There’s a line in there that says a 60-year-old franchise (like James Bond will be in a few decades) might not work. Immediately, I thought, “Jesus seems to be holding up pretty well.” Side-by-side comparisons of Jesus and Bond films:

Passion of the Christ (2004): $370 million
Casino Royale (2006): $167 million

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973): $13 million
Live and Let Die (1973): $35 million

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965): $12 million
Thunderball (1965): $63 million

The King of Kings (1961): $25 million
Dr. No (1962): $16 million

There’s fluctuation, but Jesus seems to be posting pretty strong numbers for a franchise that’s coming into its third millennium.

Next stop, 1,000!

Gen, I like everything you have to say. I seriously had no idea Dushku was under contract with FOX, so that explains *a lot* about how FOX treated the show. Wow.

I think the only part I’d speculate on more is about Artie’s bus. School districts are indeed required to provide transportation for *special education* students in wheelchairs, reagardless of what the event is, and I know this for a fact because I work in special ed. Artie isn’t in special ed., no, but he does have a very obvious disability which would qualify him for a 504 plan, a legal document that gets its name from Section 504 of the A.D.A., Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. A 504 isn’t necessarily about the *education* aspect of being at school like an I.E.P. is all about- 504s are meant to make the environment as equally accessible to the person with the disability as possible. They can require small things like a seat at the front of the room because the person needs to know they’re being watched, to stuff that’s a bit larger like a peanut-free option because of an allergy. Or, yes, wheelchair ramps and transportation. I.E.P.s can include the same things, too, but the easiest way to describe them is as a personal *curriculum* for a student. You can have a 504 at work OR at a school, but not an I.E.P.- those are just for school. Since Artie’s disability wouldn’t need special curriculum, just accommodations, he’d probably need a 504 instead. I suppose one could try to argue about the psychological difficulties being in a wheelchair creates to get an I.E.P., but Artie himself demonstrates no depression or anxiety severe enough to merit an I.E.P. over a 504.

Blah, sorry, I totally got carried away. My point is he’d almost certainly be on a 504. As such, since it’s publicly funded, his school district would be legally required to get him a bus. Now, as far as I’m aware, special service buses do not get their funding from the individual school budgets, but from the district’s special services funds, monies set aside by districts specifically to provide accommodations such as these (and others like computers, walkers, helmets…). So the principal saying the *school* has no money didn’t work for me. Funding for special services comes from a different place than cups for athletics. If they had been saying the *district* couldn’t afford it, I would have totally bought it and appreciated the predicament- I see it all the time.

Also, even if the school was for some reason supposed to pay for the bus itself, I think it’s absolutely bonkers that they wouldn’t try to do it- no fear of lawsuits at all? Unless they took his complacency with having only one ramp to get into the school as a sign he wouldn’t do anything- and, granted, I suppose he didn’t do anything about the bus, no, but even so, I don’t think the principal being so harsh about it is consistent with *the principal’s* character and how he has been written so far. He’s a hardass, not an asshole, and his, “You think I feel good about this?” seemed more like a way out of an argument than a genuine expression of regret (like when someone says, “Are you saying I’m racist?” out of nowhere- totally stops the discussion).

He made the argument that Sylvester’s Cheerios get trips because of outside donors, implying transportation gets private funding. BUT, the way it was presented, I got the impression that only the SPECIAL SERVICES bus would be too expensive- Shu says something like, “I was disappointed how you were all so willing to take the bus to sectionals and make Artie drive by himself with his dad.” What bus? Any bus they’d rent that isn’t from a school district would cost way more than a school district one, and those would have a space to at least store the chair somewhere- and a Greyhound or something would, too. And this is consistent with the district funding issue, since regular buses get their funding from a separate portion of the budget than special services ones. So then my problem is why the eff would *any* principal, let alone Figgins, provide for the rest of the group like that and telling Shu that Artie is S.O.L.? If he was willing to talk to Shu about Kurt’s desire to sing because he didn’t want to get sued, it should follow that he’d try to be as P.C. elsewhere. And being harsh on someone with a disability is worse for PR than being harsh on a homosexual (and I’m not saying this is a good thing, but people in wheelchairs are more accepted than GLBTQ by society). AND, of course, there’s his “we need things to be accessible” bit at Sylvester to get her to hold open auditions. I guess I’m rambling again, and sorry, but I just don’t think even within that episode that Figgins was being consistent- he should have advocated for the bus, not just because it would be the right thing to do, but because he was advocating for similar things elsewhere in the episode.

