OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

2% budget cut for Dollhouse.

POSTED BY: HAKEN
UPDATED: Friday, February 27, 2009 15:41
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:46 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


In an effort to reduce cost, 20th Century Fox Television has asked that 2% be cut from many of their series, including from Joss Whedon's new series, Dollhouse. "Everyone understands that revenues are down and these steps are necessary to protect our business," a studio spokesman tells TVWeek.

Cross-posted from Shiny Universe.
http://www.shinyuniverse.net/news.aspx?nid=119



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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:37 PM

TRAVELER


Oh my God! 2%! There goes the series.


http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:02 PM

BLACKCATLADY


My questions is simplu, "Why not cut 2% from Fringe or House?"

Sheesh!

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:05 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


LOL...though, you never know with the FOX Execs. I'm sure the various productions are saying that they can't lose any percentages. If that's the case, then it'll likely come down to who has the most leverage.

This sort of begs the question of which series will win over the other when it comes down to a budgetary fight to the death.

House vs. Dollhouse?
Bones vs. Dollhouse?
Prison Break vs. Dollhouse?
Sarah Connor vs. Dollhouse?
Fringe vs. Dollhouse?

etc.

What do you think?



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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:29 PM

TRAVELER


Not seeing any Dollhouse episodes yet, I don't know how much special effects they are going to use.I suspect they series with the higher budget on the effects is going to have to reduce these. This means more reliance on the writers. Imagination costs less. If the writers for Sarah Connors come up with stories requiering fewer rooms with computer banks and less exploding vehicles they would more then reduce their budget by 2%. I also feel Sarah Connors is getting to complex. To many story lines. Bring some to an end and reduce the personnel. Dollhouse appears to be not to far in the future, so sets will more then likely be contemporary. No need to create a spacecraft or other special sets. Will have to wait and see. Most everything for this season is probably already produced. It will be next season that shows any difference.


http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:30 PM

NCBROWNCOAT


Same thing happened over at ABC-they cut Nathan's series, Castle, to 10 episodes from 13. And not only his series, but the other new one too (the name escapes me right now).

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/








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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 4:32 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


There's also a rumor going around that the Screen Actors Guild might strike. That will definitely do some serious damage to any new series that are trying to build an audience.

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Thursday, December 18, 2008 5:09 AM

CHRISISALL


I...just don't see that this is a good time to strike anyway, in this economic climate, I mean.


The sensible Chrisisall

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Thursday, December 18, 2008 6:50 AM

STORYMARK


Quote:

Originally posted by BlackCatLady:
My questions is simplu, "Why not cut 2% from Fringe or House?"

Sheesh!



Uh, because it'd be stupid to cut the budgets on their highest rated shows.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Thursday, December 18, 2008 8:27 AM

BLACKCATLADY


The SAG is still taking about a strike? No kidding?

If that happens, it will kill a lot of new shows. And so many people can give a rats a$$ about an actors strike.

Definetly not a good time for SAG strike....

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 11:46 AM

PARTICIPANT

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 11:57 AM

BLACKCATLADY


The review means nothing. Just another jerk with a blog.

Big Damn Deal.....

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:01 PM

ZEEK


Quote:

Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
Same thing happened over at ABC-they cut Nathan's series, Castle, to 10 episodes from 13. And not only his series, but the other new one too (the name escapes me right now).


This is the type of @#$%* that never made any sense to me. Do those episodes make you money or don't they? If they make money then by not spending money to produce them you can't make money from them. If making the episodes lose you money then cut them all. The end.

I just don't understand how producing less money making product is going to get you out of your money trouble.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 1:29 PM

11THHOUR


This is just FOX's justification for reducing how much the wardrobe covers the actors by 2%.

Uh oh, Eliza's ultra mini dress will now become a shirt!

But hey, FOX's 2% wardrobe reduction move will increase the ratings for the males 18 to 49 or whatever thingy...



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Thursday, February 19, 2009 4:25 AM

JAYNEZTOWN


Guys we can not hide the facts, this pilot sucked


see shark jumping


THE KING IS DEAD


LONG LIVE THE NEW KINGS OF SCIFI !?





Joss Whedon's cult following is no secret, but he seems assured of attracting the faithful and little else with "Dollhouse" -- a series that exhibits a kitchen-sink mentality, throwing in a half-dozen assorted plot threads that intertwine to create confusion. The writer-producer-director is clearly gambling on viewers to grant him time to develop this sci-fi concept, but the premiere's unflattering resemblance to NBC's already-axed "My Own Worst Enemy" -- and its scheduling on Friday with the meritorious but low-rated "Terminator" -- doesn't bode well for enduring long enough to complete the show's mission, whatever that might be.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939592.html?categoryid=32&cs=1

Quote:


"Dollhouse" (9 tonight, WPGH) isn't awful, but neither is it remarkably good. It's a passable hour of entertainment that shows potential to improve but flails and confuses (and occasionally bores) from the start.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09044/948785-67.stm

And then there's Dushku the muse - the actress who inspired the series Whedon built around her. Obviously he sees something in her. But will viewers? That's a lot of faith.
Here's hoping "Dollhouse" improves significantly or else Fox is going to wipe it clean for next season.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/02/11/DD9015Q
ISL.DTL


The performances were generally acceptable, and I even warmed a little to the rather obvious and predictable charms of Eliza Dushku, but there was no spark evident in anything that went on.
There was a telegraphed plotline about the imperfections in the Dollhouse process, and how these might manifest themselves, and of those who might want to make its existence public. But none of this presented an especially interesting or intriguing future, even if Joss has one planned.
We’ll get to find out next week if Dollhouse can erase the memory of this start, or I’ll be forced to relive it.
http://www.denofgeek.com/television/203129/dollhouse_episode_1_review.
html


TVGeek: Dollhouse

Dear Fox:

You're kidding, right?

