Alan Tudyk, one of the stars of the soon-to-be defunct series Dollhouse, is at the Sundance Film Festival doing promo for his new film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil and he was stopped by the LA Times for a brief interview wherein he discusses his thoughts on the early cancellation of Dollhouse. Here are a few screencaps from his video interview:

While at Sundance, covered ably on our sister blog 24 Frames, I ran across a movie called “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil,” co-starring none other than Wash himself, Alpha himself, actor Alan Tudyk. He was gracious enough to stay, after a midnight showing, and talk to me about the movie — then awesome enough to give me his quick impression on what happened to “Dollhouse” and where he thought the show could’ve gone. I know, why do we keep punishing ourselves with this ‘coulda’ stuff? Because we care.

I seriously love Alan Tudyk, he was superb in Dollhouse. You have to hear his final thoughts on the show that will air its series finale episode this coming Friday night. Check out this video interview after the jump …

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Last Friday night Fox aired the second to last ep, titled The Hollow Man, of the latest Joss Whedon TV series Dollhouse with the finale ep originally scheduled to air this coming Friday but has been postponed to the following Friday (January 29) due to the Hope for Haiti telethon which will air this Friday night instead. But, for all intents and purposes, Dollhouse is already finished … Joss Whedon has finally come to terms with the end of the series and is ready to say goodbye. Here are a few promo photos from the upcoming Dollhouse finale ep titled Epitaph Two: The Return:

Looking back on it, that Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku’s Fox drama “Dollhouse” made it to two full seasons seems a minor miracle. From its earliest development days, the science fiction series about a woman whose personality can be rewritten to fit any situation and the conspiracy behind the creation of such “dolls” had a tough road ahead of it. Beyond general fan worry that Fox wouldn’t support the show and would treat in the same way it had Whedon’s scuttled “Firefly” series (Whedon only returned to the network because of Dushku’s own development deal), an early cut of the pilot was rejected before the show debuted in 2008 to on-the-bubble ratings. Still, “Dollhouse” persevered. Due to fan response to the first season (even though the planned season finale “Epitaph One” was only released on DVD rather than over the air), the network renewed the series for a second year, keeping it in the Friday night “death slot” where it failed to gain enough viewers to continue past this year (although unlike the case with “Firefly” and even “Dollhouse” season one, this season will see its full run aired in order). All things considered, Whedon told CBR, “The only regrets I have about it are the things I didn’t do right. 26 hours of television is a lot of time to tell story, and everybody involved was great. I just look back and go, ‘I wish I had figured some things out a little earlier.’ But that’s all the time I have for regret. It is what it is.” [T]he second to last episode of “Dollhouse,” titled “The Hollow Men,” air[ed Friday night] on Fox at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific before the series finale – “Epitaph Two: Return” – hits on January 29. “We are wrapped, and I have finalized the cut of the last episode. I just have to mix it,” Whedon said. “I’ve already packed up my office. It’s terribly sad, but I do like the last episode. So there’s that.” While the final run the show’s of episodes have thrown plot twists, from unmasked villains to best friend back stabs to supporting character deaths in a ramp up to a definitive “Dollhouse” ending, the two “Epitaph” episodes which jumped into the bleak future of the series’ timeline revealed that Whedon and the writing staff’s plans for the show could have gone much longer. With his canonical “Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8″ a solid comic shop hit, and other similar projects making money for a variety of publishers, the immediate question for “Dollhouse” viewers is whether or not this show could also be shifted to the printed page. However, as he said when the first season was in peril, Whedon explained that a comic continuation seems highly unlikely. “The only time it crosses my mind is when [Dark Horse Comics editor] Scott Allie pesters me as he did the other day, saying, ‘”Epitaph One” sounds like a comic! It’s post-apocalyptic!’ But my answer is ‘No.’ It’s pretty unequivocal. It could change, but I need to do the next thing, and I do spend an enormous amount of my career replatforming things I already did. After a while, it starts to just seem a little morbid.” Beyond the fact that “Dollhouse” as a series is not solely under his own control legally, the writer felt that even with its sci-fi bent the premise of the series wouldn’t translate well to comics. “I don’t think it’s a comic. It’s a TV show…apparently not a Fox show, but it is a TV show. There are themes in it and ideas that could work in a comic, but for me to spend the amount of time it would take keeping the comic true to what’s already out there when I’m already doing that with ‘Buffy’ would be a ridiculous waste of my time. And ultimately that would net me a piece of something that belongs to Fox. It just makes no sense to do a comic with ‘Dollhouse.’

