11.13.09 By: Monika Bartyzel

As much as we all fervently and loyally love Joss Whedon, it's time to face facts: His mojo is off. It's not gone -- I'd never suggest such a thing. One look at Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the better episodes of Dollhouse prove that the magic is still there. However, it has lost its focus, writhing in the ether, struggling to gain the fame of his earlier television work -- fame that while never massive, was solid, loyal, and passionate.
With Dollhouse canceled, the question on everyone's mind is how can he get back to the success of Buffy? How can he shrug off the pain of two battles for ratings and second seasons, and present a show that ushers in a fandom rivaling what came before with Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander?
Hit the jump for 5 sure-fire ways to get Joss back on track.
1. Start with a Simple, Well-Thought-Out Concept
Dollhouse is confusing. It's not easy to relay to outsiders, and even as a fan, I would have a hard time truly boiling it down to its essence. But even more troubling -- it seems to constantly change as if the PTB aren't truly sure what the series should be, what path it should take. That is something that's clearly not Whedonesque. We're talking about the guy who slid references to Dawn and Buffy's death two years before they were slated to happen with the line "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0." The thing that made Buffy different than the shows that came after: Joss had time to mull it over and come up with a concrete plan. There were 5 years between the massacred film and Whedon's show. Five years to solidify his own ideas for the premise after it got turned into a fluff flick; five years to decide exactly what he wanted to say, and how.
Furthermore, while supernatural, the concept was simple: Discuss the growing pains of high school and other social issues with the help of demons. Real life in a surreal world. There wasn't a big cast and a convoluted plot to keep straight. We had Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander (and, increasingly and briefly, Cordelia), and as supporting cast members made their mark on the show and fan base, their contributions increased. That way, extra players were never confusing and never detracted from the plot because they'd already claimed their stake, and the audience wanted more. While the show did, indeed, grow, Buffy never needed time to get good. Episodes like "Angel" and "Prophecy Girl" hinted at the greatness to come, and the second season was an all-out powerhouse.
Very few people want to wait around while a show finds out what works.
2. Add a Solid Lead and Talented Co-Creator to Reign in the Crazies
When Joss is on, he's on. There is little in television that rivals the sheer awesomeness of Hush, Once More, with Feeling, or the felt-like-the-series-ender The Gift. These were the moments where a strong show became spectacular, and almost every awe-worthy moment came from Joss himself.
But there are times when you hear his vision and just don't get it. Having a demon take over Cordelia so she gets it on with the son of her love? Too soap opera terrible. Although sometimes, I admit, the weirdness is a case of fan short-sightedness. Initially, I didn't get his adoration of Amy Acker, but that was due to my dislike of Fred. Then Illyria came on the scene and things just clicked. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Eliza Dushku.As Faith, she breathed new life into Buffy, but she's just not the malleable actress Joss makes her out to be. "I got frustrated with all these crappy horror movies she was making like Wrong Turn and Soul Survivor... That last one broke me. I literally said, 'Eliza, let's have tea. I'd like to talk to you.' And I said, 'I love you. I think you have something that no other actor that I've worked with has. What the f**k are you making these movies for? Why are you doing this to me? You're killing me. I just think you're better than this.'" [IGN]
Good in certain roles, yes. A female Gary Oldman? No. If your lead, who you wrote the show around, doesn't seem SO. DEAD. ON. for the part, there's something wrong. A strong lead is essential, and having a co-creator there to act like a voice of the people can smooth the wrinkles. He needs someone who can spot when his adoration and admiration for his actors doesn't match with fan opinion, who can say hey -- it's not a good idea to go soap opera and add in the whiny character -- or who can spot the potential confusion in a premise and hone it to precision before filming. Like all of us, he needs an editor with a sense of the audience.
3. Start with a Small and Relatable Cast
Buffy was magic from the get-go because there was a small, endearing, and manageable cast to grow attached to. It was easy to move that into Angel -- the main characters were already established. Firefly got it half right -- some of the characters got their chance to be fleshed out and thrown into the halls of adoration while others couldn't even begin to compete -- too many, too soon. But Dollhouse -- how can you care for the stars of a show when half the cast plays automatons wiped on a daily basis?Joss needs to start simple and small and expand from there. If he found actors who can give the powerhouse performances -- like Alyson Hannigan's heart-breaking tears -- and give them the meat to make those talents shine, that would be half the battle right there. If you can't root for and love the show's characters, you're not going to stick around every week. You need a killer lead and a manageable supporting cast that can cover all the bases.
We need to care! Even in those filler episodes where swim dudes turn into fish or eggs take over people's brains, we've got to give 2 sh*ts about the people involved.
4. Find the Killer Dialogue
Dollhouse was also missing the great dialogue Joss was known for. Sunnydale, Los Angeles, and Space were all places for Whedon to mix the funny in with the serious, and there were always enough one-liners to go around.
What does a girl have to do to impress you? ... Well, it involves a feather boa and the theme to A SUMMER PLACE.
I have frog fear.
You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like woman, I'm a mystery.
