Cool News
Joss Whedon To Shepherd
ABC’s Proposed Live-Action
AVENGERS-Universe Hourlong!!
This nugget of news was buried at the bottom of the “Avengers 2” story on the popular movie side of the Ain’t It Cool site, but I thought it warranted its own headline here on the TV side:
Disney execs revealed via its investors conference call Tuesday that Joss Whedon, in addition to writing and directing “Avengers 2,” would be overseeing a new live-action ABC series set in the “Avengers”/“Iron Man”/“Captain America”/“Thor” movie universe.
No word yet on which Marvel characters the series might focus.
This would be Whedon’s first TV series since Fox cancelled Whedon’s Friday Death Slot sci-fi actioner “Dollhouse” in 2009. Whedon’s prior series include “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly,” all highly acclaimed.
Since Robert Downey Jr. did a “Castle”-tied promo on ABC this year, it wouldn’t shock me if Tony Stark stepped in for a cameo on the new series now and again.
ABC is also developing a live-action Hulk series, but no one knows if that would also tie into the movies’ “Avengers”-verse. (Mark Ruffalo has a busy movie career, so it seems unlikely that he’d be available to reprise Bruce Banner on the small screen for any length of time.)
Find Slashfilm’s story on the matter here.
Readers Talkback
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...and seems that Whedon is pretty much exactly where he wants to be right now. Good news for everyone!
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Aug. 7, 2012, 5:27 p.m. CST
Cool; so many characters they can use; Vision, Scarlet Witch...
by Simpsonian
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Sixty minutes? Or, do they mean fourty minutes, with the rest being commercials? There IS a difference.
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They can't possibly use any of the film cast/characters , can they? Are you going to do tv versions of Iron Man, Thor, Cap, etc? Or will those actors actually show up on the tv show? Cause that seems unlikely. Only other option is a show where those characters are mentioned, but never seen. or seen briefly. from far away. Yes it would be a great place to launch characters like Black Panther, Dr. Strange, hell even Antman. But they can't be your main characters. And don't all the other studios claims on Marvel movie rights mean the same thing for television? No Spidey, Xmen etc?
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with William Shatner as the judge
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Silly question.<br> <br> <br> It will be 25 minutes of talk, 5 minutes of action (special effects), 10 minutes of product placement and 20 minutes standard advertising fare.<br>
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As much as I liked his AVENGERS movie, I didn't really want to see him chained to the brand for several years. He's a creative guy and should be channelling his energy into creating his own worlds and characters, instead of acting like the puppeteer for already existing creations.
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A boy can dream...
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Aug. 7, 2012, 5:53 p.m. CST
Good news (although I get what iamtommywiseau is saying); just one nitpicky thing though:
by Kremzeek
"Dollhouse" wasn't really Whedon's show. It was Eliza Dushku's. Dushku met with Whedon so he could help her set up the characters and the world. They're old friends so Whedon slapped his name on the brand to help out the popularity of the show... But that didn't work out too well. "Dollhouse" just wasn't a very good show. And you can tell Dushku is really the one in charge. All of this was reported everywhere on the net when the show was airing. Dollhouse = Eliza Dushku, with a helping hand from Whedon, but it's not really Whedon's show.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 5:53 p.m. CST
It'll probably be about SHIELD. That would be the most logical thing. Too bad they killed off Agent Coulson.
by Mr. Pricklepants
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But then again, Whedon doesn't seem to be too interested in new these days anyways, seems like before Avengers he'd mainly been occupied with revisiting Buffy, Angel, and Firefly in comic book form.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 6:01 p.m. CST
They're going to run this Avengers thing into the ground and then pee on it.
by Mugato5150
Almost all the characters getting multiple solo films, at least 3 movies as a group and now a TV show? People are going to get sick of the Avengers.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 6:03 p.m. CST
Sheild show without Samuel L...not likely. Very interested seeing how this pans out.
by adeceasedfan
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Just Squirrel Girl. That's all I want.
