According to the interview with E! Online with Dushku and Whedon, Dollhouse is the story of Echo, a programmable human plaything:

"Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language--even muscle memory--for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal.

"When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments--or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse."

But you might be saying to yourself, why Fox? Why hook up, Charlie Brown-and-Lucy style, with the network that not only canceled Firefly, but supposedly showed the episodes out of order and tweaked the schedule to "appeal" to mainstream audiences? So far, no word on that yet.

And, unfortunately, that places fans in the classic "Whedon Dilemma": do you support the show, only to be crushed when the network runs it into the ground out of incompetence? Or do you wait to watch it after a season's worth, and risking turning into a fan after the series' demise?

Dushku should thank her lucky stars, though. Not only does she get to connect with Whedon, but the premise of the show offers her an amazing range of acting challenges. Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised that Whedon didn't start pitching this to a range of actresses. As a guy who was born into an acting family (no talent here, although I knock 'em dead in the shower) I know that actors jump at these types of opportunities.

Oh, and in the words of Whedon: "I'm kind of freaking out about the concept. It's fascinatng [sic] from every angle -- it won't stop talking to me. It's sweet and creepy and exciting and very human. I hope it doesn't suck, 'cause in my head it's fairly righteous."