Dollhouse underrated?

[Buffy Summers]

Do you feel Dollhouse is underrated compared to Whedon's other shows?

 

[Spanky]

No. I think it's overrated because Whedon is attached to the show. Arguably the best two episodes never aired on tv.

 

[PaulParmar1]

Yes 100% Dollhouse is underrated.
Its fantastic.

 

[Octavia]

I think it was a little ahead of its time. We see very popular shows with similar themes coming out now. I am unsure if the audience could quite grasp Whedons ideas in a human body - we will easily accept robots programmed in the same way. Making programmable humans was apocalyptic and one step up from a show like Westworld. Dollhouse felt more disjointed, and I think trying to attract an audience took away from the actual story. I wonder how a show like this would have worked with more modern entertainment viewing - whole seasons available at once for the binging audience.

 

[Fool for Buffy]

I love it and think it's quite underrated. It had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

 

[Spanky]

I think it was a little ahead of its time. ... I am unsure if the audience could quite grasp Whedons ideas in a human body

I don't think it was that at all. I think it was because the episodes were just not that good. It was Fox teeling Dushku that they wanted the show to be less serialized. The particular topic for Dollhouse screams out for serialized episodes. I think by the time it started a more serialized approach the damage was done. Whedon's shows have never found a large audience during their airing and the product was hurt. Same thing with Firefly. Fox relies on the audience numbers and Whedon shows don't deliver that.

I mean, look at some of the top shows that year and compare them to Dollhouse; Nurse Jackie, Made Men, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Sons of Anarchy, Weeds. It wasn't because of the audience, it failed because of the product.

 

[Mr Trick]

At the time I think it was underrated because it didn't find its audience, but now I think it is probably getting more love.

 

[Octavia]

I think by the time it started a more serialized approach the damage was done

Thats what I thought I said

Dollhouse felt more disjointed, and I think trying to attract an audience took away from the actual story.

Aww man did I say that wrong too? Where do I sign up for internet communication classes? I keep getting this wording thing ALL wrong.

 

[Spanky]

Thats what I thought I said
Aww man did I say that wrong too? Where do I sign up for internet communication classes? I keep getting this wording thing ALL wrong.

Oh, I took that as a different meaning. My mind went somewhere else. Didn't realize you were talking about it being more a procedural.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

A lot of people like their stories to be about the characters and their interactions but in Dollhouse, the characters are altered every week so you cannot gain any traction into understanding the dolls. It was never going to be a starring vehicle for any actor because the process was the star.

I think if people stuck with the series and started to see that the erasure of previous characters was not complete and that some of every engagement remained as a residual talent or capability, then the series would have been more interesting. But as for underrated, this is like an auction where the series does not have an intrinsic value, it has the value prospective customers give it. In this case, Dollhouse did not do that well, partly because Joss has always chosen poor titles for his shows, so few people were intrigued enough to tune in. (Dollhouse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly were rather bad titles that dissuaded a lot of people from watching.) What would you guess from the name Dollhouse? Is this supposed to be about a brothel? I bet a lot of people glanced at the listing and thought it was either too simplistic (like when they last played with dolls) or XXX rated.

 

[Spanky]

A lot of people like their stories to be about the characters and their interactions but in Dollhouse, the characters are altered every week so you cannot gain any traction into understanding the dolls. It was never going to be a starring vehicle for any actor because the process was the star.

I kinda disagree with that. I think if they made Enver Gjokaj the lead he would have been a star and the show would have lasted longer. Towards (I think) the end he was a damn chameleon in that show. I don't think I have seen him on anything else so I can't speak to his acting as a whole but I do know he really brought it for his parts. He was able to really showcase different personalities more than some of the other actors on the show.

 

[GwenRaiden]

Enver Gjokaj

I watched him in a horror/thriller called Would You Rather with a bunch of other TV randoms (including Abe from Mad Men) and he was good in that too, and definitely stood out from the rest.

 

[Spanky]

horror/thriller called Would You Rather

Wait. They made a movie based off the game? That would you rather do x y or zed game?

 

[GwenRaiden]

Wait. They made a movie based off the game? That would you rather do x y or zed game?

yes, only the game is hosted by a sadistic rich dude, all the players are in need of money and the winner gets the cash.

 

[Kratos]

I’d say Dollhouse is underrated. It started off slowly (the pilot Ghost could’ve been written better), but thought it was consistently good nearly all the time and I found a few episodes to be better on a second watch. It’s quite a disturbing, complex and complicated show, though, which probably put a lot of viewers off.

 

[Bluebird]

I think it is underrated because it is quite different to other Whedon shows, which are more character based. Dollhouse was an exploration of a concept, and I very much enjoyed the execution of that exploration. It felt fresh and a bit deeper in internal philosophy than your average trashy genre show. It was still a wee bit trashy but it was smart about it.

 

[DagonSphere]

I don't think it was underrated, I maybe thought it back when it aired, but not nowadays. It was a very flawed show with a lot of potential, but also with a lot of plot holes and things that didn't make sense at all. I think Joss either didn't think the show through or most of what he wanted to do wasn't possible on FOX at the same. Additionally, Eliza's acting wasn't best-suited for Echo, she did well with some of it, but overall she was not versatile enough to pull off multiple personalities each week.