Dollhouse

Why do intelligent TV shows get cancelled all the time?

When this show moved away from single episode arcs, revolving about the assignments, and turned to handling complex themes like - how does one deal with the ethical questions around this kind of human trafficking (-> self-deception, mostly) - what makes a personality - how does an Active cope when confronted with the fact that apparently s/he gave up his/her personality willingly - what makes one give up his personality and allow oneself to be dealt with like a "thing"

Dollhouse became a truly fascinating show. Yet entertaining, captivating. Which of course led to it being cancelled. Oh, sigh.

It took a few weeks, I don't have the time to binge watch, but I finished watching the 2 seasons. I have the same question, why in blazes was this canceled.

An innovative show that will generally keep your eyes glued to the TV. Excellent scripts & direction. Eliza shines as Echo.

Not a lot of episodes but highly recommended.

How anyone can call this show boring and complete garbage is mind boggling for me. What hurts even more? Some of them claiming to be Joss Whedon's "fan" had actually said he lost his potential.

For one, Joss Whedon can never lose... anything. His mind is constantly working to create diverse, intelligent, cult-driven shows that will take us on an emotional high every time we watch it.

Dollhouse is perfect, even with its flaws (because honestly, nothing is "perfect" or else our world wouldn't be what it is). Joss is able to create villains that aren't villains. There aren't any demons or vampires or the supernatural here, and I think that's what makes some viewers dislike the show so much. They can't watch it and distance themselves from it by saying, "Oh he's a vampire so therefore blah blah... etc." In Dollhouse it's all about human nature and where we've taken ourselves. And that no matter how advanced our technology may be, we are all the same... always. You can never take someones soul away.

I refuse to watch anything belonging to Fox ever again (unless Joss somehow signs with them yet AGAIN for some Goshforsaken reason). I don't know how much more grief I can take when they go off and cancel it. Ugh. W-ankers!

This show is amazing. And dark. Very, very dark. This has clearly made many people uncomfortable. However, Helo, sorry, Paul, essentially spells out the message in the pilot: when seemingly helpful technology is created someone finds a way to use it for evil.

I don't believe the show makes any apologies for the people at the Dollhouse. I believe it shows the ways those people rationalize what they are doing so they can sleep at night.

This show is a great vessel for exploring the nature of the soul and personality. What makes people who they are. Despite being wiped and implanted over and over, Echo retains some of her Caroline-ness. This show is not ultimately about "the world's oldest profession," but about what makes humans human. If you can't get past the creepy paying for people, and, yes, the singer episode, then this is really not your show.

And, speaking as a woman, I really don't find it all that offensive. I'm actually not all that certain why I should. The dolls are of both sexes and I see a strong female lead, may Whedon continue to put them on television.

I highly recommend this show. Get past the first few episodes (which Fox tinkered with) and see the brilliance beyond.

...that FOX is letting this one go. The time-slot didn't help (Friday night is usually the go-out-and-party-night) so most folks (like me) would TiVo this or DVR it for later viewing (which doesn't count to the networks, I guess). More's the pity. This show is really picking up steam and the story lines are getting better and better, especially now that the Echo, Sierra and Victor characters are being fleshed out more and given extremely interesting back stories. Eliza Dushku is a find as the tough, enigmatic protagonist of this series and since FOX isn't going to allow this cool show to go past two seasons, I sincerely hope they have the common sense to keep her on the payroll for other projects. Her chemistry with both good-guy Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Pennikett) and with brilliantly insane psycho nut-job Alpha (Alan Tudyk) is palpable and riveting. The casting of Olivia Williams as the ice queen in charge of the Dollhouse is spot on while Harry Lennix and Fran Kranz (as cool head security dude Langton and as genius programmer nerd Brink, respectively) add another dimension to the whole show. I'll continue watching this unique and entertaining series until it finally bows out a short time from now and hope that some other network may step in at the last minute and save it though that seems unlikely (again, pity). This is just a cool, pseudo sci-fi type show that probably had the misfortune of a cruddy time slot because everything else (the acting, writing, casting) was brilliant. Too bad more people didn't watch it or give it a chance.