FUTURE ON FOX

Our hard-working cast and crews are busy today.  Here’s just a mere sampling of what is going on Tuesday, August 5th in the FOX world:

• Joss Whedon is directing Dollhouse on location in a hangar.
• The Virtuality first episode is humming along. Right now, they’re in an “airlock” set.
• Practically the entire cast of Prison Break is in scenes today.
• 24 is filming in the White House set.
• Terminator is on location at a house standing in for the Connors’.
• Do Not Disturb is taping on the lot.
• Sit Down, Shut Up has a table read with its very funny cast.

We’re churning out quality television for you lovely people!

As EW’s Popwatch notes, Mr. Whedon brings the funny, Eliza and Tahmoh bring the sexy:

After Penikett explained to one questioner that there would be no shooting conflict between Battlestar and Dollhouse because he’d been written out of the Sci-Fi Channel series, Dushku interjected, “Thank you, Battlestar Galactica! You are a strapping and extraordinary man.” And that left Whedon to joke sheepishly, “I’ll just be here,” as Dushku scooted her chair closer to Penikett. The duo seemed fully at ease with each other, whispering and joking throughout the session. At one point, Whedon half-heartedly lamented his third-wheel status, joking, “This is like bringing your banjo onstage after the Stones play.”

The Chicago Tribune didn’t waste any time and went straight to a network angle:

MR: I have to ask the Fox question.
JW: Yes, Eliza is a fox.

The Trib also got Joss talking about our favorite kind of relationships, the twisted kind:

MR: Will there be unrequited love, frustration, the full gamut of Joss Whedon relationships?
JW: Oh yes. Actually one, no, two of the most twisted relationships I’ve ever come up with. I’m so excited about the Dollhouse and the ensemble of the show.

Newsarama caught Whedon reassuring the sci-fi nerds:

Whedon defended his upcoming series saying there would be no vampires, no space ships, no werewolves, it’s just people. But, “I hope most people know that everything I do is just people.” This was met with applause from the fans in attendance. He followed that up by saying, “Believe me when I say it’s going to be really exciting.”

And Tahmoh (understandably) chokes in the face of Eliza’s hotness:

Eliza Dushku knows the real reason Joss went back to the drawing board to shoot a new Dollhouse pilot (from zap2it):

“And I, for some reason, did not get to wear my leather pants in the first episode, and that was kind of a problem… that was like a deal breaker. We have leather pants for me in the next one.”

The reporters that visited the Dollhouse set wanted to know about the new pilot. But they also got Mr. Whedon to chat about some other factoids.

Kansas City.com’s TV Barn has his take on the arc of the characters:

“What interests me about the human condition — we have this woman who is stripped of her personality and has to rebuild herself from scratch and not only her character, but *every* character is on some level dealing with their identity.”

NJ.com’s got his description of the “actives”:

“It can give you abilities. Not superhuman abilities, but muscle memory is part of a package. You could be conditioned to be a pianist, an assassin, to be great at anything. Just not inhuman.”

Chicago Trib’s The Watcher on the set’s relation to the “actives”:

Like the rest of the “Dollhouse” sets, it had an Asian feel that Whedon told journalists was intentionally spa-like (as he was giving the tour, he said the sets were designed to have a “zen kind of loveliness”). Yet the “actives” were never far from their handlers’ sight.

“No matter how free they feel coming and going from the Dollhouse, in essence, they are completely tracked” within the complex, Whedon said.

MeeVee describes the change in slumber for the Dollhouse:

Every night the five current “actives” wander into the round sleep room and settle into below-floor bed chambers arrayed like spokes of a wheel, each with a plexiglass top that slides over and closes them in. A little too coffin-y for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Whedon, who ordered some of the stone taken out and some nice soft cushions and fabric put in. But Dushku said that setling in for the night “was like really pleasant, like a kinda weird slumber party.”

THR’s The Live Feed has video of him committing to an online presence:

“We are planning to do a series of webisodes — literally a full season of them,” Whedon says. “We’re planning to do one for every episode produced. Whether we pull that off remains to be seen.”

Because he explains it better than any of us can:
In his own Whedonesque.com blog post, Joss lays it all out about shooting a new Dollhouse pilot, what happens to the old pilot, and the ramifications for Comic-Con this weekend.

The Kansas City Star’s TV Barn gets Whedon on audio about the whole deal too.

Hopefully this quote from the master himself will help quell some of your fears:

TheTVaddict.com: So how different is it working with the new regime at FOX, in contrast to what happened with FIREFLY?
Joss Whedon: It’s a completely different energy then the last time. FOX understands what it is we’re trying to do. I understand clearly what they want. And while there’s definitely a back and forth, there’s a collaboration. Not just people glaring at each-other.

I feel really good about how they plan to position it, and their feeling about it as a concept and as a show.

After Ellen with an Eliza Dushku quote about Joss Whedon:

“Joss really gets women,” she said. “There’s a woman somewhere deep inside of him!”

TV Guide on Joss’s non-reluctance to work with Fox again:

(Fox Entertainment President Kevin) Reilly says he has seen “no skittishness” in Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon in the wake of his struggle with Fox on Firefly: “I thought, No way is that guy coming back.” But he has really enjoyed working with him. “That is a guy who has earned his reputation.”

The title of the Gawker post says it all.

Q. Some fans have already launched a campaign to save Dollhouse from fickle network programmers who cancel everything that doesn’t have enough fart jokes. Other fans see these organizers as casting a desperate light on Dollhouse since it hasn’t even aired yet. Do you have a stand?
A. I love the effort, but do think it tends to put us in the cheap seats.

Insiders have gotten to see Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog early and the reports are flying in.

And a “Dollhouse” musical? “I rule out nothing,” Whedon joked.

For the outsiders, it premieres online in three parts next week starting July 15th. But after the third one debuts, you’ll only have 48 hours to check it out before it’s all pulled.