It’s kind of like a slightly higher-budget — only slightly, though — version of those web videos we saw during the writers’ strike: a bunch of Hollywood types getting together with their buddies (and, in Joss Whedon’s case, siblings) to make a video. It’s like the videos people make and post on the internet all over the world, except made by professionals. That’s a compliment.
Also, silly as it is (intentionally silly, of course), I think Joss Whedon’s songwriting has improved since “Once More With Feeling.” He’s no longer trying to hit you over the head with how unbelievably awesome his rhyming skills are.
Speaking of Whedon, he says he’s okay with returning to Fox for “Dollhouse” because the executives now are different from the ones who canceled Firefly. (So he’s saying that the practice of having revolving-door executives who come and go every year is… a good thing?) But even if he weren’t okay with returning to Fox, where would he go? The WB no longer exists, the CW is a bad joke, and Whedon’s style really isn’t appropriate for most cable channels — he does cult shows, but pulpy, funny genre shows that wouldn’t fly with much of the HBO audience. (The only cable network that consistently does this kind of comedy/drama/action hybrid is USA, and their audience is older than Whedon’s.) The WB and Whedon were a perfect match, but that’s just another thing that’s been lost to late-90s/early-’00s nostalgia.