Duh! News of the Week

Duh! News- stuff that happened this week that was really no surprise to anyone

Glee was picked up for a full season- obviously, its easily one of the most anticipated American shows in years and has easily had the most promotion. The last 9 episodes will start filming in January and air in March. :( thats a long time to wait- luckily we have the next 9 to keep us entertained in the mean time


Glee was picked up by E4 in the UK- obviously there's really no other channel for it here. ITV2 and Sky1 were the only other options but Sky1 likes big, epic programmes and ITV2 isn't really known for picking up quality programming (apart from Entourage obviously!!) There was no confirmed air date or even month which means it might be a while before its shown here.

The Beautiful Life was cancelled after 2 episodes- whilst the swiftness of the axe is a little surprising, the fact that it happened really isn't, it looked like a terrible show with a terrible premise and was plagued with problems from the start.

Neil Patrick Harris was awesome whilst presenting last week's Emmy's- I don't watch HIMYM but he's great on Dr Horrible, so he was bound to be good. Plus he had to be better than last year's awkward reality TV hosts performance.

Problems with the Dollhouse
I found this really interesting Zap2It article on one writer's take on the problems with the first season of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. I have to say I think he's pinpointed the main issues with the show.
Now I'm a big Joss Whedon fan, Buffy, Angel and Firefly are some of my favourite TV shows and I think with Buffy and Firefly/Serenity he changed the face of TV forever (with Buffy he changed the way genre's were melded within shows and Firefly became the first cancelled TV show to become and film- therefore triggering fans of every cancelled TV show to now start campaigns for their prematurely ended TV shows to be made into a movie/comic book).

However despite these reasons meaning that he has earned his place in the TV Fame of Hall as a TV genius, his latest creation has not been as entertaining as his last 3. There are many excuses for this- network interference, too heightened expectations, Buffy's first season wasn't good either so give it time, but this article does look at many of the underlying issues for the show and I think he's pretty fair. The article is a bit spoilery for the first episode of season 2 so I'll give the main points here along with some commentary. Although if you don't mind a few spoilers the article really is very interesting as are some of the comments.

• The Dollhouse and its engagements seldom make sense.- The one that got me was the midwife- why would you spend all that money, when you can get someone much cheaper, whose probably just as qualified?? The constant escort engagements are a little dull as well, alright for the first few episodes but they need to come up with some more creative engagements

• Eliza Dushku's acting isn't up to the role.- This oneI totally agree with. She was great in Buffy and Angel but I think she's better in a supporting or ensemble role. I don't mean that in a harsh way but she's not great as a lead where she's require to take on multiple personalities. I think this show would be better as an ensemble.

• The writing isn't as good as what we should expect from Whedon's series.- There are definitely some instances where this is true, but it's always so.

• There's a fine line between sexy and sexist, and "Dollhouse" often falls on the wrong side.- Yeah I'm a little tired of all Dushku's skimpy outfits, I know they need to get ratings but as the article points out she's pretty enough to fulfill teenage boys fantasy's without needing to be half naked all the time

• "Epitaph One." The problem with this awesome episode is that it actually would have better served as a series finale. Plus the article points out that the future could and I think should be changed or its a little boring that we know what future the Dollhouse is headed for

• Hope for season two?- Personally I hope this second season can step up like Buffy did in it's second season. I want to see more of the other characters and less of Echo and Paul - who are quite frankly dull together. I think having Epitaph One factor into the show will be interesting, but it sucks that it wasn't shown meaning that the show will have to pander to those who didn't see the episode, even though the majority of the watcher's will have by now (legally or otherwise). Whatever happens, Dollhouse will need to improve or definitely face the axe this season.