As bummed as I am at the early cancellation of Dollhouse, I agree with Joss that the show is not comic book material. I’m happy to know that Whedon gets that and is, instead, staying focused on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic rather than working towards adapting another of his TV series into a comic book series. As sad as it seems, I think it’s time to just let Dollhouse go. It wasn’t the perfect show but it was wonderful while it lasted. Not all things are meant to go on forever, Dollhouse is one of those things. I understand that Joss Whedon is meeting with FX network this week to see if he might make a TV series for them … that would be amazingly cool. I’ve always felt that Joss’s genius belongs on cable TV. A deal with FX might be just the thing that Whedonites have been long waiting for. In the meantime, I think we should enjoy the last ep of Dollhouse when it airs in 2 weeks and move on. The show died way too soon but … well, sometimes dead means dead.

[Source, Source]

Okay, so this news item is about a month old but my boy Darion sent it to me on the off-chance that I missed seeing it when it came out and, wouldn’t you know it, I did miss it when it came out in early December. It’s such a great read that I felt it was worth sharing on the off-chance that some of you missed it too. Joss Whedon gave a great interview to the Chicago Tribune, excerpted below from the SciFiWire, wherein he talks in great detail as to why Dollhouse ended up getting canceled. Long story short, it’s Fox’s fault and now that the show is dunzo he can say so publicly. Read on …

“The problems that the show encountered weren’t standalone versus mythology [episodes],” Whedon said. “Basically, the show didn’t really get off the ground because the network pretty much wanted to back away from the concept five minutes after they bought it. And then ultimately, the show itself is also kind of odd and difficult to market. I actually think they did a good job, but it’s just not a slam-dunk concept.”

“We got the espionage that the network wants, but it’s the questions about identity that we want,” he noted. “There are other things about the show that never came back, and I didn’t really realize it until the second season—[there were] things that we were ultimately sort of dancing around. … We always found ourselves sort of moving away from what had been part of the original spark of the show and that ultimately just makes it really hard to write these stories.”

“People responded to ['Dollhouse' by saying], ‘This is trafficking. This is sex for money.’ It wasn’t just sex,” Whedon said. Part of the problem was “the other implications of what was originally supposed to be somewhat more of a fantasy. The real-world version of [this kind of activity] was I think what made the network really twitchy and I can’t really fault them for that. I just thought when I went in and pitched it …you know, it frightened me too [but I thought] we all got that that was what we were doing.”

Once he’s done making “Dollhouse,” he’ll continue to work with Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon on a “Dr. Horrible” sequel, the title of which Whedon declined to reveal. He will say that he expects to corral star Neil Patrick Harris and “the rest of the gang” from the first “Dr. Horrible” for the second installment of the Internet musical.

“What we need to do is get enough time to really solidify what we’ve got, really get the [script] in shape, and then it all becomes about Neil and his availability. We’ve been basically telling him, ‘Do whatever you want,’ which he clearly took to mean, ‘Do everything there is,’” Whedon said with a laugh. “But we were like, until we have a script, we can’t really think of a schedule or a venue or how we’re going to do this and what size it will be, if we’re going to get any kind of any kind of backing from a studio or an independent.”

