Record Breaking Heresy

I just want to see how many posts I can put up in one day. Plus, this way I can at least truthfully tell people I spent the day writing.
So, it's been three weeks. It's hardly enough time to tell if a show is going to make it or not, but it seems like it's been enough time to comment on Dollhouse.

Let me start by saying I like Joss Whedon's stuff. Like. Although I've rhapsodized about certain elements of Angel, I'm not a huge fan. I think other shows, like BSG, the Wire, and H:LOTS, have approached similar ideas differently and better. What?! You say it's not fair to compare the Whedonverse to such dramatic shows, but I think it is. At it's heart the Whedonverse takes some heavy topics, adds vampires or space, and a little comedic element to make it all palatable.

Dollhouse attempts to loose the less realistic factors of the Whedonverse and just give all out drama, which is where I think it goes wrong. The show actually needs to be darker. It needs a little of BSGs bleakness. The wise cracking characters in Dollhouse seem out of place with everyone and everything else. I'm willing to suspend belief. I don't need any explanations of the science, but in this case I need it to at least be serious. If other characters don't take their world seriously, why should I? A darker, bleaker world might also help me to feel more sympathetic to the "dolls" when they are no programmed. Right now the world they inhabit appears so plush and rosy that I am not as alarmed for them as I should be.

Here is the other issue. The show feels rushed. I know, I know I am supposedly a more sophisticated viewer and I can handle multiple plot lines; but, maybe I don't want to. It seems like there is a need to get too much of the mystery out there too soon. I know Whedon's had problems with Fox before (Firefly), but he seems driven to get all the mystery out there right now. I can't quite keep up. In fact, I need to go back to the third episode because I am still not sure how Tamoh Penikett's character got shot.

In short, I like the show, but I think it needed to be on SciFi or HBO or some other channel where it could have been darker and less rushed.