Dollhouse season 2 gets UK airdate - Dollhouse

since I'll spend my next semester in Britain, this is great news for me :)
how can I receive SciFi? I guess it's not free to air, right?

Salocin | August 18, 14:32 CET

That's really quite close, kudos to Sci-Fi.

gossi | August 18, 14:33 CET

how can I receive SciFi? I guess it's not free to air, right?

Unfortunately not. You'll need satellite or cable to watch it. Though the episodes should be on sale on iTunes UK soon after they air on Sci Fi UK.

Simon | August 18, 14:38 CET

I'm glad Sci Fi shares our love of Whedon! All they have left to do now is air Buffy (and bring back reruns of Firefly).

Speaking of Buffy, anyone know why FX in the UK only keep showing Seasons 4-7, or sometimes even 5-7? I really miss seeing S1-3 and i rely on tv reruns since I haven't yet managed to get the DVD boxsets. (Yes, I know, feel free to make with the cabbage-hurling *hangs head in shame*)

[ edited by Shep on 2009-08-18 14:48 ]

Shep | August 18, 14:48 CET

Are the episodes airing together in the US?

brynmars | August 18, 14:51 CET

For the last two runs, FX have only shown S5 - 7. If I were to guess, it'd be because its in widescreen. I still want Sci-Fi to get a hold of all of Buffy. I enjoy seeing Angel on at 6AM so I can record if I may please.

Anyway, I dunno if I can wait. I think, THINK, the a/v junkie inside of me will want to wait for the HD airing over here, instead of getting a non-HD episode with FOX all over the screen.

Hopefully Sky1 (among others) are going to be on the ball with showings its fall season. I want my Bones and Fringe ASAP. Also, FlashForward on (ugh) Five.

Jaymii | August 18, 14:59 CET

Season 4 was widescreen too though.

From what I gather, the repeat rights for different seasons are sometimes negotiated separately (especially here where a terrestrial broadcaster like the BBC may get first run/repeats on the early seasons of a show and then be outbid by e.g. Sky for the later ones). Could be FX only has the rights for seasons 4-7 ?

Glad to hear Sci-Fi UK have it fairly quickly after the US, even though I don't get it anymore. Not sure why particularly, it just sounds like good news ;).

Saje | August 18, 15:00 CET

Digital Spy says it'll be moving from 9pm to 10pm.

Simon | August 18, 15:40 CET

That could be good news, Sci-Fi are pretty bad for cutting even borderline swears/sex etc. Did anyone (who now has the DVDs to compare) notice if they cut much from 'Dollhouse' ?

Saje | August 18, 15:44 CET

Are the episodes airing together in the US?

Nope. It should work out quite well as they're both very solid episodes, assuming they come together through editin' well.

gossi | August 18, 16:26 CET

That could be good news, Sci-Fi are pretty bad for cutting even borderline swears/sex etc. Did anyone (who now has the DVDs to compare) notice if they cut much from 'Dollhouse' ?

I watched on Sci-Fi and they didn't cut much but they censored any questionable language.

They also had these ridiculous messages before each episode (paraphrased and possibly slightly exaggerated) -

"Warning: This programme is violent."
"Warning: This program deals with adult feelings and EMOTIONS."
"Warning: This is not the Teletubbies."

brynmars | August 18, 17:20 CET

Nope. It should work out quite well as they're both very solid episodes, assuming they come together through editin' well.

How do you know this gossi? Have you seen screeners/scripts/what?

flugufrelsarinn | August 18, 17:40 CET

"Warning: This program deals with adult feelings and EMOTIONS."

"Warning: May contain drama" ;).

Yeah, i've noticed they're pretty sensitive to language (cutting even tame stuff like 'bugger', 'bitch' etc.) though they don't seem quite so worried about skin, at least post watershed (when I last had Sci-Fi "Emmanuelle in Space" seemed to be on about every other week).

Hopefully a 10 pm showing will help that.

Saje | August 18, 18:51 CET

Season 4 was widescreen too though.

I don't think Joss shot any Buffy in widescreen, but the actual camera recorded in widescreen so the UK DVD people put the raw footage on the DVD and called it widescreen.

