In the eyes of the fanboy international, geek auteur Joss Whedon will always be too good for television. And lucky for him, Fox didn't ruin those creds by calling the nerds' bluff and keeping his show on the air.

Some goodbyes go on for a very long time. But the day does come when the train pulls out of the station. Live singing Shrek, memory-erased Eliza Dushku and Michael Jackson, it's time to take your seats.

I mean, did you really think it would be a hit? Joss "Buffy" Whedon's new Fox series Dollhouse had television's second lowest-rated premiere of the season, after something called Crusoe. Its lead-in, Terminator, also tanked.

If you were cool and went out last night, you missed two hours of decent-ish television on the Fox network! Kind of unbelievable, I know. But Dollhouse and Terminator ain't bad.

Maybe Fox actually does want people to watch Dollhouse! After putting together a novel ad for the troubled Joss Whedon project, Fox has pulled out all the stops (and the clothes off star Eliza Dushku).

Back when Fox bought Joss Whedon's series pitch Dollhouse, the network bypassed the pilot stage and granted an immediate episode order in an attempt to speed the show onto the air with a minimum of speedbumps. Since then, though, the Eliza Dushku starrer has undergone cast shuffles, vicious network notes, episode reshoots, a set shutdown, and then, finally, a completely thrown-out premiere episode. Now, Fox has announced the latest, biggest setback, and it's one that even the former Faith may not be able to fight her way out of:

Shutdown Fever! Hot on the heels of 24 stopping production to work out script issues, Joss Whedon's upcoming Eliza Dushku vehicle Dollhouse is grinding to its own quality-mandated halt. Already, Whedon was instructed by a tinkering Fox to shoot a second pilot (the original will air as Dollhouse's second episode), and the additional order left him too busy to bring future scripts up to snuff. Currently on its third completed episode, Dollhouse sets will go dark for two weeks while Whedon works out the kinks, though Fox claims its midseason debut won't be affected. Firefly fans, commence your worrying. [Zap2It]

Just in from Comic-Con!Buffy/Firefly/Dr. Horrible creator Joss Whedon discusses how he's trying to ensure that his upcoming Fox show Dollhouse enjoys a long, happy life on TV, unlike Firefly-which met an early demise for no good reason. Also in this clip, Battlestar Galactica/Dollhouse co-star Tahmoh Penikett, and a surprise appearance by Adam Baldwin, who Whedon blames for the downfall of Firefly.

· Ever since Neil Patrick Harris warned told the world back in February that he would be appearing as The Shoe Fairy on an episode of Sesame Street, we have been waiting for the mystical unicorn rider to appear on our local PBS affiliate. Fortunately for all of us, our long wait is now over. And while we are slightly sad to report that this clip does not have him uttering the line "I am the greatest fairy in all the land" (that bon mot must've landed on the cutting room floor), we have better news to share. Prepare yourselves for ... a musical number! [Sesame Street]
· While we were excited to introduce you to young Levi Alves McConaughey earlier today, a closer look at the photos shows that America's youngest stoner is already developing some rippling abs! [Best Week Ever]
· In the upcoming remake of Friday The 13th, Jason Voorhees has a mullet. This does not bode well. [Friday The 13th Blog]
· Is the bloom off Joss Whedon's rose? We'll always love and revere him for BtVS, but after getting feedback from the suits at Fox about the pilot episode he shot for Dollhouse, he's going back to the drawing board to rescript and reshoot the whole damn thing. [Vulture]
· Thankfully, this season's TCA press tour has come to a close. THR's James Hibberd put together an easy-to-digest recap, which features this refreshingly honest description from the EP of the new Crash television series about how his show will differ from its Academy Award winning source material: "I didn't want the series to feel somber. Or didactic. Or heavy handed. This is a fun show. The show is not bleak. Or depressing." We're sure Paul Haggis would agree. [The Live Feed]

The universe is piling on Warner Bros. today, with the studio bracing itself for its second straight summer misfire while the output from its recently euthanized offshoots New Line and Picturehouse achieved phenomenal successes in consecutive weeks. But NL's opening windfall for Sex and the City and Picturehouse's $27K-per-screen average last weekend for Mongol — the biggest art-house launch of the year to date — might not have anything on the 'House's toy-based, girly-girl follow-up, reports The NY Times:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Firefly creator Joss Whedon's Dollhouse isn't set to air until 2009, but the director's army of nerdy fans are already plotting to save it from the bean-counting buzz-kills at Fox. The program stars Eliza "Five by Five" Dushku as a brainwashed assassin, and so it's only reasonable that Whedon fanboys and fangirls should fear having such a precious gift of insanely hot hotness taken away from them. "Led by DollhouseForums.com, the campaign urges followers to organize viewing parties, watch the trailers online, buy Dollhouse-endorsed merch and create more fan sites."

Serenity/Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon's upcoming Fox series Dollhouse is profiled today at Entertainment Weekly. And there's new video from the pilot. Eliza Dushku! "Dollhouse follows Dushku's Echo, a mysterious agent with no identity except for the personalities imprinted on her and then deleted by her employer depending on the wishes and needs of wealthy clients. Between assignments, Echo lives inside a cushy secret HQ with other blank-slate dolls in a state of oblivious, hyper-healthy bliss...though as the series unfolds, she's starting to remember stuff she shouldn't." Video after the jump.