It's Official: Fox Sends 'Dollhouse' to the Attic

Despite every hope that myself and every other Joss Whedon fan had, it seems it just wasn't enough. Dollhouse, Whedon's latest foray into television, has been given the axe just after the second season began. The news isn't surprising. Fans recently learned that the show would warm the bench during Fox's November sweeps. You could practically hear an organ cranking out a funeral march during that announcement. As I said, the news isn't surprising, but it is disappointing.

Right from the beginning, Dollhouse had a stigma hanging over its head. It was a Joss Whedon show. While Whedon has an enormous fan base and put forth the wildly popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, he had less and less luck with his later attempts (Firefly and Angel--though these two were also popular with Whedonites). From the beginning, Whedon had to try his best to barter with Fox just to get Dollhouse on the air, which resulted in the first several episodes of the first season being decent, but shaky at best.

While everyone is questioning why Dollhouse got canceled in the first place, the pivotal point in all this is Fox's placement of the show and the advertising. To put it bluntly, if Fox placed Dollhouse in a decent timeslot, i.e. not at nine o'clock on a Friday night, and advertised for it as much as they do for House or Glee, then Dollhouse's numbers would be fantastic.

After Season One closed with miserable numbers, a curious thing occurred over the summer months. Instead of watching Dollhouse in real time, fans and curious bystanders Hulued it, rented it or bought it and shared it with their friends, prompting Fox to bring the show back for an unexpected second season--in the same time slot and with the same minimal advertising. Naturally, the numbers have not been good.

I had fallen into the category of people who tried desperately to watch the show during its time slot, but failed. Only recently, I finished Season One with friends and had just gotten caught up on Season Two when I received the news of the show's cancellation. The news came as an especial disappointment after the widely acclaimed "Belonging" episode. The episode, which was hailed by many critics as the best of both seasons, was fantastic.

Heart-stopping, emotional and brilliantly scripted, the episode delved into some of the more darker secrets of the Dollhouse and saw major character development, in particular with self-proclaimed genius Topher (wonderfully played by Fran Kranz). It seemed that Dollhouse was hitting its stride and it's unfortunate that, per usual with Whedon's shows, we won't be able to see the series brought to full fruition.

Dollhouse will return December 4th with double-booked Fridays. Episodes five though 10 will air Dec. 4, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, and episodes 11 through 13 will air on Fridays beginning Jan. 8.

Kristin Dos Santos, The End is Nigh: Fox Officially Cancels Dollhouse, E!Online