JimK:  Hi. I’m JimK. You may know me from such statements as “Screw it, I’ll speculate: #Dollhouse is cancelled” and “I fear Dollhouse is already dead, it just doesn’t know enough to lie down.”

If you will excuse me for a moment, I have to finish choking down this immense serving of crow.  Ahh, that’s better. Perhaps I will sate myself with a small slice of humble pie for dessert.

What I am trying to say is Dollhouse gets exponentially better every week, and if this show is on the bubble, it shouldn’t be.  I know, the ratings aren’t great, but Fox?  HELLO? THE X-FILES? How much money have you people made off that show, and do you remember the dismal ratings it pulled at first?  And then do you remember the next few years, where Brinks trucks would back up to your offices and just dump sacks of cash on your floors?

Yeah.  THAT.

Look at how well Fringe is doing ripping off the old X-Files look, feel and story lines. And that is just a carbon copy of a show that had a fairly shitty pair of movies attached to it and was kinda craptastic at the end there.  Now imagine you let Joss Whedon and The Whedonites fly free for say, one season. leave them alone, commit to airing a minimum number of episodes, give them a fixed budget and then let them be. Allow them to make more episodes like Haunted and Briar Rose.

SPOILER WARNING! There be spoilers below.

The show is coming together, using everyone’s strengths and discarding their weaknesses…character development is happening at the same time we are being entertained by events actually unfolding.  Emotions are being handled in amazing fashion…for example, Miracle Laurie’s November just freaking out when Agent Ballard so cruelly walked away.  The deft acting job—supported by excellent writing—of Alan Tudyk as Kepler/Alpha was amazing. We all read the rumors that Tudyk was Alpha. I knew he was going to be Alpha. But as I watched I totally believed that there was no way he could be Alpha until the moment he slashed Victor’s face.  I bought the whole setup hook, line and sinker. 

Also, I really appreciated the more understated performance by Eliza Dushku in Briar Rose…It was precisely what was called for, not wooden as past episodes have been, but subtle. I understood what Echo-as-an-abused-child was thinking not by her words—although they helped—but by how she looked when she said them.  Dushku deserves kudos for that.

Can I also mention how perfect Dichen Lachman as Sierra has been in virtually every episode? Even the weak ones at the beginning?  She is constantly adapting to whatever the writing asks her to do and is wholly believable every week.  As much as I loved watching Eliza in the dominatrix gear a couple weeks ago, I sort of wish Dichen Lachman was the star of the show. And while I’m here, how about Enver Gjokaj as Victor?  Breakout star of the year on TV or what?

Ultimately this is a show that has nothing but potential. The ongoing struggle of Ballard can serve to tie episodes together in a meta-arc for a good amount of time…there are so many paths down which one could go with his story.  Does the Dollhouse decide to wipe his memory of them? Do they just boot him out and hope everyone treats him like a raving lunatic? Do they offer him a job as head of security and move Boyd back to being Echo’s handler, a position he both clearly wants and is better suited for?

Lots of ways to go with that. And I am dying to find out how it all turns out.  Maybe that is the important thing to mention here; Dollhouse has reached a point where the writing makes you need to know what happens next.  That is the formula for a successful show, in my never-very-humble opinion.  All it will take is some faith, some patience and a decent marketing campaign.

Once again, I feel the need to reiterate something I said before: How stupid does a TV executive have to be to not be able to turn a profit on a show with a die-hard core fanbase built in and episodes as great as Briar Rose?

Save Dollhouse.  Watch it this week. Get everyone you know to watch it. Make the numbers jump.  Maybe that will make a difference.  Send emails to Fox. Tweet your reactions to the show to @FoxBroadcasting.  Be nice, but be firm.  If you feel strongly about shows like Dollhouse, T:TSCC, Chuck, etc…tell them that you won’t buy sponsor products if they keep canceling things will-nilly.

Save Dollhouse.  It deserves a chance to become legend—wait for it—… .