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This is what the "Aley Mcbeal" guy should have done instead of fucking up Wonder woman.
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or at stark tower's r&d department with a bunch of 30something actors playing 20something nerds yapping at eachother the whole time. that mousey guy from dollhouse will be chief nerd.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 7:25 p.m. CST
Hour is too long for an animated show. Has to be 20/30 minutes. Also Dollhouse deserved another season! I wish there was one. Firefly deserved another four.
by happybunni
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Aug. 7, 2012, 7:27 p.m. CST
Oh it's live action. What.... Crazytown. A SHIELD show hopefully?
by happybunni
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That is my guess. It will be a school for training future Avengers. That will get the young demographic on board for advertisers. And they can use a lot of lesser known characters. The other option is Secret Avengers, which is the more covert ops branch of Avengers.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 7:40 p.m. CST
It's a step down for him at this point - He's best off being the JJ Abrams
by FrodoFraggins
Just get the ball rolling and let show runners take it over.
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You can't establish the kind of story lines in movies that you get in comics. Unless they step up production, TV is the way to go. I'd like to see more terrestrial villains get a chance, Ultron would be a great half season to season long arc, and that would be the best way to introduce Hank Pym, The Vision, etc.
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Maybe not on a rigid schedule such as week 1, hero A, week 2 hero B, etc. but more of a chained anthology kind of setup. One big story arc each season, with the plot winding it's way into the paths of various heroes at different times. But it would be a good way to introduce some of the lesser known heroes to the mass market and build up some familiarity with them. Maybe some of them really click with the viewers and those are the heroes they target for solo movies later.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 8:16 p.m. CST
Resurrect AKA Jessica Jones. You can introduce Luke Cage and have various b-listers and the occasional a-lister guest star.
by dahveed1972
Its a procedural, so it should be easy for the layperson to get into. Obviously the casting of JJ is key.
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Aug. 7, 2012, 8:17 p.m. CST
It'll be on a human hero like Hawkeye etc.... They don't have the money to fly and crush cars every week.
by mistergreen
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You know, that awful thing with Guy Gardner, The Atom, Fire, MMH and Ice. That's what you get with making a tv series full of C-list heroes!
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He knows the property, its in the universe but not too close to avengers. Though Teens with superpowers might be a bit of a retread for him....
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...as a She-Hulk show, if they cannot get Ruffalo involved. She-Hulk could be great. Since Whedon is apparently only helping to produce (it does not say he is writing/directing) the new Marvel show, it does not really matter what the subject is. If he were writing, an ensemble team (Runaways, Defenders, Avengers Academy, even Power Pack :P) would be great, although I'd love to see a new take on Cloak and Dagger too.
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Aside from the Avengers opening ALL kinds of doors for him, let's not forget he also released Cabin in the Woods this year, filmed Much Ado about Nothing, and will at some point work on the next Dr. Horrible. I don't think you need to worry about him being tied down and creatively stifled as a result of this news.
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Just make it a Marvels series.
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so we can get Cobie Smulders back in skin-tight leather prancing around on screen.
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Newspaper reporters covering the superhero beat. You can have all sorts of Marvel heroes and villains and the movie stars can make guest appearances once a season or so.
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bitching about tape delay yet bringing in huge ratings and pretending the events are going on live
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Luke Cage Iron Fist to start intro Shield interest in scrappy stret level New Avengers types as a first season cliffhanger
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Aug. 7, 2012, 9:43 p.m. CST
They can pull it off Angel was very much a superhero style show
by Katet19
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I agree, they could do that on a tv budget.
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Make it so!
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eliza dushku as medusa!
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Esp if whedon does it anyone agree get this shit done
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Don't stretch this guy too thin. If working on this show detracts from Joss' ability to do a good job on Avengers 2- Nooooooooooo! Know when to say no. Sometimes you can do 1 or 2 high quality projects, or you can do 10 mediocre ones. Could be wrong of course, but I am worried.
