io9
Just because Eliza Dushku will be an amnesiac with occasional false personalities in Joss Whedon's new TV show Dollhouse, doesn't mean she won't have friends. A new casting sheet for Dollhouse includes a whole raft of morally gray characters, including friends, mentors, bosses and a love interest. Click through for a list of the show's characters.
A new Fox network show starting as soon as next fall, Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku as Echo, a "doll" who can take on any personality — including memories and abilities — she needs to complete a mission. When she's not on a job, Echo sits in her "dollhouse" in an amnesiac state. And here are her supporting cast. None of these parts have been cast yet (as far as we know), but here are the characters Joss has come up with:
- Adelle Dewitt, the forty-something ice queen who runs the Dollhouse where Echo and the other "dolls" stay while they're blanked out between missions. It sounds like she'll be creepy and unsavory.
- Paul Ballard, a thirty-something G-man who will become a sort of love interest for Echo (although will she remember him between gigs?).
- Boyd Langton, who's Echo's "handler" and a sort of father figure to her. Sort of the Giles to her Buffy.
- Topher Brink, the geek who programs Echo and the other "dolls," and may enjoy his mind-fucking work a little too much.
- Sierra, one of Echo's fellow "dolls" and the closest thing to a friend she has
- Victor, another "doll," who's amazingly handsome and who has to "play" everyone from Errol Flynn to Robert DeNiro on missions.
- November, another "doll," who's chubbier and more goofy. (She's compared to Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray.)
- Dr. Claire Sanders, a gorgeous older woman whom Topher is in love with.
Comments
I wish Eliza was holding my... um... ahem.
This program sounds amazing. It sounds original, with a n agile premise..Plenty of room for comedy and drama presented in an intelligent manner, created by proven talent.
I wonder how many weeks Fox will give it?
Will they talk really fast? Because that never gets old.
... The pitch on this one sounds weird, given that it's a Joss Whedon joint. I'm assuming for the moment that the 'dolls' will mount some sort of massive ass-kicking rebellion.
I think this concept was ripped off from a Piers Anthony trilogy. Orn & two other novels I can't remember the names of & am too lazy to look up.
@Miranda Kali: Not only that, they will play the episodes out of order and air the pilot last as the 'season finale'.
this does sound wonderful. I'm hoping this is one of those shows you can just tune in and the cast, scenerio, etc are all entirely new every episode (like say Twilight Zone or X Files.) there are just too many tv chronologies to follow right now and i prefer an open relationship with a series
@Miranda Kali:
[cynicism]I heard Fox felt the buzz was for it is too small and has already scheduled it's cancellation.[/cynicism]
Sorry pinafore, that sort of show has gone the way of the Variety show. Even your least episodic shows like CSI still have a few threads of continuity to keep up with.
@Gyrus: ah, well, there are always Law+Order SVU reruns
Fun Fact: Eliza Dushku's mom teaches Government at Suffolk University.
Sounds Like a winner. But why does Joss torture himself aligning with fox again.
@Plague: Both hands man... I would want her to use both hands.
@darthsodomizer:
Because, in robotic fashion, the rest of Hollywood can only mantra 'Lucas' and 'Spielberg'....
I guess I am the only one that think this is a rather stupid premise for a show then? I can't see how this will be any different than Alias or The Pretender but without the backgroud story for the main character. Show will tank IMO.
@Metropolis:
No. Most views (male) would rather use Eliza-bot be used for missions in their pants.
Alias with Fembots?
Wait wait wait wait wait.... Eliza Dushku is an ACTRESS?
@ManchuCandidate: Most viewers are male? I beg to differ, dorkboy.
TehnnHUTTT! At ease...
Ok, wow, never heard of her but I see she was in Buffy. Can someone who's watched the show recommend a season to start on? By all accounts the show gets a lot better, but I tried to watch the first season, but could not deal with it. I did not get the appeal at all, but want to give it another chance, as I really enjoyed Firefly.
@Annalee Newitz: And not all of those male viewers are straight!
Actually, considering how I and every other gay teenager looooooved Buffy back in the day, I'd say a lot of them aren't.
@Pham Nuwen: I always liked "Angel" better than "Buffy", and Eliza turned up a couple of times in season... um... 2? 3? 4?
@Pham Nuwen:
Eliza's delicious character "Faith" appeared and had her biggest storyline in Season Three (considered by most to be one of the 2 best seasons of the show).
She was in a 2 parter in Buffy S4, then a 2 parter of Angel S1 before being shelved until a 4 part appearance in Angel S4 and coming back for a lengthy arc in Buffy S7.
And yes, Buffy Season One kinda sucked, as sometimes happens with shows. But everything else was AMAZING.
premise sounds a bit like 'all my sins remembered' by joe haldeman.
do i get any scene points for this comment?
(it's a great read, btw!)
@CapnCalamity: Thanks! I will jump aboard on Season Two or Three then.
Reminds me of a book I read once... Let me find it.
... Can't find it.
It had these agents who could simulate anyone's personality as well as their genetic profile and appearance. After a while, some of the personality traits would start to stick. It ends with a multi-armed (And clawed!) revolution... Damn! Can't remember the name.
Yeah, every premise sounds like something you read or saw somewhere else. But since Joss Whedon is one of the few real geniuses working in the video medium his take on it will be a definitive one.
And for those that think this is something he thought up over lunch with Eliza, Echo is almost certainly River Tam (from Firefly) reborn into a contemporary Earth setting, but never getting sprung from confinement. Young woman, imprisioned in secret lab where they mess with her brain in order to make her into an agent/assassin/whatever. It's a story he's wanted to tell and been frustrated at every turn (it's the main arc of Firefly/Serenity).
Something I realized about the "Dollhouse" concept, what a brilliant idea. Joss may have managed to find a way to do episodic TV and still maintain an overall arc. This has always been one of the sticking points with the networks: how to get people to watch episode 5 of a Whedon show if they missed the first four and didn't understand what was going on. It seems that Joss may have discovered a way around this dilemma. The shows are inherently episodic (individual set pieces) but will undoubtly have an arc.
Joss's genius is not just as a writer, but his ability to cast the right people, hire great tech people and writers, and then get everything to gel into a finished product that is about as good as it gets. Can't wait.
@robocop_is_bleeding: I got an A in Government.
@Plague: Then you'd really have ED.
She looked better before the nose job, silly lady.
New Joss makes me giddy.
What is Joss Whedon's obsession with Eliza Dushku? Of all the crappy elements of Buffy, Faith was the worst. (Her catchphrase "five by five" was second worst.)
Cool concept but Eliza Dushku? She's a horrible casting choice. I can't think of a more uninteresting actress since that nobody fronting Bionic Woman.
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