Sadly, there was no episode of Dollhouse on Friday, since they ran two eps of Prison Break. But it will be back this week on Friday and I can be patient.

In the meantime, I was thinking about how Whedonness has taken over the airwaves. This doesn’t just relate to shows that involve Joss Whedon, but for years now, whenever anyone involved in a Whedon show is on some other show, I have to point it out and get excited. And this doesn’t just mean the main characters, this has to do with each and every person who has ever guest starred in, or even randomly wandered through, a single ep of either Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel , Firefly or Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Now, that includes Dollhouse, too.

I thought it was only me, but just the other day, I happened to see a post over at Buffyfest showing that Spice Williams Crosby, who played a policewoman, a member of the Order of Taraka, on a couple of eps of BtVS back in Season 2, was also a random person in a chaotic prison scene in the last episode of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. So you see, we all do it. I also noticed both Kevin Christy (BtVS ep “Help”) and Eric Matheny (BtVS ep “Beer Bad”) on a recent Bones episode.

But let’s look at the landscape of television right now. Bones brings David Boreanaz (Angel) to our screens every week. Until last week, we had Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, with Summer Glau (River, Firefly and the Prima Balleria on “Waiting in the Wings,” Angel). We have Castle which stars Nathan Fillion (Mal, Firefly; Caleb, BtVS; and Captain Hammer on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog). Kal Penn has been guest starring on House for the past two seasons, and he was on both BtVS (“Beer Bad”) and Angel (“That Vision Thing”). Adam Baldwin (Jayne, Firefly and Hamilton, Angel) now plays a character on Chuck.

Then there’s that new ABC show, The Unusuals, starring Amber Tamblyn (Janice on BtVS episode, “All The Way”) and Jeremy Renner (Penn on Angel ep, “Somnambulist”).

Even some of the Dollhouse characters are other characters from different Whedon shows. Eliza Dushku was, of course, Faith on both BtVS and Angel. Amy Acker, who plays Dr. Saunders was both Fred and Illyria on Angel. Mark Sheppard was Badger on Firefly and is Tanaka on Dollhouse.

This are literally all just sightings from the last couple of weeks. I’m sure there are a dozen more. Possibly even two dozen. So I’ll give you all a short assignment for this week. As you’re watching TV, think about who you’re seeing, and make sure you jump and point and squeal – just a little – when you see a member of the Whedonverse.

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Watch Dollhouse: Dollhouse – The Target

Dollhouse is not Buffy. It’s not Buffy, it’s not Angel, it’s not Firefly. It’s definitely not Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s just not.

My point is this, Dollhouse is its very own self. I enjoyed the second episode, “The Target” even more than I did the first episode. From what I’ve heard about the next several episodes, the show is going to get even better. Honestly, what show doesn’t get better as it goes along, as the characters grow and change and learn to relate to themselves and each other better. That’s what makes us fall in love with a show, makes us look forward to watching each and every week, makes us fans.

Personally, as I’m watching, even from the very beginning, as I watch the beginning credits roll, I get a warm and fuzzy feeling. I see all those names, all the names of people who I’ve come to know and love over the past several years. All the people who make the Whedonverse what it is. This episode was written and directed by Stephen S. DeKnight. A name well known to Whedonites (or should that be Whedonuts?) along with other names, both cast and crew, Amy Acker, Mark A. Sheppard, Tim Minear, David Solomon, Kelly A. Manners. The ending credits include names like Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain, Anya Colloff, Amy McIntyre Britt, Shawna Trpcic, David A. Koneff, Leonard Harman, Stuart Blatt, Scott Workman. There’s more, too. If you’ve seen all the episodes of Buffy, Angel and Firefly as much as I have, you begin to recognize the names of all the people involved, even the stuntmen. The final little pièce de résistance for me, is the Grrrr Arrgh as the Mutant Enemy logo wanders across my screen. Man, I love that logo.

Then as you watch the show, even though the feel of it, the tempo, the movement is different than what we’ve known from Joss before, you hear the spoken words, and then you know it’s Joss. Topher (Fran Kranz) has some great lines: “You’re in the middle of why would anyone want to be there.” “We have a situation. The kind you need to shoot at.” Or this exchange between Topher and Boyd: “What’s the magic word?” “Please.” “I was actually looking for abracadabra.”

In this week’s episode, we got a glimpse into some of the characters in the Dollhouse, most specifically, Echo’s (Eliza Dushku) handler Boyd Langdon (Harry Lennix). We see, through a series of flashbacks, as Boyd first arrives at the Dollhouse and how his relationship with Echo grows. Not only her trusting him, because they’ve “made” her that way, but him trusting her. Just lovely.

Look, most of my Joss show reviews are pretty much, “Yay, Joss, I love you. You’re awesome. You go, girl!” So maybe mine isn’t the most objective voice. But my bottom line is, I trust Joss Whedon and I know that if this show is given the time, both by the audience and by the network, he’s going to make it into something awesome. Cause that’s just what he does.

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Since I’m such a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and all other stuff Joss Whedon, I often read the novels that others write based on the characters from those shows. I read the graphic novels as well, but this isn’t about those, which are generally written by Joss himself.

The novels I’m talking about are written by other authors who will remain nameless, only cause I can’t remember their names. That’s not exactly true, I remember some of their names, but I’m not sharing. That’s mostly cause I’m gonna say some not nice stuff and I don’t want to actually direct it towards any innocent people. If you really want to know who they are, go look them up.

But here’s the story, I don’t like these novels. Well, I kinda like them, since I read them, but I don’t always like them like them, if you get me. I’ll tell you why. They aren’t really writing a story about Buffy and the gang, they are writing about whatever it is they want to write about, like dinosaurs or fairies, and then they are adding in the scoobies. Again, this isn’t every novel that I’ve read, but lots of them.

They are using the Buffyverse characters to push their own story along, but it feels like they don’t really care about them or know them. So they don’t act like themselves at all. The author could write the same story and use any other characters and it wouldn’t really change anything. That’s what I don’t like. Instead of it being a story about the Buffyverse, the gang is just forced into someone else’s story. It could as easily be the characters from Leave It To Beaver or The Simpsons. It doesn’t matter, cause these authors are just telling their own story. It makes me so unhappy. And yet, I still read them.

Anyone agree with me, or am I just being too picky?

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