[Televisionary]

I've had a very complicated relationship with Joss Whedon's Dollhouse , the metaphysical action series that wraps up its troubled run tonight on FOX with "Epitaph Two: The Return." While I felt that there were moments of genius among the forced procedural element, the convoluted storylines, and gaping plot holes, Dollhouse often just left me pounding my head against the wall in frustration at times. I never felt like Eliza Dushku's Echo became a gripping enough central character to anchor the series, which was always much more interesting when the focus shifted to that of Dollhouse's supporting players like Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj, Olivia Williams, or Fran Kranz. (The latter of which grew on me exponentially as the series wore on.) But rather than shift into a full-blown ensemble, the action continually circled back to Dushku's Echo and Tahmoh Penikett's Paul Ballard, easily the two least interesting of the bunch. (Lachman's Priya/Sierra and ...

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Looks like FlashForward won't be back in January, after all. ABC has announced its intentions to delay the return of FlashForward until March 4th, according to The Wrap's Josef Adalian. "Insiders said the network wants to run the remaining episodes without repeats," wrote Adalian. "Avoiding the Olympics onslaught in February is also part of the equation." However one issue that could become a narrative speed bump is the fact that it's still unclear how the revised scheduling will affect the series' key April 29th episode. ( The Wrap's TVMoJoe ) ABC has revealed that sci-fi drama V , which aired four episodes last month, will return for the run of its back nine episodes beginning March 30th, when it will move into the Tuesdays at 10 pm ET/PT timeslot currently occupied by The Forgotten . The news means a sci-fi two-hour block of programming for ABC as V will air directly after Lost on Tuesday...

FOX today announced their midseason plans for 2009-2010, unveiling a lineup that includes giving reincarnation drama Past Life the post- Bones slot on Thursday evenings (current occupant Fringe will be going on a prolonged hiatus for seven weeks), bringing Kitchen Nightmares back (on Friday nights this time around) and giving the post- American Idol slot to new reality series Our Little Genius . MONDAYS: The network announced that it had given a full season pickup to drama series Lie to Me , though the Shawn Ryan-produced series will take a breather on Mondays, which will be taken over by House and 24 come January. There's no return date yet for Lie to Me but the pickup ensures that the series will eventually return to the schedule at some point during the season. TUESDAYS: Which brings us to Glee . We all knew that the musical comedy would go on hiatus after its initial thirteen-episode commitment and that there would need to be some time for scripting and production and ...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. It's official: FOX has canceled Joss Whedon's metaphysical drama series Dollhouse . The series, which is currently in production on this season's eleventh episode, will finish production and the network is currently expected to air all thirteen installments of the low-rated Friday night drama beginning December 4th. Whedon himself posted on Whedonesque about the cancellation news (which didn't come as a surprise to anyone tracking the ratings) and said, ""I don't have a lot to say. I'm extremely proud of the people I've worked with: my star, my staff, my cast, my crew. I feel the show is getting better pretty much every week, and I think you'll agree in the coming months. I'm grateful that we got to put it on, and then come back and put it on again. I'm off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking," he wrote. "Possibly that relaxation thing I've read so much about. By...

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing. Good news for Dollhouse fans. After double-booking Dollhouse episodes on Friday nights in December, FOX has indicated that it will continue to air the remainder of the second season of Dollhouse , with the series returning to its regular timeslot of Friday evenings at 9 pm ET/PT beginning January 8th. Meanwhile, 'Til Death will move to Sundays at 7 pm beginning January 10th while Brothers will wrap its run on December 27th. ( Futon Critic ) NBC has announced that it will keep underperforming medical drama Trauma in the Monday night timeslot for the next three weeks. No decision has yet been made about the ultimate fate of the medical series, which failed to garner a back nine pickup along with fellow freshman series Community and Mercy . ( Hollywood Reporter 's The Live Feed ) Lisa Kudrow will guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC's Cougar Town , which will reunite her with her former Friends co-star Courteney...

