Whedonesque : Comments on 17638 : Dollhouse gets praised in London.

"The tone is dramedy -- it's light. Viewers are moving away from the high concept shows. We're all going into a period of economic doom and gloom, and they want something engaging and that will take their minds off it."

Well that doesn't sound good.

zz9 | September 18, 23:56 CET

You don't think a gorgeous woman kicking bitt will take their minds off it?

cabri | September 19, 00:01 CET

Hehehe, 'kicking bitt'. Best typo today. =D

cabri | September 19, 00:01 CET

zz9, that is a quote from the Disney/ABC rep. Of course she is going to say that. That is what most of the shows they are selling are like. It doesn't mean that is what people want or are buying.

TamaraC | September 19, 00:12 CET

Yeah, who wants "light dramedy"? We want bitt-kicking!

catherine | September 19, 00:26 CET

"kicking bitt" sounds like an excellent Whedon-ism. I might have to take it with permission and use it in one of my scripts. ^_^

The Xan Man | September 19, 00:51 CET

Simon, I think it will be.

Madhatter | September 19, 01:02 CET

Dr. Horrible kicked bit so hard he had to move to a new server.

What? I can't be more than one kind of nerd?

Pointy | September 19, 01:17 CET

Reading that article gave me major Deja Vu, by the way. And then I realised it actually repeated that one paragraph :). I like that buyers (who are probably pretty cynical about television, on the whole?) like what they're seeing with 'Dollhouse'.

Pointy, you can be '10' kinds of nerds. Unless you think that gives you more than two options, then you get to be just one.

GVH | September 19, 02:03 CET

Yeah, GVH, but they also like what they're seeing with 90210, so...yeah. But any praise is good praise, especially if it concerns its marketability, which has come under question lately.

Though if you'll excuse me, I need to stop the post, my bitt is getting sore from this chair...

[ edited by UnpluggedCrazy on 2008-09-19 02:35 ]

UnpluggedCrazy | September 19, 02:35 CET

If a UK station doesn't pick it up (hypothetically) what other means do you guys have of watching the show? (just curious)

SteveP | September 19, 02:37 CET

It'll probably be online. And if that fails, there's always "Buttorrent."

The Xan Man | September 19, 02:40 CET

I'll be watching Dollhouse the same way I've been watching all my US shows initially for the last couple of years... on my computer (or actually, on my standalone DivX player ;)). And then, eventually, I buy the DVD's if I liked the show.

UnpluggedCrazy, yeah, they do like '90210' as well, but then again, that show probably is very marketable as well. Which means 'Dollhouse' is too and as you say, there's been some doubt as to that.

GVH | September 19, 03:17 CET

Buttorrent

*snort*

Pointy | September 19, 03:34 CET

Given how many cable and satellite companies there are out there, besides the terrestrial powers, it's bound to show up somewhere.

If not, we can always move to Canada or something.

Craig Oxbrow | September 19, 03:36 CET

"Buttorrent". Awesome.

[ edited by dollrific on 2008-09-19 06:06 ]

dollrific | September 19, 06:05 CET

GVH said,

my standalone DivX player

I use a LaCie Silverscreen myself, which one do you have ?

Buttorrent for the couchpotatoes, awesome indeed.

jpr | September 19, 08:38 CET

Bitt kicking is a better typo than butt licking!

MutantFriend | September 19, 09:36 CET

GVH: Pointy, you can be '10' kinds of nerds. Unless you think that gives you more than two options, then you get to be just one.

I count 2^2 options there ;) - 00, 01, 10, 11.

I'm fairly sure this'll get picked up by someone in the UK, when I still had Sky they bought a lot of stuff from the US and often pretty early in its run ('Journeyman' was only about 4 weeks behind for instance, had a few friends say they were really enjoying it only for me to tell them it was probably cancelled).

And if not Sky then someone else - LivingTV ran 'Veronica Mars', ITV4 showed all of 'The Inside'. Hell, even the BBC might reach deep (especially if Sky aren't that interested).

Saje | September 19, 10:42 CET

I've always wondered about the likes of Sky One or the Beeb purchasing US shows. Do they put all the money up front for a potential 22 episode run (with the proviso that a proportion of the cash is returned if the show is cancelled) or is it pay as you per episode?

Simon | September 19, 10:56 CET

Wonder if São Paulo is the next stop?
Weird comment from ABC, as they just greenlighted a high concept pilot.

Numfar PTB | September 19, 10:59 CET

ETA: That's just a pilot Numfar PTB, doesn't mean it'll air by any stretch. Still, one corporate hand not knowing what the other's doing isn't exactly unheard of ;).

Do they put all the money up front ...

I think they must make some sort of commitment towards an entire season Simon because even shows that're cancelled early in the US will often show as many episodes as were actually produced on UK showings (so we had all of 'The Inside', all of 'Wonderfalls', all of 'Firefly' etc.).

