Joss Whedon is one of my favorite pop culture figures. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly” are two of my top-20 shows of all-time, and I think “Angel” and “Dollhouse” are grossly underrated. (Well, at least season two of “Dollhouse” is.) Serenity, love it. Toy Story and Speed, obviously. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a classic. I’m as big of a fan of the guy as you can be — but I think it’s time for people like me to shut the f*ck up.
With The Avengers coming out tomorrow, Twitter (and every magazine and website in the world) is abuzz with Joss talk. Most of the time, that’s fine, fascinating even — it’s about Joss’s rejected Batman script or upcoming adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing. But then, for no particular reason, you have a fan who pipes in about Fox canceling “Firefly” or how “Dollhouse” wasn’t given the chance it deserved. Basically, a lot of anti-Fox crap. This is extremely aggravating. Yes, it sucks that “Firefly” didn’t last more than 11 episodes on TV (and three more on DVD) and that it was aired out of order, but LET IT GO, PEOPLE. It’s been a decade. No more of this:
His four shows have aired for a total of 15 seasons (nearly 300 episodes) over the last 15 years. Most showrunners would KILL for that. What’s even more remarkable is that none of them have anything close to a mainstream premise. A show about a blonde teen named Buffy who kills vampires, with a British mentor who she never falls in love with…for seven seasons? That’s amazing. And now that the critically adored Avengers is going to make more cats than Spike could ever dream of (“Buffy” reference), Joss’s hyperventilating fanbase (arguably TV’s most devoted) can’t play the victim card anymore. “If only someone would give Joss a chance,” I’ve heard many a-fan say (me too, at one point). Well, now “someone” has, so let us never discuss how “Firefly” and “Dollhouse” were screwed over ever again (they were never going to be hits), and how Joss never gets a break, and just enjoy the damn shows. Also: Dawn’s not that bad.
