My parents and I read Dan Brown’s books together. They’d finish them and then pass them along to me. When I was handed Digital Fortress, I was given a summary that could easily have been mistaken for The Da Vinci Code (especially because my parents defined each character by their Da Vinci Code counterpart). While the plots are different, the characters are formulaic. I haven’t seen anything recently published by Brown, but I’m sure fans would recognize the character types in a heartbeat, and would beg for something we haven’t seen before.

We as consumers are an odd lot. We cry for something “new’, but when a creator gives us that something new, we complain about how they’ve forgotten what made their original work so beloved.

I haven’t seen much from Dan Brown in recent years, but I am an avid Joss Whedon fan. After being dragged into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I sat through Angel (which had spin-off pans), Firefly (which often serves as background noise while I’m working), and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Like many of Whedon’s fan, I’ve come to expect a certain style or tone from his shows.

And like many Whedon fans, I was dismayed to find that lacking from Dollhouse. In fact, up until I read about the seven pilots, I was struggling to make myself continue watching the series, joining others in agreeing that the series wasn’t his usual caliber.

Friday night, as I watched the episode take an unexpected and welcome twist, I realized that I was complaining about not having what I was used to. Dollhuse doesn’t feature the traits that have made Whedon’s other shows so engaging. It’s something different. It’s a chance for us to see what else he can do, to give him a chance to break his own formula.

I’m interested in seeing where Dollhouse goes. I miss the witty banter, but I can access that just about any time I want. Now it’s time to see what else he can do well.