I'm a rogue demon hunter now.
... Wow. What's a rogue demon?
We need to laugh and we need to cry. Dollhouse took itself too seriously. Funny moments were rare. That cup of pithy dialogue wasn't overflowing.
5. Get on a Good Network!!!
After Firefly and Dollhouse, I think we can say one thing for certain: the show is doomed if the channel steps in and starts changing around the order of the episodes. Influencing content is one thing (still worrisome!), but I still can't fathom why Fox likes to reorganize Joss' shows. This is not like The Twilight Zone, a series of stand-alone stories. You don't start at number 3. You start at 1. That's basic Kindergarten counting, Fox!Joss needs a network that will let him do his thing and not interfere (let the guidance come by way of super awesome co-creator). It's not like the interference works anyway. All it does is irk the fans who will be watching and make a show trying to find its footing fall before it ever has a chance to walk ... let alone run.
So, what should Joss take on next?
This is a tough call, but there are some options:
- Make Dr. Horrible into a bigger show with more villains and zaniness.- Zombies: A metaphor for the working class? Other forms of the undead could come in as the power behind the scenes that must be defeated.
- Give us more magic, but in a Giles/Ripper sort of way (yet with new characters and storyline).
- Anything that lets Amy Acker get dramatic. She is a great potential lead from Whedon's world.
What do you think the problems in the Whedonverse are, and how would you fix 'em?
Filed under: News/Reactions, Discussion Posts, Fan Lists
Tags: Buffy, Dollhouse, fandom, Firefly, Joss Whedon, JossWhedon, SciFi Squad, ScifiSquad









MLat 11-13-2009
You're right, I don't understand how Dushku is envisioned as a paragon of versatility. This quality must come across in person much better than it does via TV. Dichen Lachman has been so versatile as Sierra, I wonder whether she might have worked out better as Echo than Dushku. But, then, I find the Sierra/Victor arc the most compelling aspect of the show and hope to see much more both from Lachman and from Enver Gjokaj.
But building a series around a protagonist that has no defined personality is challenging at best. You might think, "I can write any kind of story!" but why are viewers going to come back? The person they cared about won't be there. Even with the Echo doll "broken," the growing continuity is so thready that it's hard to build empathy even when you know the backstory. And then there's the fascinating but icky moral quandaries that potentially repel portions of the audience ...
As to future directions, please, no zombies, I'm zombied out and I'd rather not have one of my favorite creators tackle that. Yikes! Hopefully no vampires either, heh. I won't suggest what he might want to do, but I wouldn't mind if he worked with James Marsters again. He'd done some challenging work on Buffy, but has been under-used (IMHO) since (what, too many shirtless scenes?). It would be terrific to see him in a role that required acting.
Ericat 11-13-2009
The biggest problem with the Whedonverse? That's easy: Joss Whedon suffers from the same creative malady as George Lucas.
To wit, he comes up with some great ideas, but as time goes by, he loses track of what made those ideas great in the first place. Take Firefly, for example. Don't get me wrong, I love the show...but to me, it seems clear that he grossly misapprehended what was interesting and compelling about the series. River? You're going to hang your hat on that bit of lazy writing? Really? No. What made Firefly great was the cast he/they assembled, and stories that showcased their different approaches to the problems they somehow always managed to work together to solve. River (and to a lesser extent, Echo) is Whedon's Ewok. Or worse, Gungan.
Also, Dr Horrible proved that Whedon is capable of doing something other than indulging his fascination with magically/mysteriously powerful young women. It would be nice to see him continue to explore things beyond that tired trope.
Feliciaat 11-16-2009
Tired trope of powerful young women? Really? I would say that hasn't been done enough. I would hate for Joss Whedon to totally move away from that when he does it so well and is often the only one doing it.
Mattat 11-16-2009
Firefly was never about River - Serenity may have been about what River "witnessed" but the main story arc was never about her. Do you forget Book's hidden past? Or all the various character development in Jayne? How about Inara's childhood? All of these were obvious stories that should have been developed but the chance never occured. The biggest problem with Firefly was FOX. Maybe Whedon could have gone too far by season 3 (probably 4), but these characters were rich and deep and no single movie could ever give it justice.
I will never forgive FOX for ruining it and thus never finding out about Book (if we ever would) or Inara's past.
Midnight13at 11-13-2009
I disagree with the critcism of Eliza Dushku. She is a fine enough actress. Neither the best and far from the worst out there. And to me it seemed that people don't give Whedon a chance unless he's doing something related to "Buffy". We as a fanbase generally speaking want Whedon to give us something familiar and not allow him to try something different. Sometimes I hate fans of series' I like. Who only want to the same thing from them. People are still talking about a Faith spin-off. Outside of the Fox network thing. I disagree with a lot of this post because it just seems to want more of the same from him.
Astinat 11-14-2009
I agree with the Dushku criticism. She's shown to be a very limited actress who does very will within those boundaries. But Dollhouse exposed her lack of range, and when the roll calls for you to be a completely different character every week, that's not a shortcoming you want. Maybe if an unbiased partner had been involved from the start, they would have steered the casting to someone with the range required as opposed to just a love of an actress.
