Hate to say it, but Eliza Dushku was the weakest part of the show.

In Dushku's defense, most of the characters she was playing on Dollhouse were not all that well defined. They were variations of the same characters, either sexy tomboy or sexy sorority girl. I'm not even sure if Tatiana Maslany would have done that much better with such one-note characters. But yeah, Dushku has very limited acting range and was most certainly the wrong actress to play Echo.

But I'd also throw out Fran Kranz as a horrible actor. I don't get why people think he is any good. He is "Acting" with a capital A - rarely have I seen a guy try so hard to play a character and it showing so much that it's a performance. I think he might be a good theatric actor where the performance part of a role is emphasised, but as a tv actor where he truly has to make us believe his character, he sucks.

I went in to this series after reading all the butthurt about Eliza. I looked at every scene she was in a judged her acting. It went from fair to very good IMO. What I could NOT do was take my eyes off of her. She is pretty, yes, but she has a body that is perfect for MY particular tastes. So, I suppose I am a bit biased. But not overly so. There are PLENTY of fined bodded bimbos that I will be the first to call out for their bad acting.

I dont think Eliza is a Bimbo or she is a bad actress. She was great in Banshee which was her first what I would call "grown up" roll. Even though she is pushing 40. Still fine.

I got pretty upset that wardrobe kept putting nipple pads on her so she NEVER showed pokies. What a gyp! That is one actress who has hoarded and mismanaged her nude body. Even Jessica Alba was dumb enough to load her nudes up to the cloud so they could be hacked. Mankind weeps for Eliza's obvious intelligence. She never shot any nude selfies that were in turn hackable. Sorry. I digress.

But weakest part? The fatty that played Melanie. I could not stand to look at her. At least Tomaha is fit and not 30 lbs overweight with cankles and thigh sized claves. He was runner up for weakest acting link. Some rate him as THE weakest link. Not me.

There were VERY good actors in this show. I loved watching them do their craft. But I REALLY paid attention when Eliza had screen time. I think someone else mentioned it...physicality...it cant be explained...only experienced. I realize not every one feels the same way. That is what this forum is for...to voice personal opinions, likes and dislikes. I wish the writers could have written a third season. Was is ratings that ended the show? I wanted more, but the second season spun things up too fast. Maybe they know they only had tow seasons total.

Dushku was very good as Faith. But whether that persona is close to her own or she just nails it for some reason, it is basically the only type of character she can play well. I haven't seen Dollhouse since it aired, but I remember my reaction vividly (probably because I was so disappointed after being excited at the thought of a new Whedon show with Dushku). When Dushku was called on to play a character something like Faith--a cynical badass when a chip on her shoulder--she was fine. When she was asked to play anything else (which was most of the time), she ranged from a bit below average for TV acting to below average for the high school play. I think Dollhoue was generally a misfire for Whedon, but it began with the lunacy of putting the very limited Dushku at the center playing a multitude of different parts. I know she had the production deal with Fox, so Whedon had no choice of actresses, but he came up with the concept, which couldn't have been been worse for her.