Valley of the Dolls, Part Two: Joss Whedon Talks "Man on the Street" and "Needs" Episodes of "Dollhouse"

A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to participate in a press call with Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon, who was answering questions about the series beyond the first initial episodes.

As Whedon had promised, Dollhouse would kick into gear with the "game-changing" episode "Man on the Street," which featured Patton Oswalt as a Dollhouse client with a specific need for Echo's skills as an Active.

While you were able to read the first part of the Dollhouse interview with Whedon here, I had to bank certain elements of his answers until the last three episodes had aired. Below you'll find what wasn't included the first time around as Whedon talks specifically about "Man on the Street" and Friday night's episode of Dollhouse, entitled "Needs."

As for why I couldn't include this information the first time around, it's because it's really spoilery. (Or maybe I did include it and just had Topher wipe your memory.)

Without further ado, here's what Whedon had to say about some of the twists revealed in the last three episodes.

Are we supposed to be wondering, after seeing "Man on the Street," if Echo really was compromised or if her efforts to reach Paul actually were just part of Adelle’s plan?

"You can go ahead and wonder that," teased Whedon, "but for now, I’d take it at face value."

In "Needs," when Sierra goes to the see Nolan (Vincent Ventresca), whom she says is who put her in the Dollhouse, should the audience walk away believing that he actually sold her into slavery?

"More or less," said Whedon. "I wouldn’t even say sold, so much as kidnapped. Her situation is by far the worst of anyone’s. How complicit the Dollhouse was in that, how much they actually knew about her past, we don’t go to in the episode, but what actually happened to her is just as appalling as anybody’s story."

Adelle tries to argue in "Needs" that most of the dolls are there voluntarily and the Dollhouse is performing a beneficial service for them by wiping out these other memories. But, even though this might be true in the case of November, does that continue to make the show uncomfortable or decrease the "ick factor"?

"I don’t know, maybe. It makes me uncomfortable," admitted Whedon. "I’m not going to lie. But for me, it’s part of what we’re dealing with. We’re dealing with people who have power and are abusing it and people who don’t and are trying to regain it. [...] In the instance of November, I think [Adelle] is providing a service or in the instance of, as we’ll find out, Victor might be providing a service that somebody is looking for. And then in other instances, that is going to be abused and the 'ick factor' gets very high. It seems to get high with Sierra quite a bit, I’m sorry to say, poor girl. She really gets put through it. But it’s not something we feel that we can shy away from without being a little hypocritical."

"The Patton Oswalt thing [in "Man on the Street"] was an attempt to address the humanity of it," continued Whedon, "the beauty of somebody who wants something with context as opposed to something that is purely sexual and then have Paul Ballard just completely not be convinced by any of it, just again and again, just hit him with it to say no, but that doesn’t matter to show the two completely opposing viewpoints and articulate both of them."

Now that we know there is actually 20 Dollhouses out there, will the series be cutting away to any of these other Dollhouses?

"We do get to see one of the higher ups and we talk about the other Dollhouses," said Whedon. "We didn’t want to do a Italian Wolfram and Hart gag, where we just use the same set and fill it with Italians. No, it’s one of my favorite things he ever did, but that’s because Angel was a lot sillier. So as the economy started to take a toll on our budget, that and the fact that we’ve thrown out our pilot, we hunkered down. So, no, you will not see Dollhouse: Tokyo in this season, but, boy, I’d like to.

"Dollhouse: Miami," joked Whedon about where the series would go. "It looks like we, glasses off, have got a doll."

Dollhouse airs Friday evenings at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Channel Surfing: Elizabeth Mitchell, Alan Tudyk, and Laura Vandervoort Spell "V," Mary McDonnell Heads to "The Closer," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) has been cast in ABC drama pilot V, a retelling of the cult 1980s sci-fi series. But before we start to mourn the passing of Juliet, it's worth noting that Mitchell will guest star in the sci fi pilot, from Warner Bros. Television, and not star in it, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files) Meanwhile, Visitorsite.net has confirmed that Mitchell will play Erica Evans, a single mother and an FBI Counter-Terrorism agent. (Visitorsite)

Editor's note: Having read the script, I can say with all authority that Erica is far from being a "guest star" in the pilot; in fact she's one of the lead roles and as intrinsic to the plot of the pilot episode as Jacqueline McKenzie's Diana Skouris was to The 4400. In fact, she's the very first character we meet in the draft of the script I read... What this truly means for Elizabeth Mitchell's Juliet remains to be seen, but given that Lost is heading into its final season next season and Juliet doesn't appear in every single scene, it's likely a good thing that Mitchell is exploring her long-term options. (Translation: let's not get hysterical yet.)

Also cast in the sci-fi drama pilot: Alan Tudyk (Firefly), who will play FBI Agent Dale Maddox, and Smallville star Laura Vandervoort, who will play Visitor Lisa, a flirty tour guide aboard the Los Angeles Visitor mothership. They join the previously cast Joel Gretsch, Morena Baccarin, Morris Chestnut, Scott Wolf, and David Richmond-Peck. (Visitorsite)

Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) has been cast in a multiple-episode story arc on TNT's The Closer, where she will play Christina Hatcher, a police captain who runs the department's Force Investigation unit, and causes problems for Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda. Her first episode is expected to air early in the fifth season of The Closer. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Pilot casting alert: Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot The Bridget Show opposite Lauren Graham; Julia Ormond (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has been tapped as a lead on CBS medical drama pilot Three Rivers, where she will play the head of surgery at Three Rivers Hospital; Matthew Davis (Damages) has scored the male lead in ABC drama pilot Limelight, where he will play the interim artistic director of the performing arts academy; Gabrielle Union (Night Stalker), Brian Austin Green (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Jay Hernandez (Six Degrees), and Jenny Wade (Reaper) will star in the CW's drama pilot Body Politic; Majandra Delfino (Roswell) has been cast as one of the three leads in ABC comedy pilot Pulling (based on the UK series); Grant Show (Swingtown) and Lennon Parham (Confessions of a Shopaholic) have been cast in CBS comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose; Yvette Nicole Brown (Drake and Josh) and Gillian Jacobs (The Book of Daniel) have been added to the cast of NBC comedy pilot Community; and Nat Faxon (Happy Hour) and Kelen Coleman (CSI: New York) have been cast in CBS comedy pilot Big D. (Hollywood Reporter)

Holt McCallany (Heroes) been cast as the lead in FX drama pilot Lights Out, about a former heavyweight boxing champ who is diagnosed with pugilistic dementia, a neurological disorder that affects boxers who receive multiple blows to the head," and has to find another way to support his wife and three daughters. Clark Johnson (The Wire) will direct the pilot, which was written by Justin Zackham and Phillip Noyce (The Bucket List). Production is expected to begin next month in New Jersey. (Hollywood Reporter)

Is NBC bracing for problems with new comedy series Parks and Recreation, from executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur? Nikki Finke has obtained a copy of a "Consumer And Market Intelligence Research Summary" (read: focus group report) from the rough cut of the pilot episode. Finke has some exerpts from the 12-page report that point to some potential problems within the episode. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Speaking of Daniels and Schur, Upright Citizen's Brigade member Ellie Kemper has been cast on NBC's The Office, where she will play the new Dunder Mifflin receptionist. What this means for Jenna Fischer's Pam remains to be seen. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

SCI FI Wire has an interview with Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ronald D. Moore, who says that he is "very satisfied" with the series finale, which aired Friday evening. As for the controversial fate of Kara Thrace, Moore said: "You can certainly say that she's an angel or a demon or some other form of life. We know from the show that she died a mortal death, she was brought back to life in some way, and then she fulfilled a certain destiny and guided them all to Earth. What does that mean? And who is she really? It was a conscious creative decision to say, "This is as much as we're going to tell you, and she's connected to some greater truth." The more we try to answer what that greater truth is, the less interesting it becomes, and we just decided to leave it more of a mystery. I am sure that there will be a cadre of people who are angry that they never got a more definitive answer, but we just decided not to do that." (SCI FI Wire)

Roseanne Barr is said to be developing a family comedy pilot for FOX in which she would play the family's matriarch. Project, written by Jim Vallely (Arrested Development), will be executive produced by Barr, Caryn Mandabach, and Maggie Rowe. (Hollywood Reporter)

DirecTV's 101 Network will air three canceled Warner Bros. Television series from the mid-2000s. A deal between the satellite platform and Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution will see Smith, The Nine, and Eyes air on the 101 Network, including episodes that were never aired on broadcast television. Smith will launch on Wednesday, April 8th at 10 pm; The Nine will premiere May 27th, and Eyes will debut in July. All three series will air in high definition without commercial interruption. (Variety)

Executive producer/showrunner Alexa Junge has left Showtime's comedy series United States of Tara, which was recently picked up for a second season. No reason was given for Junge's decision not to continue with the Diablo Cody-created series and a search is currently underway to find her replacement. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sci Fi UK has acquired UK rights to 20th Century Fox Television's Dollhouse, from Buffy creator Joss Whedon, and NBC Universal's Knight Rider. "We're dedicated to offering our audience the most exciting content available and are thrilled to become the UK home for two such highly anticipated series," said Jon Farrar, programming director for NBC Universal Global Networks, in a statement. "Knight Rider and Dollhouse both hail from fine pedigrees, clearly reflected in their superior production values. "The special effects in both series are genuinely show-stopping and likely to be the subject of many water-cooler moments for fans, who have the added choice of watching in either standard or high definition." (The Guardian)

Back in the States, Sci Fi has ordered three four-hour mini-series from RHI, including two that will serve as backdoor "pilots" for potential series. The cabler has ordered a modern re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, from writer/director Tim Willing (Tin Man) that is expected ti air this winter; a new take on classic comic-book hero The Phantom; and Riverworld, based on a series of Philip Jose Farmer fantasy novels that follow a photojournalist who is transported to a strange world inhabited by everyone who has ever lived on Earth. The latter two are expected to air in 2010. (Hollywood Reporter)

Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham has signed an "all-encompassing" deal with Comedy Central that will include six episodes of a new series to star Dunham (and his puppets) that will begin shooting this summer and will air next year. (Variety)

FOX has ordered another season of Gordon Ramsay's reality series Kitchen Nightmares, which will air next season. The network is also expected to shortly announce that the new cycle of Hell's Kitchen will air this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Nikki Finke is reporting that ABC/ABC Media Studios will begin pinkslipping employees next week in the wake of the merger between the network and studio sides of their business. Finke claims that Steve McPherson won't be around when the axe falls as he's due to meet with the NYC-based sales team and many believe that he's "getting out of town when the ax comes down in order to avoid witnessing the bloodbath he created," writes Finke. "Which would be contemptible enough even if he hadn't publicly scolded Ben Silverman to 'be a man' when their mutual friend Kevin Reilly was fired at NBC Entertainment with no advance warning." Ouch. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Travel Channel has ordered twelve episodes of reality series Worldwide Tribe, which follows tattooing practices around the world, from Nepal and Japan to Israel and Spain. Series, from Alchemy Reality and executive producers Mike Beale, Adena Chawke, Craig Borders, Elizabeth Browde, will be hosted by tattoo artists Chris Nunez and Ami James (who will also executive produce) and "apprentice" Yoji Harada. (Variety)

Courtney Thorne-Smith (According to Jim), Lucy Hale (Privileged), and Faith Ford (Carpoolers) will star in Lifetime telepic Sorority Wars, about a freshman who finds herself immersed in a "full-blown sorority war" when she snubs the sorority founded by her mother. Project is written by Michelle Lovretta (To Be Fat Like Me) and will be directed by James Hayman (Ugly Betty). (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Valley of the Dolls: Joss Whedon Discusses "Man on the Street" Episode of "Dollhouse"

Tonight's episode of Dollhouse on FOX? It's the Joss Whedon-scripted "Man on the Street," the series' sixth installment and the one episode which many are holding up as the first time the dark drama series really hits its stride.

To promote this all-important episode, Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon participated in a conference call with press and answered some questions that were lingering in the minds of both audience members and journalists alike: will we ever see any of the Dollhouse's employees' personal lives, do some of the engagements (ahem, midwife) that Echo is assigned to make sense, and where's the trademark Whedon sense of humor? Will Whedon really leave television behind for new media?

And, yes, Joss addressed all of those questions and more. (You can read Whedon's earlier comments, made prior to Dollhouse's premiere, here.)

Given that tonight's episode, "Man on the Street" better represents Whedon's vision for Dollhouse, what was it like writing the script for this installment?

"I wrote it faster than anything I’d ever written," said Whedon. "It just poured out of me. It was like all of that brewing that we've been doing became the soup of that episode and so it really was a game changer for us on set and in production. The staff and the cast read it and a lot of tumblers fell into place. That’s how we felt about the episode."

Was there any sense, however, that the "Man on the Street" episode was perhaps being over-hyped?

"There may be a negativity associated with hyping it, but for all of us, episodes like Episode Eight ["Needs"] and a lot of the following episodes really work on the model of 'Man on the Street' more than anything else," Whedon said. "So it was a big moment for us. It was a moment that we felt like we found a level and we were really proud of it. So I figure that other people may feel differently, but we walked away from shooting that episode going, okay, we just added a layer and we feel pretty excited about it."

