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Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse

Simon Brew


Echo is being sent to the proverbial attic, as Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse is the latest casualty of the Fox axe…

Published on Nov 12, 2009

It's now been officially confirmed that Dollhouse is being cancelled by Fox. The show is currently filming the eleventh episode of its 13 episode order, says The Hollywood Reporter, and Fox will screen all the remaining episodes, starting when the show returns on 4th December. But the days of the Dollhouse are now officially numbered.

To be fair, we think Dollhouse had got to the point where, whether you're a fan of the series or not, very few were expecting Fox to press ahead with a third season of the show. When it took the show off the air this month during the US sweeps seasons, that pretty much confirmed that Dollhouse's number was up, and now comes the official confirmation. Joss Whedon, earlier this year, did note that were the show to get the axe at the end of season two, he would ensure that it did get a proper ending, and he'll, no doubt, be pressing ahead with implementing that plan now.

We'd be surprised this time if a groundswell of support for the show resulted in a movie version this time. That happened with Joss Whedon's last major cancelled early TV project Firefly, which, of course, went on to inspire the big screen outing Serenity. Dollhouse, however, is likely to end and be left to sit in its place in TV history.

It's still surprising, looking back, at just how wrong Dollhouse went. The bumpy first season of the show - and we're talking really, really bumpy - did eventually give way to some interesting and very good episodes. And when it got its surprise second season order, we can't have been alone in thinking that Joss Whedon and his team would take the time to sort things out properly.

But that hasn't happened. Dollhouse season two has proven to be just as problematic as the first (again with some very rich highlights, though), and when ratings started to sliding, the writing was very much on the wall.

There remains a frustration, though. When Dollhouse was good, it was really very good, and the lasting legacy we'd suggest here is one very much of untapped potential.

The Hollywood Reporter story is here. 

 

 
Tags
Dollhouse | Joss Whedon | Simon Brew

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Users Comments

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By Nocturne 1 November 12, 2009 11:36:49 AM

Maybe if Joss Whedon wasn't so busy firing off childish letters on how to save other people's franchise's he might have found a way to save his own. I'd call this an apt case of poetic justice.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By cordas 1 November 12, 2009 12:09:52 PM

I don't think it was in Joss' power to save Dollhouse... The damage was done in the 1st season, which was so ugly at times that even bowling shoes felt smug. I think the 2nd season was much better, but the problem was the taint of the 1st season made the flaws in premise stand out like a sore tooth regardless of how much better they were handled. I am just really pissed at Fox because they cancelled T:SCC when it was really starting to pick up momentum.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By stuxmusic 1 November 12, 2009 12:53:15 PM

I'll ne honest, after about the 6th or 7th episode of season one, I started getting excited about dollhouse, and the finale and 'Epitaph One' were great and incredible. It's unfortunate that season two did a bit of backpedalling and ended up a bit like the first season, rather than starting with what was episode 4, and kicking everything into high gear.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By TSCCfan 1 November 12, 2009 02:55:37 PM

Dont think anyone is surprised by this news. Thw show was a total mess. Goodbye Dollhouse No one will miss You.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By Slacker 1 November 12, 2009 04:37:23 PM

When the main/central character is constantly eclipsed by her supporting cast, you know things aren't going to end well. As much as Fox messed the show around, Joss has to pick up the most blame for this failure, hopefully he will learn from it.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By theshadowalker 1 November 12, 2009 06:09:09 PM

I'm a huge fan of Whedon's. I've watched, first-run, every single episode of Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse. And Firefly may well be my favorite show ever (it fights for first place with Fawlty Towers and the original Twilight Zone). That said, I believe that Dollhouse's premise was flawed, its execution was problematic, and its lead was miscast. That, coupled with his underwhelming run on X-Men, is making me wonder if Whedon may be creatively burning out. I hope not, though.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By Omniaural 1 November 12, 2009 07:44:11 PM

I think Whedon has been compromised by years of courting the mainstream networks. Someone like HBO should take him to one side and give him free reign on a mini series concept that can spin out to a full season if it comes off. Without the shackles of corporate hoops to jump through it might give him the opportunity to recharge. Either that, or Brian K Vaughan should be given his chance to develop something and let Whedon step aside.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By Omniaural 1 November 12, 2009 07:55:19 PM

also, Why do we get all this attention for a failing show when something like Sanctuary gets ignored? Okay, it's a bit Torchwood-esque but it found it's feet at the end of the first season and the second season has made the jump to ITV4 and keeps getting better. It's not the most polished show but the writing and 'most' of the acting is great!

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By spoons 1 November 13, 2009 01:10:23 AM

@theshadowalker I would agree with you on the miscast lead however his Astonishing X-Men run was one of the best runs from anyone in a long time, and that is coming from someone who can't stand the X-Men.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By geekygirlUK 1 November 13, 2009 10:09:36 AM

I will miss Victor, Topher, Whisky and De Witt SO much. I hope the ending of the series can give us some closure. The series has had its faults, the biggest of which was Eliza's lack of range (although I do feel that there wasn't a huge amount of scope for her to do *much* different). But the premise was interesting, the supporting cast was stellar, the story arc was intriguing and I think that given time this might have developed into something special. I just think Fux was the wrong place for it. I have now ordered my LOLFOX t-shirt (http://store.hijinksensue.com/product/lolfox-t-shirt)

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By gillthezombieboy 1 November 13, 2009 02:39:57 PM

Man, there are so many people on this site who hate Joss Whedon. I recognize that Dollhouse wasn't the best-concieved show in television history, but it was still fifty times more intelligent than formula shows like CSI. That being said, it really cheeses me off to read an unfortunate piece of news like an interesting, albeit problematic, TV show being cancelled and then seeing that the first comment on the article is along the lines of "Joss Whedon is a childish idiot". Poetic justice, #1, would be you getting trampled by a horde of hardcore Whedon fans. Once you've written a much beloved, unfairly cancelled sci-fi series like Firefly, then you can come back and bash the guy more successful than you. But until DoG's comments section starts clearing of all this pointless hate, I think I'll be skipping it in my morning internet browsing. Later, haters.

Re: Official: Fox cancels Dollhouse
Posted By GoldbergV 1 November 13, 2009 05:30:07 PM

Yes it had its faults, but for my money this was the most thought-provoking and accomplished sci-fi on TV right now. Just to get this straight, FOX renews the show for a 2nd season, does very little promotion, puts no 'previously on' segment at the start for new viewers, then axes it after 4 episodes...Man those are some smart guys they have over there...I just hope the news came in time to ensure a proper and fitting ending to the series.
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Dollhouse: positioned for the fall?

Dollhouse: positioned for the fall?
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