There are generally two ways a television show gets viewers to tune in continually week after week. The first of these strategies is to create a cast of identifiable characters and putting them in different crazy situations each week. This attracts the audience to tune in and find out what shenanigans the cast will be in that week, and is the cornerstone of old sitcoms and modern crime dramas.
The second strategy is to create a long narrative for the viewers to follow, implementing plenty of cliffhangers and unexplained plot elements to keep the audience on edge. The objective here is to "keep the audience guessing." Shows such as Lost and Heroes are famous (or infamous depending on your opinion) for doing this.
The key to a truly amazing show is to make use of both these strategies in a healthy balance. Shows like Chuck, House, and Dexter have done extremely well for this reason. (Another good strategy for a successful show: name it after the main character.) Then there are shows that try desperately to do both, and fail miserably, which brings me to Dollhouse.
Dollhouse is a show about an organization that programs people to possess characteristics requested by clients, and then essentially rents these people to the clients for a day or so. The story follows one particular "Active," as these programmable people are referred to, her handler, and an FBI agent who's searching for the organization.
It's right here that things start to get funny. You see, the organization has hundreds of clients that pay a ridiculous amount of money for these services, and they operate out of a building with a particularly nice view of some major city. Everyone in the FBI seems to know exactly what the Dollhouse is, but only this particular agent believes that it exists. See where I'm going with this? There are a lot more gaping plot holes like this one, and it's only two episodes in.
So much for the overlaying plot, yeah? So what of the episodic plots? Surely with the undeniable hottie Eliza Dushku in the role of a programmable person, there must be some crazy action going on. Well, let's see. So far, Echo (Eliza's character, obviously) has helped solve a kidnapping case in the role of a nearsighted negotiator with asthma, and been the victim in a hideously slow interpretation of "The Most Dangerous Game."
Admittedly the acting is at least good; Dushku does a great job as an emotionless sack of meat, bones, and apathy. Take that as you will. I just wish they all had better writing to work with. Every time an outsider tries to explain the Dollhouse in layman's terms and someone responds with something akin to "it's more complicated than that," I want to punch them (mostly because it really isn't).
What's left is a show that successfully manages to be condescending to its audience, continually takes one step forward and two steps back in plot development, and contains many unique characters I can't force myself to care about.
The second strategy is to create a long narrative for the viewers to follow, implementing plenty of cliffhangers and unexplained plot elements to keep the audience on edge. The objective here is to "keep the audience guessing." Shows such as Lost and Heroes are famous (or infamous depending on your opinion) for doing this.
The key to a truly amazing show is to make use of both these strategies in a healthy balance. Shows like Chuck, House, and Dexter have done extremely well for this reason. (Another good strategy for a successful show: name it after the main character.) Then there are shows that try desperately to do both, and fail miserably, which brings me to Dollhouse.
Dollhouse is a show about an organization that programs people to possess characteristics requested by clients, and then essentially rents these people to the clients for a day or so. The story follows one particular "Active," as these programmable people are referred to, her handler, and an FBI agent who's searching for the organization.
It's right here that things start to get funny. You see, the organization has hundreds of clients that pay a ridiculous amount of money for these services, and they operate out of a building with a particularly nice view of some major city. Everyone in the FBI seems to know exactly what the Dollhouse is, but only this particular agent believes that it exists. See where I'm going with this? There are a lot more gaping plot holes like this one, and it's only two episodes in.
So much for the overlaying plot, yeah? So what of the episodic plots? Surely with the undeniable hottie Eliza Dushku in the role of a programmable person, there must be some crazy action going on. Well, let's see. So far, Echo (Eliza's character, obviously) has helped solve a kidnapping case in the role of a nearsighted negotiator with asthma, and been the victim in a hideously slow interpretation of "The Most Dangerous Game."
Admittedly the acting is at least good; Dushku does a great job as an emotionless sack of meat, bones, and apathy. Take that as you will. I just wish they all had better writing to work with. Every time an outsider tries to explain the Dollhouse in layman's terms and someone responds with something akin to "it's more complicated than that," I want to punch them (mostly because it really isn't).
What's left is a show that successfully manages to be condescending to its audience, continually takes one step forward and two steps back in plot development, and contains many unique characters I can't force myself to care about.