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AKA "Low Budget Avengers?"
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It could work...if you can create a believable SASQUATCH costume.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 12:18 a.m. CST
i still say heroes for hire as a "human target" style action/detective show
by percane
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Aug. 8, 2012, 1:13 a.m. CST
Most definitely a S.H.I.E.L.D. show. It would best the best thing to encompass all aspects of the Marvel U.
by zillabeast
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I would hate to see a half-assed Hulk series because they couldn't get Ruffalo to sign. She-Hulk with some hot unknown rising young starlet would be fantastic.
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Mark my words. Every comic property will have a tv series within ten years.
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I wish Hollywood would move on from that shit now. Marvel - the Disney cash-machine of the day, is to blame for the fact that every Blockbuster these days is a bloody superhero movie - It's getting so old now and I'm sick of it. Payday or not for Whedon, this is a serious waste of his talent - Avengers, albeit with a few moments of fun, is for me his most unengaging film to date. I want to see him doing original stuff. So... something something something Avengers something - Yawn....
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I wish Hollywood would move on from that shit now. Marvel - the Disney cash-machine of the day, is to blame for the fact that every Blockbuster these days is a bloody superhero movie - It's getting so old now and I'm sick of it. Payday or not for Whedon, this is a serious waste of his talent - Avengers, albeit with a few moments of fun, is for me his most unengaging film to date. I want to see him doing original stuff. So: Something something something Avengers something - Yawn....
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more bang for your buck, use heroes like ironfist and powerman, doc strange... powers that wont blow the budgets on cgi and wire fu. It works to good effect on alphas ( syfy must be bricking themselves with this news!) I'd love to see heroes and villains fight it out across the sky, i have to be realistic though, multiple heroes and villains, more sfx, more money. let's not kill this thing before it starts. I'm more amped about this simply because joss will have input, the possibility for crossovers and if done right a weekly honest to goodness weekly superhero fix.
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are they part of the Xmen universe and stuck at Fox or part of the Avengers and stay with Marvel?
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Wonder Man and Squirrel Girl. Could be fun.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 8:40 a.m. CST
Very cool. Good luck to 'em. And a new Hulk TV show should be great. Suits him better.
by Mr Nicholas
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So I guess they are striking while the iron is hot and burning the Avengers candle from both ends.
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I'm going to guess that they'll actually use Bendis's Powers as a template. It'll be an ensemble show that focuses on a reasonably minor character that is tied to the superhero world, but isn't a superhero. That way they aren't married to any one superhero and can bring known characters in and out as budgeting and scheduling allows. It'll be a Marvel universe show rather than an Avengers show or an Antman show, etc.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 9:17 a.m. CST
Make thisa the Sex in the City type show with Wasp, She Hulk, Tigra, and Captain Marvel.
by Drew
The black women with a big fro 80's Captain Marvel.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 9:52 a.m. CST
Damage Control (with non-supers) could work on TV ... and Daredevil, but that's too much to wish for
by MoneyGrabSequel
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Go Joss!
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For Marvel, they can get top talent on the TV show IF they can get top talent directing and regular movie-verse guest stars like Downey, Evans etc (which I am sure they will) Also Marvel are looking for a string of 'B' characters for lower budget films, so that suits and fits very well indeed. As for a Hulk TV show, why does it necessarily have to focus on banner? there are the Hulkbusters, who follow Hulk around the globe checking for trouble. Ruffalo could spend a month blasting out all his cameo appearances in one chunk (as likely we'll see more ILM Hulk than banner) and work episodes around that. It's do-able, marvel have shown this with the Avengers Initiative. Just imagine, Del Toro on Hulk (with guest stars of course) and Whedon on an Avengers show...pure, unadulterated geek heaven...
