Dollhouse

Great News for Quality TV: "Dollhouse," Others Get Fall Renewals

The broadcast networks unveil their 2009-10 TV schedules officially this week, but word already is leaking out about some of the survivors and casualties. The most pleasant surprise of all: Fox has renewed Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse for a second season.

Adding to the good news: Most of the best broadcast series from the just-ending season, whether freshmen entries or veterans, apparently will live to fight, and delight, another day...

At CBS, the best new show of the season has been The Mentalist, which also happens to be the most popular new show of the season. Its renewal was guaranteed long ago, but it’s still nice to know that quality TV can thrive as well as survive.

That isn’t always the case, of course. At NBC, Life never got the support it deserved, and that wonderful cop series isn’t likely to stay on Life support any longer. On the other hand, NBC found a way to extend its deal with DirecTV, which in turn extends the life of Friday Night Lights — a drama so good, its survival is a victory for all TV Worth Watching enthusiasts.

That show, like many borderline shows jockeying for survival, ended their seasons with a cliffhanger that tantalized with hints of things to come. On Friday Night Lights, Coach Taylor was forced out of his job teaching the Panthers, and ended the TV year taking wife Tami on a tour of his new football field at a much lower-rent high-school facility. Can’t wait to see the new team, the new challenges, and the new dynamics.

Fringe, on Fox, joins The Mentalist and Dollhouse as one of the three best new shows of the season. Fringe, too, is coming back, as is, according to reports, Lie to Me. The only Fox vanishing act is that of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, despite the tie-in possibilities with the imminent theatrical Terminator reboot.

Fringe ended with its season with a dual stunner: Olivia coming face to face with William Bell (played by guest star Leonard Nimoy), who was very much not dead, and Olivia realizing the office in which they were meeting was on one of the top floors of the still-standing World Trade Center. Welcome to an alternate reality — but how? Where? Why?

Finally, there’s Dollhouse, the Fox season finale of which (not counting the missing episode held back from telecast) made my jaw drop. Among the gasp-worthy revelations: Amy Acker’s Dr. Saunders, who administers to the blank-slate dolls in the Dollhouse, was shown in flashbacks to be a reprogrammable doll herself: Whiskey, seen in this case adopting the identity of a murderous vixen named Crystal. (Photo at top.)

I desperately wanted to see more. Now, thanks to Fox, I can.

ABC, for its part, is said to be dumping The Unusuals, but bringing back newcomers Better Off Ted and Castle, both of which are fun.

And in more surprising good news, the veteran, never-say-die comedy series Scrubs, which moved from NBC to ABC this season, will be back for one more year — though in what form, and with which cast members, has yet to be determined.

Start the week with a smile. Scrubs, Dollhouse and Friday Night Lights are coming back, and Fringe and The Mentalist aren’t going anywhere at all. I’ll miss Life, a lot. And I hope Whedon grabs his old Firefly cast member Summer Glau, now that she’s freed from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and slips her into Dollhouse.

But with this high a battling average for quality TV, I have no complaints. Most seasons, a good TV year is defined as much by the good old shows that survive as it is by the good new shows that premiere. Next season looks to be a good year already, for the old returnees — and this week, as the networks roll out their new schedules, we’ll see what brand new quality programs may be joining them.