Since it was framed for 4:3 it doesn't always look right. When Buffy and Faith fall down stairs you can see a cameraman on the left, when Buffy finds one of Adam's victims in the woods you can see a crewmember in the background and you can see the wires holding the Gentlemen up in Hush and so on.

I seem to remember Joss complaining that this also ruined his framing in The Body.

zz9 | August 18, 19:06 CET

Although Angel swapped to widescreen later on (correct me if I'm wrong on that), it also was framed in 4:3 at first, so when the UK DVDs came out in widescreen it has some issues. There's one episode where you can see either a crew member or producer or some such stood eating a sandwich whilst Angel is yakkin' on.

Flu - I got to play on the set a bit recently. Mark expectations for S2 up a notch. And also, prepare for some new haircuts.

gossi | August 18, 19:33 CET

Which episode is that gossi?:) I wanna see that now!

angeliclestat | August 18, 19:37 CET

New haircuts! Solid episdoes! Wow, expectations raised. (I'm not even kidding much -- I love how when shows return for the next season, ppl look subtly different.)

I admit: I'm not going to be bummed if the show isn't awesome right off the bat, starting season 2. I've noticed that Whedonverse seasons often start slowly with so-so eps, and I'm OK with that. It's the slow accretion of awesome as the season progresses that makes me a Joss-fan.

dottikin | August 18, 20:09 CET

Eliza has a photo of Olivia's new hair up here. Erm, new haircut, that is.

gossi | August 18, 20:17 CET

I was expecting it would air here next year or something, were about half a year behind on Ugly Betty.

Progressive_Stupidity | August 18, 20:17 CET

Hmm... new hair is interesting considering Epitaph One. Maurissa and Jed talk about Topher's tidy hair and the past and messy hair in the future. If Olivia's gone short now, then the future flashbacks suggest she has to grow it again.

This musing is not nearly as clever as it sounded in my head.

flugufrelsarinn | August 18, 20:22 CET

In the future they don't have scissors: fact I just made up.

gossi | August 18, 20:26 CET

In the future, the more of you there is when you're an actual, the more actual you feel. So, you grow out your hair.

The One True b!X | August 18, 20:29 CET

I thought Olivia's hair was just tied back?

Progressive_Stupidity | August 18, 20:50 CET

I don't think Joss shot any Buffy in widescreen, but the actual camera recorded in widescreen so the UK DVD people put the raw footage on the DVD and called it widescreen.

The BBC broadcast it in widescreen too zz9 (from S4 onwards). It wasn't framed that way (so the "canonical view" as per Joss' wishes is 4:3 and there aren't any deliberately widescreen shots) but the masters allowed for it so when the BBC printed from them they printed it in widescreen. Likewise the R2 DVDs.

It's fair comment though, you can see widescreen as more than just an aspect ratio, if none of the shots are actually framed for widescreen then it's that in name only.

Nonetheless, the original point (in response to Jayme) stands - season 4 is no different to seasons 5-7 in that respect.

Saje | August 18, 21:16 CET

Although I think that Olivia Williams would look great with short hair, in this photo it just looks like her hair has been pulled back. But then I'm no hair expert. Far from it. And lucky gossi got to see these folks for real. Lucky gossi.

As for the language cutting, I had always thought that the UK was far more lenient about that kind of thing than the US is. Maybe it's a time slot thing? But the WB and UPN never showed Buffy any later than 8 or 9, did they? Interesting.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2009-08-18 21:30 ]

phlebotinin | August 18, 21:26 CET

Sure but a lot of the swearing in BtVS was by Spike i.e. it was British slang. 'Wanker', for instance (which Spike says a few times), may be more or less a non-word in the US but over here it's pretty rude. 'Bollocks' is less rude but probably still not "prime time".

In general we're more lenient but pre-watershed airings (i.e. before 9 pm) are generally cut more though it varies a lot by channel and Sci-Fi are among the worst for it. But i've seen airings on Sky1 for instance that massacre one of my favourite Buffy lines (S5's "We few, we happy few" ... "... we band of buggered") by cutting the "buggered" part ('bugger' is such a mild swear word in the UK that many people will say it in front of pretty much anyone - kids, grannies, vicars, you name it) and when watching the early showing of 'Chosen' on BBC2 (around 6:45 pm) I didn't actually know Amanda had died (because they cut the bit where we see her lifeless, bloodied face fall into shot) or that Spike had said "Oh bollocks" as the column of light hits him.