Okay, enough circumlocution. Basically, I have a billion reasons to feel like the bus shouldn’t have been an issue, some legal, some moral.

::puts soapbox down::

Oh, did anybody else recognize the guy that hired Finn as Vork from The Guild? That made me jump in my seat. Heh.

And yeah, another Dr. Horrible installation would be totally awesome. I wonder where he’d go with it…

Movie trailers, on the other hand, can be up to two-and-a-half minutes. Plenty enough time to express relatively complicated ideas and still sell the story.

Yay, probable Dr. Horrible sequel!

Re: Artie’s bus – I don’t think it’s required by any law that schools provide transportation of any kind to extracurricular events. It’s surprising that the school wouldn’t already have such a bus, but maybe there aren’t any actual academic field trips. I feel like it’s more likely that the entire glee club would have to find their own way than that the school would have to invent money to pay for something non-academic.

Re: drugs – Puck’s actions were seen as underhanded, sure, just like Mrs. Schu’s actions in the previous drug ep were seen as criminally stupid. However, as in that episode, there were no consequences. It was seen as a useful thing to do, no one got in trouble… the closest the show came to a moral statement was a lingering camera shot on Quinn eating a cupcake while Puck was talking about what a wonderful dad he’d be. I don’t think it was meant to make us uncomfortable, it was meant as sheer “character development” (although I use the word “development” lightly.) We were supposed to watch it and think, “Oh that’s right! Puck is a hooker-I-MEAN-”outside-the-box-rebel”-with-a-heart-of-gold!” Similarly, the other drug episode was meant to make us realize, “Hey! Mrs. Schu is a monumentally-stupid-underhanded-bitch!”

Re: Sue’s sister – I agree completely. I couldn’t quite express my problem with it; you did so nicely, thanks.

Re: Fox placating someone with Dollhouse – Well, yeah. It was Eliza. She was under contract to them to do another series, and she told them she wanted Joss or no dice. Seriously, she seems like a nice girl, but really that was like punishment for both Joss AND Fox.

Re: why Dollhouse failed – I have a suspicion, unfounded but put forward by many, that networks don’t take online viewing into account (or *enough* into account) and that sci-fi shows in awkward time slots are pretty much the quintessential example of “shows people watch online instead of broadcast.” It’s target audience is more tech-savvy than average, and less likely to be sitting in front of a TV on a Friday night than average.

Re: thoughtful sci-fi shows not being taken seriously enough – I’m not sure that’s precisely true. I think it’s more that it’s not marketed correctly, so it doesn’t reach it’s true target audience soon enough. Sure, Dollhouse is sci-fi… but it’s got Eliza Dushku in tight clothes and a dark aesthetic. A *lot* of the people tuning in were expecting an action show… which it was, also, but action shows are less likely to have elements of philosophy and politics than sci-fi shows, and thus people would’ve been caught off-guard. I think, with V, networks are starting to learn how to market sci-fi – contrast that with Lost, which had to pretend to be horror just to get picked up, and only let on that it was sci-fi later on… and Dollhouse falls right smack in the middle of that emerging trend: late enough that Lost was an influence (and maybe it thought it was safe) but too early to truly ride in on Lost’s coattails, like V.

Also, though, I think a HUGE part of the show’s cancellation has to do with Joss’ theatrical bent. He tells a long story. He indulges in slow build-up. His tactics are better suited for films than for TV (compare to David Lynch & the way that the network screwed up the slow burn of Twin Peaks.) Many people want EACH EPISODE to catch and release, not drop clues and make them wait for the real drama to kick in. Basically, his arcs are too long.

I think the problem with FOX as a network is it likes shows that make you think, but not SCI-FI ones that do so- but it keeps trying them anyway because it *wants* to like it, as if it’s trying to prove something. Like the kid at the party that keeps eating the shrimp cocktail sauce, even though his parents tell him not to because he probably won’t like it, so he has a pained look on his face as he does it.

