What's New On Tube? - Pilot Season '08-'09 (Part 1)

Pilot season! Duck Season! Whatever it is, it’s time to start making some new TV for the fall – and pickings are slim, kids. The writers’ strike stalled production on scripts for fall pilots, so the networks only had a handful of projects to choose from. Of those, they picked the safety route – big names at the helm or very recognizable actors were key. Here’s a sampling of what’s to come, starting in the fall and spring of the ’08-’09 season:

1. Dollhouse (Fox – Early 2009) – So Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku walk into a restaurant… Yes, this project started out like the beginning to some bad joke – Whedon (the man who brought us Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly) and Dushku (who played bad-girl Faith in both Buffy and Angel) went out for lunch and ended up with both a show idea and its leading lady. Check, please!
The Dollhouse is a top-secret facility where Echo (Dushku) is one of the “Actives” – people who are blank slates, constantly reprogrammed with new memories for their missions. Since these missions benefit the whims of the uber-rich, an Active could be someone’s escort one week while being an assassin the next. But problems arise when Echo begins to retain memories from previous missions – life as a secret agent marionette just can’t be simple, can it?
The show also features genre vets Amy Acker (Angel) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) as other players in the Dollhouse, as well as producers from previous Whedon projects – so this show is turning into quite the powerhouse. But with Fox’s previous (mis)treatment of Whedon vehicles, fans are already petitioning the network to save the show from cancellation – I’d say that might be going overboard, but I was pissed when Firefly got canned, too!

2. Fringe (Fox – Fall 2008) – Another big-name project, this time from J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias). We follow two FBI agents, Olivia Dunham (relative newcomer Anna Tory, The Secret Life Of Us) and Peter Bishop (Dawson Creek's Joshua Jackson), as they explore the spread of unexplained phenomenon - of the dangerous variety, of course!
Hmmm – two FBI agents checking out spooky happenings in “fringe science” from astral projection to reanimation… Didn’t Fox start out with a show like that? Mulder and Scully ring any bells? Still, the show has a good premise and is in excellent hands. Plus, Fox hasn’t ALWAYS been so horrible to new shows –maybe they can use the same energy and cojones they use for picking exciting new shows and direct that towards actually maintaining and promoting Fringe and Dollhouse. I have a comment ready about unicorns flying out of my butt in mind, but I’m trying to remain optimistic here.

That's all for now, to be continued next time - when we'll preview something from Jerry Bruckheimer and a Family Guy spinoff. See you then…