Dollhouse

Episode one in a word: superpromising.

I'm not prepared to say AWESOME yet, only because Joss Whedon's history with FOX and the Friday 9pm time slot a la Firefly could mean we see the demise of this series before it's allowed to take flight, and I don't think I can take any more disappointments. But so far, the premise has been well trotted out, the character conflicts and moral dilemmas made clear, and the performances have been good enough for a season opener.

My only complaint is that Eliza Dushku as Echo doesn't quite pull a convincing River Tam-esque doll, but she fits the roll of kick-ass chameleon secret agent quite well. I'm confident her performance will only mature and improve as the face of Buffy's Faith slowly sinks into the background as Echo takes on more and more layers to her Dollhouse role.

Best thing about episode one: Tahmoh Penikett MMA fighting, shirtless. Damn, I didn't think you could improve on Helo. And on the subject of BSG, fave line from Dollhouse: "People want father figures, guys you can trust. Like Edward James Olmos."