Eliza Dushku marathon: "Tru Calling" & "Dollhouse"

On the back of getting acquainted with Eliza Dushku through her stint in the Buffy-verse as Faith, it wasn't exactly difficult for me to go on to the other shows she's had leading roles in.

"Tru Calling"

With a decent premise, Tru Calling had potential to do something bigger. But, mostly thanks to sloppy writing, it never took. Simple solutions to supporting characters, simplistic arch-story and a repeated recipe doomed this show. Jon Harmon Feldman is sadly an amateur creator.

A.J. Cock went on to get her breakthrough in "Criminal Minds", proving her talent, but here she didn't get anything at all to work with. Eric Christian Olsen is one of those actors I hate, and he was as bad here as he now is in "NCIS L.A." week in and week out. Jason Priestly's character is shallow and anything but intriguing, and the same goes for Cotter Smith's.

Zach Galifianakis and Shawn Reaves have both boring support roles without much to develop, and all I'm left with is Eliza. I like my Eliza fine, but she suffers from the same as the rest of the cast... With writing like this, who needs studios to secure axing? Anyway. Been there, saved that.

★★☆☆☆ Season 1
★★☆☆☆ Season 2


★★☆☆☆ Overall Quality

"Dollhouse"

With Joss Whedon as creative mind and a show designed for Eliza, this is another ballgame all together. A creative idea, room to play around with differences and nuances, wit and adorable fun, a well though through arch story, great guest actors and actresses (many well known to Whedon-fans from his prior shows) and a dozen other good qualities.

Dollhouse doesn't take it self too seriously all the time, and it offers especially Eliza a lot of different shades of her character, Echo, to play around with. She get to be everything sexual like dominatrix, sexy seducer or just plain and cute. She also get to re-live some Buffy-like action in more than one way. Still they also remembers to evolve its characters, and Echo even grows into one of those heroines I tend to admire.

From the supporting cast I could hope for more, but especially Fran Kranz as Topher Brink is a typically Whedon-esque character with a lot to offer. There's a lot of Wash ("Firefly") going on there, and it's not hard to enjoy here either. Speaking of Wash; Alan Tudyk is one of those guests helping this along, and that's a lot of fun on several levels.

So I didn't really take off on all of the other supporting characters, but this was always mostly interesting to me as Echo's journey. She's got an intriguing past we never get to fully delve into, but despite Fox we still get a somewhat satisfying end to it all. That's not nothing in this game, and with a couple of seasons of good entertainment Whedon delivered again. Hopefully someone will lure him back into another show as soon as possible. It wouldn't exactly bother me if Eliza also went back to TV rather than these movies she tends to end up in... I for one enjoyed Echo a lot, and Eliza proved her Faith wasn't a one hit wonder.

★★★★★ Season 1
★★★★☆ Season 2




★★★★☆ Overall Quality

Five by Five

Intro

Female characters always seems to be more interesting than male ones, and then I haven't even had to figure in the fact female ones offer me eye-candy... So. It's more than fitting I now take a look at my favorite heroines from the television studios throughout.

1. Buffy Anne Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Long before Joss Whedon had Summer Glau go all ninja on Reavers, he created the most impressively complex and nuanced character in a young high school girl called to a mission. Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy carry the weight of the world on her shoulders as the chosen one, but there's so much more to her than first meet the eye. She isn't perfect either, which makes her far more interesting than most. Buffy is the ultimate heroine.

2. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)

Another high school heroine, but this one starts out by losing her best friend through murder, being raped herself and cast away as an outsider from the beginning of her story. Kristen Bell's Veronica is just another sassy and petite little girl, but with cultural references and allusions to throw around her for every situation she faces. She's equally tough and vulnerable, she hangs with criminals in more than one way, and have an itch or two to scratch herself.

