Auf NPR haben sie Nathan, den Chef von dollhouseforums.com interviewt. Nathan hat sich ja damals schnell von dem "Save Dollhouse"-Terminus verabschiedet. Die Medien haben es aber schon aufgeschnappt, und jetzt - damage done - wird er interviewt, erklärt es als "Hype Dollhouse", die Nachfrage formuliert es auf "Save" um, und.... er stimmt zu. Come on, Nathan! Das muss flotter kommen. Aber gegen Ende hin, biegt er's noch halbwegs grad.

Ich hatte ja n bisschen Angst vor dem Moment, schließlich wurde Alan Balls True Blood-Pilot auch herzlichst verrissen, aber... first it comes different and second than you thought.

What works: One would think that with so many plots, relationships, themes and dynamics at play "Dollhouse" would be a convoluted mess. Instead it turns out to be the exact opposite: this could be Whedon's most accessible work to date. Sure the above summary may sound like a giant info dump but in practice it's cleverly set up. From Adelle's "pitch" to Ballard's investigation to (presumably) Dushku's performance, there's more than a few entry points into the show's mechanizations. It's also much more than preaching to the converted (although don't worry Whedonites - that's the term right? - it will be like Christmas morning for you guys) as the show tackles its themes in a way no other Whedon work to date has. Questions about what memory is, how it defines us, what they are doing with it, etc. weigh heavily on the characters' minds, not to mention their conversations. Is Topher just a "programmer" earning his paycheck? Or is he a willful participant in some kind of torture? These of course being in addition to the expected mythology questions like - What is the Dollhouse's objective? Who are these people that volunteered to give their bodies and minds up for five years ("after which they will be blissfully ignorant and very wealthy," explains Topher early on)? These alone would be reasons for checking the show out. But wrapped in Whedon's signature dialogue (Boyd: "If this isn't the second coming or giant bats I'm gonna kick your tiny boy ass. Topher: "Giant bats would be awesome.") and storytelling - there's no reason not to check it out.

What doesn't: I would usually say all that's left is for Whedon, Dushku and company to bring this script to life, but the early clips shown during FOX's upfront seem to confirm what we already know...

The bottom line: ...this one's a keeper.

So, und nach dem tiefen Durchatmen geht's nun zu neuen Infos, die da drin versteckt sind:

SPOILER (mark it to read it)

• Dr. "Claire "The Phantom" Saunders". The Phantom! Außerdem: "who's glimpsed but not actually seen in the pilot, at least according to the script"
• "[Paul's] getting some help from the inside in the form of an envelope containing a picture of a sorority girl named Caroline... who we know as Echo." Gleich mal Firewaters The Ponzi Scheme auspacken...

Anscheinend:

ABC and CBS sold about $2.5 billion this year, up from last year's take of $2.4, but Fox was the big winner with a rate increase of 9-10%. The network that's bringing us both 24 and Dollhouse in the same night sold $2 billion of their advertising time during the upfronts for the first time in the company's history, up from $1.8 last year.