We Knew This Was Coming

Well Dollhouse is done. Defamer sneers:

The launch of a new Whedon show is treated in nerddom with the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding and the build-up to Dollhouse's launch seemed a year long extravaganza of set visits, plot leaks and junketeering. But when Dollhouse finally reached the airwaves, it met very mixed reviews and stumbled to find an audience. Grudgingly, Fox brought it back for a second season, but put it on in a doomed Friday night slot.

The life of a Whedon show is only really a throat-clearing prelude to its afterlife in which the failed show is converted into a modern classic. Whedon's last show, for instance, Firefly was on the air for a mere 14 episodes from 2002 - 2003, but that was enough to fuel a big screen adaptation and eternal worship as the platonic ideal in swashbuckling sci-fi dramas.

But first must come the backlash and out there across the internet can be heard the sound a million geeks posting calls to the barricades to protest Fox's treachery, proving to them once again that commerce is the enemy of art and that something as special as Dollhouse is too good to live in such an imperfect world.

Hehe, "throat-clearing prelude to its afterlife." I can't actually judge Dollhouse, because I never tried--I just couldn't get past the premise. The whole idea of erasing a beautiful woman's memories really weirded me out.

Here's Alyssa on the cancellation:

I'm sorry Dollhouse is dead.  But I'm not sure its cancellation warrants the same outrage as the premature plug-pulling on Firefly, which was remarkable from its first episode.  I just hope this opens up some space for Whedon and company to move on to other strong--and perhaps stronger--projects.