As for what changed with "Man on the Street," Whedon was frank about what finally clicked within him while breaking this episode.

"I think it was doing an episode that somebody who had never seen the show could walk in on because it explains very clearly the premise," he said. "In fact, it’s kind of about explaining the premise and at the same time really getting under the skin of the Dollhouse and of Paul’s character and of what’s going on with everybody and the workings of the place and coming at it sideways, rather than just showing an engagement and flipping in some information around that engagement. This was one where we really got to look at the cogs of the clock and that’s what gave it such momentum for us."

So if this episode approaches the mythology of the series from a "sideways" place, much like Dollhouse's original pilot, was it a case of Whedon finding the series or the network finally relenting and letting him do Dollhouse the way he wanted to?

"I think it was both," mused Whedon. "['Man on the Street'] definitely contains elements that were pitched or developed by people at the network in terms of the motivations of the Dollhouse and the feel of the politics of the thing and what’s going on: the thriller aspect... It’s very much full of the stuff that they were pitching. But it also is storytelling wise, much more how I had envisioned coming at it to be only in a sense that is clearer, than my original pilot. My original pilot was deliberately obtuse and you had to come along and stay with it and figure it out."

"This, we go right up front," he continued. "Here’s the situation. It’s a myth. This guy is looking for it and all that stuff. We lay it out as simply as we did in the first five, but because we get to get inside the Dollhouse more and have the events there take on much more resonance, it has got what I had hoped to bring to the other episodes that I didn't really have the opportunity as much. So I felt like it was really finding the code to a show that I can do my best work in that the network still really can get behind. So it was a meeting of the minds."

And while this episode features the first face-to-face (and yes, "fist-to-fist") encounter between Echo and FBI Agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), don't look for any exploration of the reasons why Paul is so determined to track down the Dollhouse.

"We don’t really go back into his story in the first season, the first of so many seasons that there will inevitably be," said Whedon, rather tongue-in-cheek. "We feel like there’s a thorn in his side and we feel that we can push it further and twist it and possibly hit a vital organ."

Likewise, this season won't really deal with the motivations behind why Boyd Langton (Harry Lennix) is working for the Dollhouse.

"I will tell you without reservation that in this season, we don’t answer it," he admitted.

But Whedon does say that we will see the handler/Active dynamic between Boyd and Echo change over the course of the season... into something that might just approach the rapport between Buffy and Giles.

"[Their relationship] is going to shift," said Whedon. "It’s definitely very much that same kind of de facto father figure. He definitely cares about her more than his job requires, but at the same time, he doesn't have the same opportunities in these first 13 [episodes] to really do anything to help her in that same sense. Their relationship is also going to have to shift a little in the ways that I’m not going to describe. But for us on the staff, that was sort of the bedrock place of no matter what happens with these guys, we know that he wants to protect her and it’s the only truly safe place in the Dollhouse is his paternal feeling toward Echo."

To return to a question that been asked several times before, is it possible that some of the employees of the Dollhouse are in fact imprinted Actives themselves?

"Yes, we talked about that and the different possibilities that we could tweak and the pasts that people have," said Whedon. "How many layers of unreality can you have in somebody’s identity and to an extent, we get very excited. We have to pull ourselves back and say if we make this a lie within a lie within a lie within a lie, people are just going to start slapping us. We’re like now we’re not invested in anybody. So we've talked about [it], but we've been very restrained with the concept because you have to have some touchstone of reality, even in this world."

Another question that keeps popping up among the series' viewers: why did Dollhouse get, well, imprinted with a lack of humor?

"There is humor in the show," said Whedon. "There’s a lot in the episode after 'Man on the Street.' But the fact of the matter is this is not a comedy... If there is a typical Whedon show, this is not it. It’s not the lighthearted romp that the other shows were... There’s definitely funny stuff coming up. There’s always moments of funny, but it doesn't build like a comedy. It wasn't designed to be a comedy. It’s not going to play that instrument. You have to do different things at different times. If people are feeling like it’s too serious, then either their expectation has to be changed, or we need to lighten up a little. But, yes, I don’t think they’re ever going to see the same sort of long, six page runs of just pure humor. This is not that show."

And the fact that some of the engagements--like when Echo is imprinted with the personality of safecracker Taffy--make sense while others--like Echo being a midwife up in the mountains--don't? It's something that Whedon and the other writers are still trying to work on.

"You know, we do work on it," admitted Whedon. "Again, it’s one of those things where because it makes sense to us on some levels, we look back and go, 'Are they with us?' But we finished shooting it before any of it aired, so it’s a little dicey there. There were times we talked about why some of the engagements it seemed a little bit like, you could find somebody who might be that person... It’s just become the way we do it. But we never spent too much time with that because we were never sure how much of an issue that was going to be. It’s the one thing that’s difficult about making a show when it’s not airing is you don’t have that feedback yet... So it gets addressed, but probably not as much as people would like."

But, given the Dollhouse's mission statement, you'd expect that most of these engagements would be of the weird sexual kind. Yet in the first five episodes, this is only touched on pretty tangentially. Was this intentional or a network note?

"There were two things," said Whedon. "One is, yes, some people at the network definitely said, 'Well, wait a minute. This idea that we've bought is illegal and very racy and frightens us.' There was definitely an element of [wondering] should we tone this down that for me was frustrating because what I was telling them was dangerous ground and was meant to be. That is not to say that the only thing I pitched them was Echo has sex. The idea was always that she would be doing a lot of different things. I had a structure that the first few episodes was supposed to take us into whereby the type of engagement would always be shifting. That she would be solving crimes, that she would be helping people. That she would be committing crimes, [...] that sexuality was a big part of it and the most sort of edgy and possibly titillating part of it, but not in any way the only part of it."

"When I pitched [Dollhouse I said], 'It’s Alias meets Quantum Leap,'" said Whedon. "I thought of [Echo] more than anything as kind of life coach, as a kind of the person you absolutely need in your life at a certain moment who will either change you or comfort you or take your life to the level that you want it to be. And that could be something nice, evil, sexual. It could be any number of things. It was never just meant to be the one. The one sort of took over because it’s the one that frightens people the most and also obviously interests them the most."

"Having said that," said Whedon, "I still have no problem with the idea that somebody very rich and very far off in the mountains would hire the perfect midwife."

Should we be expecting some emotional twists then potentially in the relationships between Victor and Sierra or even between Paul Ballard and Echo?

"If we have to figure out a caper, that’s work," said Whedon. "But to figure out something that causes one of them to be in pain, that’s fun! So, yes, as the show progresses, we are able to get further with the emotionality because the dolls are actualizing more and everything is going to get much more tense for everybody. For certain people, there could be some romance, but it’s never simple... Victor’s feelings about Sierra are probably the closest thing to simple that there is in the show right now. We’re not not going to mess everybody up."

As for showing what some of the Dollhouse's employees are up to after-hours, is Whedon figuratively handcuffed as far as showing that element on the series?

"We’re not handcuffed," he said. "It’s just that at this point, we’re still interested in how they relate to our actives and particularly [Echo]. So we don’t spend a lot of time with people in their outside lives, although we do spend some. We will learn a little something about the private lives of some of our employees, but something we’re threading in lightly. That’s really something you would come to later in a season."

"Our first 13 are basically, just take the baseball bat and keep on hitting and then later on if you have people hooked, those threads are easier to weave in because [viewers] are more invested," continued Whedon. "We’re just swinging for the bleachers emotionally in the second half and so some things we will get to show because it will give us insights into the characters, but not everybody has an apartment set."

And viewers will definitely learn more about Amy Acker's scarred Dr. Claire Saunders.

"I love that character, not just because it’s Amy Acker, but because she wears misery and torture on her face literally," he admitted. "We will definitely learn how she came to this fabulous career. In the last few episodes, we get to turn the Acker up pretty hot and it’s very exciting."

However, don't expect any other Whedonverse alums to turn up on Dollhouse, other than Dr. Horrible's Felicia Day, who's slated to appear in an upcoming installment.

"Well, I did mention that Felicia Day was going to appear in an episode and that’s pretty much it for Buffy," said Whedon. "Most of them are, I’m happy to say, working, but I do like to see the gang. [However] we have to establish to reality of this world before we can bring in somebody without it being too jarring. Although we have one episode with a guy who looks a lot like Nick Brendan and his character’s name is Nicholas and that was a terrible idea. We should have never named him Nicholas because every time I see his footage, I go, 'Hey, wait a minute.' Oh, I’m confused."

And now for the $64,000 question: Is Whedon leaving television for the internet altogether, as some recent reports have indicated?

"I never actually said that," said Whedon. "It’s definitely [that] the new media is very attractive to me. It’s an open field. There’s a lot of freedom and I’m very afraid that that freedom will be taken away before the artistic community has a foothold in it. So for reasons both artistic and political, I wish very much to pursue new media. But that doesn't mean that I’m never going to do television. Everybody knows I had a rough time getting Dollhouse up-to-speed, but that doesn't mean I’m never going to do television. I love television and I love it in a different way than I love the Internet in a different way that I love movies. It’s a kind of storytelling that is just, the scope and the breadth and the depth that you can get from a TV show is unlike anything else and I love it."

Dollhouse's "Man on the Street" episode, the series' sixth, airs tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Channel Surfing: Mischa Barton Gets "Beautiful" for CW, Joel Grestch Tackles Aliens in "V," NBC Summer Schedule, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Mischa Barton (The O.C.) has joined the cast of CW drama pilot A Beautiful Life, where she will play Sonja, a supermodel who is trying to stay on top of the modeling world but who is finding it not so easy as she thought. Barton was originally up for a role on the netlet's revival of Melrose Place but did not land a role on that pilot. (Hollywood Reporter)

Joel Gretsch (The 4400) will co-star in ABC sci-fi pilot V, from writer/executive producer Scott Peters, co-creator of The 4400, and Warner Bros. Television. Gretsch will play a Catholic priest who sees a sudden resurgence of faith among the human population following the arrival of The Vistors. Elsewhere, Donald Faison (Scrubs) will star opposite Cedric the Entertainer in ABC comedy pilot The Law, where they will play reserve LAPD officers; Ben Koldyke (Boldly Going Nowhere) has scored a lead role in CBS comedy pilot Big D; and Natalie Martinez (Saints & Sinners) has joined Tyler Labine in FOX comedy pilot Sons of Tucson, where she will play a second grade teacher and possible love interest for Labine's Ron. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC has announced launch dates for three new scripted series it will launch this summer. The Listener, from Shaftesbury Films, CTV and Fox Intl. Channels, will launch June 4th in the Thursdays at 10 pm timeslot. Merlin, from BBC, Fremantle and Shine, will will launch on June 21st, airing Sundays at 8 pm. Universal Media Studios' and Carnival Films' much-delayed drama The Philanthropist, is set to launch June 24th; it will air Wednesdays at 10 pm. On the unscripted front, NBC will launch I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! will air four nights a week beginning June 1st, Great American Road Trip will launch July 1st, and America's Got Talent returns with a new season on June 23rd. (via press release)

Meanwhile, NBC will be delaying several of its season finales to June in an effort to give The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien a cushy premiere week. Medium is slated to air its season finale on June 1st, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will wrap its season on June 2nd, and Law & Order will air its finale on June 3rd. "We’ll give Conan the best launch possible during his premiere week," said NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chair Ben Silverman. (Variety)

Hollywood was shocked yesterday by the corporate restructuring at News Corp, which saw Peter Ligouri step down as chairman of entertainment at FOX. News Corp head Rupert Murdoch has restructured the company in the wake of the departure of president and COO Peter Chernin and has promoted Jim Gianopolous and Tom Rothman of Fox Filmed Entertainment will now retain oversight of the TV production division and Tony Vinciquerra, who oversee cable networks, will now also oversee all of FOX's TV networks. Former Chernin direct reports Dana Walden and Gary Newman, co-chairmen of 20th Century Fox Television, will now report to Gianpololous and Rothman, while FTVS head Emiliano Calemzuk will report to Walden and Newman. But the biggest surprise was who would be replacing Peter Ligouri: none other than Fox Searchlight head Peter Rice, who has no TV experience. Still unknown is the ultimate fate of FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly, who was brought in by Ligouri, with whom he had worked closely at FX previously. He'll report to Rice, meanwhile. (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere, it's a bit of executive musical chairs at FOX and NBC as NBC/Universal Media Studios drama VP Terence Carter is said to be in discussions to move to FOX, where he would assume the role of co-head of drama with Rachel Bendavid, replacing Laura Lancaster. Carter and Bendavid will report to Matt Cherniss. But Lancaster meanwhile will herself segue to NBC Universal to take the top drama job. She'll report to Angela Bromstad, with whom she worked closely when she was head of drama at NBC Universal TV Studio (NUTS) when Bromstad was president. (Variety)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has some details about the much-buzzed-about sixth episode of FOX's Dollhouse, which will guest star Patton Oswalt. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Henry Thomas (Without a Trace) will guest star in an upcoming episode of CSI, which will focus on the early career days of Catherine (Marg Helgenberger). Thomas will play an accused killer named Jeremy Kent, whom Catherine locked up during her very first case in the early 1990s. After nearly twenty years in prison, Kent is an expert in forensics himself and questions whether Catherine's original findings were accurate. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Heidi Klum to Project Runway fans: picket Harvey Weinstein's house. The outspoken host of Project Runway, the subject of a lawsuit between distributor The Weinstein Company and NBC Universal, is said to be frustrated over the fact that the sixth season, which finished shooting, still does not have a launch date on either Lifetime or Bravo. "I think people should be demonstrating outside of Harvey Weinstein's house," said Klum. "If it were up to me, it'd be on by now." (New York Post)

BBC Two has announced that it will air all five seasons of HBO's The Wire, the first time that the series will be shown on terrestrial television in the UK. BBC Two, which has yet to announce a launch date, will strip the series across the week. (BBC)

Sci Fi Channel has promoted Craig Engler to SVP of digital, where he will oversee content development and business matters for the company's portfolio of digital channels, including Scifi.com, Dvice.com, Scifiwire.com, Figit.com, and Chillertv.com. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

PaleyFest09 Full Schedule Announced: "Pushing Daisies," "Battlestar Galactica," "Fringe," "Big Love," "Dollhouse," and Many Others to Be Feted

Ending several months of speculation, The Paley Center for Media has today announced the full lineup for PaleyFest09, the 26th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival.

