Watching The CW

Alright, I know it was a couple of days ago now, but I needed to wait a bit, watch the episode a few times, digest it all. Now I’m ready to give my review of Dollhouse. (It is fun to say, Dollhouse, Dollhouse, Dollhouse.) If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, then you might not have heard of Joss Whedon’s new show on Fox, which premiered Friday at 9:00 pm. The premise is people who volunteer (or perhaps they are drafted) to become Actives for a certain time period. They have their personality and memories wiped clean and are then imprinted with other personalities and abilities and are hired out to very wealthy people to perform tasks for them. (OK, I’m not telling it right. You should watch it to see what I mean.)

First off, I admit that I do see everything through Joss colored glasses, but that doesn’t change the fact that Dollhouse is a good show. Actually, its the least Jossy of all his shows and, in my opinion, has the strongest pilot episode. There were some definite This-Is-Joss moments (and yes, that is all in capitals) but then there were also some parts where you just knew the network had its grubby little fingers in there, messing about with what Joss wanted to do. Somehow, the dance scene at the beginning strikes me as one of those parts. But the fact that Echo (Eliza Dushku) is wearing the shortest ever dress (and when I say short, I mean short short, really short) makes me think that this is Joss saying, Oh yeah?

I could point to a lot of other Jossness. I can tell you which characters remind me of others in the Jossverse. I can use this kind of Jossspeak all day long. I can also alienate everyone who isn’t a Jossgroupie like me. But I think this is a show that is going to appeal to a much wider audience than other Whedon shows, not only because it’s not about vampires or cowboys in space, but because it’s a great show with a lot of potential. It has all the feel of an action thriller with the ability to have a new and exciting premise each week. The characters are well-defined, but still have room to grow and find out who they are. The acting is strong and believable.

Some parts were amazing, others only so-so, but all of it was interesting and attention grabbing. I’m really looking forward to what comes next. I’m not going to recap the episode, cause I think you need to see it for yourself. So go watch it on Hulu. And, if you like it, which you will, Digg it, then tell everyone else about it so they will watch it with us next Friday. If you don’t like it, then in that case, go do something else, like gardening or fly fishing, and please keep your opinions to yourself.