Poniewozik's review is cautiously optimistic about the show's potential -

It was both better and worse than I expected, in different ways... Yes, this is certainly Joss Whedon trying to do What People Think Works on Broadcast TV Today—the legendary serial-procedural hybrid. But the first episode—in which Echo is imprinted with a kidnapping-negotiator's personality to secure the return of a rich man's abducted daughter—is well enough written to be absorbing. Writing a crime hour doesn't seem like Whedon's thing, but the episode is tight, suspenseful, with intriguing psychological twists and flashes of Whedonesque humor.

- but also entirely aware of the possible drawbacks of the series:

Dollhouse as conceived (a heroine plays a different "person" every week) is less a series concept than an actress' showcase, a sort of extreme version of an Alias undercover premise. (In fact, the reports of how the show was conceived have said that Dushku essentially broached the idea as a showcase.) And the actress being showcased is Eliza Dushku. Now, I have nothing against Dushku. I thought she was fine on Buffy. But she's not exactly Toni Collette (who's playing a multiple-personality case on Showtime's The United States of Tara, which I have not seen). Watching her inhabit her imprinted "personality"—a tough negotiator with secret vulnerabilities—I did not see her becoming another person. I thought: Oh, look! There's Eliza Dushku with glasses and her hair in a bun!

As someone who suffered through as much Tru Calling as I could handle (That'd be about ten minutes, if you're curious), I have to concede Poniewozik's point. After all the back-and-forth about shooting delays because of scripts not being good enough, will its star ultimately be its undoing?

Image from Entertainment Weekly.

I Have Seen Dollhouse [Tuned In]

Show creator Glen Larson hired Star Wars special effects lead John Dykstra to create BSG's look, which apparently was just a bit too Star Wars for comfort. Fox, which produced Star Wars, sued BSG studio Universal for copyright infringement. The Time magazine article seems to think the suit is justified, pointing out all the ways that the original show blatantly ripped off characters like Han Solo (Starbuck), Luke (Apollo) and Darth Vader (Baltar). (By the way, Universal counter-sued, claiming that Fox had ripped Star Wars off from its own 1972 movie Silent Running.)

You'd never see comparisons with Star Wars today, after years of prequels to the original Star Wars movie changed the franchise from heroic quest to byzantine, misguided political allegory. Plus, the Ron Moore/David Eick created reboot of BSG is clearly original — there are no Darth Vader ripoffs here. BSG's origins may have been well-funded, but they are nevertheless humble by comparison with what the franchise later became.

Small-screen Star Wars [Time]