Whedonesque : Comments on 18369 : Watch with Kristin visits the Dollhouse.

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December 14 2008

Watch with Kristin visits the Dollhouse. It doesn't actually happen until around 55 seconds or so into the video, and ends around the 4-minute mark.

The One True b!X | Dollhouse | 11:15 CET | 42 comments total | tags: eliza, joss, eonline, dollhouse

Hmmm. It won't play for me. Thought it might be my pop-up blocker but it still doesn't work.

cabri | December 14, 11:25 CET

Try the Spoiler TV version instead.

The One True b!X | December 14, 11:30 CET

Every episode a pilot? Wonder how that's going to work.

cabri | December 14, 11:49 CET

Sounded like an exaggeration to me, to make the point that each episode finds some way to introduce the premise to unfamiliar viewers.

Think of it like Serenity (pilot), The Train Job, and then Serenity (movie). But, you know, seven or more of them.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2008-12-14 11:57 ]

The One True b!X | December 14, 11:53 CET

There's something about the term "hot scoop" which just sounds so...gross.

It is indeed a very attractive set, filled with very attractive people and preusmably doing very not attractive things. Good times.

(and why did Kristin refer to Sarah Chalke as "potential mother" at the end, has she not been watching HIMYM recently?)

Ashley | December 14, 12:27 CET

Kristin loved the pilot! Very cool. She seems to be a real Joss fan too.

This just got me really excited. I wish it would start already!

ShanshuBugaboo | December 14, 12:35 CET

cabri, that was the plan back from last year when DH was first announced. It also kinda applies to, say, Firefly - each of the early episodes, if you watch them closely, take care to reintroduce every character each episode. Down to repeatedly saying their names, to emphasizing why they're on the ship, what their role is, the backdrop story etc. That isn't to say nothing happens in each episode, as it does.

gossi | December 14, 14:29 CET

I hope that was Eliza in costume or else then please stop murdering the poor woman.

hence | December 14, 18:47 CET

Those questions really seemed... non-profound. It's always funny to me when a reporter is searching for an in-depth question to get the 'hot scoop' s/he's presumably after, and then goes straight to the basic premise of the show. I have no desire to watch again and get the direct quote, but when Kristen asked whether Echo eventually started to become aware, I did a face-palm. Or, at least, strongly thought one.

Mercenary | December 14, 19:04 CET

hence, what do you mean? I don't understand.

TamaraC | December 14, 19:17 CET

In the commentary for an Angel episode--maybe City Of?--Joss says something about having nine first episodes as well. Maybe it wasn't the commentary...

Anyway, he said it in relation to Doyle and why he was there: as "guy who can give exposition." So I'm okay with that theory of television.

[ edited by Jobo on 2008-12-14 19:29 ]

Jobo | December 14, 19:29 CET

TamaraC, Last interview it was bruises and here she is sporting a bandage on her right hand and some nice bloodstains or scrapes on her left. Might not be real of course, but if this continues I’ll be afraid to watch her interviews in the future.
I think having some care with the actors should be a point of professional pride and Eliza seems to think the opposite is true.

hence | December 14, 19:45 CET

She's a daredevil. She is proud of her injuries. I can't blame her for that. I would feel the same way.

TamaraC | December 14, 20:04 CET

Obviously it’s not against her will. I still think it’s unprofessional, mostly on part of the show runner(s) or whoever is ultimately responsible for people not getting hurt. It’s unnecessary and I can’t see why anyone, except Eliza, would find it particularly attractive.

hence | December 14, 20:22 CET

hence, SMG used to get injured all the time on Buffy. It happens.

gossi | December 14, 20:33 CET

I’m really struggling to not come across so hard headed about this. But bollocks to that: they used to gas Jews.

This is not a huge issue, but it makes me a little sad and worried.

hence | December 14, 20:50 CET

But there is someone on set to make sure nobody gets seriously injured. Sometimes it's just unforeseeable/inevitable, particularly when your actress is so insistent on doing her own stunts.

Jobo | December 14, 20:54 CET

How the Hell does "they used to gas Jews" have anything to do with this discussion?

The One True b!X | December 14, 21:16 CET

The One True b!X, I overstepped on that one, I apologize about that.
It was in response to gossi’s explanation of what they used to do with SMG.

hence | December 14, 21:32 CET

It still doesn't make any sense, though.

pat32082 | December 14, 21:33 CET

I doubt an actor would be working for long if they got hired for an action show and then refused to do anything action-related. Even a short run can cause injuries for any number of reasons.

cabri | December 14, 21:37 CET

It doesn't really make sense in recarding to this discussion, but it fits the more generic Godwin's Law regarding any internet talk.

