Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Hits Primetime

First time accepted submitter Goat_Cheese_Pizza writes "Word on the Intertubes (I picked the Washington Post) is Joss Whedon's musical masterpiece, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, will air on CW's primetime lineup on October 9th. I've always wanted to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with commercials! Thanks, CW!"

Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ahaaahaaa!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ahaaahaaa!

Re:Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ahaaahaaa!

[aztec1430]

standards...

SEQUEL PLEASE

[TheSpoom]

So, serious question: Is this a stunt? Is there going to be a sequel? Please let this be an excuse to announce a sequel.

Last I heard [wired.com] they were pretty far into it; could they have already filmed it? Does anyone know if it would have fit into the major players' schedules since March?

Re:

[Gilmoure]

I asked John Scalzi if he was going to be part of DH2; nope.

Bummer.

Re:

[zephvark]

That's MISTER Wonderful, thank you. I didn't not spend six years in evil medical school to be called DOCTOR.

Re:Yay, but ...

[OzPeter]

the CW? Really?

Well given that the current line up on any channel seems to be based on randomly drawing names out of a hat (wrestling on syfi, "paranormal" BS on history etc) I'd say that CW is an appropriate location for a Joss Whedon production.

Re:Yay, but ...

[Transkaren]

The CW actually has a lot of decent scifi/fantasy shows. True, they're more aimed at a teen audience, but Supernatural's probably one of the best shows on television period, Smallville was a pretty decent take on Superman (Michael Rosenbaum is an incredible Lex Luthor in that show!), Nikita's a pretty decent spy/action show, and they usually add at least one scifi/fantasy show a year (I think they're showing "Arrow" this year - a show about the Green Arrow.)

That said, Comedy Central would be slightly more appropriate for the Sing-Along Blog.

Re:

[Darinbob]

What the heck is CW?

Uhh, Yay?

[rsmith-mac]

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this. This is good for Joss Whedon, I guess?

It just seems odd to air a 4 year old one-off production like this. Especially since the CW's primary demographics are essentially the under-18 female crowd. I don't see how the CW is a good fit for Dr. Horrible, especially since they're having to edit it.

Re:

[The Rizz]

It just seems odd to air a 4 year old one-off production like this

... except that it's been hinted at for a long time that a sequel is in the works. Perhaps it's going prime time because the CW (or their parent company) is planning to give the Whedons the funding for a movie / TV series.

Re:

[will_die]

article I saw on it mentioned that this gave CW the rights to the first try to get the sequel.

Re:

[gnick]

Dunno about CW, but Joss did say at a ComiCon interview that his next project was going to be a Dr Horrible 2. Can't picture how that's going to work, but I've got faith in the guy.

Re:

[happy_place]

knowing the fine quality programming on the CW, chances are, if it has even a particle of popularity, it'll be the next big series and run for 7 or 8 seasons... :) And they'll bring back Felicia Day's character and then kill her over and over...

Re:Uhh, Yay?

[JackieBrown]

And they'll bring back Felicia Day's character and then kill her over and over...

That was Eureka

Re:

[mianne]

I thought that was South Park.

Re:

[Abreu]

There is a statute of limitations for spoiler alerts, you know?

http://www.dorktower.com/2012/05/23/puny-spoiler-dork-tower-23-05-12/ [dorktower.com]

Re:

[Boronx]

There's no statute of limitations on spoilers for cult movies.

Re:

[Gilmoure]

Don't let folks know that Eddie doesn't make it in Rocky Horror?

Re:

[Boronx]

Exactly. I didn't know that.

Re:Uhh, Yay?

[Rei]

What makes you think that Dr. Horrible would be a bad fit with the under-18 female crowd? Since when are romantic musicals starring guys like Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris not a good fit for under-18 female viewers? Anyway, CW's prime demographic is ostensibly 18-34-old women.

Re:

[somersault]

Having just watched Act 1, I agree wholeheartedly.. it looks like basically a quirky romantic comedy.

