay. The network should do what they think
is right. Ultimately, the support is very sweet, and the fact that
people care and they want to see the show get a chance. That's
important to me too, because it really is a show that finds itself as
it goes along, but, at the end of the day, my biggest concern is that
I give them something worth panicking over.

With a show like Buffy, you had some episodes and you did some things
that really stood out in people's minds like having a musical
episode, having an episode where no one speaks. Do you have some of
those ideas for Dollhouse where you want to try something different
than maybe hasn't been done in TV before, or things like that that
are in your mind right now for this show?

WHEDON: Most of the things I think have been done at some point, and
we don't think it's done for their own sakes, but one of the exciting
things about the show, one of the reasons why we're excited to have
more runs at it is that you can really come at these stories from a
lot of different perspectives; from the perspective of a client, from
the perspective, as we do in episode six, from the man on the street,
from the perspective of obviously Echo or any of the dolls or the
people who are running it.

There's always a different way into the story, and since there is a
basic structure of an engagement where somebody comes in, says what
they want, and they build that personality and the engagement takes
place, there is a lot of fun that can be had with how you come at
those stories.

But I don't have anything specific in mind, and no, I'm not planning
a Dollhouse musical just yet.

I found the second episode so outrageous, I think anyone who sees it
will be hooked. I couldn't believe you did a most dangerous game on
TV in the second episode, so why did you not want to start with
something that outrageous, and how many more of those sort of hooks
of an outrageous concept can we expect?

WHEDON: Outrageous is always good. That episode was meant originally
to be around episode five, or possibly even eight, and it was the
network who said, excuse me, did you say bow hunting? That will come
second please, because we already had the pilot working, so it kind
of got bumped up further than, but you're not the first person to say
why didn't you just open with that, and my answer would be I don't
know. I had the other idea first.

Basically, I think its one aspect of it is the bigger than life
adventure, but we have episodes that I think are equally insane and,
in some ways even more beautiful. So if people watch episodes and
wonder they should've opened with this, that means the episodes are
getting better, and I'll take an upward curve any day.

It's not even the action aspect of it. It's finding out they will
hire people out to be hunted and killed.

WHEDON: Well, they didn't actually mean to hire her out, to be honest
with you. Somebody said well how come things go wrong with the
Dollhouse? That's a question I've gotten. It's like so that we can
have a show. Obviously, something is going to go wrong, or strangely
right in every episode.

Just quickly, I know you've talked about the more earnest nature of
the show and the Joss-y humor, but I just wanted to follow-up and ask
why you felt this should be a more earnest show, because it seems
like with the concept, there would be plenty of opportunities to have
fun with it too.

WHEDON: There is a lot of fun and a lot of humor in it. What it
doesn't have is an inherent silliness that both Buffy and Firefly
had, and even Angel, that was we could just take one step back that
part of the fun was of deconstructing the genre we were in. This has
to be a little bit more grounded in order for it to play, or it would
become campy, and with vampires and spaceships and horses, we had
more leeway to be a little less realistic in how we plotted things.

But humor is a part of the show all over the place, because we have
really funny actors, and these situations do become absurd, and
besides, we would get really bored if we didn't.

Can you tell us a little bit about the genesis of the show? What got
you thinking about these characters in this world?

WHEDON: Well, there's already the famous story of lunch with Eliza
where we were talking about what kind of stuff she should play and I
thought she should play lots of different things, and then the show
happened.

Beyond that, there has also been I'm very interested in concepts of
identity, what enounce is our own, what's socialized, can people
actually change, what do we expect from each other, how much do we
use each other and manipulate each other, and what would we do if we
had this kind of power over each other? And in this, our increasingly
virtual world, self-definition has become a very amorphous concept,
so it just felt what was on my mind. I don't mean it felt timely like
I was trolling the papers looking for something timely. It's just
been something I think about a lot.

As for the characters, they sell out by necessity. I wanted to have a
strong ensemble around Eliza, because I didn't want her to have to
carry the burden of every single day of shooting, or she would burn
out. So it was the question of really just doing the math. You're
going to need the handler, you're going to need somebody running the
place, you're going to need the programmer, and then realizing what
all of those different perspectives would give us, even before we had
the astonishing cast, started to make the show really live.

