Ducky’s back from vacation which means it’s time for another TV Talk Podcast! We have almost 3 weeks to cover so make yourself some tea, get a snack and settle in for the soothing cackles and rants we’re about to sling your way.
We start as we always do, Monday nights. BIG BANG THEORY and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER continues to be the best damn double bill on television. CHUCK goes to the suburbs, tests his best friendship with Morgan and breaks up with Sarah, say what? HEROES hits rock bottom and Matt Dallas shows his rock hard… abs!
THE BIGGEST LOSER 7 pisses Ducky off and shockingly Kath watched! PRIVILEGED aired what may have been it’s series finale and is to be continued but when considering The CW renewed a bunch of shows already. AMERICAN IDOL continues to rock on while randomly REAPER returns.
TOP CHEF has a shocking finale while Kath gets a shocker as she realizes she missed DAMAGES last week mid-recap.
SURVIVOR’s getting ugly, Sweeps are in March, 30 ROCK gets political, AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW kills it and I might kill Kath for something she says about BURN NOTICE.
Over on Friday’s there’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, DOLLHOUSE and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA to discuss before breezing through Sunday’s THE AMAZING RACE because really you just want to listen to…
TWO IDIOTS TALK LOST!
NEWS: We have a permanent home for the podcast, a new site! Visit: TheTVTalkPodcast.com
DOLLHOUSE was obviously a show that many of us were dying for ever since it was announced. Being a huge Joss Whedon fan, I thought how could reteaming with Eliza Dushku and Amy Acker go wrong especially when Helo from Battlestar is involved?
Well, to no one’s bigger surprise than my own, three episodes in and I’m already over the show.
The general idea is this… The Dushku is in way over her head, the Dollhouse/Alpha storyline is way too slow and I miss the typical Joss-like witty banter and charm normally present in a Whedon joint to keep my attention.
The weekly stories are boring and watching Echo become different people each week sounded like a good idea but now looking back on it, it’s super narcissistic on both Whedon and Dushku’s parts.
The key is Alpha! I don’t know if I want more front-loading of Alpha because I’m pretty sure the show will be canceled before it plays out or because that’s where the real show lies and they’re not giving it to us when they should. Plus, add in the rumor that Wash himself, Alan Tudyk, may be playing Alpha and I want him now, not in the last episode of the season as they’re reporting.
Don’t even get me started on the serious mis-casting for the role of Topher. Fran Kranz is not enjoyable on any level. He’s a lame excuse for a role that was almost tailor made for someone like Whedon alum Tom Lenk.
If I’m being honest here, I don’t know if I can watch the show any longer and that truly saddens me.
Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku as a living doll, a woman that has given up 5 years of her life to become a blank slate, a vessel where this company can imprint her with any identity, memory and skill set a client wants/needs.
From companion to assassin, these dolls (both male and female) become the ultimate human for the right price. Much like Cinderella though, when the clock strikes, it’s time for these dolls to return back to the dollhouse where their memories of their mission are downloaded and wiped. The dolls live in a surreality where massages, workouts, and lots of sleep await them until their next implant/mission then it begins all over again.
I don’t want to give away too much from tonight’s premiere but I wanted to at least give you my opinion on the show so here goes. I didn’t fall out of my seat in awe, drooling over how much I loved it. Now that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the shit out of Dollhouse. I did.
Remember when FRINGE premiered and Kath and I chatted on the TV Talk Podcast about how it was good but didn’t knock our socks off? It’s the same scenario.
Joss Whedon, much like J.J. Abrams, has built this empire on being a cult creator and we as fans expect the world, the moon and a miracle with each new show. I fully admit that these expectations are what taints my immediate obsession with both Fringe and now Dollhouse. It’s me, it’s not you Joss.
The Dushku does a pretty good job in the role of Echo (hate hate hate that name) but at times I feel there are limitations to her depth and ability to carry some of the heavier more emotional scenes. Should I be making a judgment of her character range based on a single episode, probably not but I did… what can ya do? Now, I love me some Dushku so I’m willing to give her time to build, develop and breathe in Echo’s skin but given the amount of involvement both she and Joss had in creating the series and role, I expected more. (more…)
For those of you not going to COMIC-CON this year, consider yourselves lucky because if you knew the anxiety and rage the scheduling has caused me and my fellow TV Bloggers, you’d be fine just staying home. There are so many TV panels this year and so many things I want to do that either overlap each other or run too close to ever hope of getting in, so trying to decide what to see is like Sophie’s Choice up in this place.
Here are the panels I’m interested in attending and as you’ll see, it’s nearly impossible to attend half of the things I’m excited about.
*Item’s in BOLD are panels I’m currently planning on seeing but I promise you, it will change before leaving next week.
