A Harsher Realm

I just watched the season finale of Dollhouse, and I have to say, I don't get the over-the-top praise of the show or the rabid devotion of its fans.

Which is a total lie. I absolutely get it, because it strikes me as a rabid devotion to Joss Whedon more than anything else. Dollhouse was okay, but it reminded me a lot of another highly-regarded other-worldly TV writer/producer presenting a grandly complicated vision that most people couldn't quite wrap their heads around. I don't know if Whedon was an X-Files fan, or what he thought of Chris Carter and his ill-fated Harsh Realm series, but if he knew about that show, he either didn't learn from it, or thinks highly enough of himself that he thought he could succeed where Carter failed.

Just as fans of Carter willed themselves into thinking Harsh Realm was compelling television, I feel like Dollhouse fans have done pretty much the same thing. I'd love to see a die-hard Whedon fan actually dying hard on this one, and admitting that the show doesn't live up to Buffy, Angel and maybe even Firefly, and while there probably are some out there, they're not cutting through the cheerleaders. Who, I might add, will probably find this post and start letting me have it any minute now.