Also, injuries do happen, and not just at action scenes. A friend of mine once broke her ankle after figure skating practices, when she hopped down _one_ step outside the ice hall. Not tv, but anyway...

Eerikki | December 14, 21:41 CET

Hm, I made a mess of this thing quickly, didn't I.

The explanation is that just because something has been done in the past it is not necessarily a thing we should accept now.

[ edited by hence on 2008-12-14 21:47 ]

hence | December 14, 21:46 CET

I'm wondering if the bandage is a prop perhaps because Eliza keeps using it to gesture with and doesn't seem to be favoring it in any way. Regardless, the woman is a daredevil - she could have hurt herself doing something completely unrelated to the show. Seems a little much to harp over it when a) we're not sure it's a real injury and b) it could have happened during one of Eliza's crazy personal escapades.

Emmie | December 14, 21:50 CET

I broke an ankle once slipping on a one-inch step outside my flat during a stay in London. No reason to slip. I just did. Things happen.

hence, we all dig our own graves sometimes in these discussions. You're excused in my book.

And, Eerikki, I had never heard of Godwin's Law before. Thanks for the instruction.

[edited for sloppy typing]

[ edited by palehorse on 2008-12-14 21:54 ]

palehorse | December 14, 21:53 CET

palehorse, cheers for that. That was some championship level diggin though. If I may say so myself =)

hence | December 14, 21:56 CET

But bollocks to that: they used to gas Jews.

It would be greatly appreciated if we didn't resort to using comments like that here. Consider this a first and final warning.

Simon | December 14, 22:34 CET

Simon, fully understood.

For the record, what is an acceptable equivalent expression?

hence | December 14, 23:23 CET

One suspects something along the lines of "just because something was done before doesn't make it right," would've sufficed.

zeitgeist | December 14, 23:48 CET

Thanks, zeitgeist.

I have a little trouble with my tone, I will adjust that. Apologies again to everyone that I offended; it wasn’t meant as bad as it did sound.

[ edited by hence on 2008-12-15 00:09 ]

hence | December 14, 23:59 CET

You have to say this about Kristin, despite her lack of profundity (acceptable considering the light-hearted eonline venue) and occasional misinformation (less acceptable, an example was her "insider" prediction for an Angel Season 6 - urgh), she's always been a huge cheerleader for Joss and Mutant Enemy. So, go Kristin?

Network TV's requirement for reintroducing the premise of a show during the first X number of episodes drives me batty. I get why it's done but it usually feels to me as if the exposition is showing. I get a little embarrassed. In the world of premium cable, you don't see this much, if at all. Lucky premium cable creators. It must be freeing not to have to think of creative ways to say the same thing ten times.

Godwin's law is brilliant - he really captured something there. Hey hence, I'm not at all trying to pile on, but check out the link posted by Eerikki. I think the whole point of Godwin's law is that there really is no acceptable equivalent to resorting to the Nazi analogy. It's just too extreme and overheated for most situations and makes discussions suddenly go all pear-shaped. I love that whedonesque tends to confound Godwin's formulation. It's one of my favorite sites ever for that reason plus about a million others.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2008-12-15 00:08 ]

phlebotinin | December 15, 00:07 CET

I don't think the "reintroduce the concept every episode" will continue to be so necessary as the online thing increases. People who want to know what's going on in a show can go to hulu, catch up, be happy. But that might still be a little ways off.

Jobo | December 15, 00:17 CET

phlebotinin Oh, I missed that in all the ruckus I was causing, but had actually heard of it before. I may sound stupid but that is nothing compared to how stupid I actually am, but I had heard of that. Poe’s law is another good one.

I didn’t want to mention the Nazis, but couldn’t for the life of me think of a another loaded rebuttal (wasn’t planning on making it that loaded though. Planning was definitely absent.)
Not smart to post when you’re angry, and I took gossi’s post to be a brush off of my complaints and I realize now that it wasn’t so much, so extended apologies to you gossi.

O.K. enough of me going banoonoos and then trying explaining my way out of it.

hence | December 15, 00:31 CET

Cool, hence, I hadn't heard of Poe's law. I love all these eponymous laws. There's a wiki compilation of them here. Although the Poe's Law listed there is different than the one listed at Urban Dictionary. I like both.

