Editor's Note: This is a weekly guest post from BuddyTV. Check back every Wednesday for more from BuddyTV.com on the state of television and your favorite shows like 24, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Gossip Girl.

Friday the 13th may customarily be a day for horror, but this week, it's all about science fiction. Every TV geek will undoubtedly be holed up in front of a TV all night Friday for the return of FOX's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, and the continuation of Battlestar Galactica's final season.

See pictures from Dollhouse

Terminator has steadily built up a solid fan base thanks to its dedication and obvious love for the original material, and Battlestar Galactica is going out in style with major revelations and major deaths. But the real glue of this Friday night sci-fi puzzle is Dollhouse, the newest show from genius Joss Whedon.

If you're new to the Whedonverse, I pity you. He created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, three of the best cult shows of all time, and his most recent work, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, was a masterful blend of new media and old fashioned musicals.

Dollhouse is yet another entry in that pantheon of cult brilliance. Starring Eliza Dushku, the show centers on a state-of-the-art center that offers clients whatever they want. The dolls are people whose minds have been erased and can be imprinted with anything the client wants. If you need an expert negotiator or a munitions expert, that can be arranged. If you want a sexy woman who finds everything about you intoxicating and can also ride a motorcycle, you can have her.

For an actress, there can be no better role, because there is no real character. As Echo, Dushku is a blank slate, but at the same time, she must be able to adopt any persona the client wants. This also allows the show to have a procedural feel to attract new viewers to Whedon's realm. Every episode has a self-contained mission with a client and a new personality for Echo.

But what will keep the die-hard fans coming back is the ongoing mystery. While the show's pilot may be a tad confusing, fans need to stay positive, because by the second episode, things become much clearer. There was an incident in the past in which one of the dolls, named Alpha, went rogue, and the events surrounding that incident lay the framework for a fascinating story that makes watching Dollhouse a necessity.

Some fans may fear that a sci-fi show created by Joss Whedon on Friday nights is doomed to fail, as it's the same set-up as his previous FOX series Firefly. However, foolish as I am, I'm willing to give FOX the benefit of the doubt. The network has made mistakes before, most notably canceling Family Guy, but after seeing the fan outrage and support on DVD and Cartoon Network, FOX resurrected the animated series.

The same will hopefully be true for Whedon's involvement with FOX. They burned him once before, and the result was passionate fans who helped bring Firefly to the big screen. Now FOX has a chance to correct that mistake by letting Dollhouse succeed. I only hope the president of the network hasn't had his mind erased.

For more news, opinions and exclusive video interviews check out BuddyTV.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us