Comments on: Hey, These Shows Got Good: Parks and Recreation and Dollhouse

By: James Whelan

James Whelan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:33:04 +0000

This is an excellent post with great points. I’ve always loved Amy Poehler (I think everyone has a soft spot for her) so I wanted to give Parks the benefit of the doubt during the first season, which I didn’t really enjoy. I was glad I held out. The second season has been fantastic, the stakeout was absolutely hilarious -Knope’s encounters with the kid were brilliant and well thought out. I’ve just watched ‘Hunting Trip’ (I have to watch it a few hours behind because I live in Ireland) and it really cemented Knope’s likability. Unlike Michael Scott the audience can like Leslie Knope because she genuinely cares for those around her and her town whereas Scott only tries to care for others for his own mental benefit.

Really impressed with this second season, I hope they can keep the comedy coming… Given time I think it could get to be better than The Office.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:09:28 +0000

We talked about this last night, but I agree re: Dollhouse and Eliza Dushku. For some reason, unlike SMG’s Buffy, Echo’s “chosen one” status seems unearned — all of the other featured dolls (Sierra, Victor, and ESPECIALLY Whiskey/Saunders) are all more interesting, and even Echo’s “real” self, Caroline, just comes off as kind of a bleeding-heart brat. I don’t understand why both Alpha and Paul are obsessed with her at the expense of all others, and it’s especially damaging to Paul’s character, because I can’t quite believe that he wants anything more than to fulfill some damsel-in-distress fantasy and that he’s attracted to Caroline/Echo on anything other than the physical level.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:51:22 +0000

I’ve said it before, but I appreciate the work-release program Whedon is providing for ex-sci-fi actors.

If your keeping count (which I guess I am) we got Apollo, Tigh, Helo, & Romo from BSG, Wash, Commander Lock, and from the commercials its looks like Cameron/River.

Did I miss any?

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:04:10 +0000

Just wanted to chime in that I agree with the points made here. I didn’t feel like I understood the huge range of twists and possibilities in the Dollhouse set-up until Epitaph One, and then didn’t realize how interesting that could be for the characters we’ve gotten to know until Topher and Saunder’s big scene in the season premiere (I think it was the premiere — early on, anyway). Now I’m in. And the cast is really starting to shine — Victor especially in that last episode.

And I like Leslie Knope more and more. She’s not dumb. She can do dumb things, but they’re always for believable reasons. And who doesn’t like a character with a weakness for the sauce that turns them into the life of the party?

By: Marisa

Marisa — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:21:09 +0000

I still can’t help but think that the quality of a Dollhouse episode is inversely proportional to the amount of Eliza D in it. That unaired episode was the best one, and she was barely featured in it. It’s not so much that she’s a bad actress–though I don’t see her disappearing into her new personalities the way the other dolls do–but it’s more that her little engagements are the least interesting aspects of the show. They’re not as interchangeably entertaining as something like, say, the X-Flies’s stand-alone cases or even House’s patients. The show is better on a template like last week’s epsiode: Something goes wrong with the Dollhouse Inc, and the engagement is relegated to a B-Plot.