I sincerely hope for Whedon’s sake (and for the countless sakes of his legions of fans) that he no longer works with Fox again on another TV series. I don’t think I could take the promise of a new Whedon show on Fox again only to live in fear of when the network will decide to eventually kill the show. Joss Whedon needs to be on a TV network that appreciates him … one that fans will be able to pay back with ratings. I hope that union will happen someday. Until then, I’m sure we’ll be looking to the Internets for new Whedon projects. Blah … it’s just so crappy. I’ll be over here watching my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs if you need me :(

[Source via Source, thanks Darion]

There are just a few remaining episodes of Dollhouse left to air before the series comes to an all-too early end. Fans have released a final “promo” photo for the show, which returns with an all-new ep this Friday night:

In addition, Spoiler TV has the deets on what we can expect in the series finale ep Epitaph Two: The Return which will air on January 22. After the jump, check out a screencap and some deets from that finale episode …

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Maurissa Tancharoen who plays Kilo on Dollhouse posted a bunch of personal party pics from the Dollhouse Wrap Party that took place over the weekend. As bummed as they all are for their show to be over (viciously canceled by Fox last month), from the looks of these photos it would seem that the cast had themselves a great time nonetheless:

Filming wrapped on Dollhouse last week, partying wrapped over the weekend and now … we just wait for the final eps of the series to air in January before it’s all said and done. I’m still very upset that the show got the axe but the eps that we’ve seen since Fox announced the show’s cancellation have been arguably the best of the entire series. Dollhouse is going out with a bang! I’m glad to know that the cast and crew were able to happily celebrate their accomplishments one last time.

[Source, Source]

Altho Fox unceremoniously canceled Dollhouse earlier this month before the show even returned from its November hiatus, there is still much awesomeness to look forward to on the show. Here are a couple of promo photos from the upcoming eps Meet Jane Doe and A Love Supreme which are scheduled to both air on Friday December 11 … as you can see, Alan Tudyk returns as bad doll Alpha and Keith Carradine (known to some of y’all as FBI special agent Frank Lundy on Showtime’s Dexter) makes his debut on the show:

It just sucks that the show has been canceled but, again, there are quite a few really great eps to come before it’s all said and done. Any time Alan Tudyk’s Alpha makes an appearance, you know it’s gonna be a good time. I LOVE Carradine on Dexter so I know I’m gonna love him on Dollhouse, too. Remember, Fox will be airing 2 eps of Dollhouse on Fridays in December before it airs the last three shows of the series in January. There is still much reason to tune in … these teaser pics just prove it.

[Source]

Yesterday we learned the heartbreaking and infuriating news that Fox has decided to cancel Dollhouse in the wake of sagging ratings and today we learn from TV Guide magazine that Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon saw the axing coming. In a new interview with Whedon that was conducted after Fox put Dollhouse on hiatus for the month of November but before the network decided to kill the series, Joss talks about the “end” of Dollhouse … which came much too soon for so many Dollhouse fans:

On Monday, I said TV Guide Magazine would run Joss Whedon’s recent reveals on the remaining Dollhouse episodes next week, but since the not entirely unexpected news broke of the show’s cancellation yesterday, I wanted to publish the interview from November 4 as soon as possible. Fox will complete Dollhouse’s 13 episode season with three weeks of back to back episodes on December 4, 11 and 18, then single episodes on January 8 and 15 before the series finale airs January 22. Here, Whedon shares scoop about this season’s upcoming episodes before he received the news about the show’s cancellation.

Why do Echo, Adelle (Olivia Williams) and Topher (Fran Kranz) visit the D.C. House?
That involves the D.C. House starting to take action against the Senator, played by Alexis Denisof, who’s targeting them. The corporation [Rossum] sees that there’s a problem there. Why LA gets involved, I can’t tell you.

Mothereffing-Effer!!! Gah … this interview just KILLS me! Hearing from Joss himself how awesome the show will get only to know that it won’t live beyond this half season is … INFURIATING!!! Joss’s chat with TV Guide goes on from here … and it contains a few spoilers about the upcoming new eps that we have yet to see. For those of you who wish to remain spoiled, I put the rest of the spoilery info behind the cut — but you might want to read on to find out what Joss has planned for Alan Tudyk’s Alpha character and Amy Acker’s Dr. Saunders/Whiskey character …

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