Ok, “train wreck” is harsh. I’d give it a 3/5. But it was just such a huge disappoint compared to past Whedon works: Firefly, Dr. Horrible, hell even Buffy, and I didn’t really watch that one. The first half / first season was a complete waste, almost degenerating to Smallville’s villain of the week formula (oh god that was crap). It had the usual girl power angle, but none of the characters were around long enough to give a damn about (their minds are wiped after every ep, and so you’re left with characters with no fixed personality).

I randomly and reluctantly popped in Firefly the other day to put on as background noise while doing some cleaning. I say reluctantly because I had watched firefly so damn much, I didn’t think it’d entertain me anymore. Nope, to my surprise, it was still entertaining. And it just highlighted how much Dollhouse is “meh.” I really feel like Whedon blew it, not just for Dollhouse, but I’m worried for the execs, too, who may hold it against him.

So Battlestar Galactica finished not too long ago. That left me with a TV slot to fill. At that point, I had been only seriously following two shows: BSG and LOST. I was trying to limit my tv intake, streamed or not. It just takes up too much time. But I think I over did it. I’ve been sampling a lot of shows and here are my results:

Current:

Lost
If you haven’t been following it, I’m sorry; it’s probably one of the best shows on standard broadcast at the moment. I say that as someone who previously gave up on it for a season or two. But they got their shit together, and every ep consists of relevant story arc. Catching up or starting now is going to be really hard. I tried a season marathon once; it was kind of painful. But I wouldn’t recommend diving in at a random point. The series is highly continuous (as the best shows tend to be imo). To help you out though, ABC has the most aggressive online strategy (and therefore the best). The entire show, seasons 1-5 is online, for free.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index

Dollhouse.


You got the cosplay angle to attract the guys (hey a different sexy outfit every week!), and the strong female role to attract the gals. Unfortunately, this show started very poorly. I’m a big Whedon fan, primarily because of Firefly (see below), but Dollhouse just exuded mediocrity at first, with a lot of filler eps that didn’t really add much to an overall plot. I wasn’t a fan of Buffy, because it was a little too girly for me, but Buffy definitely seemed more interesting than Dollhouse.

The main problem with Dollhouse: The characters have deletable personalities. It’s difficult to like the characters because they have no stable character to like.

BUT, the last 3-4 eps have been pretty good. Actual meaty storyline occurs. Unfortunately, Fox gave Whedon a Firefly style screw-over by giving it a shitty timeslot, blah blah blah (although in this case, I don’t think Fox was that wrong to do so), and I suspect it’s already been canceled. My friend is bummed, but I kinda feel like Whedon wasted his shot with the first 5-7 eps. That’s a huge amount of capital to waste, especially with a network as fickle as Fox.

Southland

This is a very edgy show about the LAPD. At first, the moment I saw that guy from the OC, I thought it was going to be some bullshit mickey mouse cop show. But I watched some more, and it’s pretty dark and gritty. I like it! It’s also created by a stereotype-defying woman, interestingly enough. She must be a tough one – definitely a very intelligent woman behind the screens.

[Actually I take back what I said. There's a "why are the rich folks getting better police attention" arc, too.]
There are some questionable racial overtones, though. I’m not from South Central, so I can’t be totally unbiased, but the show seems to focus on minority criminals a lot. Although to be fair, there are multiple minority protagonists. So is that just the PC talking?

Hulu only keeps 5 at any given moment, so ep 1 is already pulled. Find it and catch up! Although I would say ep 1 isn’t entirely necessary.

Old Stuff

Firefly

I will always recommend this show. If you still haven’t seen Firefly, watch it. All 14 are on Hulu. It’s kind of like…Cowboy Bebop meets Buffy. It’s a very well written, fun show from start to finish, with the potential for years of interesting story arcs. I must have seen it 4x through now.

Without exaggeration, nearly every person I’ve recommended this show to has enjoyed it (and grown to hate Fox). Personally, I think it is Whedon’s best masterpiece. It appeals to a diverse group of people, male and female alike. My roommate even got a copy for his parents, and they enjoyed it as well.

When I do hear complaints about the show, they tend to be short sighted IMO. “Why are they still using horses and wagons on the border planets?” Because they’re frontier border planets. Why would high technology instantly imply “Star Trek”-style utopian socialism? Today, we can land people on the Moon at will, and yet you still find The Amazing Race contestants crying over starving animals and children eating out of the trash in India. Think about that one.
“Why is there country music?” Sorry, techno was unavailable. It fits the frontier theme.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Ok, maybe this one is Whedon’s best masterpiece. It might just be one of my favorite musicals, even among traditional musicals. It’s fun, short, and sweet.
Oh hey I just noticed that Harris did his first scene in one take. It’s nearly 4 minutes long, so that’s pretty notable!