Welcome back to TV or Not TV where I am now very pleased with Dollhouse.
Even though I have close ties to the show I have to admit that I wasn’t thrilled with the premiere when it aired on 2/13. The show was good, it told a story, but there was something that was missing from the mix. It is one of those things that is most annoying because it is very hard to put a finger on what was missing, aside from the trade mark blend of drama and humor that is usually injected into a Joss Whedon project. There was also something in the storytelling that just felt forced. Even after re-watching I still couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was that was bothering me.
After seeing this past week’s episode of Dollhouse I can definitely say that whatever it was that I felt was missing is new present. From what I have read and from what I have heard this past episode, titled The Target, was the original pilot of the show (with some changes I’m sure to accommodate last week’s episode Ghost) and it certainly served the purpose of explaining what the show is and what it is about. It fleshed out for us why Boyd Langton was brought to be the handler for Echo, it made the tech Topher Brink far less annoying, and FBI Agent Paul Ballard came across as a much stronger character than what we saw in Ghost.
Another thing we were given was a real bad guy to watch out for in the form of Active gone bad Alpha, who sees something more to Echo than what we see on the surface. Alpha also appears to be a bad guy who is also on a mission since he appears to be manipulating things to enhance the FBI discovery of the Dollhouse as well as setting up the chain of events that made up the entire episode of The Target.
The pilot for the show was just an appetizer. This past episode for a full meal. It set things up AND sets them in motion. This episode I walked away from very satisfied.
I suppose what I am trying to say is that if you gave Dollhouse a chance and didn’t come back for more, you might want to reconsider.
Now that we’ve gotten that bit out of the way let’s see what the week holds for us.
MONDAY
AMC – 8:00 PM: It’s Dirty Harry week on AMC and tonight they are running the one that started it all with Harry Callahan going up against the Zodiac inspired Scorpio killer.
NBC – 9:00 PM: Parkman uses his mind powers to make HRG spill the beans on why he is helping with the capture of those with abilities. I’m hoping they treat this like Parkman walking through revealing events in Noah’s mind but I’m sure they’ll just give us more of the flashback style crud.
TUESDAY
ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX – 9:00 PM E / 6:00 PM P: Join me as the nation holds its breath while waiting to hear what our President has to say in his first official State of the Union address.
TNT – 10:00 AM: If you haven’t caught the TNT show Leverage than you can watch an all-day marathon leading up to the 10 PM finale.
AMC – 8:00 PM: Tonight Harry Callahan is going up against vigilante cops in Magnum Force.
WEDNESDAY
ABC – 9:00 PM: Ever since I learned the names of the episodes this season for LOST the one I’ve really been looking forward to is The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. Tonight we find out what Locke did before taking his lined pine box nap.
AMC – 8:00 PM: Still haven’t gotten your Dirty Harry fill? The Enforcer had rocket-armed radicals and hostages on Alcatraz long before The Rock existed.
THURSDAY
SCIFI – 7:00 PM: I have no idea why SciFi is running four hours of Battlestar Galactica from last year, but four hours BSG is still four hours of BSG.
NBC – 8:00 PM: If you didn’t pick up the Kung Fu Panda DVD set than tonight is your chance to see Secrets of the Furious Five for the low low price of nothing (if you can handle commercial interruptions).
HIST – 10:00 PM: Get ready for the second season of Ax Men with the Road to Season 2. Nothing says, “I feel very unmanly” more than this show.
AMC – 8:00 PM: Faster than you can say, “Go ahead. Make my day.” it’s time for Sudden Impact.
FRIDAY
VHI1 – 6:00 PM: Black to the Future is a four part series that takes a look at contributions of the black community to pop culture from the 80’s through today.
BET – 8:00 PM: Although the social commentaries on race seemed shoe horned in to the movie I still found Inside Man to be very clever movie.
AMC – 8:00 PM: Dirty Harry is back for one last film as he protects a newswoman and others on a celebrity hit list in The Dead Pool.
SATURDAY
AMC – 8:00 PM: Blazing Saddles followed by Caddyshack? It’s like my childhood memories are responsible for programming AMC tonight.
SUNDAY
NBC – 7:00 PM: Andy Samburg hosts Saturday Night Live Short Films, a look back at a lot of the shorts, commercial parodies and other pre-taped bits from the shows run. Seriously, the guy who brought us Laser Cats is the best candidate to host this?
LIFE – 8:00 PM: Rosie O’Donnell plays a psychiatrist who helps a troubled boy in the foster care system in America.
NBC – 9:00 PM: Show producers once again stretch the term celebrity with another edition of The Celebrity Apprentice. I don’t know what is more shocking, Joan Rivers appearance or that they still call Andrew Dice Clay a celebrity.
– Will Wilkins wrote this from the beauty of South Lake Tahoe.
Comments: None
Leave a Reply |