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News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media

This is about as gay as "Dollhouse" will get for now


Hmm, perhaps his wife should check his browser history... 

For some bizarre reason I'm still hanging in there watching Fox's rather lame Dollhouse from Joss Whedon. I'd originally been excited about the show since it came from the man who gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But I was also intrigued by the possibilities of a gay episode involving the dolls, especially after the Television Critics Association tour where Joss told me something in the first half of the season would include a gay storyline — something the less-than-gay-friendly Fox needs.

Alas, in our recent live chat with writer Jane Espenson, a consulting producer for Dollhouse, we were told that we would have to wait until the second season for a gay storyline. Insert huge exasperated sigh here.

Which brings me to last Friday night's episode, which included man-on-the-street interviews about the concept of the Dollhouse. Included was the above Average Joe who had this to say about the intriguing possibilities of hiring a doll:

Hey, everyone’s got their fantasies, right? Guy wants to know what, you know, it’s like to be with another man. Just once. Nothing queeny. Two guys checking it out and then the other forgets. That could be sweet for some guys.

Hmm, I wonder which guys he's talking about. And judging from the look on her face, so does his wife!

Sadly, this actually marks an uptick for Fox when it comes to gay visibility. Insert extra big exasperated sigh here.

You can watch the clip here (after the Glee promo) as Fox rather annoyingly doesn't make their programming embeddable. 

Whitetee's picture

You`ve got to be kidding me....

Yep,LAME it is!Thank god I never gave this show any chance!
Latherr's picture

It's certainly not Joss'

It's certainly not Joss' best work, but it's still great and getting better every week.

I hope it'll Queer up a bit after they move into other characters than Eliza. (I wouldn't be opposed to Victor gettin' some gay-lovin'.)

Crabby Lioness's picture

Joss's best work is slipping further into the past, unfortunatly

Wish I had evidence otherwise.
Dave Doty's picture

Joss Whedon

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was as good as anything he's done.  I don't think the fact that so many people have been disappointed by Dollhouse necessarily means anything other than that this particular project wasn't as good as one could hope.  Contrary to popular opinion, I think Joss' stuff has always been uneven and chased up and down the quality meter, so I'm not going to count him as down and out just yet.

OTOH, I AM going to give up on Dollhouse.  I'm a bit tired of its fans saying every week "But it's really picked up THIS week.  For reals this time!"  The show has already had as many "back on track" announcements as Heroes.

netogeno's picture

Sigh

I am wondering that myself. That last episode was the best they could do so far and this was funny part of it. One good thing about this particular one though, more shirtless Tahmoh Penikett is one episode than in 4 seasons of BSG.
kuhnsy's picture

Rumors

I heard that Fox was very active in controlling the first 5 episodes but that the rest of the season was left relatively alone.  IMO, this is why the past five were Echo-centric and this episode focused on Paul Ballard's nipples (Awesome!) and Victor's erections. (Awesome proportional to imagined inches!)

I'm a wee bit apprehensive about how they'll include the gays (and I'm sure they will; if Echo has to get it on lesbian-style, Victor will have to foil that).  In a show whose entire premise is what is nature and what is nurture how will the creative team fall on the issue of homosexuality?  Will they deal with it gracefully enough to do the political connotations justice or will they ham-handedly knock into one category or the other?

I will definitely settle for gratuitous male nudity for the first season just as long as we get a Kick. Ass. gay storyline (or character) second season.

Ed Kennedy's picture

I had such high hopes

I really did want to love this show - which is odd, because I honestly never cared about Buffy (ducks shoe).  The first several episodes, well, they pretty much sucked in my opinion.  But this last episode smelled sweetly of Whedon subversive writing to me.  I loved the man-on-the-street transitions as a plot device.  And I actually thought this one, with the guy wondering, was pretty cute.  Maybe my standards are lower with Fox.  But we know from considerable press, Whedon didn't get control of this show until episode six - Fox dictated the first 5 episodes.  