(by that point the Beeb were also re-airing episodes totally uncut, usually at around midnight, so I found out the next day)

ETA a couple of details

[ edited by Saje on 2009-08-18 21:43 ]

Saje | August 18, 21:41 CET

Channel 4 showed Angel at 6pm at the start. I think they might cut the episodes for swearing, violence etc.

Simon | August 18, 21:44 CET

Did Channel 4 ever finish broadcasting Angel?

flugufrelsarinn | August 18, 21:47 CET

Don't think so, they may shifted it a (far) later timeslot and then Five got a hold of it. Both channels didn't really know how to market it. Sky One, on the other hand, treated the show with the respect it deserved.

Simon | August 18, 21:50 CET

Ah, thanks for the lesson, Saje. You're right that a lot of the British swear words are considered more sort of cute and funny to American ears because they're not swear words here. But "band of buggered" would probably be a stronger thing here (in the US) than in your neck of the woods and it's made it through every airing I've seen of that ep, whether in the original prime time or in the afternoon repeats.

I wonder if any of the cable stations that have shown Angel here in the US before 6 p.m. (FX -- any others?) cut swearing/violence. I don't think so. Which: weird, because I always think of our Standards & Practices folks being fairly strong-armish.

Anyway, I think I'm kinda causing a digression from the main thrust of the thread. Apologies.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2009-08-18 21:52 ]

phlebotinin | August 18, 21:50 CET

I never really bothered with the broadcast on Channel 4 because they seemed to be messing it around so much. I just bought the VHS, and later the DVD.

flugufrelsarinn | August 18, 21:51 CET

Saw a few on Channel 4 but it bounced around a lot and had some very obvious, badly done cuts (for violence IIRC - in that regard we're much less lenient than the US, especially over head-butts bizarrely enough). Didn't seem worth it so I just kind of "back-burnered" it and then watched it on Sky1 later (where as Simon says, it was pretty well treated and in return produced pretty decent ratings, by their standards anyway).

Saje | August 18, 22:23 CET

When Channel 4 broadcast the first Angel episode ("City Of") they cut over 1 and a half minutes. Before the opening credits. It outraged uk.tv.angel, many of whom complained to Ofcom that the show contained occult themes in an attempt to get Channel 4 to move it a later slot. It worked - Channel 4 was forced to move the show due to a record number of complaints. However, upon moving to 11pm it had hardly any viewers left, so got shifted to 12am, 1am, 2am... Until Channel 4 cancelled it. Five picked it up years later.

Guess who used to post online back in those days :) Tim Minear also used to post, t'was good times.

gossi | August 18, 23:18 CET

How silly.. both of Channel 4 for thinking they could broadcast it that early (although I imagine they were trying to repeat the success BBC2 had with Buffy) and of the fans for forcing them to move it.

flugufrelsarinn | August 18, 23:25 CET

Selfishly I'm glad C4 chose to mess Angel around or I wouldn't have caught 'Five By Five' at about 2am and thus been sucked into everything Whedon.

Leaf | August 18, 23:55 CET

as I understand it, rules for decency on US cable are much more lax than those for over-the-air broadcast networks. So the episodes could air uncut even in the middle of the day.

Of course, this is just one of those things I think I know, without knowing why, so it's probably bollocks.

And gossi, you've met the dollhouse cast?

spooforbrains | August 19, 05:10 CET

They also had these ridiculous messages before each episode

Before episodes of Angel they used to have:
'Warning: This program contains vampires, demons and monster goo'

What I find really irritating is that Sci-Fi always cut out the making-out-on-the-table and ice-cream-licking scenes in IWRY! I understand why, (well, kinda, since we still see naked Angel standing at the fridge) but it still annoys me!

Shep | August 19, 12:45 CET

Showing people eating ice-cream is dangerously irresponsible, they're chalk full of saturated fats ! Luckily at least Sci-Fi cares about our children's arteries.

And frollicking about on tables sounds like a health and safety disaster just waiting to happen so again, thank-you Sci-Fi for protecting our nations' children.

Saje | August 19, 13:01 CET

August 18 2009