If they had to pay per episode that would seem like throwing good money after bad to me (especially with shows like e.g. 'Odyssey 5' which, after US cancellation, was bumped around the schedule and moved from 9 pm to something daft like 1 in the morning).

Just speculatin' though, don't know much about it.

[ edited by Saje on 2008-09-19 11:11 ]

Saje | September 19, 11:09 CET

jpr, I have a crappy no-brand version which I bought for as-little-money-as-possible at a local store. But hey, it works :).

Saje, I didn't give the option of '00', '01', or '11'. Just '10'. So there ;).

Also: Odyssey 5, heh. I hadn't thought about that show for ages. I actually quite enjoyed that, I seem to remember.

ETR: typo

[ edited by GVH on 2008-09-19 12:44 ]

GVH | September 19, 12:44 CET

They deserve it after coming out with so many shows we've wanted to watch and never let us watch them until years later so we come up with horrible American knock-offs. It's about time they make a horrible UK knock-off of something from the USA.

(J/K of course. You know. J/K makes it all better.) :)

TheGamut | September 19, 13:42 CET

'Brighton Belles'.

(not sure about anything more recent)

Saje | September 19, 13:47 CET

As a Brighton boy and Golden Girls lover, I wish I'd seen that!

And am I the only one who revels in 90210's trashiness as they saunter about what will always be to me, Sunnydale High?

Liam Mars | September 19, 16:40 CET

GVH, the most magic of magic words "it works".

Though all of these boxes are of the "no brand" type since the big brand names seems to have been given offers they couldn't refuse from the big media companies.

jpr | September 19, 18:37 CET

For some reason, I just can't see the Beeb going in for Dollhouse (not sure why). But if Sky1 aren't interested either, then as stated above, there's still plenty of options - Virgin 1 probably being the best bet, though there's also E4, Living, FX, Five US, maybe even one of the ITV channels.

So I'm not worried.

Yet...

Outsider | September 19, 20:16 CET

If they want something light and pleasant, they can always try remaking the Norwegian smash hit "Farmer Needs a Wife". It always ended well.

MysticSlug | September 19, 21:25 CET

Well Joss could do that. I can't see him having a problem with giving the farmer what he needs rather than what he wants.

Simon | September 19, 21:41 CET

Like a combine harvester. But evil.

Saje | September 19, 21:48 CET

If only. I might actually have watched that version. Of course, we'd have to take a few painful deaths. I think Kari, the milkmaid or Ole will get it first, but it's all good because the favourite cow, Elsa, survives.

MysticSlug | September 19, 21:57 CET

Yeah, trust Joss to subvert the old cliché of "cow enters abattoir pursued by butcher, cow dies". I mean, how did she even start the chainsaw with hooves ? Talk about a surprise ending.

[ edited by Saje on 2008-09-19 22:45 ]

Saje | September 19, 22:04 CET

Saje, spoiler tag! Some of us haven't seen it yet!

zz9 | September 19, 22:42 CET

Fixed ;).

Saje | September 19, 22:46 CET

Thanks Saje.

Of course, now we'll see dozens of copycat kick ass cow shows and movies.

zz9 | September 20, 02:02 CET

SPOILER.

There's already a SpongeBob SquarePants watcing cow in Fringe. It's just a matter of time before it mutates and starts kicking bitts.

Effulgent | September 20, 02:34 CET

Farmer Needs a Wife? There is actually a U.S. reality show called Farmer Wants a Wife...

UnpluggedCrazy | September 20, 03:15 CET

It's the same "format" sold around the world, common culture these days seems to have spiraled down to the point where we all suffer similar Idol juries, Survivor island conspiracies and yes wifeless farmers.

jpr | September 20, 06:56 CET

I think 'Farmer wants a wife' is a Dutch concept originally. We're also the grand culture that brought you 'Big Brother'. Sometimes I'm proud of my countrymen ;)

GVH | September 20, 15:03 CET

There is that but you also brought us Whedonesque so I think that more than balances it out.

Simon | September 20, 15:20 CET

And mayonnaise on chips. OK, that might've been Belgium but i'm happy to give the Netherlands the credit ;).

Saje | September 20, 16:36 CET

And Tastey Toms. (It's a type of tomato for those of you who immediately go there, which is exactly where I went or I wouldn't be explaining this.)

I do think though that when the cow franchise comes to fruition, I should get some credit for the idea.

MysticSlug | September 21, 10:53 CET

I've never even heard of Tastey Toms. I guess I'm out of the tomato-loop ;).

And yeah, Simon. I think Caroline should get some kind of award for the good work she did, balancing out our bad national karma.

GVH | September 21, 14:17 CET

"The tone is dramedy -- it's light. Viewers are moving away from the high concept shows. We're all going into a period of economic doom and gloom, and they want something engaging and that will take their minds off it."

Well that doesn't sound good.

They, and you, overlook this is Joss - as soon as everybody is having a good time he'll kill someone off or otherwise make sure to ruin everybodies day.

Pumps | September 22, 13:44 CET

September 18 2008