Anyhoo, Terminator was cancelled too, and I believe shows like these getting snuffed before their time comes from mainstream popular culture not taking sci-fi seriously enough. I’m not saying all sci-fi is meant to be taken seriously as such, but rather that it being sci-fi makes it automatically somewhat of a joke to mainstream culture; and if there are layers to peel away, they get brushed off as silly attempts at depth rather than just legitimate/artistic ones. So a show like Dollhouse that raises all sorts of moral, ethical, philosophical, and political questions gets chuckles and is mocked for raising these questions in the first place. And some of what goes on, while it makes sense within the world created in the show, still gets brushed off as ridiculous or unacceptable. This leads to bad ratings, ergo cancellations.

Juxtapose this with a show like Glee. Of course it isn’t meant to be realistic, but it isn’t sci-fi, either. It *does* do genuinely ridiculous and outlandish things, but this is acceptable (to some… ahem) because it’s meant to be ridiculous; and the moral, ethical, etc. questions it raises are accepted within the show (again, by some… ahem).

I also think a BIG factor in Dollhouse getting cancelled was its timeslot: totally set it up to fail. I mean, seriously? Friday nights? Were they *really* surprised when it didn’t have spectacular ratings? I highly doubt it. It’s unlikely, but the conspiracy theorist in me postulates that perhaps they sort of took it because they had to, be it to placate someone (not necessarily Whedon), fill some sort of quota- something. And so they stuck it in the worst possible place so they could still say, “Look, we tried, see?” when it failed there and thus cancel it with a “clear” conscience.

But now that we’re talking about Glee (or, rather, I am, muahaha), I don’t really think this one was pro-drug. Notice how Puck’s little scheme was presented as sleezy and underhanded, even if for a good cause. It was done so comedically, but I don’t think we were supposed to react with a, “YAY MARY JANE!” attitude. I think it was meant to make us think, make us uncomfortable: he’s lacing cupcakes with marijuana, but he’s doing it to raise money to pay for the “short bus” (as they put it… gr…*). Puck, like a number of characters on the show, was demonstrating a very Machiavelian outlook on the situation. I think most of the characters would make Niccolo rather happy, actually- I’m pretty sure almost all of them (but not ALL of them, no) have done something that in itself would normally be considered morally reprehensible (or plain illegal) for “good” reasons; some of them are repeat offenders, too. Kant would cry if he watched Glee. (And I’d laugh at him.)

Oh, if anybody misses Nathan Fillion, I seriously suggest Castle on ABC. Seriously. The show is practically a Nathan Fillion fanservice series. I heart it.

*This episode came close to offending me in a lot of ways. A.D.A., anyone? Hell-OH?? I was unable to suspend my disbelief this time. Artie himself did a spectacular job, and his role in this episode itself was written impeccably, but he never should have been denied that bus in the first place BY LAW**– and using a disabled sister as an excuse for a sudden soft spot for Sylvester is a huge, tasteless copout, and I would have found her allowing the girl with Downs onto the team much easier to swallow if that hadn’t been revealed. I already expect filthy tactics from her, and she’s already played the minority card- why not the disability one? Schuester suspected it, after all. I could rant more, but… Shutting up, sorry.

**The potential loophole I see is that the funds for Glee Club, or at least its travel, seem to come from private entities. I still don’t see denying him a bus for a school function holding up in court, though.

Regarding Dollhouse: You would think that people involved with Firefly would have learned by now that being broadcast by Fox doesn’t particularly bode well for their job security. I mean, Firefly had, what, eleven episodes air? And Drive, with Nathan Fillion, had only four episodes. I guess Whedon should consider himself lucky that Dollhouse had two seasons…

@Jon Eric: I’ve read that Fox is planning on airing the remaining episodes. Not sure if they’ll be at the usual time or if Fox will relegate them to some godawful time like they did with Arrested Development’s final episodes.

Q2: The who with the what now? Sigh, that takes me back. I was such a huge Aerosmith fan in high school! I was so philosophical, and “Livin’ on the Edge” was so deep… Ah, memories. Wait, they’re touring?

@Gab – the Dollhouse cancellation struck quite a blow. Also, I watched the first ep of V, and was pleasantly surprised. I’ll probably watch the 2nd once it makes it’s way to the ABC site.

Also, yeah, how ABOUT Glee? What was with this week’s episode? I was kind of unimpressed. They’re starting to fall on the wrong side of the line between lampooning stereotypes and *being* stereotypes. Also, I’m not exactly hard&fast “anti-drug” myself… but this is the 2nd “YAY DRUGS RULE!!” storyline they’ve had, which seems kind of odd to me.

@Jon Eric – I read that the remainder of the Dollhouse season will be aired.