Among the honorees this year are the casts and creators of 90210, Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, The Big Bang Theory, Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Fringe, The Hills, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Mentalist, Swingtown, and True Blood.

PaleyFest09 will be held from April 10th to April 23rd at the Cinerama Dome at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood; the Paley Center will also present a special closing night presentation honoring Swingtown at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills on April 24.

Other festival firsts this year? PaleyFest09 will be the festival event to honor a new media property, in this case Joss Whedon's celebrated web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and will be the first to premiere the last three unseen episodes of ABC's sadly cancelled series Pushing Daisies.

“For twenty-six years, we have celebrated the best of television, and now new media, with the creative teams who make the breakthrough programs. This interaction between the creative community and media enthusiasts has made this annual Festival a 'Must Be There' event,” said Pat Mitchell, President/CEO of The Paley Center for Media.

The full PaleyFest09 schedule can be found below but, as always, please note that events/participants are subject to change.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia
Friday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Danny DeVito (“Frank Reynolds”), Glenn Howerton (“Dennis Reynolds”/Executive Producer/Writer), Rob McElhenney (“Mac”/Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director), Kaitlin Olson (“Sweet Dee”). Additional panelists to be announced.

90210
Saturday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Panelists from the cast and creative team to be announced.

True Blood
Monday, April 13 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Alan Ball (Creator/Executive Producer), Ryan Kwanten (“Jason Stackhouse”), Steven Moyer (“Bill Compton”), Anna Paquin (“Sookie Stackhouse”), Sam Trammell (“Sam Merlotte”), Rutina Wessley (“Tara Thorton”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Tuesday, April 14 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Felicia Day (“Penny”), Nathan Fillion (“Captain Hammer”), Jed Whedon (“Bad Horse Chorus #2/Dead Bowie”/Composer/Writer), Joss Whedon (Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director), Zack Whedon (Executive Producer/Writer).

Dollhouse
Wednesday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Joss Whedon (Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Director), Eliza Dushku (“Echo”), Enver Gjoka (“Victor”), Fran Kranz (“Topher”), Dichen Lachman (“Sierra”), Harry Lennix (“Boyd”), Tahmoh Penikett (“Paul”), Olivia Williams (“Adelle”).

The Big Bang Theory
Thursday, April 16 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Kaley Cuoko (“Penny”), Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Jim Parsons (“Sheldon”). Additional panelists to be announced.

The Mentalist
Friday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Simon Baker (“Patrick Jane”), Bruno Heller (Creator /Executive Producer) Tim Kang (“Kimball Cho”), Chris Long (Coexecutive Producer/Director), Amanda Righetti (“Grace Van Pelt”), Robin Tunney (“Teresa Lisbon”), Owain Yeoman (“Wayne Rigsby”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Desperate Housewives
Saturday, April 18 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Panelists from the cast and creative team to be announced.

PaleyFest09 Special Matinee Screening Event: Pushing Daisies’ Last Unaired Episodes
Sunday, April 19 at 1:00 p.m.
Introduction by Bryan Fuller (Creator/Executive Producer).

Battlestar Galactica/Caprica
Evening Sponsor: Microsoft Zune
Monday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: David Eick (Executive Producer), Ronald D. Moore (Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be announced.

The Hills
Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Tony DiSanto (Executive Producer), Adam DiVello (Creator/Executive Producer), Liz Gateley (Executive Producer), Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge, Spencer Pratt. Additional panelists to be announced.

Big Love
Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Ginnifer Goodwin (“Margene Heffman”), Bill Paxton (“Bill Henrickson”), Chloe Sevigny (“Nicolette Grant”), Harry Dean Stanton (“Roman Grant”), Jeanne Tripplehorn (“Barbara Dutton Henrickson”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Fringe
Thursday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m.
In Person: Joshua Jackson (“Peter Bishop”), John Noble (“Dr. Walter Bishop”), Lance Reddick (“Homeland Security Agent Phillip Broyles”), Anna Torv (“Special Agent Olivia Dunham”). Additional panelists to be announced.

Swingtown Celebration
Evening Sponsor: Netflix, Inc.
*Friday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m. at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills*
Festival Closing Reception & Panel Discussion
In Person: Mike Kelley (Creator/Executive Producer), Alan Poul (Executive Producer). Additional panelists to be announced.

Tickets to PaleyFest09 will go on sale February 26th to Paley Center members and the general public beginning March 1st.

So who's in this year? And what panels are you hoping to see? Discuss.

Talk Back: Series Premiere of FOX's "Dollhouse" ("Ghost")

"Did I fall asleep?"

By now, you've read my advance review of three of the first four episodes of Joss Whedon's new drama Dollhouse on FOX, as well as my interviews with series creator Joss Whedon and Dollhouse's Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who plays the Dollhouse's operative Echo, who seems to be growing slowly more self-aware.

But, now that the series premiere of Dollhouse ("Ghost") has aired, I'm curious to see what you thought of the episode and the series' potential.

Were you entranced by Dollhouse's overarching concepts of identity and self-awareness? What did you think of the series' cast of characters? Did you think that this episode was a good introduction to the world of Dollhouse... or did its story of Echo negotiating the return of a kidnapped girl leave you feeling empty? (Did you accept why the millionaire would hire a mind-wiped doll rather than actual hostage negotiator?) And most importantly: will you tune in again next week to continue watching? Talk back here.

Next week on Dollhouse ("The Target"), Echo is imprinted with the personality of a female thrill-seeker as the companion to a millionaire outdoorsman but quickly finds herself being hunted; Paul Ballard discovers a clue to Echo's real identity; Boyd remembers his introduction to the Dollhouse. (To read my advance review of the first few episodes of Dollhouse, click here.)

Channel Surfing: Tina Fey Responds to McFlurryGate, "NCIS" Spinoff Nabs Three Leads, Pilot News, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

30 Rock creator/star/writer/executive producer Tina Fey has set the record straight about the series' alleged product placement in last week's episode, in which Jack and Elisa (Salma Hayek) declared their love for McDonald's McFlurry as "the best dessert in the world." Fey says that the segment was NOT an example of product placement.

“It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the references to McDonald's in last night's episode of 30 Rock were in no way product placement. (Nor were they an attempt at product placement that fell through.)" said Fey in a statement. "We received no money from the McDonald's Corporation. We were actually a little worried they might sue us. That's just the kind of revenue-generating masterminds we are. Also, the upcoming story line where Liz Lemon starts dating Grimace is just based on a recurring dream I have. Seriously, though, it's not product placement. Also, whoever is writing my Twitter account is pretty funny, but it's not me.” (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

CBS has secured three leads for its untitled NCIS spinoff. Louise Lombard (CSI), Peter Cambor (Notes from the Underbelly), and Daniela Ruah (Midnight Passion) will star opposite Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J in the planned spinoff, which will air as an episode of CBS' NCIS later this season. Lombard will play female lead Clara, a former military police major; Cambor will play "quick-witted" Nate, an operational psychologist; Ruah will play a young forensic investigator. (Hollywood Reporter)

Alexis Dziena (Invasion) will join the cast of HBO's Entourage, where she'll play "Ashley, a beautiful, funny, smart, grounded, self-assured, non-Hollywood-type who, to everyone's great surprise, develops an interest in Eric." But there's allegedly a catch and/or a twist to this relationship. Any theories? (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

ABC has given a director-contingent pilot order to comedy Funny in Farsi, based on Firoozeh Dumas' novel about growing up as an Iranian immigrant in 1970s Orange County. Project, from ABC Studios, will be written/executive produced by Nastaran Dibai and Jeffrey Hodes. (Variety)

Dollhouse fans were likely not too pleased by the low ratings for the series' premiere on Friday night on FOX, which lured only 4.7 million viewers. While some were quick to yell "doomed," others, like Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice, had an alternate take on the news. "What does this mean for Dollhouse's long-term prospects?" asked Rice. "Although 4.7 million isn't that great -- Fox typically averages 5.5 million on Fridays -- the Whedon drama has a better chance of making it over the long haul if it stays put on the night. In fact, network insiders have long cautioned that if the series were scheduled earlier in the week and ended up attracting these kind of (low) viewership levels, it would have been axed by its second or third airing. So relax, Whedonites -- Dushku and Co. appear safe for now." (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Charles McDougall (The Tudors) will direct CBS drama pilot The Good Wife, from CBS Paramount Network Television, Scott Free, and writer/executive producers Robert and Michelle King. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

A Doll's House: Eliza Dushku Talks "Dollhouse," Echo, and Tattoos

Eliza Dushku is not exactly known for her shyness. The actress, who stars in Joss Whedon's new drama series Dollhouse (which launches tonight on FOX), is perhaps best known for her role as Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Tru Davies on Tru Calling. (Not to mention her turn as the less-than-perky cheerleader Missy in Bring It On.)

"From the very get-go Joss told me that he intended on taking me out of my comfort zone as much as possible on this show," said Dushku, speaking to press earlier this week.

Still don't peg Dushku as someone with a very limited definition of comfort zone: "I have a few," said Dushku saucily, speaking of her tattoos, "but they’re all actually in places that can be covered with just a swimsuit."

On Dollhouse, Dushku plays an operative named Echo who is imprinted with various personalities and skills and sent out on a variety of "engagements," ranging from the criminal to the sexual, for well-paying clients.

So what did Dushku have to say about the genesis of the series, what to expect about upcoming plot twists, and Dollhouse's overarching themes? Let's dive in.

What about Dollhouse excited her?

"Well, it’s provocative," said Dushku. "It’s disturbing in some ways. It’s controversial. We’re dealing with altering and programming people and I think that that’s a very sensitive topic, but I think that it’s relevant and I think that it’s exciting. I’ve always wanted to do work that has to do with us evolving and questioning, making people uncomfortable... Interesting storytelling to me is asking different questions and taking a closer look at desires and fantasies and taboos and sexuality. These are all things that Joss and I initially discussed in our infamous first lunch when we were talking about making a show. They were things that I knew he, as a creative genius, which I truly believe he is, had the ability and the imagination to create with me and at the same time roll in a story that just puts those parts together tightly, cleverly, with drama and humor and pain and joy. Obviously, anyone who’s known his work in Buffy and anyone who knows him as a person knows that he’s just all of those instruments. That’s, I think, what makes this such an extraordinary show."

Dushku said that it's not all roses and romance where the engagements are concerned and that clients may wish that they didn't get what they wished for.

"One of the main themes in this whole story that we’re telling here is that objectification hurts," said Dushku. "When you step outside of [society's moral code] and you put such control in certain people’s hands in terms of what people want and need and desire versus what they think they want and need and desire they may be surprised at sort of the Frankenstein story. You’re absolutely going to see clients wishing perhaps that they had not decided to add that extra element to their Active."

Given that Dushku excels at playing a bad girl, was there a specific character type among the numerous personalities she plays in Dollhouse's thirteen episodes that she most enjoyed playing?

"It surprised me, because on the one hand it’s awesome and exhilarating to be the sexy assassin, but at the same time I’ve been surprised time and time again how much I also really enjoy playing [other types of characters]," she admitted. "I play this blind cultess and it was just so different than anything, than any skin I had ever been in and I really, really enjoyed it. It was challenging and yet it was liberating to have the opportunity and be in the world in these different skins. That was a particularly special episode, as was being the personality of a 50-something-year-old woman in my own body. That was another one that’s coming up that was very interesting. I don’t know if I have a favorite, but they’ve all had their own special nuances for me."

So will viewers discover a reason within the series' narrative that explains just why Dushku's Echo is the one doll who seems to be exhibiting signs of self-awareness?

"I think you’re going to," said Dushku carefully. "Well, I can tell you that you’re going to find out sort of what kind of time frame the Dollhouse has been operating under and what maybe happened to previous dolls. I think that we just come into the story with Echo, but there have certainly been dolls before her and there will certainly be dolls after her. Why Echo? Probably because I’m me and Joss and I came up with the idea together, so we decided to bring the story up with me sort of at the head of the herd."

