I’m sticking with Dollhouse. I do not blame you if you are not. I’m sticking with it because, despite an unfortunately-cast lead and a possibly-impossible premise, Joss Whedon’s playing with some interesting ideas and I want to see what he might do with them, on the basis of his past work. You may not be sticking with it because you feel it’s a letdown compared with his past work.
In any case, in their publicity interviews, Whedon and company have been making the case that the show really finds itself about halfway into its first season. Talking to the Onion’s A/V Club, Eliza Dushku puts a number on it (h/t tvtattle):
We’ve now done 13 episodes, and people have said that the show took off once [Fox] finally realized that Joss is best off left alone to do his thing. That happens around episode six—six through 13 are just extraordinary. I love one, two, three, four, and five, but Joss’ first script that he did after the pilot is number six, which is called “Man On The Street,” and it is just unbelievable. From that point on, the world unfolds in Joss’ way, with Joss’ speed, and it’s really remarkable.
They should have tried that in the promo copy: “Gets really good in a month and a half!” Anyway, after tonight’s episode, which I have not seen yet, I may take a couple weeks off. And if the show’s not good seven or so episodes in, somebody owes me.