What do you like about Eliza? Why was she the right actress to build
this around?

WHEDON: She's overcome her homely shyness over these years. Eliza is,
apart from being, in my opinion, as great a star as I have ever
known, she has a genuinely powerful electric and luminous quality
that I've rarely seen. She's also a really solid person. She's a good
friend. She's a feminist. She's an activist. She's interested in the
people around her. She has a lot of different things going on, and
I've watched her over the years, as a friend, try to take control of
her career, and try to get the roles that weren't available to her,
and protect the ethos and the message of what it was that she was
doing, and I respect that enormously. Being part of that progression
is, for me, one of the greatest benefits of this show.

Given the pressures and drawbacks of being a creative person working
within television, what keeps you going? What inspires you?

WHEDON: You know, the thing that keeps me going, chardonnay. I
shouldn't have said that. Honestly though, actually that kind of
slows me down. Ultimately, it's two things. It's the story and it's
the people I'm working with. I've gotten pretty good at putting
together a group of people, both in the writing and in the acting
fields who are not just really gifted and delightful to learn from
and to watch, but are just good people to be around. And creating an
environment that is fun and safe and creative is difficult and
enormously important, and a lot of shows obviously don't feel the
same way, and a lot of stars don't feel the same way.

But I have had both good luck and the good sense to make sure the
people I'm around are the people you want to spend your time with,
and when those people come to you with ideas, or bring you something
you didn't expect and really know what they're doing, it snowballs
and an idea gets bounced around between all of the people who are
helping create it and it just gets bigger and better.

Ultimately, it comes from the world itself. It comes from the world
you've created. If you've really created a world and not just a
character, then it's constantly going to be screaming its awesome
variations at you. And when you're surrounded by a group of people
who are hearing that scream as well, then you go on, despite being
really tired some of the time.

What are some of the topics that you would like to address in future
episodes that you haven't tackled before?

WHEDON: Well, the constant topic of identity is one. There are a
couple of things that were originally on the slate that didn't quite
fit the venue and had to stand back. We had an episode about Rwandan
boy soilders that was really about how we imprint people now, how we
literally brainwash people, and we're contrasting that with the
Dollhouse.

There was episode that was about perversion. It was about sexual
shame and people's inability to deal with real people that was, I
thought, ultimately very heartfelt and very strange and very
beautiful, but again, not to make the cut for the first 13. Those are
some that would be coming up.

I noticed that there was a comment on the show referring to Adam and
Eve and I wonder how much you'll explore theology in your exploration
of what it means to be human.

WHEDON: I will explore it only in so much as people will tend to use
it as a metaphor for the way they talk. As an atheist, I'm not going
to spend a huge amount of time with it unless there is a point about
the way religion interacts with our humanity that I think needs to be
made. But the Garden of Eden stuff, you can't stop that. It keeps
coming up, because this is the mythos that I was brought up with, and
it's very powerful in this place. But I would say that I'm more
interested in the philosophy than the theology of the thing.

I actually saw the episode where the Elgin marbles were in play and I
noticed it was written by Craft and Fain, who I understood are going
to be the acting show runner on this. Can you talk a little about
what they bring to the table, and why they seem to get your sense of
humor so well?

WHEDON: You know, why anybody gets my sense of humor I never know,
but I do know that when they do, I keep them as close as I possibly
can. Liz and Sarah are the kind of people who are so solid and so
sensible and so good at the day-to-day show running that you forget
how good they are with the script until they turn it in and you go
that's right, you guys are really funny and very twisted. They're the
kind of writers who take all of their weirdness out on the script and
it's not out on me or the people they work with, and that's what you
look for in a show runner.

It was important for me also that the show runners be female, because
the subject matter is intense and delicate, and they are aware of
that without being a slave to it.

I wanted to ask your reaction to the Friday night time slot and what
challenges or maybe even opportunities you see there.

WHEDON: Honestly, I really do see the opportunity there because the
deal with the Friday night time slot was you don't come out, bang,
opening weekend, and it's all decided. It's about growing a fan base,
both for Dollhouse and Terminator. I think Terminator is a remarkably
good show, and the kind of show that makes sense to be paired with
Dollhouse, so I feel great about that, plus I get to see all these
posters with Summer and Eliza together and that's just too cool.