What else can viewers expect to see in Dollhouse's later episodes?

"I can tell you I enter a cult [as a] blind cultess and they send me in with cameras implanted into my eyes and some things go down there," she said slyly. "I can tell you that there’s upcoming contact with Agent Paul Ballard, who is Tahmoh Penikett, and there is going to be some charged stuff in those episodes."

Dushku also recounted the genesis of the project and that fateful lunch she shared with Dollhouse's creator/executive producer Joss Whedon, where the concept was first hatched.

"When we first sat down I had just sort of negotiated a deal with Fox to ultimately come up with a show to do with them and Joss was really the only person on my mind," said Dushku. "I thought if he wasn’t going to do a show with me he at least knew me well enough to sort of guide me and to sort of help me put together the ideas that were in my head and to help me sort of figure out what kind of woman I wanted to play and what I wanted to be a part of. So when we sat down and we just started talking about life and talking about our careers and different projects, we were talking about sort of what it’s like for me, Eliza, waking up every day and having to somewhat be a different person every day and we were talking about the Internet and how people can get so much and, with just the click of a button, find anything that they want or need or desire or think that they want or need or desire and then what actually happens when they get that."

"We were absolutely talking about sexuality and what’s taboo and objectification and just things that are relevant to us," she continued. "Four hours later Joss absolutely sort of sprang forward with the idea, with the basis for the show and said, 'It will be called Dollhouse and it will be basically exactly this. It will be you with the ability to be imprinted to be someone sexy or to be anything or to be objectified every week or multiple times a week and how that affects people. We’re going to stir people up and we’re going to make people uncomfortable because that’s sort of interesting to us.' Here we are thirteen episodes later and we think we’ve done that. I mean the first show on Friday we’re super excited about. I love 'Ghost.' I love 'Target.' I love the first three, four, five episodes, but the cool thing is the show gets better even from there. I mean Joss is really a novelist and you have to give him chapters to tell the story... I participated on a lot of levels as producer also with ideas of my own. I mean the show just goes so deep and it’s so exciting and so thought provoking and relevant."

Given this project's unique development (Whedon originally shot a pilot and shelved it), how has the project changed since the redo of the pilot?

"We changed the pilot for sort of more logistical reasons," said Dushku. "I think that any time you’re dealing with a lot of cooks in the kitchen and FOX had sort of an idea of a pace that they wanted in the first show or in the first couple of shows. It maybe differed from how Joss originally wanted to set it up, but I think that absolutely Joss and I both feel that where we came out is exactly what we had talked about when we sat down at the first meal when the idea first came up. We’re telling this young woman’s story and following her and following these others as they go through these first thirteen trials of engagements and of self realization and identity."

Still, it's a highly complex and complicated series to describe in a brief logline. Dushku attempted to encapsulate the main theme or message that Dollhouse is going to explore into one major theme.

"I mean without over simplifying it too much I’d say it’s sort of about not the search for one’s true identity, but it’s about sort of identifying what makes us who we are and our thoughts and our surroundings and what happens when you start to allow other people or a big corporation or a mass of people," she mused. "I think objectification is a huge theme of the show and just sort of how and why we are authentic individuals and what helps make us sort of – I guess I’m now getting so philosophical it’s just getting so big in my head, but just what it means to be an individual and to have that toyed with or to have that taken from you and what that means and how we come out and how strong our sense of self is at the end of the day no matter up against what, any kind of technology or any kind of tampering, like what makes us who we are. There you go; I got it out."

What does Dushku make of her large lesbian following?

"I have been made aware of that over the years, particularly around my Buffy years," she said. "Right on. I know during Buffy there was a lot of people really dissecting that show. I remember a lot of people leading into Faith and Buffy having this deep down love for one another... I’m obviously very girly, but I grew up with a lot of boys and so there’s definitely a tomboy in me and I’ve found just that I have fans equally in males and females. I have a lot of lesbian love fans out there and a lot of gay men, who still do cheers in supermarkets from Bring It On. I think it’s awesome. I love loving from all sides in my fan world, so I appreciate every individual that appreciates watching me at work."

However, Dushku's gay fans shouldn't necessary look for the actress to be involved in a gay-themed storyline on Dollhouse. At least not in the first season, said Dushku.

"To be honest, there was one [storyline] that was pitched and some how it didn’t make it into the first thirteen episodes, but we’ve only told thirteen here and we’re all so excited," she said. "Joss said it’s crazy because we just finished these thirteen episodes and it’s been such a hustle and it’s been so crazy and yet, now that I haven’t been in the writer’s room in a week, I’m already thinking up ideas for the next thirteen episodes. I mean I already am dying to get back in the writer’s room and tell more stories and tell stories that we had ideas and plans for from the get-go. We’re exploring every element of human desire and I think - I know that given the opportunity we’ll explore every form of sexuality... or that 9 pm on FOX allows."

So at the end of the day then, who is Echo? And is it a challenge to play a character who is so trapped in such a blank slate state?

"The base character, Echo, is in a word, simple or in a few words, she’s simple," said Dushku. "She’s blank. She’s had her personality and memories erased and she’s [a] child with no inhibition, no fear. She’s sort of a blank slate and it’s exciting in the sense that every week there’s sort of a new star of the show and it’s whatever character I am imprinted to be."

"We found sort of early on that one of the challenges was each character, when they’re introduced, sort of needs a good scene full of story," she continued. "You basically need to sort of give this character’s background and we found that it was nice to get me in the role in some of the easier scenes first, before having me step on set in the outfit as the person with five pages of dialogue explaining who I am. There was something about sort of easing into it whenever possible and when locations permit and shooting schedules. It’s nice to sort of get in the skin and find something to latch on to that makes that person distinct as opposed to forcing it and using the dialogue or the scene or exposition to tell the story."

"I, Eliza, am a really adaptable person. I was just sort of raised that way. It’s sort of like throw me in the water and I can hopefully learn how to swim and survive and get very comfortable very quickly, but there is that initial sort of shock to the system... We figured that out early on that it’s helpful to do some of the other scenes first, but some scenes are easier than others to slide into and I have worked with Joss specifically on certain roles. I also have a coach that I’ve worked with since I was ten, who actually lives in New York and we work on the phone or he comes out to LA. I’ve taken it very seriously and I really want to, as much as possible, take Eliza-isms out when they’re not necessary and add other elements and add other colors to these characters to portray the reality that I’m a different person every week as much as possible, so it’s absolutely been challenging. It’s been humbling. It’s been exciting and I’m ready for more, more, more."

Does Dushku think that there will still be places she haven’t gone yet with the concept of Echo, say, four seasons along the line?

"Absolutely," she said emphatically. "I mean I think look at how much we as human beings have evolved in a day. There’s constant evolution... Apparently, from day one Joss has had a five-year plan for the show and we’ve talked about what some of those are. I think that’s one of the things that’s so exciting about this show is that it’s so open for endless possibilities. You’re dealing with so much. It’s human. It’s mankind and it’s thoughts and it’s thoughts and wishes and desires; they’re by the millions, by the trillions."

Dollhouse premieres tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX. For my advance review of the first few episodes of Dollhouse, click here.

Paper (Thin) Dolls: An Advance Review of Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse"

"'The doer' is merely a fiction added to the deed – the deed is everything." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Joss Whedon's latest television series, Dollhouse, seeks to explore the shifting nature of identity--how we perceive ourselves and how others do--through a complex story involving a clandestine organization called the Dollhouse, which wipes the personalities of volunteers (or so we're told) and imprints them with various personas specifically selected for an array of missions or "engagements." Clients with money to burn can pay these Actives (or dolls) to engage in a variety of tasks and everything, from the criminal to the sexual, is on offer at a price.

The service is expensive, confidential, and highly exclusive (or so we're told). It's also highly illegal. Which is why the the bosses at the Dollhouse--embodied by the icy Adele DeWitt (Olivia Williams) have a particular interest in one of their Actives, Echo (Eliza Dushku), who is allegedly the best of the best (or so we're told). Once an Active completes an engagement, they're programmed to immediately return to the Dollhouse, a cross between a luxury spa, military barracks, and Wolfram & Hart, where their memories are wiped and they are returned to a fugue state.

(Still with me so far?)

Echo, unfortunately, has begun to remember things about her life before the Dollhouse and about events that transpire during her engagements. Is she becoming self-aware? Is this a good thing? Or is it placing her in grave danger? It's these questions that the early episodes of Dollhouse seek to answer as Echo unwittingly finds herself on a crash course with a dogged FBI agent named Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) who is searching for the mythical Dollhouse.

I had the opportunity to watch three of the first four episodes of Dollhouse, which launches this Friday. Longtime readers of this site will remember how I waxed enthusiastically for creator Joss Whedon's original pilot script when I read it last April. So what did I think about the finished product, which has gone through a rather, er, difficult birthing process? Let's discuss.

I'll start by saying that I loved the themes that Whedon sought to explore in his original pilot script. The notion of identity is a fascinating one and Whedon seeks to use the Actives' experiences on engagements to make a statement about the roles we all play in our daily lives, our own programming, and our own quest to understand our true natures. And these themes still exist in Dollhouse's finished product, albeit in a more jumbled and surface way. There's a nice symmetry between both Echo and Paul's quest for understanding as one seemingly seeks to escape into oblivion and the other searches in order to bring this dark thing into the light.

There are little things that I love about the series: that the Actives' codenames come from the NATO phonetic alphabet (i.e., Alpha, Echo, Sierra, Victor), the hints at some Big Bad that came out of the Dollhouse's naïveté and hubris (the creation of Alpha), an ambitious metaphor that's a dark mirror to our self-obsessed society, and the strength of the series' supporting cast: Olivia Williams, Dichen Lachman, Amy Acker, and Harry Lennix. (Lachman in particular is such a standout that I couldn't help but imagine what Dollhouse would be like with her as the lead.)

However, one of the main things hurting this project is its reliance on a more self-contained style of storytelling. With a concept as rich and challenging as this one, it just screams out for serialized narrative, but that apparently was never on the table at FOX, which was looking to develop a series in the same mold as Fringe: one with an overarching mythology but with episodes that wrapped up their procedural plots each week.

The result is that there's very little throughline to keep the audience invested week after week, a real major issue in a series where the series lead is in fact playing a different character from week to week as well. It's difficult to root for Echo because we know just as little about her as a character as she does herself. In the first few episodes alone, she's imprinted with the personality of a near-sighted asthmatic negotiator named Miss Penn (more on that in a bit), then she's an extreme-sports-loving girl, then she's a kick-ass master thief named Taffy in "Grey Hour." While it's interesting to watch Dushku attempt to play such a wide array of characters, it's not easy for the audience to associate with a character who's as shifting and quixotic as mercury.

And as much as I loved Dushku on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, I don't feel that she's able to carry off the burden of carrying a series by playing an infinite number of characters. Dushku seems to work best when she's in Bad Girl mode (i.e., Faith or Taffy) but otherwise she seems more or less to be channelling the same personality imprint the rest of the time... and she also doesn't quite pull off the "blank slate" aspect of the Actives either. (Unlike Dichen Lachman, who as Sierra, nails it in her first scene.)

Which is a shame as Dollhouse as a concept has definite potential. But there's a real messiness to the execution, which leaves itself open to significant head-scratching criticism. Why does the client, in the pilot episode, hire an Active to serve as a hostage negotiator in order to get back his kidnapped daughter... when it would be easier, not to mention cheaper and less problematic, to hire an actual negotiator? Why does the super-wealthy couple in Episode Four ("Grey Hour") hire Echo to be their midwife when they could use an actual midwife?

There are times where an Active would be the ideal candidate for a job--especially when dealing with anything illicit or illegal--but I couldn't wrap my head around these fairly innocuous assignments where other professionals would have been much more suited for the task at hand. And the fact that Topher imprints the Actives with real people's personalities--and their innate flaws--is worrisome, especially as those very flaws seem to undo Echo in the field. Miss Penn's asthma actually leads to the client getting shot and the kidnappers getting away with the kid AND the cash. This is a problem when the clients are meant to be hiring someone better than anyone in reality... why would anyone pay for a vessel that seems as cracked as this?

These Actives are supposed to be the best, embodying a Nietzschean ideal, yet three engagements go haywire when the imprints fail Echo (as in the pilot), the client isn't properly vetted (as in the second episode), or the Dollhouse's allegedly unbreachable programming is hacked (as in the fourth episode). I understand that things need to go wrong somewhat in order for there to be dramatic tension, but the Dollhouse seems so fallible on more than one occasion that it's difficult to take them seriously as a impenetrable and shadowy organization that only seems to employ one programmer (FranKranz's Topher) to imprint the dolls and where things keep going Very Wrong indeed.