THURSDAY 10-11am Kings
12-2pm Doctor Who/Torchwood
2-3pm The Middleman 4:30-5:30pm True Blood
5:45-6:45pm Dexter
FRIDAY 10:15-11:15am Big Bang Theory
12:30-1:15pm Spaced 1:30-2:30pm Joss Whedon
1:45-2:45pm EW Showrunners 3:30-4:45pm Family Guy
4:30-5:30pm Bones 5:30-6:30pm 24
6:30-8:00pm Kevin Smith Makes Porno
6:30-7:15pm Prison Break
7:15-8:15pm MST3K
10:15-11:45pm Spaced Screening 10:45-Midnight Dr. Horrible Screening
SATURDAY 10:45-11:45pm Heroes
11:30-12:30pm Sarah Connor Chronicles
12:00-1:00pm Lost
12:30-1:30pm Kyle XY
12:45-1:45pm The Office 1:00-2:00pm Dollhouse 2:15-3:15pm Battlestar Galactica
3:15-4:15pm Pushing Daisies
3:30-4:30pm Chuck 4:45-5:45pm Fringe
6:00-7:00pm TV Guide Panel
7:15-8:15pm Sarah Silverman
SUNDAY
10:00-11:00am Smallville
10:30-11:30am It’s Always Sunny 11:15-12:15pm Supernatural
11:30-12:00pm Hamlet 2 1:00-1:30pm Friday the 13th
4:00-5:00pm Buffy the Musical
Do you see how agonizing it is to try and plan your days? Saturday is seriously OOC and I’m sure many decision will change in the spur of the moment. What you don’t see on here are the parties we’re RSVP’d for and the Press Rooms we’re hoping to do as well. Add press rooms for most shows on Saturday and you’d have to have 3 Buffy Bots to help you cover it all.
Regardless, I’ll be there with many blogger friends and we’ll be podcasting every day and recording as many panels as possible to post here on Ducky Does TV so stay tuned!
We threatened to never do another TV Talk Podcast if you didn’t flock to iTunes and leave us comments… well I’m happy to report that you love us as much as we love you! Thanks to your generosity, we are back and this week’s podcast is a lot of fun!
We revise our thoughts on Swingtown now that we’re both completely caught up (and loving it), we talk about my chat with Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and her stint on Burn Notice plus some scoop on her new Fox pilot Inseparable.
Next we tackle one of the most talked about Fall pilots, J.J. Abrams FRINGE! Kath and I will review the plot, the mystery and the hotness that is Josh Jackson but don’t worry we don’t spoil anything for you! We’re good like that!
Then it’s time for some listener emails because you guys are cramazing!
Who wants to talk Comic-Con? No? Tough because we run down the shows that will be in San Diego and vent our frustrations over the scheduling. If you’re going to be in town for Comic-Con and you’re a reader or listener, let us know… we’d love to see you!
Before wrapping up this week we have a little fun with our TV version of F, Marry, Kill! That’s right, we each pick one we’d boink, one we’d marry and one we’d go Dexter Morgan on. join in the fun and leave us some comments about who you’d F, Marry and Kill based on our choices. We’ll read some of them on the air in our next podcast.
We said we’d be back with another TV Talk Podcast in a week but it took almost a week and a half, I think you survived just fine. GMMR was at the Upfront presentations so there’s plenty to talk about including her celebrity sightings, stalkings, and dancing partners. We’ll even talk about Joss Whedon’s DOLLHOUSE and J.J. Abrams FRINGE starring GMMR’s mega crush Josh Jackson. So You Think You Can Dance might get a couple minutes or five along with her time with The Office and Tina Fey!
Back to your regularly scheduled podcast, we head right into GOSSIP GIRL, AMERICAN IDOL, THE OFFICE, GREY’S, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and more. Plus, it’s the return of TWO IDIOTS TALK LOST (*we talk about the finale being this week but listener Michael pointed out that it’s not until May 29th – phew!) where we rehash the first hour of the three hour Season 4 finale, once again proving that even idiots can enjoy Lost. And as a bonus feature, we have a special guest to help us talk about the Season 3 finale of The CW’s SUPERNATURAL.
Sit back and relax because this Podcast almost hits 90 minutes. You read that right, 90 minutes of babbling, giggling, bitching, and TV Talk!
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It’s super easy and free to leave us a message:
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Joss Whedon’s upcoming DOLLHOUSE just got a little more enticing for me! If the reteaming of Joss and Faith wasn’t enough to get the geek blood flowing, throw in a little Battlestar Galactica hotness and I’m hard already!
Helo Tahmoh Penikett will join the cast as an FBI Agent hot on Echo’s trail. Better than frakkin’ a toaster, oh wait… Echo’s not much more than a toaster though is she? Guess we’ll find out this fall!
Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Smith: 30s, good looks hardened by a cynical distaste for most of humanity. An FBI field agent, he’s been chasing the urban myth of the Dollhouse long enough to have lost any shot at promotion. Becomes obsessed with and a twisted romantic foil for Echo (Eliza Dushku).