Ultimately, this is a show where people will hopefully become
intrigued and then hang in, that really builds, so it needs the 13
weeks, and it needs the 13 weeks of people paying attention, but not
so much attention that it gets burned out in the glare of the
spotlight. I've always worked best under the radar. Most of my shows
people have come to after they stopped airing, but I would like to
buck that trend, and at the same time, it is part of how I work that
you stay with it and it grows on you and it becomes family, and the
Friday night is a much better place for that to actually happen.

Besides Eliza, there are a lot of other Whedon alumni in your cast,
and can you just talk a little bit about your other cast members?

WHEDON: You know, the basic mandate for me was to find new people,
because I had Eliza and I didn't want to feel like it was going to be
"Faith" or just a reunion for my pals or anything like that, and I
found some not only amazing new actors, but amazing new friends. But
then, eventually, a person has to wake up and smell the "Acker" and
realize you just have to cast anything that you can with her, so that
happened.

Apart from that, we've put on some old faces in some guest roles, but
not too often, and sometimes, we've been very much behind the eight
ball in terms of production and when you know somebody can do
something right and you don't have time to go and find somebody else
who can, you hire them. But apart from Amy and Eliza, it's a new crowd.

In reading the original pilot script, it really seemed like the basis
for a highly serialized show, and I'm wondering what the challenges
were involved in taking your original vision and transposing a more
self-contained style of storytelling onto it, and if you were
satisfied with the way the show turned out versus your original vision.

WHEDON: There are things I miss from my original vision, and there
are things that I think are better the way it is. Ultimately, the
show ends up going exactly where I hoped it would go. There are
elements of intrigue and high stake suspense that have been added,
but I don't think they hurt the show at all, and it really goes where
we planned to have it go.

The idea was always to have a mythology that was counterbalanced by a
standalone aspect that every episode would be self-contained, and
that the mythology would play out, but you would feel a sense of
resolve, be that an engagement, or some other aspect every week.

The mandate to go ahead and just really make the first several
episodes pure standalone engagements is tough. It's more work for a
staff to drum up that enthusiasm and that identification for the
guest of the week. That's just difficult, but we knew that was part
of the show going in, that every week, we were not only going to have
to create a new world and care about it, but that she was actually
going to have to join the guest cast, because she would be a new person.

So it's a challenge, but it's one that we knew going in we were going
to have to tackle, and I think we're getting better at it. It is
definitely a different skill.

Just to follow-up, Actives aren't aware of their personality
imprints, so I'm wondering if we should be looking at any other
characters in the cast as possible covert active.

WHEDON: Not in the first season, although we've discussed a lot of
permutations. We're pretty much laying out the situation a little bit
simply at first. We're going to twist the knife in some people, but
more than any of the anchors, it's the people running the place who
have their own secrets that are going to be fun to pull away at.

As a writer creating characters, do you identify a lot with Echo's
programmer?

WHEDON: I do. It's not a shock to see a lot of Topher in myself,
because he's building people, and he's amoral and fairly goofy, but I
see a lot of myself in Adelle DeWitt too, and ultimately, in all of
the characters. If you don't, you're usually doing it wrong. If just
one person is your mouthpiece, then you're going to have trouble
writing a real conversation between two people, and the fact of the
matter is the person who is my mouthpiece is definitely sketchy,
which is good, because it makes me question everything I have to say,
no matter how funny it is.

You've gone through the process of launching this show several times
now, so how has the process changed for you since you launched Buffy?

WHEDON: You know, in many ways, it hasn't changed at all. We were
held to mid-season on Buffy. There was a certain amount of birth
pangs. We were re-shooting things for the first episode during the
last episode. So I think part of this is either the same, or I just
really haven't learned anything about how to do it better.

But I think the changes have really been that the media is constantly
making new demands. There are six act breaks instead of four. They
did remote free TV, which means fewer commercials, which is an
exciting prospect, but it also means we're shooting 15% to 20% more
show per show on the same schedule as every other show, and that just
really is beating the hell out of us.

Also something that ultimately, because of the remote free TV, and
because of our production issues, fell by the wayside, but these are
the extras that people expect. There's just more to it than going in
there and telling your story. The marketing of the thing and the
story itself are intertwined in ways that create opportunities, and
in some ways that just really exhaust me.