Additionally, "Ghost," the series' new pilot (which was written and shot after the original was scrapped) doesn't set up the scope of Dollhouse's clientele especially well. We're shown Echo's first engagement, as a motorcycle-driving perfect date for a guy celebrating his birthday weekend, but it doesn't seem as if this guy is a multi-millionaire with the cash necessary to hire Echo for the weekend; instead he seems a run-of-the-mill frat-type who probably would have been more likely to hire a hooker than an Active with a billion-dollar personality imprint. And the Dollhouse's main adversary, Paul Ballard (Penikett) is terribly under-developed in the early episodes. We're told that he's dogged and won't back down (hell, a turgid kickboxing montage painfully proves it) and that he's not well-liked by his colleagues but that sadly seems to be the extent of his character for now. He seems as much of a blank slate as Echo or the others.

Dollhouse's second episode, entitled "The Target" (which, as Joss Whedon said last week, was meant to be the series' fifth or eighth episode), written by Steven DeKnight, is at least a step in the right direction as it features flashbacks that explore how Harry Lennix's former cop-turned handler Boyd Langton came to the Dollhouse and flesh out the Incident with rogue Active Alpha. Lennix adds some nice shading to the role and lends a much needed gravitas to the series; it's through his eyes that we see Echo emerging as a more fully developed character and it's obvious that he cares for her in his own way.

But there's definitely a kitchen sink mentality to Dollhouse that's more than a little offputting, especially as the series seems to tread water for far too long, offering up what could be construed as a series of putative pilots in its first few episodes that don't advance the characters or plot more than a few inches, rather than feet. In just the first few episodes, there is a creepy naked man, a Deadliest Game hunt, a vault heist, that kickboxing montage that seems to go on endlessly, a scarred doctor, haywire machinery, a shadowy employer, conspiracies and fabricated identities, group showers, threats of being sent up to the Dollhouse's secretive attic, etc. There are so many MacGuffins, red herrings, and technobabble thrown in to the mix and so little actual characterization that the end result is a jumbled feeling rather akin to the Actives' own mind-wiping sessions.

Ultimately, it feels as though the early episodes of Dollhouse are lacking Whedon's trademark blend of wit, humor, and emotional depth that marked his other series. Despite being intrigued by the series' overall concept initially, I found it extremely difficult to accept Dollhouse's numerous conceits and obvious flaws and, like an old moth-eaten sweater, Dollhouse seems to unravel the more you pull at the loose strings. What's sad is that if you look at it in the right light, you can see the traces of something that could have been far better constructed. A shadow or an echo, if you will, of something bolder and better.

Dollhouse premieres Friday, February 13th at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Paley Festival Announces "Dollhouse," "Dr. Horrible" Panels

While the full schedule won't be released until Wednesday, February 18th, the Paley Center for Media has offered yet another tease at two panels that will be presented as part of the 2009 William S. Paley Television Festival (a.k.a. PaleyFest 09).

Joss Whedon will present not one but two panels this year as Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible are expected to be a part of the lineup for the 26th annual television festival, along with the previously announced panels for Fringe and True Blood.

Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Zach Whedon, Felicia Day, and Jed Whedon are already confirmed and will participate in the Dr. Horrible panel, along with other members of the creative teams for both Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible. (What's a Dr. Horrible panel without the titular villain himself?)

The all-inclusive PaleyFest09 Premium Festival Pass is available now at ticketweb.com and include one guaranteed ticket for premium seating each night, access to Festival events, free parking, concession stand vouchers, one Paley Center general Membership for one year, and other benefits. Starting February 18th, 2009, three PaleyFest09 Ticket Packages will be announced and available, also at ticketweb.com. Individual tickets will go on sale to Paley Center Members on Thursday, February 26st, 2009, and to the general public beginning the following Sunday, March 1st, 2009.

PaleyFest09 will be held from April 10th to April 23rd.

Stay tuned.

Playing with Dolls: Talking to "Dollhouse" Creator Joss Whedon

One of the most eagerly anticipated series of the year involves mind-wiped dolls who are imprinted with various personalities, skills, and flaws.

And, no, I'm not talking about the latest iteration of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise but rather the sci-fi action series Dollhouse, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, which launches Friday, February 13th.

Just don't expect any song-and-dance routines along with the high-flying stunts and motorcycle chases. "No, I’m not planning a Dollhouse musical just yet," said writer/executive producer Joss Whedon.

But before we tackle what Joss had to say about FOX's Dollhouse, I am sure many of you are curious to know if there is any update about the rumored big-screen version of Buffy. "Yes," said Whedon. "There is not going to be one... I think that’s pretty much it. Nobody has ever broached the subject from the studio side. I think everybody is busy working, so I think that it probably won’t happen. That’s my guess. The landscape changes constantly, but until somebody who has millions and billions of dollars asks me that question, the answer is pretty much the same."

(Note to Buffy fans hoping for a miraculous feature film return of the Slayer: don't hold your collective breath.)

Meanwhile, Whedon had quite a lot to say about his latest small-screen venture, Dollhouse, so let's dive in and see what he had to say about its rather, uh, unconventional development process, its Friday night timeslot, and what viewers should expect to find when they enter this Dollhouse.

Given the frequent rumblings in the press about the difficult development process for Dollhouse, which found the network scrapping the original pilot in favor of a new series opener, how does Joss compare Dollhouse's birth to that of his other series?

"I think this show definitely went through a tougher process, tough in a different way than the other shows," said Whedon. "Probably most similar to Angel in the sense of what we had in our minds about what Angel was ultimately was different than what the network did. Our version was a little darker, and in this instance, it wasn’t so much a question of reworking what the show was as it was a question of reworking how we get into it. There were definitely some differences of opinion about what was going on and what we were going to stress in the show, but mostly it was about how do we bring the audience in and the mandate was very much once they had seen the pilot."

"The original pilot explained everything that happened, but came at it very sideways," continued Whedon, "and they said let the audience see an engagement so that they understand that every week she’s going to go to a different place and be a different person and that they have that sense of structure. That part was simple enough."

So whose idea was it to do another pilot? "It was my idea to do a new pilot," admitted Whedon, "because once I was clear on what it was they didn’t have that I had planned to provide in the show anyway, it seemed like a no-brainer to give them something they could get behind more. But there was some real questioning about what exactly we wanted to get at in terms of the humanity and what they do and why people hire them and there’s a sexual aspect to it that makes some people nervous. Part of the mandate of the show is to make people nervous. It’s to make them identify with people they don’t like and get into situations that they don’t approve of, and also look at some of the heroic side of things and wonder if maybe they were wrong about what motivated those as well. So we’re out to make people uncomfortable, but not maybe so much our bosses."

Given the challenges he encountered in the development process, does he now feel that he found the show?

"I would say emphatically yes," said Whedon. "We had all of the elements, the characters, none of which were changed really, and none of the regular characters, and the premise, the concept, the way we were able to explore what makes us human, all of that is in there. As the season progresses, it ends up going exactly where I had hoped it would go before all of this happened, so I do feel like we got back to our vision in a way that really works for the network. And the last few episodes that we just completed shooting got all of us extraordinarily excited."

So then is Whedon satisfied with the way the show turned out versus his original vision?

"There are things I miss from my original vision, and there are things that I think are better the way it is," admitted Whedon. "Ultimately, the show ends up going exactly where I hoped it would go. There are elements of intrigue and high stake suspense that have been added, but I don’t think they hurt the show at all, and it really goes where we planned to have it go. The idea was always to have a mythology that was counterbalanced by a standalone aspect that every episode would be self-contained, and that the mythology would play out, but you would feel a sense of resolve, be that an engagement, or some other aspect every week."

"The mandate to go ahead and just really make the first several episodes pure standalone engagements is tough," he continued. "It’s more work for a staff to drum up that enthusiasm and that identification for the guest of the week. That’s just difficult, but we knew that was part of the show going in, that every week, we were not only going to have to create a new world and care about it, but that she was actually going to have to join the guest cast, because she would be a new person. So it’s a challenge, but it’s one that we knew going in we were going to have to tackle, and I think we’re getting better at it. It is definitely a different skill."

As for that Friday night timeslot, Whedon thinks it's actually a Very Good Thing at the end of the day.

"Honestly, I really do see the opportunity there because the deal with the Friday night time slot was you don’t come out, bang, opening weekend, and it’s all decided," said Whedon. "It’s about growing a fan base, both for Dollhouse and Terminator. I think Terminator is a remarkably good show, and the kind of show that makes sense to be paired with Dollhouse, so I feel great about that, plus I get to see all these posters with Summer and Eliza together and that’s just too cool."

"Ultimately, this is a show where people will hopefully become intrigued and then hang in, that really builds, so it needs the 13 weeks, and it needs the 13 weeks of people paying attention, but not so much attention that it gets burned out in the glare of the spotlight," he continued. "I’ve always worked best under the radar. Most of my shows people have come to after they stopped airing, but I would like to buck that trend, and at the same time, it is part of how I work that you stay with it and it grows on you and it becomes family, and the Friday night is a much better place for that to actually happen."

So does he have any words of calm to offer fans who might be, shall we say, concerned about the perceived doom and gloom surrounding the series?

"Usually, words of calm in these situations lead to panic," Whedon joked. "If you say there’s nothing to panic about, somebody says, he said the word panic. Basically, we found the show. My concern isn’t whether the show gets saved. It’s whether these fans who are panicking about it love it. They may get over their panic. They may see it and go, you know, actually, we’re okay. The network should do what they think is right. Ultimately, the support is very sweet, and the fact that people care and they want to see the show get a chance. That’s important to me too, because it really is a show that finds itself as it goes along, but, at the end of the day, my biggest concern is that I give them something worth panicking over."

And if the first episode seems a little tame, fans should wait for the second episode, written by Steven DeKnight (Angel), which is an outrageous take on the classic short-story "The Most Dangerous Game."

"Outrageous is always good," mused Whedon. "That episode was meant originally to be around episode five, or possibly even eight, and it was the network who said, excuse me, did you say bow hunting? That will come second please, because we already had the pilot working, so it kind of got bumped up further than, but you’re not the first person to say why didn’t you just open with that, and my answer would be I don’t know. I had the other idea first. Basically, I think its one aspect of it is the bigger than life adventure, but we have episodes that I think are equally insane and, in some ways even more beautiful. So if people watch episodes and wonder they should’ve opened with this, that means the episodes are getting better, and I’ll take an upward curve any day."

So is Dollhouse all darkness and doom or is there a lighthearted side to the series as well?

"There is a lot of fun and a lot of humor in it," he admitted. "What it doesn’t have is an inherent silliness that both Buffy and Firefly had, and even Angel, that was we could just take one step back that part of the fun was of deconstructing the genre we were in. This has to be a little bit more grounded in order for it to play, or it would become campy, and with vampires and spaceships and horses, we had more leeway to be a little less realistic in how we plotted things. But humor is a part of the show all over the place, because we have really funny actors, and these situations do become absurd, and besides, we would get really bored if we didn’t."

What concepts sparked the idea in Whedon's head for Dollhouse?

"I’m very interested in concepts of identity, what espouse is our own, what’s socialized, can people actually change, what do we expect from each other, how much do we use each other and manipulate each other, and what would we do if we had this kind of power over each other?" mused Whedon. "And in this, our increasingly virtual world, self-definition has become a very amorphous concept, so it just felt what was on my mind. I don’t mean it felt timely like I was trolling the papers looking for something timely. It’s just been something I think about a lot."

Given the self-contained storytelling element of Dollhouse, is it easy for viewers to jump in at any point?

"We absolutely made sure of that," said Whedon. "We always refer to the first seven episodes as the seven pilots. You can’t just shut down after episode one and it can’t be a train that’s left the station. So the first several episodes, the first five are all individual engagements where the premise is made clear and the cast of characters is made clear and relationships are made clear. Obviously there is some progression in those relationships, but there is nowhere where you have giant pieces of information missing, or where you have to sit through a three minute previously on in order to get to the show. We really care about that, and that was one place where we were completely on the same page as the network."

So what can viewers expect then from Season One of Dollhouse?

"We definitely start entwining things this season," said Whedon. "There’s a lot of payoff in this season. There are some things that we draw out and then some things that we payoff fairly heavily, so that people don’t get the feeling that they’re just going to tease me every week. Paul Ballard is going to be hunting the Dollhouse, and obviously, he’s going to be one step behind them for awhile, but then every now and then, he’s going to come up against them in a rather abrupt fashion, and he’s not going to be the reporter in The Hulk, always five feet behind, and this creepy naked guy [in the premiere episode] will be explained."

"Echo’s progression is a constant in the show, her search for herself, so that’s something that is being spun out episode by episode," he continued. "It’s just different little aspects. It’s like she takes a little memento away from every engagement, so that will be a constant. But we’re definitely laying in some threads, and there are definitely things that we are not explaining, but we kind of took some of the things we were going to hold for a few years and said hey, let’s just hit them in the head with a frying pan, because that will keep them excited, and it’s not like we lack for places to go."

Should viewers be looking for any familiar faces from the Whedonverse among the cast of Dollhouse?