3. Max (Dark Angel)

It isn't hard to believe that young Jessica Alba's Max was genetically engineered, and might I add perfectly so, but coming from test tubes, insemination and military brainwash/training she's got her work cut out for her in this post apocalyptic future of Seattle. Depending on pills to take of some problems and having to deal with a few periods of heat each year, thanks to the feline DNA in the mix, isn't even on the top of her problem list. You haven't seen family trouble until you've met a few of her so-called siblings... She kick's ass and fight like the best of heroines, but planning usually boils down to winging it. Oh, and she's really the shit riding that motorcycle of hers.

4. Echo (Dollhouse)

Yes. Another Joss Whedon creation. And Eliza Dushku's as well, as she's both the show's producer and the actress in question. Eliza was brilliant as Faith back in the Buffy-verse (and she even got the headline for this post to prove it), but here she really gets to step into the light as the shiny talent she is. Echo is evolving, too shortly as this show was axed too early, but more than enough to fall in love with the character. She gets to put on a lot of different faces. She's sexy, tough, funny, strong, motivated and all the other small things, but she's also molded from a past with darker corners and a scary potential future. Oh. The dominatrix outfit or the short skirts didn't hurt...

5. Sarah Walker (Chuck)

Hard core spy meets a nerdy shnook, and still, despite everything that follows, she manages to turn out as quite the heroine. Drawn between everything she's ever been and been trained for, and the new and softer sides influenced by Chuck; Yvonne Strahovski's Sarah is deliciously nuanced. They might have named the show after another character, but to me it's always Sarah who's the interesting one. She's sexy, skilled with everything from knives and guns to hand-to-hand combat, seductive as well as sensitive, fighting her own past and instincts, split between everything she thought was important and what she soon finds herself longing for and feeling. The Powers That Be didn't give her every opportunity to become what she could have been, and still I find her worthy of making the list.

Epilogue

Other characters that have either made an impression, are well qualified from their limited genres or are potentials for an expanded list some day down the line:

Audrey Parker (Haven), River Tam (Firefly), Sydney Anne Bristow (Alias), Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke (Revenge), Samantha Spade (Without a Trace), Olivia Dunham(s) (Fringe), Claire Bennet (Heroes), Annie Frost (Chase)

Just another Memory Lane cul-de-sac

Intro

During the past two months I've been spending my time on TV-shows, and mostly on revisiting old familiar ones. I've also finally gotten around to one of the more hyped ones I hadn't found the time for earlier, and wasn't that a pleasant surprise. I'm talking about Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and its 2nd and 3rd seasons are some of the best television I've ever seen. However. The past days I've spent rerunning the recently ended show Chuck, and then rerunning the highlights of the romantic side of that show. It reminded me of other shows I've done the same with, and I think it's time trying to nail an up-to-date list of the most important TV-shows for my personal view(ings). It leaves behind quality shows like The Wire (which still is the best TV-show I've ever seen, but it doesn't make me revisit it again and again like the shows I'm about to list). It also leaves behind shows like Friends, Party of Five and Seinfeld which I've spent a lot of time on earlier, but haven't felt like revisiting in a long time. The following shows are on the other hand the ones I still seem to return to again and again.

1. Dawson's Creek

I've spent a lot of time with our Capeside friends, and their coming of age is probably the most important television experience thus far. Joshua Jackson's Pacey J. Witter is one of those rare characters I love to death, little Joey Potter remains the reminder of potential beautiful things to come if Tom Cruise didn't fuck things up for Katie Holmes, and Michelle Williams have finally got her career deservedly sky-rocketing in movies these days. All 6 seasons aren't exactly great, but there's a lot of heart in this show carrying it across those dry stretches. Thank you Kevin Williamson.

2. Veronica Mars

The one and only highlight of Kristen Bell's career, as it's been a very consistent disappointment ever since. Rob Thomas' creation is a gritty and allusionistic ride through high school with baggage, and Veronica Mars' life is surely never dull. Quite a few great arch-stories making it a lot better than the usual weekly-fix shows, and still we get to know our heroine a lot better than most drama shows ever let us. A Noir opening and a raped heroine presented in the pilot is gutsy, and for those it didn't scare away it became quite the cult followed ride. The third season doesn't live up to the first two, but we could still have handled a lot more from Veronica as it once again showed promise in tying in new arch stories. A shame it got cancelled.

