welcome to the dollhouse

Oh, Eliza Dushku. I cannot describe the frustration I felt when rumors surfaced that you turned down Joss Whedon's offer of a Buffy spin-off, so that you could star in the ill-advised Tru Calling. Fortunately, things are looking up for our favorite slayer, as she'll be starring in Whedon's new FOX series, Dollhouse.

Dushku will play Echo, a resident of a mysterious facility that houses operatives whose brains are programmed for specific missions. The operatives' identities have been erased, creating blank slates to imprint different personalities for different assignments. These assignments range from covert missions to sexual escapades, and in each case, the "dolls" are programmed with the skills, memories and languages necessary for the task. After each mission, their minds are wiped clean and they return to their childlike, amnesiac state.

Untarnished by memory, the dolls live together in the Dollhouse, unaware of their past experiences and without formed identities. As the operation is highly illegal, secrecy is paramount. In an unexpected twist of evolution, Echo begins to build a resistance to the mind-wipe procedure. As her self-awareness develops, Echo becomes an increasing liability to the Dollhouse.

Joining Dushku is our favorite toaster lover, Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo on Battlestar Galactica. Penikett will play Paul Smith, an FBI agent obsessed with uncovering the program. The lovely Olivia Williams will play the ruthless Adelle, who heads up the Dollhouse operation. Rounding out the cast is Whedon veteran Amy Acker as Dr. Claire Saunders, one of the dolls' caretakers.

Dollhouse's dystopic universe will play with the concepts of identity and self-awareness, exploring free will as a blessing and a curse. Whedon describes the series as "The Bourne Identity meets Stepford Wives meets boarding school meets Los Angeles neo-noir meets the Whedonverse." FOX has picked up the series for midseason, so Dollhouse should arrive on the small screen in January 2009.