"You know, the basic mandate for me was to find new people, because I had Eliza and I didn’t want to feel like it was going to be “Faith” or just a reunion for my pals or anything like that, and I found some not only amazing new actors, but amazing new friends," said Whedon. "But then, eventually, a person has to wake up and smell the 'Acker' and realize you just have to cast anything that you can with [Amy Acker], so that happened. Apart from that, we’ve put on some old faces in some guest roles, but not too often, and sometimes, we’ve been very much behind the eight ball in terms of production and when you know somebody can do something right and you don’t have time to go and find somebody else who can, you hire them. But apart from Amy and Eliza, it’s a new crowd."

Speaking of the cast of characters, should viewers be wondering if any of the other characters are in fact covert actives, as they can be imprinted without their knowlege?

"Not in the first season, although we’ve discussed a lot of permutations," said Whedon. "We’re pretty much laying out the situation a little bit simply at first. We’re going to twist the knife in some people, but more than any of the anchors, it’s the people running the place who have their own secrets that are going to be fun to pull away at."

And it should be instantaneously clear to viewers familiar with Whedon just with which character he most associates with.

"It’s not a shock to see a lot of Topher in myself, because he’s building people, and he’s amoral and fairly goofy," he said, "but I see a lot of myself in Adelle DeWitt too, and ultimately, in all of the characters. If you don’t, you’re usually doing it wrong. If just one person is your mouthpiece, then you’re going to have trouble writing a real conversation between two people, and the fact of the matter is the person who is my mouthpiece is definitely sketchy, which is good, because it makes me question everything I have to say, no matter how funny it is."

Whedon also talked about his decision to give the day-to-day showrunning duties on Dollhouse to the writing team of Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, who most recently oversaw ABC's Women's Murder Club.

"You know, why anybody gets my sense of humor I never know, but I do know that when they do, I keep them as close as I possibly can," he said. "Liz and Sarah are the kind of people who are so solid and so sensible and so good at the day-to-day show running that you forget how good they are with the script until they turn it in and you go that’s right, you guys are really funny and very twisted. They’re the kind of writers who take all of their weirdness out on the script and it’s not out on me or the people they work with, and that’s what you look for in a showrunner. It was important for me also that the showrunners be female, because the subject matter is intense and delicate, and they are aware of that without being a slave to it."

So, given the birthing pains associated with Dollhouse, does Whedon feel that the craft of television-making has changed significantly since the days in which he developed Buffy back a the WB?

"You know, in many ways, it hasn’t changed at all," he mused. "We were held to mid-season on Buffy. There was a certain amount of birth pangs. We were re-shooting things for the first episode during the last episode. So I think part of this is either the same, or I just really haven’t learned anything about how to do it better. But I think the changes have really been that the media is constantly making new demands. There are six act breaks instead of four. [FOX] did remote free TV, which means fewer commercials, which is an exciting prospect, but it also means we’re shooting 15% to 20% more show per show on the same schedule as every other show, and that just really is beating the hell out of us. Also something that ultimately, because of the remote free TV, and because of our production issues, fell by the wayside, but these are the extras that people expect. There’s just more to it than going in there and telling your story. The marketing of the thing and the story itself are intertwined in ways that create opportunities, and in some ways that just really exhaust me."

What else did the loquacious Joss have to say?

• Echo vs. Faith match-up: "Faith would win, unless of course Echo had been imprinted with Faith’s personality, [in which case] I’m going to call it a tie."
• Will Joss explore the limitations of the Dollhouse's technology? "The Dollhouse is fairly strict about what they will use this technology for so no ninja armies just yet, but keep watching the skies."
• Buffy Season Nine comic: "We definitely have a Season Nine in mind. We’re slogging our way through season eight. We’ve talked about doing more Serenity comics, and we’ve even talked to Dark Horse about a potential for some Cabin tie-ins."
• No Dollhouse comic, however: "Dollhouse is very simply the least visually oriented of all of these in a genre way, and therefore, lends itself the least to being a comic, but comics are in my blood as much as any other medium."
• More Dr. Horrible in the works? "We are definitely committed to the idea of Dr. Horrible reappearing somehow."

Lastly, just what does Whedon think of his leading lady, Eliza Dushku, given their long history together?

"She’s overcome her homely shyness over these years," Whedon joked. "Eliza is, apart from being, in my opinion, as great a star as I have ever known, she has a genuinely powerful electric and luminous quality that I’ve rarely seen. She’s also a really solid person. She’s a good friend. She’s a feminist. She’s an activist. She’s interested in the people around her. She has a lot of different things going on, and I’ve watched her over the years, as a friend, try to take control of her career, and try to get the roles that weren’t available to her, and protect the ethos and the message of what it was that she was doing, and I respect that enormously. Being part of that progression is, for me, one of the greatest benefits of this show."

And, should Dollhouse be lucky enough to return for a second season, what topics would Whedon like to tackle after the initial batch of episodes?

"Well, the constant topic of identity is one," he said. "There are a couple of things that were originally on the slate that didn’t quite fit the venue and had to stand back. We had an episode about Rwandan boy soldiers that was really about how we imprint people now, how we literally brainwash people, and we’re contrasting that with the Dollhouse. There was an episode that was about perversion. It was about sexual shame and people’s inability to deal with real people that was, I thought, ultimately very heartfelt and very strange and very beautiful, but again, not to make the cut for the first 13. Those are some that would be coming up."

Dollhouse launches Friday, February 13th at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.

Channel Surfing: "Caprica" DVD Takes Off in March, Pay Raise for "Burn" Star, CW Takes Bite Out of "Vampire Diaries," Pilot News, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

It looks like Caprica will be heading to our screens sooner than we originally thought... or the two-hour backdoor pilot will be, anyway. Sci Fi Channel announced that it will make Caprica's pilot available as a limited-edition DVD on April 21st with an uncut and unrated version, ahead of the series' 2010 broadcast launch. Additionally, the film will be available for digital download at select online destinations. (Having already seen the pilot, I can say that it will definitely please BSG fans while also offering a glimpse into a series that's vastly different than anything we've seen so far on Battlestar Galactica.)

"Ever since fans first caught wind of the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, they have been eagerly following its development," said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. "We wanted to give them a chance to see the pilot in its original form and experience the prequel to the BSG story while that series' finale was still ringing in their ears. It also affords the creative team an unprecedented chance to get viewers feedback before production on the Caprica series begins this summer." (via press release)

Jeffrey Donovan, the star of USA's Burn Notice, has renegotiated his contract with Fox Television Studios and secured a pay increase that sees his per-episode fee rise from $55,000 to $150,000. The cost of the increase will be shared between cabler USA and FTVS. (Hollywood Reporter)

CW has ordered a pilot for vampire drama Vampire Diaries, based on the Alloy series of books about a young woman who is caught between two vampire brothers--one good, the other evil--who are battleing for the souls of everyone in their small town. Project, from Alloy Entertainment and Warner Bros. TV, will be written and executive produced by Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Hidden Palms) and Julie Plec. Also on tap at the CW: political drama The Body Politic, about a group of young staffers working for a Washington-based senator. That project, from CBS Paramount Network Television, will be written by Jason Rothenberg and Bill Robinson and executive produced by Peter Horton. (Variety)

The untitled Gossip Girl spin-off has cast Krysten Ritter (Veronica Mars, Breaking Bad) in the pivotal role as Lily's troubled older sister Carol. "Described as sweet but a bit of a disaster, Carol is an actress who's constantly making bad decisions in life and work," says Michael Ausiello. "Lily ends up moving in with Carol after a falling out with mom and dad." Producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz are still casting the role of young Lily in the 1980s-set spin-off, which is expected to air as an episode of Gossip Girl on May 11th. (Entetainmetn Weekly's Ausiello Files)

CBS has handed out a pilot order to multi-camera comedy Big D, about a couple from New York who move to the husband's Dallas hometown, where his Southern belle mother makes life very difficult for his wife. Project, from Warner Bros. TV, is written and executive produced by Jackie Filgo and Jeff Filgo. (Hollywood Reporter)

Loretta Devine has been cast in David E. Kelley's NBC dramedy pilot Legally Mad, where she will play Jeanette, a lawyer at the firm who is always teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Already cast in the pilot: Hugh Bonneville, Charity Wakefield, Kristin Chenoweth, Kurt Fuller, and Jon Seda. (Hollywood Reporter)

SCI FI Wire has a brief interview with Dollhouse star Dichen Lachman, in which she talks about the series' Sierra, engagements, and blank slates. (SCI FI Wire)

Christina Wayne, AMC's SVP of Scripted Series, has departed the network, effective immediately. No explanation was given as to the reason behind her departure nor where she will go next, though it's been rumored she will take a position at pay cabler Starz. (Televisionary)

NBC has pulled the plug on Sony-produced drama pilot Lost in the '80s, citing creative differences between the network's new management and the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

Peter Bart and Peter Guber, hosts of AMC's Sunday morning series Shootout, will host a series of specials called StoryMakers, in which the duo will gather together top actors to discuss current entertainment topics. The first special is set to air February 18th at 8 pm. (Variety)

Trends to keep an eye on this development season: cops, docs, and lawyers, while serialized and complex stories are said to be out, according to Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. (How then to explain high-profile pilots like V, Day One, Happy Town, Unt. Jason Horwitch, Masterwork, etc.?) "Fox's freshman crime procedural dramas "Fringe" and "Lie to Me" also have performed well, further suggesting to networks that re-embracing traditional self-contained mysteries is the way to go," says Hibberd. "Nowhere is this trend more evident than at NBC, whose pilots include three crime dramas, two medical series and a lawyer show." (Hollywood Reporter)

Cheyenne Jackson (Life on Mars) will guest star on ABC's Ugly Betty, where he will play a gay dad in an upcoming storyline. (Variety)

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has denied SAG's request for an injunction to remove ousted chief negotiator Doug Allen. The move, spearheaded by SAG president Alan Rosenberg, led to the delay of the first talks between SAG and the AMPTP in over two months. Given the legal resolution, talks are expected once more to resume between the guild and the studios. (Hollywood Reporter)

ITV Studios and Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine have formed a co-production venture under which they will develop pilots for ITV and international outlets but not for other UK-based television networks. Move marks the first deal of its kind in the UK. (Variety)

Paige Davis (Trading Spaces) will host syndicated lifestyle series Life for Dummies, being developed by production company A. Smith and Co. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

FOX Gets Retro with "Dollgrind" Ad

I have to say that I am loving FOX's new Grindhouse-inspired Dollgrind campaign for its Friday night "dames of deception" two-hour block of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse, which launch on February 13th.

If you've missed the fantastically retro ad campaign, which harks back to 1970s exploitation-style flicks and features Terminator's Summer Glau and Dollhouse's Eliza Dushku, fret not, as you can watch the teaser trailer in full after the jump.



What do you think? Does the ad make you want to tune in to the two-hour block? Did you find it clever or funny? Did you laugh at the horribly dubbed Spanish bit? Discuss.

Channel Surfing: Kranz Talks "Dollhouse" Attic, Zahn and Dickens Circle HBO's "Treme," Faux Peacock Fall Schedule, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting and revealing Q&A with Dollhouse's Fran Kranz, who plays techie Topher on the FOX drama, which launches next Friday. Kranz reveals, "There is a place in the Dollhouse called the Attic that stores failed Dolls and personalities. There’s like a whole warehouse where actual bodies are kept." As for the, uh, unconvention post-order redevelopment surrounding Dollhouse, Kranz is forthcoming. "I’ve read things where Joss has said that... Fox wanted to cut to the chase," he said. "They thought there was too much on the characters within the Dollhouse and the conflict and mythology of the Dollhouse, as opposed to seeing what the Dollhouse does on a day-to-day basis. In one sense, I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s important for the audience to define the Dollhouse before they’re introduced to the rest of the conflicts and stories." (Los Angeles Times)

Steve Zahn (Sunshine Cleaning) is in talks to star in HBO's drama pilot Treme, from creator David Simon (The Wire); he would play Davis Rogan, a radio DJ, musician, and New Orleans native with anger management issues. Meanwhile, Kim Dickens (Deadwood) has joined the cast, where she will play a chef and restarateur involved in an strained relationship with Zahn's Davis. Already cast in the project: Clark Peters, Wendell Pierce, and Khandi Alexander. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has cut the episodic order for its midseason drama Cupid to seven episodes. (Televisionary)

The Jonas Brothers will host a night of CW programming including 90210 and Privileged on Tuesday, February 10th that will also offer a sneak peek of their new film Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. They'll be joined on screen by 90210's Jessica Lowndes. (via press release)

Sofia Vergara (Dirty Sexy Money) will co-star in ABC comedy pilot An American Family, which will be directed by Jason Winer (This Might Hurt) and Stephen Graham (Gangs of New York) has been cast in Martin Scorsese's HBO drama pilot Boardwalk Empire, where he will play a young Al Capone. Elsewhere, Yves Simoneau (The 4400) will direct ABC sci-fi pilot V, Dean Parisot will direct ABC's I, Claudia; Jeremy Podeswa (The Pacific) will direct ABC drama pilot Empire State; and Eden Sher (Weeds) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot The Middle. (Hollywood Reporter)

