Little Dawnie goes to Washington

Little Dawnie is all grown up. Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer kid sister Michelle Trachtenberg will make the cross-country trek from Sunnnydale to Washington, D.C. for an as-yet-untitled Beltway comedy on ABC. On the comedic soap, the 21-year-old actress plays the daughter of a conservative lawmaker. She falls for the aide (played by Eric Christian Olsen) of her father’s Democratic nemesis. Olsen’s credits include Tru Calling, which starred another Buffy alum, Eliza Dushku.

Now, I was never a huge fan of the whole Dawn experience. Certainly, I applauded series mastermind Joss Whedon for taking the “Cousin Oliver” syndrome (fading shows adding a young, cute kid to boost ratings) and turning it on its ear with the literally out-of-thin-air sister act. In fact, I just rewatched “Real Me” (Michelle’s first featured episode) the other night. Pretty clever, Joss, pretty clever. I also liked how the writers poked fun at her constant peril: “Dawn’s in trouble? Must be Tuesday.” And, thankfully, they eventually gave her more to do than act bratty, scared or whiny.

Still, she never felt like a complete Scooby to me. But I give the kid props for her unrelenting love for our favorite couple of lesbian witches, Willow and Tara. If this scene doesn’t endear you to Buffy’s little sister, nothing will. Endearing enough to watch her new show? We’ll see.

4 Responses to “Little Dawnie goes to Washington”  

1. 1 Kerstyne
2. Mar 9th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
3. I always loved Dawn. I never got the whole ‘hating-Dawn’ thing, I thought she was a really good addition to the show. Sure she was whiny and bratty, but she really played well off of Sarah (plus no one can deny they look alot alike if you compare them at the same ages).
4. 2 Xanadugrrl
5. Mar 9th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
6. That is one of my favorite scenes with Dawn… of course, being the evil man Joss is, that was about 5 minutes before they killed off Tara. Evil!
7. 3 jennifer from pittsburgh
8. Mar 9th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
9. Dawn didn’t annoy me, but I sure heard from friends who were irked by her. You know who I was most surprised to stop hating on BTVS? Andrew. I loved how he interacted with Anya.