I was wondering: how will the audience connect with any of the
actors? Are they supposed to be like empty vessels with new info each
week?

WHEDON: They're supposed to be empty vessels and the constant
struggle with Dollhouse is that they're not quite, that Echo and
Sierra have formed a kind of bond, and that Echo is clearly evolving
in a way that they have not imprinted her to do.

The ideal is to create people that people can relate to, because they
were so helpless and so innocent, and then let them have these latent
senses of identity and of their surroundings, and create sympathies
through that, as well as through the characters that they become.

Will there be a dark horse comic tie-in for this?

WHEDON: There won't. The science fiction of this is much more fiction
than science. Ultimately, its actors acting differently, which is not
something you need to see drawn. There is however, a CSI comic book,
so I guess everything could be a comic book, but I don't feel it
lends itself in the same way that my other fictions have.

You already talked about this a little bit, but I wanted to clarify
for viewers. How easy will it be for new viewers to join after the
first episode? How much of the show will be episodic and how much
will be an overall season or series arc that they may miss if they
don't start watching from episode one?

WHEDON: We absolutely made sure of that. We always refer to the first
seven episodes as the seven pilots. You can't just shut down after
episode one and it can't be a train that's left the station. So the
first several episodes, the first five are all individual engagements
where the premise is made clear and the cast of characters is made
clear and relationships are made clear. Obviously there is some
progression in those relationships, but there is nowhere where you
have giant pieces of information missing, or where you have to sit
through a three minute previously on in order to get to the show. We
really care about that, and that was one place where we were
completely on the same page as the network.

How did this idea for Dollhouse come about? I know you mentioned the
famous lunch with Eliza, but did you have this percolating in your
brain for a couple of decades, or did you just hammer it out with Eliza?

WHEDON: No. As I said earlier in the call, and I explained this more
fully, not on this call, but on another, but basically, I've been
fascinated by the questions of identity and identity manipulation,
both self-imposed and otherwise, and the idea of avatars and the idea
of fantasy and the little insular world that we've been able to
create for ourselves with our computers and with our extraordinarily
specific medications. And I think it's something that's become a part
of the world really just in the last ten years, so it's fairly new
means to ask very old questions about who am I and what am I as I get
older, and what's really sticking? What's the part I can point to and
say this is me and what is just coming and going and what has been
imposed upon me, and who the hell am I, and why aren't I prettier?

There seem to be a couple of different mystery threads between Echo
trying to figure out who she is and the FBI agent's search and the
big creepy naked guy at the end of the first episode. How connected
are those, and, if they are connected, how long might it be before we
see them start to intertwine?

WHEDON: We definitely start entwining things this season. There's a
lot of payoff in this season. There are some things that we draw out
and then some things that we payoff fairly heavily, so that people
don't get the feeling that they're just going to tease me every week.

Paul Ballard is going to be hunting the Dollhouse, and obviously,
he's going to be one step behind them for awhile, but then every now
and then, he's going to come up against them in a rather abrupt
fashion, and he's not going to be the reporter in The Hulk, always
five feet behind, and this creepy naked guy will be explained.

Echo's progression is a constant in the show, her search for herself,
so that's something that is being spun out episode by episode. It's
just different little aspects. It's like she takes a little memento
away from every engagement, so that will be a constant.

But we're definitely laying in some threads, and there are definitely
things that we are not explaining, but we kind of took some of the
things we were going to hold for a few years and said hey, let's just
hit them in the head with a frying pan, because that will keep them
excited, and it's not like we lack for places to go.

Is there a limiting factor with this technology? Could you kidnap 100
people, plug them into the machine, and have an army of super ninjas
an hour later? And are there tons of people just walking around with
pre-programmed personalities that don't know it that are permanent?

WHEDON: Both of those things will probably happen in later seasons,
because that would be cool, and what you can accomplish and what you
can destroy with this technology is something that we're going to be
asking increasing towards the end of the season. But for the first
season, we did keep the premise fairly simple, and the Dollhouse is
fairly strict about what they will use this technology for, so no
ninja armies just yet, but keep watching the skies.

You have a film coming out next year called Cabin in the Woods, and I
was curious, you call it a game changer, and I was curious why you're
calling it that.