Sarah Shahi's pregnancy will impact the plot on her NBC drama Life, according to Kristin Dos Santos. Showrunner Rand Ravich has told her that Shahi's Dani Reese and Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) will be split up when Reese gets a new job on an FBI-LAPD joint task force. "[Sarah's pregnancy] is a challenge," said Ravich. "Episodic television is a grueling schedule, and Sarah and Damian were practically in every scene together, and we certainly can't expect Sarah to work 15-hour days... So we were able to carve Sarah out of the main story a little bit—keeping her always related to Crews and always involved with Crews—and just give her some relief as well." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Nikki Finke has a sneak peek at Vanity Fair's upcoming Hollywood Issue, which has a tongue-in-cheek look at a possible Fall 2009 NBC schedule. My favorites: the combo of A Bunch of Universal Pictures Trailers and JetBlue's Snack-Options Screen on Wednesdays and Weak Link Sitcom T.B.A on after My Name is Earl on Thursdays. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

Chef and frequent Top Chef guest judge Eric Ripert has landed his own ten-episode series, Avec Eric, which will air nationwide on PBS stations this fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

E! has ordered eight episodes of Kendra, a docusoap spin-off of Girls Next Door which will focus on Kendra Wilkinson's life after she left the Playboy Mansion and got engaged to Eagles receiver Hank Baskett. The cabler plans to launch the series this summer and has also ordered another season of Girls Next Door, which it plans to air this fall. (Variety)

Season Two of Mad Men will launch on BBC Four on Tuesday, February 10th. (BBC)

The second episode of TNT's new drama series Trust Me landed only 1.9 million viewers, representing an audience loss of 65 percent of lead-in The Closer. The ratings also showed a staggering drop from the premiere episode's 3.4 million viewers. Elsewhere, HBO's Big Love increased its viewership by 29 percent of the season premiere up against the Super Bowl. (Variety)

Lifetime has renewed weight-loss reality series DietTribe for a second season, with eight episodes slated to air this summer. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

"Prison Break" to End and Other News from FOX's TCA Panel

Yesterday's FOX panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour wasn't filled with too many surprises (did we really need to find out what Kiefer Sutherland's exercise regimen entails?) but there were a few revelations in store for attendees, most of which came from FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly.

(Those of you who were following my Twitter feed during the panel can attest to some shocking/funny/bizarre moments throughout the day, including when Reilly described NBC as "the crazy ex-wife that I can't get away from." Those of you who weren't following the feed: shame on you!)

Chief among the revelations: Reilly claiming that the network would "let [Dollhouse] play out for 13 episodes" and that FOX would end Prison Break at the end of this season.

"Creatively, the show is just played out," said Reilly. "Creatively, everybody feels enough stories were told. We want it to finish strong and not just gimp out next season."

Currently, Prison Break has four additional episodes yet to air and these new installments are slated to return on April 17th. However, an undisclosed number of additional episodes are currently under discussion which could neatly tie up some dangling storylines and act as a series ender.

"We've got our remaining batch of four episodes," said Reilly, "and then there are a couple more we're contemplating."

Reilly discussed FOX's decision to slot Joss Whedon's Dollhouse on Friday nights "Joss Whedon does a certain kind of show," said Reilly. "He’s right in the zone again on that. It's the kind of show that we know has a core passionate audience. In some other scheduling scenarios, there could be enormous pressure on it but there could be an upside. We have a very compatible lead in with Sarah Connor."

Still, slotting the series elsewhere on the schedule would have put a lot of pressure on Whedon to perform at higher expectations which could have led FOX to "yank it from the schedule."

"We’re going to let the show play out for 13 episodes and hopefully it will catch on," continued Reilly. "If we can do some business there, that would be a great thing for the future."

Meanwhile, don't look for Fringe to fade off of the schedule. "I already know Fringe is a keeper," said Reilly. "The show's been a bear creatively because it's been very ambitious. They've really found the storytelling model now. What you're going to see in the second half in the year, if you follow the serialized story you will not be disappointed, yet the stories really do reset themselves each week. I would not expect it to take off after Idol, but I do think it will tick up another level," he says.

(We picked up review copies of next week's episode of Fringe, the first of 2009, so look for a review next week.)

Reilly hopes to keep Bones--which has moved around the schedule more than any other FOX series, I believe--sitting tight in the future. "I'd like to stop moving it around," said Reilly. "If it does what we think it's going to do on Thursdays, we will glue it there."

Elsewhere, FOX will launch animated comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up--starring Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Cheri Oteri, Nick Kroll, Kristin Chenoweth, and others--on April 19th, where it will take over the 8:30 pm timelsot on Sundays, following The Simpsons.

And FOX is committing itself to comedy development, despite the network's current "low pulse on live-action" comedy, although Reilly admitted that it's possible no new live-action comedies may appear on the schedule this fall. He said that the network doesn't want to just launch something blindly (as, perhaps it did with last fall's Do Not Disturb?)

Despite plans to pick up five drama pilots and five comedy pilots in the next few weeks, Reilly indicated that they may not launch another live-action comedy until they have a series "that can fire up time period" or they find a series that "can be compatible behind Idol" or can be launched in their Sunday night animated block and moved elsewhere.

Ultimately they want comedy series that are "bold and have a view."

Regarding FOX's surprising recent decision to renew lackluster comedy 'Til Death for another season, Reilly said simply: "We want to keep original programming on the air."

More Secret Millionaire could be on tap.

Scarily, FOX has an entirely unseen season of 22 episodes of reality series Moment of Truth on the shelf and could roll it out later this year. "Fortunately, we have other options," said Reilly. "And I don't mean that pejoratively to that show. We have it as a tool when we need it over the summer or to fill a time period. We have a season of them on the shelf... I think it will come back on the air at some point."

And then there was that winning bit about NBC, Reilly's former home, which he described as "the crazy ex-wife that I can't get away from." (FYI, the crowd erupted into laughter with that one.)

Of the Peacock's decision to fill its 10 pm hour with a Jay Leno talk show, Reilly said: "I was surprised to see that. I think it's the a smart strategic move in a very, very troubled place. Just looking at the facts, the network historically has struggled to establish scripted shows at 8 pm. You have to go back to Fresh Prince to find a self-starting scripted hit. It's been historically a challenge for NBC even at their height. So if 8 pm is a place they're going to struggle with scripted shows, if they don't program Friday, Saturday or Sunday for half the year with scripted show, on a historic level you look and say for the network that was the premiere brand for scripted television, 'that's a sad statement.' Whether they make it go at a business level, we'll see."

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: ABC Schedule Still Missing "Daisies," Whedon Talks "Dollhouse," Grammer Returns with New Pilot, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

Still no word on when--if ever--ABC will air the three remaining installments of Pushing Daisies. "They are not scheduled to air right now," creator Bryan Fuller told Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, "and that's all we know." Rest assured, I'm also trying to get to the bottom of this. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan has a new interview with Joss Whedon about his upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible, in which Whedon discusses the lure of television, the genesis of Dollhouse (over lunch with Eliza Dushku), and ditching the original pilot. "This won't be the second episode because this isn't what the network wants, this isn't the kind of show they want," says Whedon. "This is something you could do two years in when everybody's familiar with it and you don't have to explain it. I always hold to the premise that the first six episodes are the first six pilots. You have to be able to come in and just go, "Oh, okay. So that's the premise and here it is delivered in this fashion." And I did get a little turned around. There was times when I was like, wait a minute, are the things that I care about still in the show? [Laughs.] Because some things that I was interested in - the more twisted elements of the human psyche and some of the more quieter aspects of it, kind of got shunned to the side." (Futon Critic)

NBC and Warner Bros. Television have allegedly failed to reach a financial agreement on John Wells' latest project, Police (formerly known as LAPD). With ER wrapping up its 15-season run early this year and NBC eliminating the 10 pm weeknight timeslot (it will go to Jay Leno's new nightly talkshow), it appears that the writing was on the wall for Wells' latest. However, some say it's an end of an era as Wells bids adieu to NBC, home of not only ER but also Wells' The West Wing and Third Watch, among others. NBC, for their part, claims the deal is not dead. (Los Angeles Times)

CBS will swap out freshman comedy Worst Week, which wraps its run on February 9th, for the return of Rules of Engagement. No news on the fate of Worst Week, which has yet to be renewed for a second season. More likely to receive a renewal: fellow frosh comedy Gary Unmarried. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

ABC ordered an untitled comedy pilot starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and written/executive produced by Tucker Cawley (Everybody Loves Raymond) about a Wall Street exec who loses his job and is forced to move back to his hometown with his wife and kids. Project, From Warner Bros. Television and Good Humor TV, will be executive produced by Grammer, Cawley, and Tom Werner. Project should not be confused with Jim Herzfeld's Changing Positions, a multi-camera comedy pilot at NBC about a Wall Street exec who loses his job and is forced to move back in with his sexually active parents with his wife and kids. I'm just saying... (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime and executive producer Richard LaGravenese (The Bridges of Madison County) are developing a one-hour drama about a suburban couple who try to reinvigorate their relationship by having open marriage. LaGravenese will write the script and is attached to direct, should the project be ordered to pilot. (Variety)

Pay cabler HBO is developing one-hour drama Stud, set in the rarefied world of horse breeding, with Dexter writer James Manos attached to write and executive produce. Project, based on a non-fiction book by Kevin Conley and produced by Half-Shell, will look at the relationships among a family of horse breeders and tackle such diverse topics ranging from "immigration to relationships to performance-enhancing drugs as the family seeks to find the perfect breeding combinations." (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC has ordered six episodes of celebrity sports reality competition franchise Superstars (last seen in the US in 2002), in which eight male and female pro athletes will be paired with eight celebrities to compete in various sporting challenges including swimming, kayaking, and biking, with teams to be eliminated each week. Series, from Juma Entertainment and Blue Entertainment Sports TV, is expected to air this summer. (Variety)

Well, The Janitor is still getting work. Scrubs' Neil Flynn will star opposite Patricia Heaton in ABC's comedy pilot The Middle, where he will play the male half of a married Midwestern couple who cope with the highs and lows of raising three kids. (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Guide has some scoop on what to expect when Greek returns to ABC Family on March 30th at 8 pm, including guest turns by Ken Marino (Veronica Mars) and new cast members Jesse McCartney and Andrew West. (TV Guide)

Kate French (The L Word) will guest star on Gossip Girl as Elle, "a mysterious nanny who comes to town and gets involved with Ed Westwick’s Chuck Bass." (OK!)

SAG has told its members to continue working under its basic cable pact, despite the deal having expired three weeks ago. The guild has set to set a start date for negotiations with roughly 20 cable companies for their cable deal, which covers such series as The Closer and Monk. (Variety)

Sony has promoted Glenn Adilman and Sharon Hall to EVP of comedy and drama development respectively; both signed new multi-year deals with the studio. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Lawsuits Aplenty with "Gilmore Girls" and "Two and a Half Men," Cassidy No Longer "Privileged," and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. I'm still recovering from the, er, excesses of the past holiday week and still have a stack of screeners to get through before the New Year.

Paging GOB Bluth: Will Arnett is ready to reunite with his Arrested Development co-stars for the big screen debut of the Bluth clan as Ron Howard and Mitch Hurwitz rally the troops. "It’ll be fun to get back together with everybody and work on it,” says Arnett. “It’s been so long now, we almost have to do it. It’s like we have to finish the joke.” Arnett meanwhile offers his trademark comedic spin on the Arrested film in an amusing jab at the state of the economy. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

Dexter's Lauren Velez will guest star in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Ugly Betty this season; she'll play Elena, a nurse who becomes entangled in the lives of the Suarez clan. POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING: Details are sketchy but there is word that she is involved in a plot twist that could involve the death of a major character. Say your goodbyes to Ignacio now. (Hollywood Reporter)

Due to budgetary and creative reasons, Michael Cassidy will leave the CW's freshman drama Privileged after the series' fifteenth episode, in which Cassidy's character, Charlie, will return to college. "Charlie will be leaving town," creator Rina Mimoun told Michael Ausiello, "but not until some hot and heavy kissing goes down." Ratings on the series are up by double-digit gains after the netlet scheduled Privileged after Gossip Girl, but there's no guarantee of a Season Two. "Right now, I'm more concerned about Privileged returning for a second season than just Charlie," said Mimoun. "If everyone wants both, then I think we have a shot!" (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The CW's Gilmore Girls is back in the news again but, sadly, not because of anything good: former executive producer Gavin Polone's company Hofflund/Polone has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, claiming that Warners has "colluded to defraud the originator of hit Gilmore Girls television series with a scheme that rivals the greed and bravado of any story line defendants could script." The company claims that Warners has defrauded them by stating that Gilmore Girls ran at a deficit through all seven of its seasons; Hofflund/Polone was guaranteed a percentage of the "modified adjusted gross" in a 2000 agreement and a 2002 amendment. (Hollywood Reporter)

That lawsuit comes just a few days after Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit of their own: against CBS, the home of the Warners-produced comedy Two and a Half Men. The studio has filed a $49 million lawsuit against CBS, claiming that the network has refused to reimburse the studio for production costs ("deficit recoupment") for the first four seasons once the comedy became a ratings hit, under the guidelines of their license fee. (TV Guide)

