Auch wieder positiv und negativ:

Hour One: Dollhouse

This one was of particular interest, given a) the long absence of fan-favourite fantasist Joss (Buffy) Whedon from our TV screens, and b) the characteristic abuse heaped upon him by a meddling and trigger-happy Fox network (one word: Firefly).

The resulting pilot shows aspects of both: a nifty concept, sporadically witty dialogue, a way-cool set (Whedon is as masterfully visual as he is verbal) ... and several glaringly dumbed-down story issues he clearly had to compromise on to even get the thing on the air.

I will not spoil it for you, except to warn you of one particular, ludicrously coincidental plot point that will cause you to spout whatever beverage you are drinking out through your nose (in my case hot coffee – it wasn't pretty).

I also worry about lead actor Eliza Dushku, who is supposed to be playing a radically different character every week, for which I seriously doubt she has the range.

Apparently, one of these will be a 60-year-old woman and it's a pretty safe bet it ain't gonna be another Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button.

There is also the show's unfortunate resemblance to the quickly cancelled My Own Worst Enemy.

Of all my Sunday screeners, this is the one we'll have the longest wait for, debuting in its Friday-night "death slot," with a relocated Terminator as its lead-in, on Feb. 13.

That's Friday the 13th.

I'm just saying.

Die Frage nach Elizas Range nervt schön langsam, weil sie a) viel zu simpel, und b) nach einer Folge schlicht nicht beruteilbar ist. Das hier neu angeführte (und problematisierte) "dumbing down" ist allerdings interessant. Ich gehör nicht zu denen, die davor Angst haben. Fox wollte Firefly down-dumben, und das Ergebnis war der Übergang von "Serenity" zu "The Train Job". Immer noch großartig.