WHEDON: And you sadly will remain curious until you see it.
Ultimately, it's my take on the classic horror movie, which means
that it is a classic horror movie, but we also have something
specific to say about it, and we have a different way of saying it
than we've seen before.

I think after it, everyone will love it so much that there will be no
more need for movies. That's how it's going to be.

People will just want to watch that movie over and over again, and
they won't make other ones.

I know you already touched on not doing anything for a comic series
for Dollhouse, but you seem to have so much success with them, at
least amongst fans. Do you have any others in the works? Are you
going to do a Buffy season nine maybe?

WHEDON: We definitely have a season nine in mind. We're slogging our
way through season eight. We've talked about doing more Serenity
comics, and we've even talked to Dark Horse about a potential for
some Cabin tie-ins.

Dollhouse is very simply the least visually oriented of all of these
in a genre way, and therefore, lends itself the least to being a
comic, but comics are in my blood as much as any other medium.

I know rumors have been circulating for what seems like decades on
the possibility of a Buffy movie based on the TV series. Any updates
on that?

WHEDON: Yes. There is not going to be one. I think that's pretty much
it. Nobody has ever broached the subject from the studio side. I
think everybody is busy working, so I think that it probably won't
happen. That's my guess.

It's just a guess though?

WHEDON: What am I, in charge? I never know. The landscape changes
constantly, but until somebody who has millions and billions of
dollars asks me that question, the answer is pretty much the same.

Any more Dr. Horribles in the works?

WHEDON: We're working on the works. That's another case of everybody
being very busy, but we are definitely committed to the idea of Dr.
Horrible reappearing somehow.

My question is, we've heard a lot about Echo so far. What can you
tell us about the other dolls that are in the Dollhouse, and how much
real character development are we going to get from them between
assignments?

WHEDON: The other dolls, obviously we start out focusing on Echo, but
the friends that she makes, in particular, Sierra, all have their own
stories, their own reasons for being there, and their own reaction to
things. As her friendships are formed more, we get to spend more time
with the other dolls, and we get real tastes of how easy they have
it, and how hard they do, how controlled their lives are, and then
how out of control they can get, because they have no skills for
dealing with the world.

I can't really go into specifics, but we pretty much get to start
putting everybody through the ringer long about halfway through. It
starts to get complicated for all of them.

The Fox promo site is called the Echo chamber, it features Eliza
Dushku, she's nude, looking very sexually available in the tagline
get to know Echo intimately. Is this a standard hot babe come-on, or
a sexual objectification show being set up for subversion. Do you
fully support this type of promo, and could you explain a little
either way?

WHEDON: Nice. Finally something that's slightly more awful than me
saying "Wake up and smell the Acker." I absolutely think that the
question is valid and my answer is a little bit vague. I do support
it. I saw the photo shoot, and I mostly support it because Eliza was
very comfortable with it and very pleased with the photos. She's very
comfortable with her body.

The premise of the show involves these men and women being hired and
obviously, some of that has to do with sex. This is something that
was in the premise from the start. It came from my conversation with
Eliza. We wanted to talk about it, she mentioned herself, wanted to
talk about sexuality in whatever show she was doing, not just by
virtue of her being all hot, but by really examining human sexuality
and how it drives us and why it's important to us.

And the idea of objectification versus identification, these are all
things that I've been working on all the time. I didn't actually know
that tagline was in there. I just heard oh, they released those
photos, so I didn't know that, and it brings up what is ultimately
the touchiest issue of this show, which is are we actually making a
comment about the way people use each other that is useful and
interesting and textured, or are we just putting her in a series of
hot outfits and paying lip service to the idea of asking the questions.

And I think there are going to be things that people react to
different. I think some things will offend some people, some things
will not. There are things in it that I'm not positive I support, and
some of the things that bother me don't bother any of the other
writers, and that's something that I've been a little bit afraid of,
but I haven't shied away from, because part of the point is to look
at these gray areas and to see what of this is unique in us, what is
it we need from each other, how much do we objectify each other, how
much do we use each other, both men and women, and what is actually
virtuous.

