Dollhouse
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
Dollhouse is a scheduled midseason replacement show set to air on Fox. Initially set to begin in January 2009, Dollhouse was created by executive producer Joss Whedon and produced by Tim Minear. Also helping to produce Dollhouse is Eliza Dushku, who previously appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Dushku also stars in the show.
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Original Plot
After watching the episode, Fox executives declared Dollhouse "not titillating enough" and asked Wheadon to try again.
Retooled Version
Dollhouse producers hired Tim Minear to revise the original script so it would meet Fox network standards. Minear delivered a new pilot script that featured Dushku as a Canadian space pilot who raced her vehicle across the Milky Way, solving crimes and fighting mayhem along the way.
While Fox liked the revised script (and the revised wardrobes of the principal actors and actresses), they decided that the proposed changes did not go far enough and requested a third edition.
An undaunted Minear went on to film much of the second edition of Dollhouse, releasing the results on YouTube in nine minute and fifty-nine second sections. While the filming was technically illegal (as Fox and not Minear owned the rights to Dollhouse), they wisely ignored the infraction and even promoted the segments as "viral marketing".
Dollhouse's Dollhouse
Bored with waiting for the 2007 writers strike to end, Whedon decided that instead of going to the expense of creating another pilot, he would instead use Rupert Murdoch's money to build a vast dollhouse on prime property in the middle of Burbank. According to Celebrity Exposé, upkeep and rental costs on the dollhouse range between $1.5 million and $2 million dollars per week.
Upon receiving the bills for Whedon's vast dollhouse Xanadu, Murdoch immediately greenlighted Dollhouse for 2009 in hopes of recouping at least part of the costs. Nervous sponsors immediately cut their commercial orders for Dollhouse to only six minutes per episode. Murdoch immediately claimed that Dollhouse was "Remote-Free TV" as viewers would no longer have time to switch to the Weather Channel during breaks.
New, New Pilot For Dollhouse
As of 2008, Dollhouse's plot had Dushku starring as a giant doll named "Echo" whose mind had been wiped clean by the Men in Black from Area 51. Along with her unusually photogenic friends, Echo tries to learn the secrets of her past while going on missions assigned by "The Man". Opposing Echo is Smith, an FCC agent who doesn't like dolls and wants to shut the "Dollhouse" down.
New, New, New Pilot?
The above is based on the script for the third Dollhouse pilot, which may have been superseded by a rumored fourth pilot written by Whedon and Minear. While not many details are known about this new episode, both Whedon and Minear are quoted as saying that the "idea to do a new first episode wasn’t the network’s (Fox). It was mine."
Some sources claim that this quote refers to a fifth pilot episode in which Whedon and Minear become bitter rivals, connected only by greed and just a bit of UST.