Re:

[AwesomeMcgee]

I thought that's where it became a triumphant victory..

Re:

[Culture20]

Unless you watched the last two seconds. Sometimes there's a third, even deeper, level and that one is the same as the top surface. It's Billy's sing along blog. Dr. Horrible was just a means to an unrealized end.

Re:

[Namarrgon]

Sometimes there's a third, even deeper, level and that one is the same as the top surface.

Like a pie!

Re:

[guises]

Your post, GP, original submitter, original article in the Washington Post... every one of you using this CW acronym like it means something, not one of you defining what it is. I guess I'll have to look it up for myself. Shame on you for making me do work.

Re:

[SpryGuy]

It's an American Broadcast Television Network... like ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX... CW is the newest of them I believe, but it's been around a while. It's the network that Buffy moved to for the final two seasons. It features shows like "Smallville", "Vampire Diaries", and a bunch of other teen shows that I don't really watch.

Re:

[guises]

Thanks. According to Wikipedia, CW stands for CBS Warner Brothers and it's the successor to "The WB" and the United Paramount Network, both of which I was familiar with, but not the new thing. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Re:

[Gilmoure]

My daughter is 11 and she thinks Doctor Horrible is great.

Re:

[residieu]

Especially since the CW's primary demographics are essentially the under-18 female crowd.

But NPH is so hot. Too bad he's taken.

Edited down?

[Anonymous Coward]

The episodes will have any sections of exposition cut from them. ... and be shown in the wrong order.

Re:Edited down?

[egamma]

The episodes will have any sections of exposition cut from them. ... and be shown in the wrong order.

No, that's on Fox.

A letter of condemnation...

[History's Coming To]

Any dolt with half a brain,
Can see that human kind has gone insane,
To the point where something free
Which is loved by you and me
Is filled with adverts most inane.
Listen close to Joss's bank account,
Hear that tinkling sound,
Cash and cheques are falling all about,
Whedon's profit bound!

(Seriously, they all deserve a little pay-back for what was a free project to start with, fair enough!)

Re:

[History's Coming To]

Your joke is bound to bomb, Your trolling is oh so wrong, Don't you see? The meaning of irony.... mycleanpc.cooooooooooommm......

Re:

[History's Coming To]

There's a cure for that...

"I try to discover
A little something to make me sweeter,
Oh baby refrain...."

Sorry, couldn't be avoided.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope that dumping your anger here makes you more pleasant to those around you in real life.

Re:

[Gilmoure]

*golf clap*

Re:A letter of condemnation...

[History's Coming To]

No, my point was this:

The project was done during the downtime caused by the writers strike. All of the money came from Whedon and the goodwill of the various people who got involved, it was all done for fun and was released, entirely for free and without adverts. It's a superb example of something being made for free, given away, and then becoming profitable later because of its sheer popularity. It's precisely the same as a bedroom musician, entertaining blogger or a stick-figure webcomic becoming popular and suddenly pulling in some money for the artist/s.

Yes, I'd imagine that Whedon is reasonably wealthy already, but that doesn't change my enjoyment at seeing a free product earning some money a few years down the line. It's nice to see the "watch the adverts and maybe we'll include something you like" model being flipped on its head.

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

It's a superb example of something being made for free, given away, and then becoming profitable later because of its sheer popularity.

So that sort of conflicts with the notion of it being done, "for fun".

And, "given away free". Usually when something is given away, it is not charged for later. If I make a nice bookshelf "for fun" and "give it away free" to my aunt, it's not really great form to call her up later and tell her she owes me $10,000.

And I certainly cannot later say I "deserve" that $10,000.

Re:A letter of condemnation...

[History's Coming To]

If she wants to give you $10k then that's fine. And if you've made bookcase that someone loves enough to give you $10k, then yes, you deserve it. Well done, I hope it makes you a little happier.

Re:A letter of condemnation...