3. Firefly

Only one season and then a feature film tying up loose ends, but it's well worth revisiting every once in a while. Joss Whedon's space cowboys are the ultimate example of TV-executives ruining a quality show. A great cast, and we'll all be Browncoats for life in memory of Captain Mal and his crew.
♬Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care, I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me♬

4. The West Wing

Who knew politic could be so entertaining? Aaron Sorkin delivered one of the best shows ever with his Bartlet administration, and Bradley Whitford's Joshua Lyman gave Pacey J. Witter a run for my money as favorite male character in lasting shows. It did go downhill after Sorkin left, but revisiting this White House Senior Staffers is rarely boring none the less.

5. Dark Angel

It's not hard to believe Jessica Alba was genetically engineered for the purpose of this show, and don't we all miss her kick-ass butt weekly taking on the life of Max? James Cameron might never again make a decent movie, but every time I return to this show I forgive his sell-outs. Another show joining 2 and 3 on the list of too early cancelled shows, and Terminal City had so much potential... And lets face it; a show that actually manages to carry out the line "Oh God, I'm in heat again", is well worth both a second and third look.

6. Friday Night Lights

High School football is rarely as important as it is in Dillon, and FNL's opening season is remarkably strong. The show got its problems with funding, writers out whining and so on, but there's a lot of greatness here as well. Kyle Chandler's Coach Taylor is everything Brad Pitt never was in Moneyball, and I'm a sucker for coming of age... Peter Berg managed a lot the 2004 feature film never could.

7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Joss Whedon's show might be a recent addition to my catalog, but it sure deserves to be recognized on this list never the less as I've spent a lot of time in the Buffy-verse ever since. Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy Anne Summers carry the world on her shoulders as The Chosen One, but she might be as easy to love for her shortcomings as for saving the world as we know it on a regular slayer basis. As previously mentioned; Seasons two and three are amazingly strong ones, but there's a lot of greatness both before and after. I'm quite certain this is a show that will rise on my list as time goes by.

8. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Only one season of this Aaron Sorkin creation, but with the ensemble cast including Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Bradley Whitford, Sarah Paulson, Timothy Busfield, Steven Weber and so on; they won my heart without coming close to perfection. I've revisited their story over and over again, and despite their flaws it deserves this place for now.

9. Chuck

Another recent addition as this show so recently ended its airing with a fifth half-season package of 13 episodes. I've never been a big fan as I find Zachary Levi's Chuck as much of a shnook as some others do to begin with in the show, and the humor of the show rarely counts as comedy in my book. Still. Josh Schwartz' have stumbled upon creating a love story which comes very close to an idea I've had since prior to this show airing, and that along with Yvonne Strahovski and her Sarah Walker is my main reasons for repeated viewing of the show the past days. Yvonne have a lot of talent to go with her undeniably beauty, and I wish they had taken her character a couple of notches further along this ride. I also like to give the show credit for allowing some continued happiness, as most show have to keep splitting up couples to create drama. This one remembers there's other ways to go about it, just like the 10th and final entry on this list of mine.

10. One Tree Hill

Still running, but this entry is on the high school years of the first four seasons. Back then it was still flawed enough, too soapy and so on, but it had a lot going for it as well. These days it's really not worth that much anymore, and if it wasn't for my Bethany J, Galeotti awe I wouldn't care to keep up. Anyways. The first four seasons I've revisited a lot over the years, and as such I guess it deserves this final entry on my list. Mark Schwahn might have lost the important stuff as the show went on, but back in the day he made coming of age and basketball well worth a look.

Epilogue

Of course this list will be shuffled and reshuffled on yearly basis, but all these ten shows have already given me a lot of entertainment. Some of them will disappear on my next list, but they will all live on in my heart. Most of these shows will also feature in upcoming entries with other lists of importance, like Favorite Heroines, Favorite Couples, Undying Moments of Television and so on. And it will probably not take another two months for one of those to show up here... but I'm not making any promises.