I'd love to see Horrible expanded, but it would really need to find a good home that would accept it and nurture it. A major network would kill it quickly, as it's too quirky to hit the mainstream numbers the big names demand. It also falls into #1 - he's had some time to develop the property and get an idea where to go with it.
He's also regularly shown a rather dark side - Angelus, Reavers, the end of Dr. Horrible, etc.. I wonder if someone would let him do a series or movie that is all dark if he wanted...
Jenat 11-15-2009
I wouldn't place all the blame on Eliza Dushku. In Dollhouse Echo and Ballard are out protagonists and also the dullest characters on the show. But they tend to get more interesting when they're the side characters in other characters' stories. Joss's strength is in *ensemble.* Put too much focus on one lead, and things stagnate fast.
space oddityat 11-17-2009
Agreed. The best episdoes have been the ones where Echo and Ballard were NOT the focus of the story.
Raymond Woodsat 11-15-2009
Brilliant artical Miss Bartyzel. Unlike most people I fell in love with Joss not through his televsion show but through his feature film Serenity. Brilliant is all I have to say about that. When that was done I immediately started to look for other work from this guy. I saw some earlier tv. stuff (buffy, angel, firefly) which I would check out eventually but when I had more time. Now I wanted film. Unfortunately I found none. All I found was some blogs and a yet to be seen film name goners. This dude is amazing but sheesh...hes shortchanging himself with this blog stuff. Start writing and directing more feature films. Maybe he's not suceeding in tv. anymore because his visions have grown two grand for the small screen. Given the choice right now I would rather see a Buffy the vampire slayer movie done by joss than having to go back and start weeding through all the season. I say he should only executive produce tv from now on and step into the big director shoes that are waiting for him.
aaronat 11-16-2009
why don't you just write a show following your own advice here. maybe you can get a mtg with joss and pitch it so he can use his cred to get the pilot made.
Eerie Lunaroseat 11-16-2009
I came into Dollhouse a bit late, but as I was watching the first season (on DVD, apparently a blessing), I personally thought that some of Eliza Dushku's performances for Echo-as-an-imprinted-persona were extremely believable. I was not taken out of the show by her performances at any point I can recall, so I think if anything made getting into the show difficult it was the very premise itself, not a failure of the actress. Me? I liked Echo, I've rooted for her. I also got very quickly attached to Sierra and Viktor, personally.
I do agree that the series could probably have benefited, ratings-wise, from a little more humor or at least snappy dialogue; Fran Kranz's Topher seemed to be the only character written with a real sense of humor for the first few episodes, and there's no way one cast member could inject the apparently always expected humor into this rather intense show to lighten it up at the most useful points.
I am sad this was canceled because I like serious shows, shows which explore interesting and rather out-there concepts, shows which require thought to follow. Fox does not seem to feel the same unless that is what would get them ratings, and after Firefly and this? Fox has entirely lost my support as a network. There is no point in being a major network that takes chances on interesting show concepts if you aren't going to give them a true, fair shot.
On a side note, I am glad to see that there is someone else out there who was not enchanted with the character of River. She was my least favorite character in Firefly/Serenity. I like Summer Glau, she did great in the role and what was likeable about River was much credited to her Strange Adorable factor, but while I don't find her nearly as annoying as Gungans, the character concept always came across as an example of lazy writing indeed, although I must admit she had moments (reaction to Book's hair being my favorite).
I would love to see anything from Joss Whedon about zombies, I would also love to see something further in the Horrible universe. I don't want anything more that is Buffy related in any means manner shape or form, unless it's just a return of the Buffy-level of snappy dialogue (which was just as present in Firefly really, and sadly did not save it). And I like Amy Acker but not enough to want to push her into a leading role. As long as it's not Summer Glau, though, I will be happy, because currently she feels a little overplayed to me, but that could just be personal River-resentment. Maybe it's time to exalt some new relatively unknown. I know there's lots of talented young actresses out there. Or, you know, maybe make the lead a guy for a change, as would be suggested by a return to Dr. Horrible. Fun thoughts, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
nataliaat 11-16-2009
I pretty much agree with what you've written. The fans (myself included) tend to blame Fox at once, and they are to blame (especially when they air episodes in different orders and demand the shows to have a different feeling than the intended, etc), but Joss needs to take a step away from his creation and see if it works outside his own brain.
Dollhouse was not a bad show, and the network gave it time to develop. Maybe people were just not interested in watching after the first season ended?
I do think Eliza Dushku was to weak to lead this show. I know the show was developed around her, it was HER deal with Fox, but she played every single character in the same way, and event he way she walked was the same for everybody! Sure, she's not a terrible actress, but when you surround her character Echo with others like Adelle, Topher, Boyd, Victor, Sierra and Claire... well, your lack of skills? they're gonna show.
I think this show would've done so much better with Amy Acker as the lead. What a fantastic performance! And I was never a fan of hers before.