[anyGould]

It's worth noting that by all rumors, Whedon (and the cast) came out quite nicely already from Dr. Horrible. Remember that it was only available online for free for a short time. Then it was sold on iTunes, then it was sold on DVD (with all sorts of quite-awesome extras). Joss made his investment back on that job.

So getting it on CW is just extra icing on the cake - especially if it's part of a larger setup for DH2 or whatever Joss' next project will be.

Re:

[VGPowerlord]

I don't know what the Horrible Singing Blog is, and it may indeed turn out to be one of the canonical and transcendental works art in Western Civilization, but statistically 100% of artists (+ or - .1%) do their work for free every day. This Josh Whedon needs to be the exception? Really?

I assume the phrasing "they all deserve a little pay-back [sic]*" is referring to it being a good show. And it is a good show, and some of us would like to see more like it.

Disclaimer: I purchased both the DVD and music CD.

* pay-back has a negative connotation and should be phrased differently.

Re:

[History's Coming To]

Yup, I meant "they all deserve a little money for their efforts", you're right, clumsy use of "pay-back".

Re:

[Sulphur]

Yup, I meant "they all deserve a little money for their efforts", you're right, clumsy use of "pay-back".

Pay-back is Hell.

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

Yup, I meant "they all deserve a little money for their efforts"

OK, this is the part I object to. "Deserve".

They did the project "for free" and "for fun" but now they "deserve" a "little money".

Deserving money for something you made for fun and gave away free seems to be a strange view of the entitlements of success.

And if you were a really big fan of Whedon, is him getting money for something he did years ago and gave away free the most effective way to encourage future good work?

Re:

[BriggsBU]

You compare an idle doodle to a full production. This is not an accurate comparison. A more apt comparison would be to compare an idle doodle with a rough draft of a script that never makes it to production.

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog has been well received and in my humble opinion I see nothing wrong with them cashing in on it a bit.

If an artist makes something and no one enjoys it, they get no pay. But when they make something that people enjoy then they do typically receive monetary compensation

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog has been well received and in my humble opinion I see nothing wrong with them cashing in on it a bit.

Nor do I. My objection was to the word "deserve".

Re:

[residieu]

And money aside. I want more people to be exposed to Dr. Horrible. It's an excellent show. Sure, it's better without commercial interruption (though you can probably just put the commercials between the episodes, less interruption that way...). But everyone who's going to track it down via internet/DVD has probably already seen it. So this will put it in front of some more people who won't see it otherwise.

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

I want more people to be exposed to Dr. Horrible.

If as you say it was "made for fun" and then "given away for free" then that should be no problem.

Re:

[residieu]

I wasn't involved in the production, so I don't know what their motivation was. I doubt "fun" was their only motivation. I'm pretty sure the initial free giveaway was always planned as a short-term thing to drum up interest for when they can start selling it.

Re:A letter of condemnation...

[VGPowerlord]

I hate to say it... the lyric timing is wrong in one section.

"is filled with adverts most inane" vs. "if I throw poison in the water main"

"is filled with" matches to "if I throw" and "most inane" matches to "the water main"

Which means that "adverts" (2 syllables) has to match "poison in the" (4 syllables).

TL;DR "adverts" needs to be "advertisements" to match the cadence of the original lyrics.

Re:

[Darinbob]

Lighten up Frances.

Enlighten a poor non-USian...

[dutchd00d]

... what is CW?

Re:

[RivenAleem]

One Google later ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_CW_Television_Network [wikipedia.org]

The "CW" name is derived from the first letter of the names of these corporations (CBS and Warner Bros.).

Re:

[VGPowerlord]

Whats left of the WB

and UPN.

Re:Joss Whedon

[Anonymous Coward]

Joss Whedon - He was the actor that played that kid from the new Star Wars, right?

Yes.

Coincidentally, his twin sister, Will, played Buffy in that Twilight movie.

Re:

[Lurker2288]

Will Whedon--didn't he play Wesley Crusher?

