Shit's not bad...

I've been hearing a lot of trash talk about Joss Whedon's new show, Dollhouse.  Apparently quite a few people aren't liking it but some continue to watch it out of loyalty to Whedon and/or in hopes the show will start to not suck. But they SAY this, in tones of near derision.

No one, however, seems willing to talk about just why they think it sucks. They use generalities, they say it would take too long to list all the reasons. Could it be they just don't actually have any articulated reasons?

Also I find it interesting that they've conveniently forgotten the whole first season or two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Come on, a giant praying mantis was better than Eliza Dushku running around looking pretty?  

Moreover, you gotta realize that the show's conceit is going to create problems with the studio's executives.  They don't wanna be seen as condoning human trafficking, prostitution, et cetera.  So they're going to interfere, in the best interests (they think) of their studio.  Thus guaranteeing that we're not really seeing what Whedon wants us to be seeing. Not really. 

I've been watching, and I gotta say that it's building up into something intricate and interesting a lot faster than a lot of other shows have.  How many "great" TV shows took three or four seasons to hit their stride and actually become good?  Try pretty much all of them. LOST is about the only exception I can think of, frankly -- and even that show needed time to become what it did.  Don't try to deny it. You know I'm right. 

I think people aren't loving the show not because it's not a good show, but because they don't like the idea of being a doll, or a slave. The concept is liable to induce a knee-jerk reaction particularly amongst (I think) Americans, for whom slavery is to this day an extremely charged and volatile subject.  So much so that they can't or won't look past the apparent trappings to see what the show really is. 

* * *

Another new show that's not bad is Lie to Me, which has also had its share of detractors, apparently.  

Now, I'm going to admit, the thing that closed me on this show was not the subject matter, but one of the actresses.

  

Monica Raymund pretty much blew me away with those eyes, that jaw, those lips.  Plus she plays a little fireball, which always tickles me. I like little fireballs.

But the more I watched, the more I found the show itself compelling. At its heart, the show is about observation, about seeing what most people don't.  Which resonates with me as an artist, because that of course is what I do, what all artists do.  And to use that to track down the truth, whatever that might be -- well, that's noble. We need a bit more nobility in the world, if only people would see it.  

So yeah, these shows aren't bad.  Even my guilty pleasure (How I Met Your Mother) seems a hell of a lot better than the crap I remember watching while I was growing up. 

If it weren't for the popularity of these freaking reality shows, I'd think America was getting spoiled by good stuff. But when you factor those in, I guess it evens out.