Dollhouse Taking a Break, then Back with a Vengence

There's been a lot of scheduling news about Dollhouse lately:

• Joss Whedon's thought-provoking and deliciously creepy but ratings-challenged series will be off the air for the entirety of November's sweeps period. That means tonight's episode examining Sierra's backstory is the last you'll see for a month.
• By contrast, when the show returns in December, beginning with Summer Glau's first show, we'll be presented with two eps each Friday. At that rate, we'll be up to episode 10 by the end of the year, leaving only 3 eps of the 13-show order for 2010.

This news is clearly worrisome for anyone hoping the show will be renewed for a third season, or even that all of the second season will air. If Fox benches the series for a whole month, I wouldn't be surprised if they never put it back on air, despite their earlier claim that they will broadcast the entire season. And, even if Double-Duty December does happen, that scheduling makes it seem like the network is trying to burn through the eps it's already purchased in order to make room for new properties in the coming year. Sigh.

Dragon*Con 2009: Disney

Here are some Disney-related photos from Dragon*Con:

Dragon*Con 2009: Cartoons

These shots are of costumes and props from assorted cartoons and stop-motion animations:

Dragon*Con 2009: Battlestar

Photos from Battlestar Galactica:

Although this shot includes 3 different franchises, it does show off Alison's Starbuck costume. Please note the tattoo and the dog tags, which I made for her.

This is a close-up of the tattoo. It's certainly not perfect, but it looks enough like the original to make it clear that this is Starbuck's arm you are looking at.

Generic Battlestar folk, as seen in the parade.

An old-school Cylon.

Check out all those Roslins!

This photo is self-captioned.

Dragon*Con 2009: Alien vs Predator

More photos, this time, from the Aliens and Predator franchises:

Dragon*Con 2009: 300

I'm finally getting around to posting some of the photos from Dragon*Con 2009. I've decided to divide them up by subject, and I'll post the subjects alphanumerically. So, that means we'll start with 300. Here you go:

Cabin now Further in the Woods, in 2 Ways

Joss Whedon's upcoming horror flick, Cabin in the Woods, has been pushed back almost a year. It will now premiere January 14, 2011. The studio, MGM, says they are postponing the film because early response to it has been strong, and they want to convert it to 3D. The second half of that sentence makes me feel uneasy. Has there ever been a 3D horror movie that was actually good, rather than kitschy?

All 13, and Maybe Some Closure

In the wake of poor live ratings but comparatively strong DVR numbers for Dollhouse, Fox Broadcasting Company has announced that it will air all 13 episodes ordered for Season 2 of the erasable-minds series. Fox says they will make a decision about ordering the "back 9" for the season or a third season after the 13 air. By the time the last of those 13 is broadcast, production will have been shut down, and re-starting for fewer than 10 shows seems unlikely, so I wouldn't hold out hope of seeing eps 14-22 of S2; at this point, I feel lucky that we'll get to see the remaining 10 of the current order. But I am hoping fervently that the ratings pick up enough so that S3 is ordered. I could certainly be happy with this series lasting, say, 5 seasons, with each being 13 episodes. So, Dollhouse viewers and Rossum employees, spread the word.

By the way, the next 3 eps, which begin airing October 23, are alleged to be very good. In the next episode, we find out how Sierra came to the 'house, and Summer Glau guest stars in the following 2.

And Your Mamma, Too

SFX has just posted an amusing list of science-fiction's greatest insults. Check it out and see how many you recognize.

The Telltale Womb

Today, NPR aired a fascinating story concerning what a few small towns in New England reveal about the problems with the American medical system. I encourage you to listen to it.

They Just Wanna, They Just Wanna

Today, after buying some gasoline, I went into the associated minute-mart or whatever to acquire some ade. While choosing my unnaturally colored beverage, I realized I knew the words to the over-produced, bubble-gum pop song being played over the store's sound system. But who was responsible for this un-asked-for cover? I whipped out my iPhone and set Shazam to work on that very question. In a moment I learned, to my horror, that Mylie Cyrus has recorded a version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Oh the girlanity!

Michael's First Law of TV

Michael's first law of television:

A TV series can support at most one happy couple. More than that, and show degrades into schmaltz.

Rex Underestimated?

Perhaps I should have asked more for my CRX. The ads have been up* for 24 hours and I've already gotten considerable interest and arranged for one prospective buyer to see the car this weekend.

* On the CRX Community forum, the local Miata club's forum, RacingJunk.com and my workplace's intranet.

teamgrondul.blogspot.com?

Longtime readers know that the official title of this blog changed from Industrial-Strength Science to Team Grondul to better reflect its content. The blog's web address, however, has remain its original industrialstrengthscience.blogspot.com. It appears that I can change the address to teamgrondul.blogspot.com to match the title, but that would result in broken links for you, our readers. So, I'm soliciting opinions on whether this "rationalization" of our blog's web address is a good idea.

Google Moble: Local Search

Google Mobile's new Local Search looks extremely useful to those of us with smartphones. Check it out.