Re:

[SpryGuy]

You have absolutely no proof of that.

Re:

[aztrailerpunk]

I know your just trying to be funny but your comment makes nerd rage with power of a 1000 suns.

Re:

[aztrailerpunk]

and with that I i will get raged against for mistyping your instead of you're. I apologize now nerd gods.

Well if you did it correctly

[Greyfox]

And had all the commercials themed with the show, it would probably be even more awesome. Hell I might even just sit down and watch the whole thing through.

Re:

[mianne]

Hmm, trying to come up with a list of appropriate sponsors:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog presented by TCBY..

Stanley: For all your tool needs, including hammers.
Lotion and/or wet wipes commercials.
JCPenney announcing a new line of sweater vests.
PSA for the Second Harvest Food Bank or your local homeless shelter.
Does any toy company make an R/C van?

Re:

[T.E.D.]

Given the large amount of the "action" that happens in a laundromat, I'm thinking laundry cleaning products would be good. They might even photoshop a product placement in there...

I'm not impressed

[rjejr]

So the CW is willing to show a 1 night presentation of a movie starring the stars of "How I Met Your Mother" and "Castle" produced and directed by the guy who directed the mega-blockbuster "Avengers" movie on some random Tuesday nigth in Oct? Which is during the baseball playoffs. Wow, really going out on a limb there.

Re:

[erko]

Doogie Howser! None of those TV shows were as big Doogie Howser!!

Really - I looked it up.

And the data was confusing, but the show wasn't bad - it even had a computer in it.

Re:in case youre curious

[History's Coming To]

It's a romantic evil comedy geek musical, hey, it's not for everyone. Personally, I love it, mostly because of the "hey, there's a writers strike, want to do something just for fun?" element.

Re:

[jvin248]

THAT'S the reason it was great. "I'll show you striking writers" and they did a free internet distributed independent show. The second part of distributing it without a network and just over the internet - you had to get one of those new fangled internet-cable-things and a 'puter to see it.

Re:

[x6060]

All I read in that post was "I hate fun, and no one else should ever have fun because I don't like it."

Re:

[nedlohs]

And lots of pretty average people hated things that you liked. Which also isn't exactly earth shattering news.

If you like that style of thing it's great, if you don't the unsurprisingly you won't like it.

Re:

[Hatta]

Of course it is. Joss Whedon is terrible.

Re:

[SpryGuy]

It's pretty awesome. I have no idea what you're even talking about. It's brilliant. Hilarious. Touching. Entertaining.

Good for the Interwebs. Maybe.

[metrometro]

I don't watch CW and won't watch because Internet culture is on it. But it's probably a good thing, in the short term, for a quirky Web-only product (albeit with major names doing it) to become a feeder for big money entertainment. I think.

What TV should learn:
  -- we should let creative people do things creatively without focus groups and demographic analysis

What TV will learn.
  -- More goggles! We need more goggles!

A letter from the Evil League of Evil...

[Picass0]

Bad Horse! Bad Horse!
Bad Horse! Bad Horse!

We saw the prime-time showing
Five minutes after eight
Our Tivo missed the ending since you started late!
It make me kick a fencepost,
and filled my heart with hate!
We have pics of Gossip Girl and we'll be in touch.

you suck,
Bad Horse!

Re:

[BanHammor]

How are you supposed to sing the "We have pics of Gossip Girl and we'll be in touch/you suck,/Bad Horse!"? To say that it doesn't match the rhythm is to say it very, very lightly.

Whedon's Free Ride

[Gilmoure]

So, with Avengers success, JW now has some freedom to make whatever he wants.After seeing DH musical, I wonder if there's a chance he'll do Bored of the Ring: The Musical?

Hopefully

[hackertourist]

CW won't fuck up the aspect ratio, unlike the Youtube video linked in TFA.

WTF

[Mister Liberty]

is this all about...
eh - who cares.