Why would you assume that Fox is not stupid? Arrested Development and Firefly come to mind.

I don't think there's anything ethically "questionable" about any aspect of the dollhouse. It's ethically repugnant, plain and simple. What pathetic output from the creator of Buffy, the greatest TV series ever.

Whedon poked a little fun at the concept of the Dollhouse and made the first allusion to "Soylent Green" when Sierra looked at Ballard and asked, "Who's the furniture?"

In "Soylent Green," executive apartments came complete with attractive women referred to as "furniture."

Because columnists seem to be disappearing these days. I got worried. Please do not stop writing for Salon.

Because like most regular, ordinary people, we enjoy watching young women and men being mentally and emotionally manipulated and subsequently abused by people with enough money to purchase their own private, living, breathing fantasies.

I'm assuming that's snark of some sort, but that is the problem the show has. I loved Buffy, like a lot of other Joss productions, but Dollhouse was a chore to watch. Does it raise issues about consent and identity? Sure, I guess. It doesn't make this anything I'd want to spend 45 minutes a week watching.

It's not enough to be intelligent. It has to be something that people would actually want to watch.

Why on earth would you assume that Fox isn't stupid?

I hate Joss Whedon.

He's the kind of "feminist" who only cares about hot young women.

I prefer Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles because it's about actual mature women who even have children to take care of but can still kick ass and be active science fiction players.

I think the reason why TSCC didn't do better is because of ageism -- because Sarah Conner is too old for ageist sci fi fans to care about.

Will they bring it back?

Of course. Young girls need role models.

More bosom less fabric!

Feminism marches on!

Not enough bosom, too much fabric.

With the way the economy is going a lot of people will be willing to to surrender themselves to an organisation and whore themselves out without question or thought to do any number of sordid tasks in exchange for a paternal take care of you no matter what assurance from corrupt authority figures.

We call it the military.

The white slavery is just a fringe benefit.

"Whether she's the hostage negotiator or the dream girl or the youth outreach volunteer, Dushku walks, talks and acts exactly the same."

Is Joss too subtle for you? Not only are Echo's imprints all basically like each other -- they are all basically like Caroline. We've seen in earlier episodes how Echo's various personalities intermix in ways the Dollhouse doesn't think is possible. In the season finale, Joss made it pretty explicit: with 38 personalities, she wasn't schizo like Alpha -- she still saw the world the way Caroline did, except more clearly and maturely. Perhaps what Caroline could grow into, like the child counselor?

Most dolls aren't like that, as we see explicitly in their wild changes with different imprints (though Sierra does tend to usually be smart, talkative investigatory personalities). The other place we see this (though less clearly) is in Alpha. His original personality (nascent serial killer) also influenced his imprints, though not as strongly as Echo's.

So what is the true basis of personality? Is it really independent of the physical body? And was anyone listening when Echo told the little girl that when you can't rescue yourself, you can create an alternate personality to do it for you? What does that say about Caroline? I hope we get a second season to explore this further (and have fun watching it happen), but well, it's Fox.

PS: I also love the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which also has its young hotties and nude scenes. Keep in mind that Joss said that he was under direct orders from Fox to have as much sex as possible and to always cut to the chase -- oh yes, and make sure that there's a chase you can cut to. So please don't blame Joss for what Fox demands.

Some of us, at least, ignore TSCC not because we're "agist" but because the notion of anyone playing Sarah Conner other than Linda Hamilton is quite flatly absurd in our opinion. This rebooting and recasting of classic characters (a plague that has reached new and epic proportions this summer) really, really needs to stop.

"Whiskey" was NOT the name of Echo's personality when with Alpha. Whiskey was the name of another doll, played by Amy Acker, who had previously been imprinted with the same personality.

It was a pretty important plot point, actually. It makes me think you weren't really paying attention.

"Whiskey" is the Active/Doll name of Amy Acker's character, "Dr. Saunders," not Echo's faux-Southern personality.

Echo was imprinted with the "Bonnie"-like personality which was (apparently) Whiskey's first imprint ever, which is why Topher referred to it as "Whiskey 1.1." I don't think that personality was ever actually named.

And I completely agree regarding Dushku's acting chops or lack thereof and those of the shoe store clerk . "Is Josh too subtle for you?" No. Especially when he was explicit on "Fresh Air" that the reason Dushku signed on was precisely because she wanted to play different personalities. She's just not that good. But the rest of the cast more than adequately props up the show.

The white slavery is just a fringe benefit

and of course it's WHITE slavery. An old criticism of Joss's work is the deafness and blindness when it comes to race. With the exception of Sierra, played by an actress who's half European/ half Tibetan, all the dolls seem to be white. What, no one wants to rent hot mindless young things of color? Joss can't explore the legacy of the enslavement of millions of Africans in this country by, you know, actually exploring the legacy of the enslavement of millions of Africans in this country?

And by the way, it has historically been possible to sign a contract for slavery. It's called indentured servitude. Even Benjamin Franklin did it.