Excluisve: Joss Whedon Talks DR. HORRIBLE and the future of television

March 6th, 2009

Is television a dying medium? Will fans get to see more of DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG-BLOG? What favorite movie of 2008 did Joss Whedon called "wicked bleak!" All these answers and more in part two of the TVaddict.com's exclusive interview with Joss Whedon.

I love the fact that you created DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG completely outside of the studio system. Is that something you're planning on returning to anytime soon?
Joss Whedon: Absoluetly. Right now I've got DOLLHOUSE going and Cabin In The Woods in March. So it's kind of a crazy year for me. But expanding the idea of what can be done on the internet is something that I have just begun to explore.

I mean DR. HORRIBLE aside, the event itself was so exciting for me. I think it's really important right now, whether it's me or not, but I'd like it to be me because I'm fascinated by it and I don't get any notes.

It's funny because that was my next question. Getting DOLLHOUSE off the ground has seemed like such an enormous endeavor whereas DR. HORRIBLE was your - alongside your creative team's - vision. No notes, no network interference, you just put it out there and see if the audience responds. Without of course going into the financials, DVD and tshirt sales, is the DR. HORRIBLE model a feasible way in which to make a living?
We are in profit, it's not the kind of profit networks are looking to make. But I'm not a network. The experiment has been a success for us in that respect as well. It's still a question as to how do you crete business models. As I was talking to my brother Jed about it, we were talking about Radiohead. They were the first. If they were second they probably would have made half as much money. But being first buys you an enormous amount of goodwill.

But I think there are so many things that still have to be defined about how things can be rolled out on the internet but there are also a lot to define about how you can moentize it and ultimately that is really tough. Monetize it on a level where you can make it viable and that's the part of the exploring that's homework and vegetables. It's not like, "Oh I have this cool idea that we can make with our friends and it goes online and everybody loves it." The question is, how do you really make this work so that you don't become a money pit or promising people something you can't return. Because we need to figure out ways to do it because ultimately the networks, you know, this is... It feels like a declining era. Not in quality, because there are some amazing shows and I think people are taking more chances. But...

The way people are watching TV is completely changing
It's changing and it's changed. Being out there with enough satellites that it might bump into one of them is going to be really important.

As an outside observer, it would seem that you're in the perfect position to be a pioneer in this area thanks to the strength of your fanbase.
I plan to pioneer more territories. Is "pioneer" a verb? I think I just verbed a noun. I'm sorry.

I'm definitely not the person to be coming to for grammar advice (just ask my readers!) Final question, did you have a favorite movie, book, TV show of the year and what's on your iPod right now?
On my iPod right now is the new Fall Out Boy, Regina Spektor and "Passing Strange" those are things I'm listening to constantly. Movie, probably the last movie that really blew my hair back was "Let The Right One IN." It really astonished me because it's wicked bleak. A TV show, you know what, I haven't watched anything that wasn't THE OFFICE, TERMINATOR, or 30 ROCK in two seasons. So I can't say. You can either make TV or you can watch it.

I suppose I've chosen the latter.
It's more restful.