Dollhouse

Espenson: Dollhouse Is Just Fine

Writer/producer Jane Espenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) defended Joss Whedon’s upcoming Fox SF series Dollhouse—on which she is a consulting producer—against negative buzz and rumors, saying that it’s shaping up just fine, thank you.

"It’s really good," Espenson said in an exclusive interview with SCI FI Wire. "I think it could very well appeal to not just Whedonites, but a much broader audience. I think it’s extremely good, and the concept just blows me away: It’s fantastic, this notion of people who have been erased and are now imprintable with whatever you want them to be. ... It’s sci-fi of the most human kind. It’s sci-fi about people, as opposed to, you know, phenomena. And I really love that."

Espenson also downplayed reports of production interruptions, a bad timeslot and network meddling, calling them "overblown."

"We are now rolling along glitch-free," Espenson said. "I think people are very confident now that everyone is on the same page with what the show is, how amazing it can be, and I think that a lot of this has been overblown. I mean, very, very often on Buffy we were sort of, ’Oh, we don’t quite have that script ready.’ That’s sort of just how TV goes. It’s just when it happens at the beginning like this that it gets a lot of attention, and I think that people were concerned that the Firefly scenario would play out again. But, you know, I think that we’re very confident of what the show is, and yeah, it’s moving along so smoothly now."

Espenson said that she is currently writing a first draft of her first solo script for Dollhouse, the 11th episode of the first 13 ordered by Fox.

How is Whedon holding up? "He seems happy and comfortable and delightfully amusing as always," Espenson said. "You can’t get through a few minutes with him without laughing."

Espenson said that viewers will be pleasantly surprised by star Eliza Dushku’s performance in the series. "I think people are going to be really, really impressed with Eliza’s performance," she said. "In fact, this cast all the way through. We have this incredibly versatile cast that’s just perfect for this kind of show, where people are playing, ... as they’re being imprinted with different personalities, they’re playing different characters. And so part of the genuine fun and joy of the show is just watching, ’Oh, my God, look at who they are now.’" Dollhouse debuts Feb. 13, 2009, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.