Dollhouse

DOLLHOUSE.... It’s a pretty slow news day so far, so forgive me for straying from the usual political coverage.

As you’ve probably noticed, plenty of political bloggers occasionally tackle unrelated subjects. Yglesias writes about basketball; Ezra writes about cooking; Drum writes about cats, football, and his unusual computer problems.

And what do I do when I’m not obsessing over the political news of the day? I’m obsessing over the science fiction news of the day (TV, movies, comics, video games, you name it). With that in mind, John Cole had an item last night about "Dollhouse," a Joss Whedon show set to debut as a mid-season replacement.

Set for February 13, 2009, and I am hoping this is as good as Whedon’s other efforts. So help me, if Fox does to Dollhouse what they did to Firefly, I will come after someone.

John, get ready to go after someone.

First, Fox made Whedon scrap the pilot (just as the network did with "Firefly," probably my favorite show of all time). Then, after several episodes had already been shot, Whedon stopped production because the scripts were deemed inadequate. And just to ruin any hopes we had about the show’s future, Fox announced earlier this month that "Dollhouse" would air on Friday nights at 9 — the same slot it gave "Firefly," and a notorious black hole on the schedule where the network dumps shows it doesn’t intend to keep.

I’m an embarrassingly big fan of Whedon’s work, so months before the first episode even airs, I’m already preparing myself to be disappointed — not with the show, but with its likely demise.

For what it’s worth, Fox is pairing "Dollhouse" with the "Sarah Connor Chronicles," setting up something of Sci-Fi Friday lineup, which presumably could bolster both (they appeal to similar audiences). I’m still not optimistic.