One of the problems I ran into early on, and this was the only real
dissonance between me and the network was they didn't really want to
deal with those issues having bought the show. They didn't want to
deal with the idea of what they are now clearly marketing, but the
sexy side of it. It's a classic network problem. You want to evoke
this, but then they don't want to say anything. They don't want to be
specific about it, so we've struggled with that. We've struggled with
making sure that the show doesn't, by virtue of playing it safe,
become offensive, because the idea of this show was never to play it
safe. The idea of this show was always to be in your face about it.

So the answer to your question is kind of both. It is just a standard
scantily clad babe come-on, and it is ultimately a deconstruction of
same, but not so much that I would say it's just done ironically and
therefore, I am blameless for it. We are absolutely saying Eliza is a
sexual creature, and people desire her for that reason.

The idea is to get the audience to look at their own desire, and to
figure out what of it is acceptable, and what of it is kind of
creepy. In order to do that, we go to a creepy place sometimes, and I
will be very interested to see if people find it empowering or the
other things. I may have crossed the line. Let's find out.

from parade.com
Eliza Dushku: Parade.com Interview

Eliza Dushku, the Next Wonder Woman?

Actress Eliza Dushku is reuniting with Joss Whedon in the Buffy the
Vampire Slayer creator's highly anticipated series Dollhouse, which
debuts next month on FOX.

In the series, Dushku plays Echo, one of a group of "actives" or
"dolls" who've had their minds wiped so they can be imprinted with
any personality to carry out a mission. And as the personas pile up,
Dushku gets some juicy roles.

Q: What's it like to play so many different characters?

A: The possibilities are sort of endless; I've done everything from
hostage negotiator to crazy sexy assassin. Some of them are very
biographical - like me bow hunting. I was actually doing that when
Joss Whedon sent me the original pitch for the series. I told him how
we had taken down an elk with a bow and arrow and he made that a part
of the second episode.

Q: Wait a minute, you shot an elk?

A: I gave it a go because you've got to try everything. As a meat
eater, I think that it was only appropriate that I experience that.
But I've only killed something that I would eat.

Q: Do you feel a bond with Sarah Palin, who likes to hunt caribou and
moose?

A: That's a pretty broad comparison. I just wanted to go out and hunt
my own meal. It's not like I'm joining the NRA.

Q: You've filmed on a lot of locations for the series.

A: One of the reasons why I love this role so much is getting to
travel. I've traveled the world with my mother, who's a political
science professor. But the irony is that I have a crazy fear of
flying. I've been known to not get on a plane if I don't have some
kind of religious ornament like a cross. It's weird but it really
kind of helps delay the fear.

Q: Any memorable travel experiences?

A: My mom always kind of taught us how to land in a city and just
find your way. She sent my brother and me to China when I was 14 with
our passports and a guidebook. In upper Mongolia, they had public
showers and I walked in and it was me and 30 naked ladies. I tried
slinking down to the last spigot which, of course, didn't work.
Everyone started laughing at me.

Q: Rumors persist that you may take on the big-screen role of Wonder
Woman.

A: Wonder Woman's hot. But you've had action hero movies that are
just stinkers and some that are smart and exciting - you have good
and you have bad. So for me it would depend on the script. Right now,
it's not on my calendar. The rumors are out there. I am aware of
them. I think it's like some fans have a fantasy. But who knows what
the future holds?

Q: Ever had a moment when fans thought you were like a character
you've played?

A: When I was doing Buffy the Vampire Slayer I almost got in a fist
fight with a ski lift lady. She tried to rip my ticket off and she
put her hands on me and I was losing it. I was screaming at the lady
and my friends were like hiding behind their snowboards. All of a
sudden, people started going, "Hey, isn't that the chick from Buffy?
Wow! She really is tough." But she was really out of line, I swear.

Q: So now you've decided you'd better avoid tabloid headlines?

A: I actually feel more like I can't do those things because I'm an
actress who gets recognized. It's weird, but being a celebrity has
actually tamed the crazy chick in me. That's not to say it still
doesn't pop out every once in a while.

Q: You've been acting for a lot of years. What have you learned?

A: I think the more you obsess about this business and what's real
and what's fake and whose real and whose fake to you, and the more
you stress about it, the more self-obsessed you are and the more
you'll just drive yourself crazy. I just go, 'Look, this is my job,
it's totally crazy, it's out of control, but the benefits are unreal.'