The hype machine was in full effect leading up to the premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly creator Joss Whedon’s latest television series…

Dollhouse

Provocative images like this naked-but-covered picture of Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku have been making their way around in promotion of the new TV show’s premiere on Friday. It’s pretty obvious which target demographic FOX was trying to pull in with these photos.

FOX also brought in Summer Glau of their Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles series (and Whedon’s Firefly) to help kick off Dollhouse‘s premiere:

Even though Terminator airs in the Friday night time slot just before Dollhouse, I thought this series of promos was a bit goofy and over the top. We get it. They’re two beautiful women who each kick butt on their shows, which are aired back-to-back. Did we need to be reminded of this during every commercial break? I’ve been a fan of the new Terminator TV series since it launched and think Glau does a great job as Cameron, the helpful-but-mysterious cyborg, but seeing her act all girly next to Dushku actually made me want to watch Dollhouse less.

The one promo for the back-to-back airing of these two shows that I did enjoy was this grindhouse-style commercial:

Ever since Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse film came out in 2007, this over-the-top production style has become somewhat of a Hollywood trend, even when it’s completely inappropriate. Fortunately, I think it worked here.

After seeing all of these images and promos, I found it surprising that there was very little (if any) sexuality to be found in the show’s first episode. I was also shocked that Whedon’s trademark no-one-actually-talks-like-that-but-it-still-sounds-good dialogue was nowhere to be found.

What I did find was a show that has potential, but was lacking some key elements to make it special. Dollhouse is billed with the tagline, “She can be anyone, except herself.” That basically translates to Dushku’s character, Echo, being essentially technologically brainwashed into having an all-new persona in order to carry out a mission, or “engagement” as they like to call it. These “engagements” could be as simple as giving a guy a fun weekend or as complicated as trying to rescue a rich man’s kidnapped daughter (both of which we see in the first episode).

It all reminded me of J.J. Abrams’ Alias, but instead of the strong female lead character (Jennifer Garner’s Sydney Bristow) knowingly taking on new undercover identities week after week, this female lead character (Dushku’s Echo) only knows what she’s doing after having her new identity implanted in her head. The difference makes the show more science-fiction than action-adventure.

Dushku’s last television series, Tru Calling, ran for two seasons from 2003 to 2005 but never established a big fan base. Whedon’s projects, on the other hand, always seem to find a huge following. So will Dollhouse create the same level of fan excitement that Buffy and Firefly have in the past? It’s hard to say at this point. I saw very little of Joss Whedon in Dollhouse‘s first episode. Absent were quirky, unique characters, replaced mostly by uninteresting plot-serving ones. And as hard to believe as Whedon’s dialogue usually is, I found myself missing the charm that it has provided in the past.

I’ll continue to watch Dollhouse for the time being, but will hope for improvements in pace and character development in the coming weeks.

What did you think about the premiere of Dollhouse? Post in the comments.

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