Amazing and surprising news: Joss Whedon is coming back to television. After Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), an enduring monument to fantasy fiction, television had soured him. Angel (1999-2004) was not renewed for a sixth season and the fifth year turned out to be the last. Firefly (2002-3) was canceled after the production of just fourteen episodes — of course afterwards there was the splendid Serenity (2005), the film written and directed by Whedon.
Now Dollhouse is announced for next year — once again produced by 20th Century Fox. According to TVWeek:
Dollhouse stars Dushku [who played the vampire slayer Faith in Buffy] as Echo, one of a group of secret agents living in a futuristic dorm. Each has the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. The show follows Echo as she takes on a variety of assignments — some romantic, some adventurous, some uplifting, some illegal — and gains awareness of her role and confinement.
Joss describes how this came to happen with his usual humour:
The show was pretty much fully formed. I wrote a synopsis, treatment, pilot episode and six suggested future episodes. I made a poster in PhotoShop because I couldn’t sleep.