And in other lawsuit news, a federal court has rejected Lifetime's bid for a change of venue to move its current legal battle over the future of Project Runway out of a New York state court. (Variety)

HBO's Flight of the Conchords sophomore season premiere racked up 250,000 streams in its first ten days on FunnyOrDie.com, in addition to thousands of streams on HBO.com. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Los Angeles Times has named Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett, who stars in FOX's upcoming midseason drama Dollhouse, as a face to watch. Penikett refuses to get stressed about fans' fears about Joss Whedon's upcoming series. "I don't like panicking," said Penikett. "I'm also old enough now where I try not to stress over things too much." (The Los Angeles Times)

BBC Three has commissioned six episodes of supernatural drama Being Human, which aired its pilot earlier this year on BBC Three as part of its pilot season. The series, which stars Russell Tovey (Doctor Who), Lenora Crichlow (Sugar Rush), and Aidan Turner (The Clinic) as three flatmates--a werewolf, ghost, and vampire respectively--who live together, was created by Toby Whithouse (Torchwood) and will air in 2009. (BBC)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Echo Forgets in "Dollhouse" Clip, "Gavin & Stacey" Cast Talk, "Prison Break", and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. This being the week of Christmas, look for the television programming news to be light but we do have a few headlines to discuss. I spent the weekend catching up on some screener-viewing (episode 203 of Damages, for example) and preparing for the hols this week.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has a sneak peak clip of Joss Whedon's latest drama, Dollhouse, which launches Friday, February 13th on FOX. In the two-minute clip, Echo (Eliza Dushku) has her imprinted memories wiped by Fran Kranz's Topher, who then engages in a philosophical discussion about the nature of his work with Echo's handler Boyd (Harry Lennix). Does it make you rethink your position on the series? Are you more or less excited to see it now? (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Guardian has a brand-new interview with the oh-so-talented cast of British import comedy Gavin & Stacey, including James Corden and Ruth Jones (who also wrote and created the series), Matthew Horne, and Joanna Page, in which the gang talks about Christmas wishes, the Queen's speech, and the uber-memorable The Office Christmas Special. Fair play. (The Guardian)

Elsewhere, James Corden has said that he doesn't know whether there will be a third season of Gavin & Stacey. "We really don't know," said Corden. "Ruth and I are executive producing an American version of the show for ABC and we're looking at some writers. It's so strange getting these CVs from people who've written some of my favourite TV shows: Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Will & Grace." [Editor's note: Ruth Jones claims NBC, who had optioned the format, is out and ABC is in.] (The Times)

Kristin Dos Santos has a sneak peek clip of tonight's episode of Prison Break (the winter finale), in which Michael learns something pretty shocking about his mom, the Company, and some news that he might want to provide to the DMV. (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

BBC has commissioned a second season of apocalyptic drama Survivors, a remake of the cult 1970s series created by Terry Nation, which stars Julie Graham, Max Beesley, and Paterson Joseph. The final episode of the current season is slated to air on Tuesday evening on BBC1. (The Guardian)

HBO has signed a deal with Maria Bello (ER) to develop and star in an untitled series at the pay cabler to be written by Gary Lennon (The Shield). Bello would star as a woman forced into a life of crime in order to support her three teen sons, whom she employs as criminal henchmen, after her husband is killed. Project will be executive produced by Bello, Lennon, Gavin Polone, and John Carrabino. (Variety)

FOX handed out a script order (plus penalty commitment) for werewolf dramedy Bitches, about four female friends in Manhattan... who happen to be werewolves. Project, from writer/executive producer Michael Dougherty, executive producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (Pushing Daisies), and Warner Bros. Television, has been garnering much buzz in the last few months and, given its subject matter (and snarky title), I had it pegged for months as a pickup. (Hollywood Reporter)

In a sign of the times, ITV has pulled the plug on its two-part adaptation of E.M. Forster's A Passage to India, which was to star Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks) and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky). Production on the expensive period drama was slated to begin in January in India and the two-part mini was slated to air in Fall 2009. “We are working hard to make sure that we extract maximum value from the schedule and spend money carefully and, as a result, we will not be taking forward the commission of A Passage to India,” said an ITV spokesman. “We remain committed to high-quality drama on ITV1 and in 2009 have Demons, Law and Order: UK, Wuthering Heights, Whitechapel and the return of Primeval coming to screen.” (Variety)

In other UK drama news, former Office star Martin Freeman will star as Doctor John Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch (Starter for Ten) will star as the titular sleuth in Sherlock, a contemporary remake of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels. Also secured for the one-hour pilot, from creators Steven Moffat (Doctor Who) and Mark Gatiss (Doctor Who): Rupert Graves, who will play Inspector Lestrade. Coky Giedroyc will direct the pilot episode, slated to begin shooting next month. I had the chance to read Moffat's script a few months back and it had some interesting moments, even as I had a difficult time believing the contemporary trappings around this modern-day Sherlock and Holmes duo. Still, good casting such as this will definitely elevate the material. (BBC)

Billy Zane (Charmed, Titanic) will replace Timothy Olyphant on ABC's Samantha Who?. Olyphant, who played Samantha's ex-boyfriend/boss Funk last season, is unavailable due to his commitments to FX's Damages, where he plays Wes. Zane will assume the role of Funk in this season's fifteenth episode, when Funk and Sam reunite for the first time after she turned down his marriage proposal. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

MTV has announced that it has no less than 16 new reality series on tap for 2009, including offerings from Matt Stone & Trey Parker (South Park), Donald Trump, Nick Lachey, and Sean Combs. The cabler, which has been suffering declining ratings, will launch all of the new series over the next 4 1/2 months; the launches represent a shift more towards the "meta-scripted reality of MTV's The Hills." (Variety)

NBC won't be developing a US version of BBC's long-running series Top Gear. BBC Worldwide and the Peacock have parted ways from the project and the Beeb issued a statement about their decision to take the format elsewhere. "BBC Worldwide and NBC have decided to part ways on the Top Gear format and we are in the process of finding a home more suited to the show. With Top Gear UK version now playing on BBCA it has become clear the series attracts a strong, highly valuable, young male audience in the U.S. and we are already in discussions with several interested networks." (Top Gear Blog)

And it does appear as though NBC has canceled reality revival series American Gladiators. (Hollywood Reporter)

In case you didn't know, politics turned out to be very, very good for late-night satirical series like Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show. (The New York Times)

Elsewhere at the Times, Alessandra Stanley has picked her selections for Best TV of 2008, which includes series such as Mad Men, Fringe, The Wire, Gossip Girl, NCIS, and In Treatment, HBO telepic Recount, and the incomparable Tina Fey. (The New York Times)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: FOX to Exhibit "Glee" This Spring, Espenson Defends "Dollhouse," Pink Slips at CBS Par,

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing from another spectacularly grey morning in Los Angeles. I'm still recovering from last night's excesses, which included drinks in West Hollywood with not one but two writers/co-executive producers from Battlestar Galactica, followed by more drinks and dinner with a friend in Culver City. Whew.

FOX has ordered 13 episodes of one-hour comedy Glee, from co-writer/director/executive producer Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) and 20th Century Fox Television, and hopes to launch the series as early as this spring. "Like anything Ryan does, it's got creative ambition," said Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "I saw the same look in his eyes that I saw when he pitched Nip/Tuck (at FX). It takes some tonal chances, and should generate a tremendous amount of buzz and interest." Series follows the pitfalls and travails of a Spanish teacher (Matthew Morrison) who attempts to reinvigorate the sagging high school glee club. (Variety)

Elsewhere at FOX, criticisms and bad buzz about midseason drama Dollhouse have prompted writer/producer Jane Espenson, currently writing the series' 11th episode script, to defend the series, saying that it's turning out just fine. "It's really good," said Espenson. "I think it could very well appeal to not just Whedonites, but a much broader audience. I think it's extremely good, and the concept just blows me away: It's fantastic, this notion of people who have been erased and are now imprintable with whatever you want them to be. ... It's sci-fi of the most human kind. It's sci-fi about people, as opposed to, you know, phenomena. And I really love that." (Sci Fi Wire)

BBC America has announced that it has acquired two seasons of Life on Mars sequel Ashes to Ashes and will run them back-to-back starting in March 2009. (Televisionary)

Laurence Fishburne has signed a first-look deal with CBS Paramount Network Television to develop projects for television. Under the deal, Fishburne--who recently joined the cast of CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation--will have offices based on the CBS Radford lot in Studio City; he's tapped former Paramount TV exec Rose Catherine Pinkney to oversee the TV arm of his Cinema Gypsy Prods. (Variety)

Fox Reality has handed out a series order to Househusbands of Hollywood, a nine-episode series following the lives of stay-at-home husbands of successful Los Angeles women that is set to launch in August 2009. (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS initiated a round of layoffs yesterday at CBS Entertainment and CBS Paramount Network Television, including EVP Maria Crenna of CBS Paramount and comedy SVP Brian Banks, who have been with the studio for 11 years. Total number of pinkslips is said to be in the low double digits. (Variety)

Brittany Robertson (Swingtown) has been cast as the lead in the CW's dramedy pilot Light Years, about a 15-year-old girl who, after growing up in a series of foster homes, attempts to track down her birth parents who gave her up for adoption after a one-night stand and connects with her mother, now a morning radio show host, and her father, a childish bar owner. Gary Fleder will direct the pilot, from CBS Paramount Network Television and writer/executive producer Liz Tigelaar. (Hollywood Reporter)

Jack Black will guest star on the post-Super Bowl episode of NBC's The Office. (Televisionary)

Bravo has renewed docusoap The Real Housewives of Atlanta for a second season. (Variety)

Russell Hornsby (Lincoln Heights) will star in Season Two of HBO's In Treatment; he'll play Luke, a separated father with a 12-year-old son who is one of Paul Weston's patients. (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Channel Surfing: Graham Lands ABC Comedy, Whedon Admits He Would Have Put "Dollhouse" on Fridays Too, Shenkman Checks into Seattle Grace, and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

Former Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham is returning to television. ABC has given a put pilot commitment to an untitled comedy about a self-help guru (Graham) who teaches other women how to live a stress-free life but can't follow her own teachings when she's dumped by her boyfriend. Project, from Sony Pictures Television, Hagada Hey, and Tantamount, is written by Alex Herchlag (Will & Grace) and will be executive produced by Herschlag, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, and Mitch Hurwitz. (Variety)

Joss Whedon says that a Friday night timeslot is "a better fit" for his upcoming FOX drama Dollhouse, which has been plagued with bad buzz ahead of its February debut, but admits that Dollhouse wouldn't likely attract huge numbers in its launch. "They’re bringing down expectations regarding how big of an audience they think it will bring in the beginning," said Whedon of FOX executives, "and then as the show progresses. They need to do that." Still, Whedon says that fans will still find the series. "If I were an executive, I would have put it on Friday too, honestly, and not as a dig," he said. "The people who want this will find it, and hopefully more will as well. Fox is aware that TV just doesn’t exist the same way. People watch it online, on DVD, on their TiVos. It’s not the end of the world, but of course everyone's been predicting the end of the world for Dollhouse since it was announced." (Los Angeles Times)

FOX is said to be thisclose to ordering space-set workplace comedy Boldly Going Nowhere--from the creators of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia--and musical dramedy Glee (from Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy) to series. At least that's the word coming out of the FOX screenings, during which execs will view four pilots including Boldly, Glee, Emancipation of Ernesto, and Virtuality. The first two received additional script orders so can go into production relatively quickly; Glee is being viewed as a potential lead-out of American Idol and execs are said to be very high on Boldly as well. Ernesto is not expected to go forward and Virtuality may be reworked as a more mainstream drama series. (Hollywood Reporter)

Ben Shenkman (Angels in America) will guest star in a multiple-episode story arc on ABC's Grey's Anatomy later this season. He'll play the husband of Jennifer Westfeldt's patient character, but both husband and wife will be, uh, guests at Seattle Grace, with Shenkman's character said to be in "critical" condition. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

In other medical drama news, Shannon Woodward (The Riches) has been cast in a recurring role on NBC's ER, where she will play the estranged younger sister of Linda Cardellini's Sam who turns up in Chicago with some shocking news: she wants Sam to look after their ailing mother... the same mother who threw a then-pregnant Sam out. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Dawson's Creek's Mary Beth Peil will guest star in a January episode of FOX's Fringe, where she will play Jessica Warren, the mother of that young lab assistant who was killed in an explosion in Walter Bishop's lab over 20 years ago. When Jessica learns that Walter has been released from the mental hospital, she crosses paths with Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson). (TV Guide)

Frustrated by those Golden Globe nominations? You're not the only one, as the Los Angeles Times takes a look at all of the series--from Lost to The Wire--that were unjustly left off of the ballot this year. (Los Angeles Times' The Envelope)

Oxygen has ordered eight episodes of docusoap Addicted to Beauty, following the clients and staff of a California medi-spa, from RDF USA that will launch early next year. The cabler also announced that it is developing four new reality projects including Hogs & Heifers, The Girls, The Naughty Kitchen, and Lady and the Champ. (Hollywood Reporter)

Syndicated medical talkshow The Doctors has been ordered for a second season. (Variety)

Stay tuned.