Fox Staying out of Dollhouse, Whedon's Kitchens

Network will let Joss do what he does best with season two of rejuvenated show.

Let's recap Dollhouse's turbulent first season: The show gets announced with Eliza Dushku and Joss Whedon reuniting, fans hail it as the next big thing. Word leaks that there is trouble on set, the original pilot is scrapped, fans begin to worry. Studio executives ask for some retooling, which includes going in a more standalone episode direction, fans worry more. The first episodes come out, critics groan, fans suffer.

But then a funny thing happens: the show becomes much more watchable in its second half, and is somewhat miraculously renewed for a second season. A 13th episode -- "Epitaph One," which never airs on TV -- is included in the DVD set and is considered one of the series' best.

At Comic-Con this year, Joss Whedon told TV.com that Dollhouse was by far the hardest show he's ever done, and it's easy to see why -- too many cooks in the kitchen, too much control in the hands of the studio executives. But the tug-of-war that plagued the first half of Dollhouse's debut season won't happen this year, and that's a good thing.

"Joss will keep doing what he's doing," Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly announced at the TCAs, according to IFMagazine. "That's the beauty of Joss. Joss was pretty open about the hiccups. He started finding the show in the second half of the year. The fact that he found that, it's going to be much smoother sailing this year."

Translation: "We won't be f***ing with his show this year."

"I don't think he was having any fun and we were a big part of that, and ultimately once he hit his stride, I don't think we spoke," Reilly said.

With Fox out of the way, Whedon can continue with his vision, which sees Echo (Dushku) becoming more aware of what's going on and -- thankfully -- more active instead of emotionlessly passive (that was a big problem in the early episodes). And in the vein of the un-aired flash-forwarding "Epitaph One" episode, there will also be some glimpses into the future during season two.

The second season of Dollhouse was given the nod over a third season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Did Fox make the right choice?