Fox announced today that is snuffing out the brief candle of Dollhouse, Whedon's latest series starring Eliza Dushku as a secret agent whose memory is deleted after each of her missions.

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.

And for Eliza Dushku, now that the burden of actually filming is behind her, she can move on to the far more satisfying journey of spending the rest of her decades on the planet touring hotel convention facilities and taking the podium to answer questions about the exact meaning of that look she shot her co-star in episode seven.

Fox originally released some NSFW-ish promo pics of Dushku this past month, but brand-new pictures that have leaked definitely put the Maxim in "This exiled-to-Friday show may only be able to hit a 1.5 rating, maximum." Perhaps some nude Nathan Fillion photoshoots could have saved Whedon's last Friday sci-fi offering, Firefly; too bad we'll never now know.

• Eliza Dushku - Dollhouse Promos x29LQ [Superior Pics]

— Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" is going to air on low-rated Fridays. The series was originally scheduled to air with "24" on Mondays. Instead, "House" will open the night, followed by "24."

— "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is also moving to Friday and will serve as lead-in to "Dollhouse."

Ruh-roh! As if to drive the bad news home, Fox has set Dollhouse's premiere date for Friday the 13th of February. Whedon's Firefly famously tanked when Fox scheduled it on Fridays, so perhaps those "Save Dollhouse" campaigns that sprung up when the series was first announced weren't so premature after all. Nerds, commence your letter writing campaigns; Fox, we hope you're prepared to be besieged with truckloads of desperate, Dollhouse-saving Bratz dolls.

• Fox announces midseason schedule shocker: 'Dollhouse' and 'Terminator' on Fridays [THR]

Anyway, myriad couplings follow, though the accompanying teaser is a bit vague in the how-and-who. However, Longworth also points out the entire film is available free on YouTube, both promising a waste of at least 40 minutes of our afternoon and officially confirming we made the right call in staying home this week. Happy viewing (we hope)!

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