That was a joke. You've got the real pilot hidden in drawer somewhere. That wasn't the show we've been waiting for since before the writers' strike. That was a weird amalgam of MY OWN WORST ENEMY, BIONIC WOMAN and other recently failed series, only both of those were more interesting than what you handed us Friday night.
I don't think I've ever been so surprised by a premiere. Look, I'm an unabashed Joss Whedon fan, but it wasn't because Buffy kicked demonic tail or Angel out-brooded Los Angeles or Mal and Zoe shot up the universe. All those things were great. But the key to a Joss Whedon series was a) terrific dialogue, b) a plot twist or three you didn't see coming, and c) characters you could really enjoy (or enjoy hating).
None of that was present in DOLLHOUSE.
http://bellevillenewsdemocrat.typepad.com/culturegeek/2009/02/tvgeek-d
ollhouse.html


Good as those questions are, they're dwarfed by another: What makes Whedon so fond of Eliza Dushku, the monotonous young actress he cast as Echo? It's her third turn in a Whedon series (she played a rogue vampire-slayer in both Buffy and its spinoff, Angel) and aside from the fact that she obviously doesn't spend a lot of money on foundation garments, her appeal remains elusive as ever.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/tv/story/898328.html

In a perfect world, fans of the strange science that drives "Fringe" could now get their weekly fix from the similarly strange science that drives "Dollhouse."
But then, in a perfect world, "Dollhouse" would be a good show.
It's not.
It has less in common with "Fringe," an engaging show with great characters, than it has with "My Own Worst Enemy," the Christian Slater disaster that died a merciful death this year because it was incomprehensible.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/02/12/2009-02-12_all_
dolled_up_with_nowhere_to_go.html


It would be nice to blame the network and all those dreaded notes, but of the three episodes Fox made available, the pilot is the strongest.
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-dollhouse13-2009feb13,0,4967894.s
tory


'Dollhouse' Deserves To Be Condemned
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009
021203994.html?wprss=rss_artsandliving/television




The bad news: Dollhouse's was the lowest-rated series premiere of any scripted show this season, except for NBC's Crusoe. Even more ominous: Seven years ago, 400,000 more people tuned into the first-ever episode of Firefly
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/02/how_long_can_dollhouse_su
rvive.html

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Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:59 AM

WASHNWEAR


Quote:

Originally posted by Haken:
LOL...though, you never know with the FOX Execs. I'm sure the various productions are saying that they can't lose any percentages. If that's the case, then it'll likely come down to who has the most leverage.

This sort of begs the question of which series will win over the other when it comes down to a budgetary fight to the death.

House vs. Dollhouse?
Bones vs. Dollhouse?
Prison Break vs. Dollhouse?
Sarah Connor vs. Dollhouse?
Fringe vs. Dollhouse?

etc.

What do you think?



Hmmm...would Greg House find Echo's case intriguing enough to sacrifice 2% of his budget...let alone treat her? Ya know...I think he might...

But I'm pretty sure the Gang at FOX would as soon contract lupus...

Quote:

Originally posted by 11thHour:
This is just FOX's justification for reducing how much the wardrobe covers the actors by 2%.

Uh oh, Eliza's ultra mini dress will now become a shirt!


Hmmm...maybe I've been just a little overly pessimistic about the "new" economy...

ETA: Hmmm...enough "hmmm"s - seriously, folks. I take no pride in this admission, but I, too, do not fully understand the Dushku Appeal, at least so far as it's apparently felt by Joss. I mean, she is in no way hard to look at, and I imagine she's a genuine delight to sit down and have a cup of coffee...or whatever...with. But broadly and generally her performances seem to me to lack depth...or something.

That said, I've no doubt (or not much doubt, anyway) that all suckiness associated with Dollhouse's premiere is the result of FOX's meddlesome ways.


It was like that when we got here!

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Saturday, February 21, 2009 11:21 AM

JAYNEZTOWN


1 more episode like this and I'm done with Dollhouse

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Friday, February 27, 2009 3:41 PM

SHINYGOODGUY


Agreed, the pilot sucked it BIG TIME.

But: "remember, the torture" Wash

Fox had "asked" Joss to rewrite the pilot (and other eps?) to their liking. We all saw this pretty much coming like a Kansas Twister. So if this show tanks, and with Fox at the helm that's pretty much a given, does anyone really know what time it is?

Dushku's cuteness factor notwithstanding, does she have what it takes to keep a show afloat? Fox seems to think so. I read somewhere that she had signed a 5 year contract with Fox and my guess is that they're hoping she delivers - so DH may not die that quick painless death everyone is predicting.
Of course we have to consider the economy. Ultimately it is up to that gorram Nielsen family.

Personally I think Summer would have been better suited for this show than Eliza, but that's just me - I'm a big fan. Which brings it full circle to casting and writing, without which shows in general would all jump the shark. The idea that Terminator would make for a good series (turn a movie into a TV show) was a big gamble for Fox, but they are known for making such leaps of faith since they threw their hat in the ring back in 1986.

But, I think, success has gone to their heads (some may argue that they're nothing but empty hats). Why do I bring this up? Well, Fox quite selfishly has assumed all the success is dew to their "expertise" and not that, perhaps, others may have some talent. It brings to mind that sports commercial from years ago - Bo knows - with one exception, Fox actually believes the hype - Fox knows.

I know I'm making a lot of generalizations here but, when it comes to Fox, we have more than that - we have history. Fox, Joss, TV show - CANCEL.

SGG

Tawabawho?

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