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The first quarter of the new TV season is coming to a close. With their biggest episodes running this month for sweeps, we can now look forward to weeks of reruns for the rest of 09.
But before they go, here’s a quick look at where I stand with the current crop of futuristic, non-realistic, ghostly, ghastly, makes-you-wonder, shows on TV.
Dollhouse
What can I say about this one? I’d like to rename it Whedon’s Folly as I feel that the Joss-meister got too wrapped up in his own fantasy and forgot he had an audience to feed.
Dollhouse started off with an interesting concept, a kick-ass set and some great guest stars but even with Joss behind the wheel, this monster kept veering off course. The show was built around two kinds of episodes, the mythology and the fantasy of the week. The mythology was too complex to follow and the fantasies were aimed at men - that worked wonders for my husband but left me cold. I quickly tired of sexy costume of the week storylines — like a weekly Halloween party at a frat house we had Eliza as a sexy nurse, as a sexy babysitter, as a sexy spy, and let’s not even talk about the dominatrix outfit.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind the fantasy sex play if there was some real angst and story to go with it. I simply never saw any except in the finale of last season.
I came into this season hoping for more. I heard about all the great guest stars and I thought they’d pull it off. They didn’t. Two weeks in, I stopped watching. The show is heading for cancellation and I want to miss it, but I won’t. (Cr: Carin Baer/FOX)
Fringe
Fringe is an example of how you properly balance mythology with monster of the week. They’ve been doing a great job handing out morsels of backstory along with juicy monster bits in every episode. I’ve been very pleased to see Peter (Joshua Jackson) step up and take a more proactive role, Walter (John Noble) still cracks me up and manages to make me misty when he slips into remorse and sadness. I like Olivia (Anna Torv) but she’s not why I tune in week after week.
What I didn’t like this season was the shapeshifter assassin storyline that ended in the demise of Charlie. There were plot holes and it all came off a little too neat and then bam, it’s over. Are the shapeshifters all gone? Did I miss something? I do like bowling alley guy and the unique way he has of making Olivia see what’s around her. I still dig Astrid and I hope she gets her own episode soon. She’s a smart cookie and I’d like to see her save Walter or Peter’s life.
The whole AU storyline is interesting, but I tune in for the monster of the week stories and they’ve been terrific this year. Season Two and Fringe is still going strong. The only thing I have to complain about is the 9:00 Thursday time slot, it’s killing my DVR and the ratings. (CR: Justin Stephens/FOX)
FlashForward
The fact that I like the monster of the week episodes on Fringe, will probably clue you in to the fact that I’ve given up on FlashForward. I watched the pilot of this series and found it really compelling, but two episodes in I walked away. I’m not a fan of shows that are all mythology based as was the case with Lost. There were too many stories, too many characters I didn’t care for and what about the kangaroo? Did they explain the kangaroo?
FlashForward is one of those shows that I know is well written, creatively directed and properly acted but I still don’t enjoy it. I’m glad other people do, because it is good TV, just not for me.
Dollhouse had one outstanding episode “Epitaph one” and I will always love Joss Whedon for it. Otherwise the show took too long to get interesting. I stopped watching after 2.01 but I will definitely check out the one episode focusing on Sierra, it got a lot of positive feedback. I just wonder why they didn’t do this in the first season?
I have to tell you to me personally Dollhouse was not only badly written it was down right offensive. I have loved everything else Joss ever did so I was excited when this came out. But it only took me one single episode to realize his ‘heroine’ this time around was not about girl power at all. She was no Buffy. She was no Zoe, no River Tam, not even a Cordelia Chase. She was basically just a zombie hooker. As a woman I was disgusted, changed the channel and never ever turned back. Frankly, I’m glad this one got canned and it should have happened last year.
Too bad you stopped watching after the first two episodes because episode four was phenomenal. It explored its mythology like no other. I can’t wait for the upcoming episodes with Summer Glau!