Wow, apologies for the lack of updates lately but things seem to have quietened down again. However, I wanted to post about Ian’s post at Dollrific! regarding the new slot for Dollhouse — it is the best optimistic reasoning I’ve come across. An extract is posted below; click on the source link to read the post in full (opens in a new window.)

• Dollhouse actually faced a greater chance of cancellation on Monday (its original air day). Mondays are the most watched night of the week, so expectations would have been extraordinarily high (considering Dollhouse’s big names and the show’s never ending buzz). In all honesty, a genre show like Dollhouse probably wouldn’t have lived up to those expectations. Friday, the week’s second least watched night (after Saturday), won’t demand as high ratings out of the gate, hopefully giving the show more time to find an audience.

• Fox’s underperforming Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has also been moved to Friday nights. It’ll air at 8:00, giving Dollhouse a sci-fi lead-in. (Albeit not a very good one, but a lead-in nonetheless. Originally Dollhouse was to air before 24, without any lead-in).

• Fridays are the new “get your geek on” sci-fi night. With T:SCC at 8, Dollhouse at 9, and the final season of Battlestar Galactica airing at 10 on the SCI FI channel, this is something genre fans can get excited about. Going out on Friday night? TiVo the 3 hours and watch it on Saturday (or just as easily watch it online).

Source: Dollrific!

The airdate for Dollhouse has been announced, and, it’s been changed. It will now air on Fridays, starting February 13, 2009 and will be paired with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which stars Summer Glau. Read the full report at IGN.com.

In other news, Dollverse is reporting that production on Dollhouse has been shut down again, due to script problems with episode six & seven.

Wonderful news!

FOX has released a brand new promotional trailer for Dollhouse, and while it doesn’t feature Amy at all, it does contain lots of fabulous scenes with Miss Dushku — eagle eyed fans will notice some of the footage is similar to the previous trailers but there are plenty of new scenes too!

I, for one, am SUPER excited about this show and the trailer does a good job, IMO, of showcasing what it’s all about.

• View the captures @ Eliza Fan
• View the trailer @ Dollverse

Amy Acker, co-star of Fox’s upcoming Joss Whedon series Dollhouse, told SCI FI Wire that all the publicity surrounding the show’s recent production break was much ado about nothing.

Last month, creator-producer-director Whedon halted production on the show in order to rework the fourth episode and get ahead on subsequent scripts. Production resumed on Sept. 25, after about two weeks off, and Fox will premiere the show as scheduled in January.

“You know, we did take a little break,” Acker said in an interview earlier this month. “And I feel like it’s coming back, and everyone is just excited to be there. The first show that came back was a Steve DeKnight show; he was directing it, and it’s just really, really great. I think we just kind of had that time, because it doesn’t air until January.”

The Fox series will explore the goings-on at a facility where specially modified humans, referred to as “dolls,” are programmed with temporary memories and personalities tailored to different assignments. Eliza Dushku, who played Faith in Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, stars as Echo, a “doll” who starts to retain her memories. Acker, who played Fred/Illyria on Whedon’s Angel, plays Dr. Claire Saunders, caretaker of the dolls and a woman with her own mysterious past.

“Instead of rushing to make episodes, they thought, ‘Well, we’ve already made four, and they’re all going to be done before the first one airs,’” Acker said. “So we have the luxury to take the time and make them the way they want them.”

Read the full story

Amy Acker, who stars in SCI FI Channel’s upcoming original movie Fire and Ice, told SCI FI Wire that she got to realize a dream.

“I have always wanted to do any sort of period piece,” the Alias and Angel star said in an interview. “I love horseback riding. I got to be a tomboy princess and fight dragons.”

Helmed by visual-effects-supervisor-turned-director Pitof (Catwoman), Fire and Ice stars Acker as Luisa, a daddy’s-girl princess who must team up with a knight named Gabriel (300′s Tom Wisdom) to save their kingdom from a menacing fire-breathing dragon.

Joining Acker–who’s due next in Joss Whedon’s upcoming Fox SF series Dollhouse–are such familiar genre faces as Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) and John Rhys-Davies (the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

“I couldn’t really think of anything bad about it,” Acker said. “It was great, and there were good people involved and a lot of British accents. It was fun to be the only girl with this group of guys and fighting along with them and doing all of that. I hope I get to work with all of them again. Maybe they can make it into a series!”

Acker added that she welcomed the change from series television. “It was [also] a chance to do something totally different from your normal television show,” she said. “The only thing that wasn’t real was the dragon, but luckily they had already drawn up what he was going to look like. I haven’t seen it finished, but [from] the pictures and early CG stuff they were doing it was this really cool dragon that looked different from any other dragon I’d ever seen. But it was easy to imagine it huge.”

Source: Sci Fi Wire