Much as we’re mourning the loss of Dollhouse, I thought it’d fun to have a look into the not to distant, and fire up some random speculation/wish list of what Joss could/should do next…

5. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog – Part 2.

Okay, this is a little more than idle speculation, as Zack Whedon has already confirmed they are writing the continuing adventures of our favourite Emmy Award winning supervillan and his nemsis Captain Hammer. They have been waiting for a break in Dollhouse schedule to get together and nail the script and tunes. Given Dollhouse‘s perminent break in schedule, we could be seeing Dr. Horrible 2 sooner than we originally hoped.

4. Serenity 2

I know… This is more a wish that anything that’s likely to actually happen. But still, Joss has proved there is life in the Firefly Universe through the graphic novels. It’d just be a case of arranging it around Nathon Fillion‘s Castle duties, Adam Baldwin‘s Chuck schedule, Morena Baccarin‘s ‘V‘ filming, and the various film schedules of  Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher and Summer Glau (and maybe even Alan Tudyk)… And then it’s just a case of finding someone to finance it… And a studio to distribute it… Okay, it’s never going to happen… Still, if i’m writing a wish list of stuff i want Joss to do, something Firefly/Serenity related HAS to be on it!

3. Fray TV Series

There’s bound to be a number of stories appear suggesting Joss and Eliza head back to the Buffyverse and make a Faith series. However, i think i’d like to see a bit more of a twist if there was going to be a new Slayer series. How about basing around the Fray comic book series.

Centuries have passed since the last Slayer was called. Demons were banished from the Earth at some point in the 21st century by an unnamed Slayer and her friends, and the Watchers’ Council has decayed into a group of crazed fanatics. The vampires (dubbed lurks) have now returned and haunt the city. To combat this threat, a new Slayer is called: a professional thief named Melaka Fray. With the Watchers’ Council ineffective, a group of “neutral” demons send the demon Urkonn to prepare Melaka for the war that is sure to come…

Don’t know about you, but i’d watch that!

2. Ripper

Ripper – Proposed TV series set in the Buffyverse starring Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles in the tradition of “classic English ghost stories”.

Had enough of the US networks trampling all over your shows Joss? Come to England! Talk to the BBC. They force us pay for a tv license so you don’t have to worry about viewing figures. Plus anything Tony Head does seems to be a huge hit, you can’t lose! Sure the weather is a bit grey at times, but it’s a small price to pay for creative freedom. You’ve been talking about Ripper for years. All reports say you got really really close to making it too over the last couple of years… Why not come over and make it a reality?

1. Something New

Click here to buy your Joss Whesdon Is My Master now t-shirts

Much as i love the Buffyverse and Firefly’s ‘verse, I always look forward to new stuff from Joss and the rest of the team at Mutant Enemy. I’m sure they’ll be back with something different from the mainstream in the not to distant future, and i can’t wait.

Got any more ideas? Leave them in the comments!

5. Odyssey 5 (2002).

What was it?

Odyssey 5

Odyssey 5 had a great concept. Bunch of astronauts up on a routine spaceflight watch the Earth turn into a fireball and implode! Whilst the 5 surviving crew members of the Odyssey space shuttle contemplate their impending demise, they’re rescued by a mysterious being called the Seeker. It seems Earth isn’t the only planet to have suffered this fate, but this is the first time the Seeker has managed to find survivors. He sends the crew’s consciousnesses back in time 5yrs to give them a chance to prevent the disaster.

Why was Odyssey 5 cancelled?

Actually a pretty good question… Odyssey 5 ran on Showtime, who bizarrely cancelled it after airing only 14 of it’s 20 episodes, despite the show being one the highest rated on the network (they only citing that they ‘wanted to move away from SciFi shows’ as a reason)…

4. Reaper (2007-2009).

What was it?

Reaper

Reaper was a show about dropout/slacker/Work Bench employee Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison), who finds himself being forced to become a bounty hunter for the Devil after his father promised their first born child to the Devil (Ray Wise) in return for curing his sick wife.

Sam’s job as bounty hunter requires him to retrieve souls that have escaped from Hell by capturing them in a ‘vessel’ provided by the Devil each week, usually with help from friends Sock (Tyler Labin), Ben (Rick Gonzalez), and love interest Andi (Missy Peregrym).

Why was Reaper cancelled?

Ratings more than anything although the CW network really didn’t help things by putting the second season up against American Idol. ABC Studios was in talks of  keeping Reaper going through first-run syndication, however as time went on, and with an uncertain future, understandably Tyler Labin and then Bret Harrison signed deals on new shows, which pretty much left Reaper reaped.

3. Angel (1999-2004).

What was it?

Angel

Angel (a spin-off from the Joss Whedon’s brilliant Bufy the Vampire Slayer) followed the trials of a vampire private detective trying to make up for his past deeds after gypsies returned his soul. In his mission to ‘help the helpless’ he enlist the help of various associates to help do battle with demons, and evil law firm Wolfram & Heart.

Angel was much darker in tone than it’s sibling show Buffy, but still contained the trademark Whedonesque dialogue, and complex season arcing plots, mixing genres in the genius way only Joss Whedon can.

Why was Angel cancelled?

Although Angel made it to a respectable 5 seasons, it was still cut down very much in it’s prime. In fact, ironically the fact it was doing well in it’s timeslot possibly contributed to it’s demise… Angel was a fairly expensive show to produce, and because of this The WB network usually left it until very late to sign the renewal, just in case something better/cheaper came along (which it never did). The problem with this was that a lot of cast and crew had to turn down potential jobs on the hope that Angel got picked up again. Feeling this was unfair, and on the back of the great reception they’d had for season 5, a confident Joss asked The WB not to keep them waiting, and give them a yay or nay on season 6… The WB, thinking something else would come along (which of course  it didn’t) said ‘okay, we’re cancelling you’… Had they waited until the last minute as usual it’s extremely likely they would have got the renewal. The WB have since stated cancelling Angel was a big mistake.

2. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009).

Click here to Win Season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Blu-Ray!

What was it?

Click here to enter our great Termintor:TSCC competition and win the whole of Season 2 on Blu-Ray!

In a similar way to what they’ve done with the new Star Trek movie,  Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles tv series took place in a slightly different timeline to the Terminator movies. The pilot episode starts in 1999 after the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, with Sarah (Lena Headey) and her son John (Thomas Dekker) and his reprogrammed Terminator protector Cameron (Summer Glau), on the run from Terminator Cromartie (Garret Dillahunt).  In an attempt to escape, Cameron creates a temporal rift, jumping them forward in time to 2007, unfortunately, a badly damaged, but still functioning Cromartie manages to follow them. As the series continues, we start to see how the future Terminator controlling computer overlord ‘Skynet’ starts to become sentient, and sees the group team up with John’s Uncle, resistance fighter Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green).

One of the great things about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is that they mostly avoided the easy option of having a ‘monster (or in this case Terminator) of the week’, and chose a more serialized format, keeping Cromartie as the main villain for all of the 1st season (and part of the 2nd), allowing more longer more intricate plot lines to develop. What could have been just another ‘cash in’ to the Terminator franchise became a well written, intelligent, complex and entertaining show.

Why was Terminator: TSCC cancelled?

Once again, ratings, or rather Nielsen ratings (by far the most outdated pointless way of rating a shows popularity) killed it. The useless thing about Nielsen ratings is they don’t take into account Tivo/DVR viewing. For it’s second season Terminator TSCC was moved to the dreaded ‘Friday night death slot’ to team up with Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. The trouble is, if your running shows aimed a young audience and then airing it on a night when most of your target audience is out, don’t be surprised when the live (Nielsen rated) viewing figures suck. An episode which might only get 3 million live viewers in reality could have 10 million if you add in Sky+/Tivo/DVR figures. It really is time we found a better way to rate shows, otherwise all were going to end up getting commissioned is hours of Americas Next Top Dancing With The Stars Idol…

Click here to Win Season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Blu-Ray!

1. Firefly (2002).

What was it?

Firefly

Created by Joss Whedon, Firefly was set 500 years in the future, in a new solar system after humanity abandons ‘Earth That Was’. The show followed the crew of the Firefly class ship Serenity as they struggle to survive any way they can in the ‘verse. It’s often described as a ‘sci-fi/western’, but ‘sci-fi/post American Civil War’ would actually be more accurate (although not as catchy). Rather than being a Stargate style action series, Firefly ditched the idea of aliens and massive space battles in favour of focusing on the wonderful character interactions of the eclectic crew.

Firefly was one of those moments when all the star aligned and everything in a show just worked. From the pitch perfect casting, to Joss Whedon’s superb scripts, to the iconic character and costume design. I’d go as far to say it was arguably the best scifi show ever made.

Why was Firefly cancelled?

*sigh*… FOX’s incompetence more than anything… Firstly, they switched the episode order, moving the pilot episode to the middle of the season. The show was hardly advertised, and then shifted around the schedules. They pretty much did everything possible to bury the series. Thankfully, there appears to have been a complete turnaround at FOX in recent years, which has led to Joss returning to the network for Dollhouse, and FOX supporting it for a second season. Joss also got the opportunity to tie up some of the loose ends in the movie Serenity. I’d still love to see Firefly take to the big or small screen again though.

Andy Hallett played Lorne in Joss Whedon's Angel

The sad news of Angel star Andy Hallett‘s passing came through on the wires yesterday. Andy had played the irrepressible Lorne on Joss Whedon’s Angel since season 2 of becoming a series regular in season 4.

Andy finally succumbed to a 5 year battle with heart disease on March 29, 2009 dying from heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. His father Dave Hallett by his side.

Our thoughts are with Andy’s family at this terrible time, he will be missed.

“Moonlight” aired on CBS last night to less than favourable reviews according to ACIN.

Moonlight (name changed from Twilight) is a show about a vampire detective (stop me if you’ve heard this…) who drives a convertible (you know, this is sounding awfully familiar…) and has the hots for a young blonde girl (really, i’m sure i’ve seen this show somewhere already…)

USA Today said:

“… When it comes to grand-scale theft, it’s hard to be more obvious than CBS’ vampire-detective drama, Moonlight. It’s basically Angel without the search-for-a-soul underpinnings that gave Angel depth, and with a more ponderous script and less adept cast. OK, so maybe it isn’t Angel after all.”

Ouch… Awaiting its arrival in the UK to judge for myself… assuming it gets this far…
All the reviews over at AICN.

Rumours abound, that James Marsters of Buffy/Angel fame (and Smallville) could be guesting in an upcoming episode of BBC’s Doctor Who spin off, Torchwood.

Appearing in a show which is the spin off from a very popular original, but has a darker tone, and stars a seemingly immortal man… James should feel right at home!

Variety is reporting CBS has picked up a show called ‘Twilight’… The synopsis… “a drama about a vampire/private eye who’s dealing with the fallout from being immortal, his foes in the vampire world and a budding love for a mortal.”…

Ermm… yeh… wait a moment… that sounds awfully like superb Joss Whedon show that the WB (/spit) cancelled 2 years ago that was about a Vampire private eye who was struggling with being immortal and love of a mortal…

Man, I hate the US network system…