Back to Kristin's interview and the "reintroduce the concept every episode" topic, I sure hope you're right, Jobo. I can't help wondering if repetitive exposition isn't so entrenched in the network TV ethos that it'll stay on despite hulu. I suppose an assumption in network TV is that you have to keep (re)explaining a show's concept to new eyeballs who click in for a five minutes' or less segment and are in danger of clicking out at any moment. It's all about hooking these eyeballs. Advertising money is still tied to broadcast viewing habits, so even with the online chance for viewing, networks are still revolving everything around those presupposed antsy broadcast viewers of almost no attention span. Network execs might think that repetitiveness is the way to hook people but I'm not so sure. With the rise of video gaming and the addictiveness of figuring stuff out based on little info, I think more and more viewers prefer to feel challenged and engaged rather than spoonfed.

Edited because I fell prey to Skitt's Law. Hee.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2008-12-15 01:04 ]

phlebotinin | December 15, 01:00 CET

I'd say we can count on Joss to make the mandatory introductions interesting for the old viewers too. I mean, just look at the Serenity intro, that's incredible. And the movie works well without the series, my whole family loved it when I showed it last Christmas.

I just hope they start a bit slow, give people time to get on board. I personally missed first episode of Veronica Mars when it showed here, then watched some episodes on and off, and didn't even manage to watch the season 1 to the end. A while later (year or so) some friends were cheering about VM and I started rewatching. By halfway episode 1 I was totally hooked, and watched it all pretty much right away. But missing the first episode was just too bad, though partly it was my less than full focus on the series, which is enough for most stuff out there unfortunately.

Finally, I realized something about the network insistence on smoothing things. It is probably a good thing for most cases, at least to a degree. I mean, I'm sure Star Wars episodes IV-VI were great because Lucas was a regular director, having to listen to others (well, by VI I guess he already was big enough to keep Ewoks...). Now, for episodes I-III he was huge, not really needing to listen to others, and ending up spewing out the crap he did.

Eerikki | December 15, 01:54 CET

Eliza is rocking the "I do some of my own stunts" after effects. Sweet.

Sunfire | December 15, 02:50 CET

Kristin actually likes nearly every single tv series that airs. Seriously, it seems to me as if she's writing good things about every single show out there and I've been reading her for years now.

That's not to say, DOLLHOUSE won't be good, I am sure it will rock.

And I must say I'm disappointed at how they only focus on Eliza or Tahmoh. I wanna see the rest of the cast interviewed. The newbies and AMY! Yeah, I'm greedy when I should just be grateful for seeing Eliza "Hot" Dushku and Joss "God, his writing is good" Whedon.

Donnie | December 15, 10:18 CET

Thanks for the other link, b!X, I couldn't get the main one to play, either. Vista has incomprehensible (to me) issues with flashplayer, hopelessly confusing because sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Yay Kristen, she may not ask the deepest questions but such is the nature of her show, and she has been the biggest high-profile booster of Joss's shows, ever.

Shey | December 15, 16:13 CET

You sure its Vista and not your browser or a botched flash install? I've never had problems with flash in Vista.

zeitgeist | December 15, 16:27 CET

Donnie, there are other cast interviews and a lot more of Joss/Eliza/Tahmoh. EOL will post those closer to the premiere date.

jengod | December 15, 18:44 CET

You sure its Vista and not your browser or a botched flash install? I've never had problems with flash in Vista.
zeitgeist | December 15, 16:27 CET

I wish I could figure that out. All my attempts to install flash end up with the plug-in being successfully installed, but then a Windows security feature called "User Account Control" wont let me complete the installation.
But yet .... I can play videos that shouldn't play without flash, and when I go to the flash d/l page, it tells me I already have the newest version installed.
Obviously, I'm severely lacking in the computer literacy department, so I keep finding ways around stuff that I don't understand. :)

Shey | December 16, 12:46 CET

I felt compelled to revisit my here old(not so old) sins, since I saw a slightly re-edited version of this interview on eonline. Re-edited might be the wrong word since they only added a vignette to it, but from that it becomes clear Eliza was indeed in costume.
I guess no one will read this. It just felt like the right thing to do was admitting on record that, in addition to being obnoxious, I was jumping to conclusions.

ETA: It’s pretty cool though. You get a quick glimpse of Echo aiming a gun. (I should probably be concerned about how happy it made me seeing that.)

[ edited by hence on 2008-12-16 15:17 ]

hence | December 16, 13:50 CET

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