I simply can’t believe that I’m writing a post panning something my hero Joss Whedon has created. I’ve seen three episodes of Dollhouse and have spent a lot of time thinking about why this show just doesn’t work for me.

My husband and I were walking the other day. He talks about his work; I talk about mine. I asked him why he thinks Dollhouse wasn’t cutting it. His reply reflected my opinion. The answer: emotional bonding.

Cast

Eliza Dushku whom I’ve always liked from her days at Buffy to Angel to Tru Calling heads up a cast composed of Harry Lennix, Tahmoh Penikett (Helo on Battlestar Galactica), Fran Kranz, Enver Gjokaj, Dichen Lachman, Olivia Williams, and Amy Acker (longtime role on Angel). Many of the cast may not be familiar to you, but they’re well-experienced character actors or secondary-role actors so you’ve probably seen them often.

The Casting Directors were Anya Colloff and Amy McIntyre Britt, who worked with Joss Whedon on his previous series as well as Serenity.

Show Runner

This show, billed as a drama-thriller, was created by Whedon and written by him, Tim Minear, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Joss’s brother Jed Whedon. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know about Joss Whedon and Buffy, Angel, Firefly, the movie Serenity, his comic book, and Internet works like Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog. You may not know that he wrote most of the dialogue for the movie Speed.

Premise

Dollhouse is an illegal underground group who programs people to be “Actives” by removing their personalities like wiping a chalkboard. They can then imprint these tabula rosa with any number of new personalities to the extent that the Active becomes that person. Then they pimp the Active out to the gazillionaires to perform a specific hired role — whomever the client wants or needs them to be. Lover, assassin, BFF, whatever. After they do the job, their slate is again wiped.

Uh Oh

Of course, as with any sci fi concept, there’s always a glitch.

1. Sometimes the personalities they imprint have unknown trauma that then infects the Active and causes problems.

2. The Actives aren’t supposed to remember anything of their real self or of the many personalities they inhabit. Trouble is, all of that is leaking into Echo’s brain.

3. Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, and the other Actives walk around looking like the vacuous personalities that inhabited old films like Logan’s Run. That flick specifically comes to mind because one of my friends who was a model at the time was hired as an extra for a party scene. She wore a couple of layers of chiffon and was told to look empty-headed. Empty-headed is not appealing, at least to anyone with a brain.

4. The rogue Active is Alpha so he was the first, and he’s a psychopath. I’m guessing he’s what happens when you get your brain washed too frequently. Kind of like the way dark jeans fade after too many launderings.

What People Look For

With a book, a movie, or a TV show, people tune in at first out of curiosity so the show must capture their imagination with character or situation. In a book, you have to then give the reader something that sufficiently engages their interest to make them keep reading. That’s why books sell. The reader wants to undertake a journey of discovery about the character, to see how they overcome the problem situation, gain their goal, etc.

The same is true of a movie. You buy the ticket because something about the promo you’ve seen interests you enough to plunk down some money and spend a couple of hours in a dark theater with a bunch of strangers.Ticket sales are driven by the concept and the actor’s brand.

With TV, the goal is the same except you have to give the viewer something that will make them come back week after week and watch. So that’s a little harder. It’s not a one-shot deal but an on-going relationship show runners want to foster with viewers, specifically viewers that spend the most according to demographics.

What’s Wrong

That’s the crux of the problem with Dollhouse. There is really nothing there that makes the viewer want to come back and visit these vacuous, non-persons who live only when imprinted with a personality. How can you bond to a non-person? How do you bond to the interesting person who is a fake and who then changes week to week, leaving you with nothing to make you care about them?

Second problem is the continued reminder each week that “we’re so secret but the wealthy knows about us blah blah blah.” That’s already old. And ridiculous.

Third problem is the scientist who wipes their slates clean. Is it me or is he just creepy? Smarmy? How can anyone do that to another human being unless he’s a tabula rosa where his soul is concerned. I don’t like him. I suspect he’s supposed to be some kind of geeky comic relief but it’s just not working.

Fourth problem is that Mr. Whedon has forgotten why people liked his previous shows. The humor and the characters who made you care what happened to them. Situational humor and characters who say the funniest things even though they’re not really trying to be funny. Emotion-drenched relationships. For a writer to not play to what an audience has come to expect is a cardinal sin.

Fifth problem is that this is a high concept premise that would have been better served in a movie, not a TV series. Not all ideas are meant to be novels. That’s why short stories exist. Not all ideas are meant to be series. That’s why movies continue to be popular. I could see this being a successful movie with a strong character arc for Echo. There’s too little growth each week to make the viewer see Echo as other than a wan Barbie doll. Give her something to work with.

Bottom Line

If you look back on similar high concepts that successfully made the transition to television and became cult favorites though never hugely successful with mainstream viewers, you’ll find they did it by following similar protocols.

La Femme Nikita was a popular French movie that became an American movie and then a Canadian TV import. Ruthless female assassin, secret organization, etc. Why did it work? Because even though Nikita was a cold killer, as the credits rolled, you saw that she was homeless, abused, and killed to survive. By the time the episode opened, you had sympathy for her for everything she’d gone through. Plus, she had all this smoldering sexual tension with a fellow assassin.

The Pretender was another favorite of mine. Genius child abducted and raised by secret organization escapes as an adult. Each week he was an expert at whatever as he rights wrongs and get justice for others and searches for his real family. The character’s core personality was moral, friendly, sense of humor, justice-seeking, and just a guy you’d enjoy hanging with. Each episode he was always just one step ahead of those who chased him. Same thing – opening credits rolled and showed his past, establishing his character and making the viewer care for him.

Suggestion

Maybe that’s what they need to do with Dollhouse. Change opening credits to show her backstory and make it a universal truth that people identify with and something that will bond them to the character.

For heaven’s sake, add the Whedon-esque humor please.

Having said all that, I don’t know how much blame should be allotted to the network. They may be killing Dollhouse the way they did Firefly. My DVR listed the first episodes as Episode 3, 4, and 5. The web lists them as 1, 2, and 3. Maybe the network is jerking them around and showing them out of sequence. Maybe the first 2 episodes would have done a better job of bonding the viewer. I don’t know.

Takeaway Truth

Just having sexy situations, lots of skin, and a past relationship with viewers who want to like the show isn’t enough. Find the heart of your main character, and let us see it.