This past Friday’s new episode of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” turned a mediocre and entertaining show into a good, possibly great, show. Part way through the episode I began to expect some important characters to begin dying, but what actually happened was far better than I could have imagined. I like the direction the show is taking, and cannot wait for Alpha to be revealed (Alan Tudyk – crossing my fingers that the rumors are true).

Mr. Whedon continues to amaze me with his character development. Just as you begin to enjoy a character for who they are, they become awesome (typically by the way in which they die, but not always). If you still haven’t fallen in love with every character in “Firefly,” you should watch the series. I cannot imagine how a person would not enjoy that show. It has a good story, great cast, and every character is one to enjoy. Joss Whedon continues to impress with the characters in “Dollhouse,” even if the show is not as good as “Firefly” was.

If you haven’t caught any of the show, I believe you can catch up with most of it on Hulu – www.hulu.com (I would put a link in there, but that seems to be an issue with my blackberry, so you get the web address instead). For those of you out there who are not Whedonites, new episodes are on Fox every Friday at 9:00, enjoy the show!

[Update: Now that I'm at my PC, here's a link for you.  Hulu]

The premiere of ABC’s Castle was tonight, and as a huge fan of every member of the cast of Firefly and Serenity I had no choice but to watch. I was not optimistic, since Nathan “Captain Tightpants” Fillion seems to only be cast in peripheral parts or shows doomed to early cancellation (or spectacular online mini-series). I also remembered hearing Castle described as some sort of cop drama, which isn’t exactly an underserved market.

After an episode, I plan to keep watching – mostly because of Fillion. Like Adam Baldwin, he’s an unfairly pigeonholed actor who manages to make genuine, lovable characters out of the roles he’s given. The series is already too predictable… Fillion as the egotistical mass-market author, leading lady Stana Katic as Miss Hard-boiled Detective with no use for love. Nonetheless, among the groan-inducing cheesiness were some very funny lines and an interesting plot.

What does it take for a show in the 10:00 slot to survive past the third week? Does a network launch a series in that timeslot with the intent of moving it up if more than a few hundred people watch, or was this at best a 10-episode run from the start?

Since I mentioned Adam Baldwin in passing, I should note my enjoyment of this week’s Chuck. I’d hate to think of anyone skipping good episodes because I complained about a lame one, and I know that my influence reaches both far and wide. Rest easy, NBC executives and Chuck producers! The readership of thathero.com hasn’t given up on you yet!

Next time we’ll talk about how President Obama has enlisted me to stop the rise of the oceans and teach the world’s imams “Kumbaya” in Arabic.

Let’s not forget my other, newer NBC favorite, Chuck… far as I can tell it hasn’t been renewed for a third season yet. I hope it’s not, which is to say it almost certainly will be. I’ve mentioned before how much I love the cast and the writers. Once you get past the ideas of a supercomputer being stored in a guy’s head and 85% of beautiful women being spies, the dialogue and performances make for an extremely fun and believable-enough action comedy. But for how long?

The first season gave us excellent introductions to the characters, while entertaining with some novel and some standby plot lines. Overall, the second season has continued this trend, with Levy and Strahovski perfecting the longing glances, almost -but not quite!- saying exactly how in love they are with each other, and generally drawing out the will-they-won’t-they in un-annoying ways. But in tonight’s episode, that single driving force behind “the magic” shows signs of overextension (spoilers follow, if you missed it).

Chuck decides again that he can’t handle their cover relationship, and tells Sarah in a scene identical to the one from the first season. Sarah, teary-eyed, accepts with no complaint this business decision… again. Sarah is attracted to a super-spy, and Chuck’s feelings could be summed up as: I’ve made a huge mistake. Again. Chuck kicks in a door to get to Sarah, then reverts from semi-seasoned doofus spy to pilot episode doofus. Sarah, having denied her feelings for Chuck for months, is a heartbeat away from eloping with a jerk-bag she met at the start of the episode. Next week’s preview lets us know that Agent Jerkbag will naturally return for another episode filled with swooning from Sarah and jealousy from Chuck. Oh, and it would seem Chuck and Sarah have to move in together. Again.

In a word: tiresome. It would have been a downright bad episode without the usual Adam Baldwin awesome-sauce and helpings of funny supporting cast. I wanted to see the show concluded happily at the end of its second season because I feared the writers couldn’t wring three seasons of consistency out of Chuck that both did the characters justice and kept the story interesting. Now I’m concerned they’ll be unable to make it until May without jumping the shark.

To no one’s surprise, The Office was renewed… awhile ago. It’s as if NBC Universal is indifferent to my guidance, despite my slowly increasing holdings in GE as their bond ratings hover on the edge of AAA and their stock price plummets! They didn’t even fly me out for a meeting with the producers!

Extremely light spoilers follow, if you’re waiting for the DVD or something. What they’ve been doing in this season of The Office is what’s had me hoping for cancellation: storylines are starting to run thin, continuity doesn’t feel as effortlessly tied together anymore, every other episode teases about a Pam & Jim falling out. What happened to Ryan in/after Bangkok? Why’d they bring Toby back after the fuss over his departure? Funny one-offs and simple plot progression in cameraman one-on-ones have been lacking. The Angela-Dwight-Andy chaos has hardly been touched after the great Duel episode.

It doesn’t help that a somewhat slow hour-long episode was split in two by NBC a couple weeks back. Plus, I don’t know why they’d renew a show and then skip two episodes of the season in progress. It’s just… annoying, and whether the writers are getting lazy or the best ones have moved on, I find myself hardly interested in what has been a favorite these past few seasons.

Things to love about Chuck:

1. Cake for the opening credits.
2. Lead Zachary Levi and nearly all the supporting cast are great little-known actors and actresses.
3. Writers who cook up goofy spy action with a lot of laughs.
4. Adam Baldwin doing his hilarious badass thing.
5. Yvonne Strahovski.
6. Yvonne Strahovski.
7. Yvonne Strahovski.

It’s a silly show… and I love it.

A new round of TV shows has arrived, as the 17-hour Heroes season opener last night reminds us. (Side note: no, I didn’t watch it, and yes, I still wish they’d killed the bad guy and left Heroes at one season.) As a late bandwagon-boarding fan of The Office, I’m excited for Thursday and another season of my favorite show on TV. Another season, and no more after that.

Logic would dictate NBC wants to keep an established series going for as long as possible – even if it means watering down the characters, dragging out plot lines, and jumping various sharks to keep people watching. Producers and stars, don’t let that happen! Wrap things up in another 20-or-so great episodes, and move on to other things. The show is not Friends, thankfully, with a screenful of shallow characters whose personalities fluctuate as needed for whatever lame 22-minute story the writers think up. Let’s keep it that way!

I bought Season 4 soon after release and burned through the episodes over the following several days. It’s one of those rare series’ that replays well, with characters that feel authentic, little jokes you didn’t catch the first time, and bits of foreshadowing you don’t recognize until after you’ve seen later episodes. But as much as I’ve enjoyed The Office, count this as my vote for a series finale in the spring. Hopes: no high school drama with Jim & Pam; Ryan rejoins the branch on a prison release program; epic battle(s) between Andy and Dwight; Creed vanishes and is never heard from again.