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Aug. 8, 2012, 10:42 a.m. CST
IT WILL BE "DR. STRANGE", AND BE SIMILAR TO "ANGEL" AND "SUPERNATURAL". THEY'LL MAKE DR. STRANGE INTO A HOUSE OR MONK-LIKE ECCENTRIC.
by Darth Busey
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A kind of X-Files of the comic book world. They will see this and use my idea and I will get no royalties. :(
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Considering that the other married couple is made up by the mentally unstable mutant and robot somehow your marriage is still considered the screwed up one says a lot.
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He can use unused Angel scripts...
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Somebody suggested the She Hulk type of courtroom drama which would be a good idea except for the fact that their have been so many Court room Dramas in tv over the years. A 1 hour drama about a bunch of regular working joes having to fix all the damage caused by Marvel Superhero/supervillain battles. Its a way to keep cost low by introducing regular guys dealing with lives sorrounded by the crazyness of gods, aliens, mutants and sorcerors without having to spend so much on effects. The show could be used as a way to introduce the plethora of marvel characters in small doses, with or without costumes, and even help to introduce and expand on potential future members for the avengers movie. Imagine if the tv show was around already, they could have introduced and expanded on the Hawkeye character so that he would have been better developed for the movie in the audiences mind. and the best part, they can use the show to expand the movies. Like say, whatever incident happens in the captain america movie would have the tv show deal with the before and after effects of said incident.
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You KNOW it's coming.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 1:11 p.m. CST
That reminds me, Sarah Michelle Gellar ain't busy...
by StatelyWayneManor
...She can lead a special ops team that helps enlist Specials/Heroes/Wildcards/Alphas.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 1:20 p.m. CST
Don't forget the humor, Joss. Dollhouse dropped the ball because it lacked humor.
by sweeneydave
The first season of Angel was touch and go with all the brooding nonsense. Give us humor. Give us a family. Give us extra-ordinary people with ordinary problems, saving the world now and then. As long as we have that, I don't care what superheroes you use.
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The idea may have come from Whedon's lunch with Dushku and she had an exec producer credit, but the show was his through and through. Many of the themes carried over from Buffy, then completely turned on their head. Played with a lot of viewer expectations about the 'empowered female' thing. Some of this stuff was inspired by Dushku's experiences in the biz. But to say it wasn't his show isn't really accurate. Anyways, bring on Joss' tv version of the Marvel verse! Can't wait to see the cast and characters.
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So much going on in that show. It was way too smart for FOX. Miss that show. And the talkbacks with Media Messiah. Damn that shit was hilarious.
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I don't know, "Man on the Street" with Patton Oswalt was pretty funny. ("Porn!"). Topher was often quite funny. What made the show so effective was the fact that it took away all the safety nets that you mention are typical of Joss shows. Family had to be earned and in a big way. The show eventually got there, but damn, it was a tough road. It made us question our black and white notions of reality, identity, and power. And it made us question constantly who the good guys were. Even to the point where we wonder if Echo's original personality, Caroline, is worth saving. And even the guy who stands in for the nerds, the Joss character, the guy we're supposed to like, Topher, acts pretty reprehensibly that we question our identification with him (even though he ultimately redeems himself).
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They lost me in the first episode when one of the main characters pointed out, quite rightly, that there far easier and cheaper ways of getting the job done. In other words, they were admitting the series didn't make sense. OK, I'm gone ...
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then you missed the point of the entire series. Congratulations on your 2 second attention span. I'm pretty sure the character who said what you claimed was representing a naysayer that other characters would then correct, because it wasn't about "getting the job done" but a concentration of power that was absolute - the notion that because corporations can do something they should, that they want complete control of your identity and your body.
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Get David E. Kelley to write it.
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since his awful Wonder Woman was aborted before it ever started.
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or runaways, but too kiddy for abc. i wouldnt mind seeing a show based off of that fraction IRON FIST run. or a black dynamite styled luke cage 70s show. sweet christmas.
