Dollhouse

NEW DRAMA - DOLLHOUSE - Fox · Feb. 13 · 9PM

What it’s about 
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has imagined an underground organization that 
fulfills the wishes of well-paying clients by hiring out memory-wiped agents who can be imprinted with any personality. When not facilitating dream dates for rich boys or executing dirty deeds for dubious businessmen, these ’’actives’’ live in a state of blank-slate bliss within Dollhouse HQ. But one agent, Echo (Buffy alum Eliza Dushku), starts flashing on memories she shouldn’t possess.

What to expect 
’’The show allows 
 me to play two or three different roles an episode, from hostage negotiator to crazy-sexy assassin,’’ says Dushku. In one episode she takes on the persona of an elderly woman becoming keenly aware that she’s now occupying a younger, stronger, hotter body. Speaking of makeovers, Dollhouse acquired some sketchy buzz last summer when Whedon announced he was revising chunks of the pilot — and then scrapped it altogether. ’’It didn’t really present what audiences will get each week,’’ says Whedon. ’’It was like I dove into the world and got so wrapped up in it, I didn’t see 
if there was anyone else in it with me.’’ Says Dushku, ’’Absolutely everything has been for the best. There’s more action, it moves at a quicker pace, there are payoffs every episode.’’ Though it’s not a serialized drama, ongoing subplots include 
an FBI agent’s 
 (Battlestar Galactica’s Tahmoh Penikett) quest to expose 
 the Dollhouse, and a mystery about a 
dangerous, MIA 
active named Alpha. Says Whedon: ’’Hopefully, we’ve made 
 it more accessible and entertaining 
for audiences — but haven’t lost any 
 of the dynamics I loved.’’ —JJ