Fran Kranz as Topher Brink: 20s, genius programmer who’s articulate, nerdily attractive and blithely amoral. He’s responsible for imprinting the Dolls—and making sure they stay unaware of anything. Is fascinated by the science and kind of digging the illegality. Fun to be around but might not be remotely trustworthy.
Dichen Lachman as Sierra: 20s, Asian (or certainly not Caucasian). Strikingly beautiful. A Doll like Echo, she has every personality in the world but her own. Is not as self-aware as Echo but is instinctively drawn to her as a friend.
Enver Gjokaj as Victor: 20s, handsome and fit. A Doll, and the other closest thing to a friend Echo has. Childlike when he’s inactive, and everything from Errol Flynn to a young DeNiro when he’s active.
I hope that some of the other Whedonverse kids make it into the cast as well. I’d love to see Amber Benson, Charisma Carpenter, Tom Lenk, Alan Tudyk or Sean Maher back on my tube week to week.
Well, the crazy week at Paley ended last night with my most anticipated event, the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Reunion.
Knowing that the event was going to be the biggest night of the week, Kath and I had to strategize a game plan in hopes of scoring the best seats possible. Luckily we didn’t have to camp out the night before as some folks did because we had the Premium Package seats which guarantees you the first 4 rows
(suckas). Honestly, I would have been fine with any of those but deep down I knew that the fan in me wanted as close to the front as possible.
We had an early lunch with our pal Holly then Kath drove me over to the Arclight to line up at 2pm. The event wasn’t until 7 but when I got there the Stand By (wishful fans) and General Admission lines were OOC! We went around to the front where the Premium folks line up and thankfully we were the 10th & 11th people in line.
The group up there was hysterical. They’d started to create a seating chart which each of us picked our seats on so that it was a nice/friendly/orderly way of getting into the front rows without it turning into a scene our of Pamplona. I called it the Tooth Chart because no matter how brilliant and drop dead funny it was to create a chart, the damn thing looked like the chart at your dentist where they point out your issues teeth. Whatever, I’m rambling. The whole thing was called Operation Streisand and it was so not as gay as it sounds. Think cock-blocking a Babs serenading Pushy McPusher that the night before had elbowed someone at the front of the line.
You may ask… where was Kath in all of this? Well, she was down the street at a Borders so that she could finish watching the end of the series (so sad, Project Buffy is over) before the damn reunion! Why Borders you ask? Well, she was afraid the people in line would lynch her for having not being a long-time die hard fan. Don’t be haters.
She came back around 4:30, we got our package passes at 5 and were told that at 5:30 we’re going in. Thank God the Paley Center and the Arclight came up with a plan of action for the night because up until this point (ie. every other night of Paley), it was one of the most poorly organized crowd control situations I’ve ever seen. For Buffy they had security up the wazoo and routinely checked in to tell us how entrance to the theatre would work in order to avoid a stampede. The Tooth Chart was adhered to and we all filed in 2×2 (not 5×5 b/c Eliza didn’t show – boooooo). And we’re in…
While everyone’s known that Kathie would be attending Paley next week, I’m happy to report that I will now be joining her… officially! We’ll be hanging with our friends from PUSHING DAISIES, geeking out with CHUCK, molesting Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton and the rest of the Panthers from FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and vamping out with my girl BUFFY and her gang of Scoobies!
We’ll be doing nightly podcasts from Paley so now’s the time to subscribe to our TV Podcast so you don’t miss a single minute of our trip.
As you know, Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku are once again teaming up for Fox’s DOLLHOUSE. Today some information is coming to light that makes me very excited. Not only did TVGuide give us a glimpse at the character breakdowns for the show, and another site posted some great Whedon alumni news!
According to TVBarn, two ANGEL writers/producers are jumping aboard the Dollhouse train and I couldn’t be happier! Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain recently released from Women’s Murder Club to get a little Whedonesque back in their lives. I miss Angel, especially Fred.
Now to the character scoop Ausiello released today:
ADELLE DEWITT: The fortyish iceberg who runs the Dollhouse where the human Etch-a-Sketches reside.
PAUL BALLARD: The thirtysomething G-man who is slated to become an offbeat love interest for Dushku’s “impressionable” Echo.
BOYD LANGTON: Echo’s handler and father figure.
TOPHER BRINK: The technogeek who enjoys his job as a Doll programmer maybe a little too much.
SIERRA: The knockout Doll who is as close to a friend as Echo has.
VICTOR: The distractingly handsome Doll who is called upon to play everyone from Errol Flynn to Robert DeNiro.
NOVEMBER: The Tracy Turnblad of the Dolls.
DR. CLAIRE SANDERS: The beautiful older woman with whom Topher is smitten.
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