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Aug. 8, 2012, 10:18 p.m. CST
Dollhouse sucked because Joss was forced to make Eliza the heroine
by Bass Ackwards
It got interesting the second season because it started opening up a little bit more as an ensemble, but ended up moving back towards Eliza in the end, which sucked because the premise needed actors who could sell it, Eliza couldn't, and it was made more evident by how well the other actors in the doll roles were able to pull it off, but since it was Eliza's show Joss had to keep it all artificially centered around her, and her inability to rise to the level of the cast around her is what made it tough for me to ever get behind.
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So Marvel can and does make cartoons of their various characters for television... Does that mean that Fox and Sony only have the movie rights? If so could we see an in-universe Spiderman and X-men (albeit on the small screen)?!? This series could be an all-out Civil War the likes of which couldn't be done any other way! This could be genius!
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Aug. 8, 2012, 11:19 p.m. CST
dollhouse was great. one of my favorite series finales ever
by yourSTEPDADDY
and whoever said there wasnt any humor... did u not pay attention to anything Topher said? that show was too great, too deep, and too fuckin unlucky to had been associated with fox...
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That Damage Control idea for a TV show is a great one. And one that could most definitely COULD work. I'd watch it. Hope Joss is reading this.
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...Marvel made various multi year term deals with various studios. I think they got tv Spidy back, but tv Iron Man/X-Men may still be with Nickelodeon, etc.
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I remember those weekly talkbacks where we would just talk about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles instead. Now THAT was a good sci-fi show.
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The first episode, that is. Still didn't make sense for the reason I gave. Instead, they could have used the technology to use people grabbed at random and turn them into one-shot, expendable assassins. There could be quite a demand for that sort of thing. Pays well, and hard to track to them, all the while showing that 'power' thing you wrote about in a way which makes more sense than what the show did.
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no, no. It was never about the "job." But rather about how a corporation can own someone, manipulate them, even continuously rape them (in Sierra's case), and create their own perfect amalgam identities. If you ever got to the "Epitaph" episodes, you'd see the endgame of Rossum and how it ultimately becomes a war for humanity. A tech version of the zombie apocalypse. And sorry, the Terminator show was not fit to lick Eliza Dushku's leather boots on Dollhouse. The show was dry and boring, tried to be deep, but was just dour. A third season may have improved things - and really, the Shirley Manson character became the most interesting character on the show. I never got why so many people were into that show when it was just paint by numbers sci-fi most of the time. I really only watched it initially because of Summer Glau. But when you're pretty much rooting for the emotion-less robots over your "human" cast, you've got a problem. Not to mention the Terminator franchise has been fucked for years because time travel is not a sustainable premise for an extended story arc over multiple films and tv shows.
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2nd season it ramped up, because they let everything out, it escalated into something great, but by that time it was too little too late, the audience had gone. The first episode was dire. that not how you pilot, grab and keep an audience, and with the experience of that team it should have been rock solid. It wasn't. last season near the end, they didn't pull punches, and it felt like each episode was like a season finale. which was great, exactly what it should have been from the start.
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Just like the proposed Hulk show that is said to focus on Betty and her relationship to Bruce.
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Aug. 10, 2012, 1:44 a.m. CST
i would be soooooo pissed if they did ANOTHER hulk show and made it a drama focusing on his love life.
by Balkin Flabgurter
just shoot me in the face..bury me..resurrect me..and shoot me in the god damned brains.
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Aug. 10, 2012, 7:49 a.m. CST
heroes for hire would be a logical and awesome choice though..
by Balkin Flabgurter
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agreed about the Dollhouse pilot, but I think the original pilot on the dvd set was better, but the studio didn't want to go with it. Fox strikes again.
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If it were a half-hour sitcom I'd say use Vision and Scarlet Witch, featuring the trials and tribulations of being married to an android while living in a NY studio apartment. Matt LeBlanc could play their neighbor who isn't aware Vision is an android. But for an hour-long, I'd suggest an 8-season origin story about Quicksilver where he doesn't put on his costume until the very last episode. Halfway through Pietro could fight a teenaged Namor who could spin-off into his own series years later.
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