I've expressed frustration with FOX's Dollhouse in the past; the series seemed always out of touch with its own potential, focusing on engagements of the week or fitting up Eliza Dushku in outrageous ensembles rather than delving into the heart of darkness within the Dollhouse itself. With the notable exception of the unaired post-apocalyptic bookend "Epitaph One," the series hasn't come close to fulfilling its promise over the past seventeen episodes or so. Until this past episode, "Belonging," that is. The evocative and bleak installment, beautifully scripted by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and flawlessly directed by Jonathan Frakes, showed us the Dollhouse that might have been: a series filled with ethical dilemmas, morally compromised characters, and tough decisions. In an episode, it posits that the evil performed by the Dollhouse's staffers isn't being done willingly; in fact, they could be victims as much as the poor Actives they w...

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Loads of television-related headlines to get through today! Futon Critic is reporting that FOX has pulled Dollhouse from its November sweeps lineup. The Joss Whedon-created series will air its episode this Friday, after which the Friday lineup will be filled with repeats of House and Bones . ( 'Til Death and Brothers will also go on hiatus after this week.) Dollhouse will then return in December where it will air back-to-back episodes on December 4th, 11th, and 18th. It's unclear when FOX will air the remaining three episodes from Dollhouse 's thirteen-episode commitment. No return dates for 'Til Death or Brothers were indicated. ( Futon Critic ) E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos talks to former Lost star Harold Perrineau about the recent rumors that he wouldn't be returning to the ABC drama series this season along with the other original cast members of Lost . The reason, says Perrineau, is not that he...

Welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing. Following last week's Chuck -related rumor of an October launch , The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that NBC's plans for action-comedy series Chuck will hinge on last night's ratings performance for medical drama Trauma , which has been tanking since its launch and is said to be on cancellation watch. Adalian cites unnamed NBC insiders who say that there's a "very small chance" that Chuck could return as early as the end of the month but goes on to say that there's one scenario in discussion at the Peacock that has Chuck returning to its Monday nights at 8 pm timeslot, with Heroes shifting back to 9 pm, should Trauma need to be pulled from the lineup. "If Trauma goes down, however, it's very likely Chuck will be back before year's end. And if Trauma really tanks, Ausiello's October surprise scenario could well transpire," writes Adalian. "But NBC insiders know r...

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. NBC has axed Southland ... before the cop drama even began its second season. The Peacock made the announcement about Southland 's demise yesterday afternoon, informing studio Warner Bros. Television had it was cancelling the series, which had so far shot six episodes for its sophomore season, slated to begin October 23rd. NBC was quick to point to the series' dark storylines and tone, saying that it wasn't appropriate for a 9 pm timeslot. For their part, creator John Wells and Warner Bros. Television will begin to shop the series to other networks. (Editor: TNT is a likely first port of call for the series.) "I'm disappointed that NBC no longer has the time periods available to support the kind of critically acclaimed series that was for so many years a hallmark of their success," said Wells in a statement. "We remain extremely proud of Southland and are actively looking for another home for the series...

Just a few quick words about Friday night's season premiere of Dollhouse , which saw the series return for a miraculous sophomore season, only to plummet to its lowest ratings yet. You read my advance review of the second season opener of Dollhouse ("Vows") , written and directed by Joss Whedon, but now that the episode has aired, we can talk about some of the specific plot points from the installment. And, in this case, it's the premiere's storyline involving Amy Acker's physically and emotionally scarred Whiskey/Claire Saunders that has piqued my interest more than any other, despite the appearance of Battlestar Galactica 's Jamie Bamber as shady businessman Martin Klar and Whedonverse alum Alexis Denisof as Senator Daniel Perrin. I'm still not entirely sure why Adelle would allow Paul Ballard to use Echo on an engagement to entrap Martin Klar or how Ballard was able to pay for the engagement. Or why Klar was such a powerful emblem of the failures h...

I was largely on the fence about the freshman season of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse . Conceptually, I felt that there were some fascinating ideas about identity and perception embedded in the series' overarching concept but I felt that these concepts were often let down by some fundamentally flawed execution on a weekly basis. In other words: I wanted to love the series but I found time and time again that I couldn't. Perhaps it was the regular occurrence of plot holes large and numerous, making Dollhouse resemble something akin to Swiss cheese. The unaired thirteen episode of Dollhouse 's first season, entitled "Epitaph One," did manage to change my feelings about the series; it offered a much darker and edgier version of Dollhouse and imbued the series with a strong throughline and narrative purpose. Given that the episode never aired in the US (and is still only available to screen on the Season One DVD boxset or on iTunes), it will be interesting to see as t...