Dollhouse Renewed? Why not Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles?

Fox Networks decided to renew Dollhouse for another 13 episodes but canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'm less then thrilled about this decision.

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• Fox Network
• dollhouse
• Terminator
• feminism
• feminist frequency
• vlog
• videoblog
• Joss Whedon
• Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Eliza Dushku

[LanceDirk]

I don't see how Bones is a good example of male killers. Booth struggles with killing a lot, and there are more subtle themes about how he struggles with the way men are supposed to be able to kill without feeling and how Booth has kind of suppressed his feelings, and yet when people bring up the people he's killed, he's very sensitive about it.

[feministfrequency]

@LanceDirk I'm not referring to Booth at all, more so the killer of the week.

[undercovernihilist]

I don't know if you ever watched the final season of Dollhouse. The final few episodes, and especially the show finale, really presented Whedon's thesis in an interesting way and answered a lot of the questions that you raise in this video. I think you might even be pleased which how it all turned out.

[feministfrequency]

@undercovernihilist I did watch it all the way through, and my analysis of the show has changed just slightly since I made this video (at the conclusion of the first season), but not by much. I wish the show had more of where it was going in the final episodes as opposed to weekly prostitution storylines. 

[Thiefree]

How much do you know about Joss Whedon? He's done more to write strong, competent female characters than anyone else. He tackled a lot of complex issues in Dollhouse; issues I think you're oversimplifying in this video by assuming that our sympathy is supposed to be with the Dollhouse.

I loved it, and I wish they'd continued, as I know Joss would have probed deeper into all the ethical issues that a business like that would represent. He just wasn't given the time.

[RoySchl]

what do you think after seeing the second season?

i think what whedon wanted the show to be, was rejected by the channel it was airing on, because it was to depressing and dark, so he had to make changes.

so maybe the original concept would have been all you would wish for.

[Darien0Shields]

I really loved SCC. I really hated Dollhouse. It was so damn awful. I'm very much inclined to blame Eliza Dushku for Dollhouse since she had a deep investment in it and helped come up with the concept. I think it was supposed to be a vehicle to show off her acting talents. *cough* I loved SCC, but I did feel that it struggled to keep plot threads together sometimes. I wish we got another season because I will miss those characters so much.

[xLiLxxBitx]

Buffy and Firefly were better than Dollhouse, that's for sure.

[MarkdeCarabas]

Totally agree with you on the Sarah Conner Chronicles. When you look at the Terminator films, the worst ones were the most recent ones. The ones without Sarah Connor. This was a character who was strong and a woman and they didn't try to glam her with some form hugging pvc suit. The series also, I mean I really wanted to know what was gonna happen at the end. Sarah Connor on her own and John Connor in a future he didn't help forge. More gripping than Dollhouse I have to say.

[DeadJesusRodeo69]

since you're a fan of Whedon's work, what did you think of Firefly?

[MissLissaLindsey]

Joss Whedon did write a series that was "critical and analytical, and still has social commentary, while still being entertaining and fun" It was called Firefly, and it only ran for 13 episodes, for a number of reasons. So, fox no longer actually wants tv shows of value from Joss, just fun one shot shows. However, I think that if Dollhouse had been permitted to run another season Joss would have delved deeper into the gray area of Dollhouse and really expanded upon it. Also, love for November <3

[giggilymesh]

The fact that Joss Whedon got you talking about the rape issue was what he wanted, because Dollhouse is a show about how corporations will always try to force their opinions about what we--as a consumer society--want, down our throats. To the point where we have no free will and that the true evil is when good people stand by and do nothing. Hence you have these characters who believe they are doing good works when in fact they're not. I defer you to Firefly and Serenity for further study.

[GeishaShattori]

I also liked that not ALL the female "dolls" were of the standard anorexic proportions. "November" (Miracle Laurie) was a doll who figured into the story quite regularly, and she has a full, healthy figure. Not only that, but she got to be seen as beautiful and sexy, and even seduces one of the main characters (in "doll" mode, but still...). I was so amazed at this! A normal, full-figured woman is usually a background character or the "fat friend" of the female lead, but this girl just got to b

[GeishaShattori]

While I agree that there were elements of sexism and objectification in "Dollhouse", it did have its moments. I loved Olivia Williams' character in that she wasn't made to be like a stereotypical brothel "madame", she was a beautiful, strong, intelligent businesswoman. Sure she would come off as ruthless sometimes, but you could see she felt a growing sense of guilt in the whole Dollhouse program and what it did to people.

[TheDarkSideOfLight08]

Even though I've gained the impression the show does a decent job pointing to and critcizing the disturbing level of objectification of women and human beings in general through the extreme example of Dollhouse, I like and agree with some of the points you've made. Humanizing the Dollhouse staff adds to a realistic portrayal of people responsible for social ills, but, as contradictory as that sounds, I'm always sickened when a piece of fiction tries to make us sympathetic towards such figures.