The show's got a lot of bad press for anti-women views (even though the hero and the villain are both women), and I thought that guy's interview was designed to soften that up - it's not just women being bought for sex or something.  I see it also as sort of running the gay angle up the flagpole - it is a show that has low ratings, and  a lot of them are presumed by most articles to be fanboys, not the most tolerant/mature bunch all the time.  Maybe they're seeing if they run the rainbow idea up the flagpole, if nobody  salutes, maybe they can hope nobody actually does a flagburning, either.

To me, that conversation wasn't exactly the show's gayest moment - that belongs to the prior week, when Topher discovers Victor having man reactions - for whatever reason, I see Topher as more than a little confused sexually - he builds fantasies for a living, is a little nerdy.  I think they can have him go a lot of different directions. And I love him for adding the term man reactions to my vocabulary.

Yeah, I'd like to see a character modeled on that Facebook cutie millionaire engage the Dollhouse, but I'd rather give them time to do it right.  Let's face it, the story could go so wrong - closeted billionaire buys services of Dollhouse guy because he's ashamed?  Maybe he's publicly married?  If they don't get that episode right, we here at AE would rip them apart.  

I'd really rather they gave us a non-Doll gay first.  Maybe a gay handler for a female Doll to prevent them from molesting the Dolls, like the one guy did with Sierra.

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Jacob's picture

Whedon doesn't have the best

Whedon doesn't have the best track record with male homosexuality anyway, right? I mean, he's never been good at being overt about it and including it gracefully into a greater storyline, so I'm not surprised that Dollhouse isn't going male-queer anytime soon. That said, the story and storytelling have been improving with each episode, and so I'm sticking with the show. That, and all the gratuitous skin shots are pretty enjoyable.
Sakhmet's picture

Correction!

With Jane, the gay will come after the series is over in some obscure media format that has absolutely no baring on the show as it was produced for television airing.  Then, she will toot her own horn about how inclusive she was and do the full media circuit.  All the while, she will blame Fox, God, and everybody else for why the gays were left out yet again.
Tarc's picture

Fox interferrence

It's been pretty clear after seeing the sixth and seventh episodes that Fox has a great deal of influence (reported to be an enforced 'slower and dumber') on the first five episodes. Joss was forced to make five stand-alone episodes, and was also forced to redo the pilot. Since it's pretty clear from most of their actions over the last ten years, the execs at Fox are complete idiots, this all makes sense in Fox!bizarroland. Episode six was incredble - much morelike I expected the pilot to be. This week's episode was also much better, and had a very twisted sense of humor woven in. I certainly can't agree with anyone's negative opinion if it is based on the episodes 1-5; it's like a different show. I'm looking forward to the remaining six episodes.   

Insideguy's picture

No one is perfect

But Dollhouse is unwatchable.  I won't be around for round for next week let alone next season.

Thats all I am saying... 

INSIDEGUY

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Knickie's picture

The show is just bad.

The show is just bad. Period. That's the main problem. And we'll see "the gay" "next season"? Hey, I lived through "Star Trek" fandom and have been hearing THAT one forever -- hasn't happened yet and won't be happening in the new film, either. Duh!
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eternal117's picture

"Show Bashing" Much??

So yes the show moves slowly. But one has to remember that Eliza is a new person every episode. So character development has to be a b**ch. And yes there may not be any gay themes now, but I think it should be given some time. If a gay theme is introduced, it will most likely be a romantic type that requires time, not just a "quikie in the alley". Its a new series and overall pretty good. The concepts have potential and allows for great opportunities. Plus Joss Whedon is AMAZING!!

~*~Eternity is Only Forever~*~

Knickie's picture

Here's the problem -- she's

Here's the problem -- she's a "new character" in every episode. Okay, so why should we care? It's like watching robots (although robots would be better actors than most of the regulars, including the lead female). So the character can't really go anywhere or develop or do much except be a "whore" for whatever this company wants her to do. That's not only creepy, but not really dramatic. What makes drama is character. A blank slate is just that -- blank.