Everybody knew this day would come. After two seasons of dismal ratings, FOX has finally brought the ax down on Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series Dollhouse, which will not be renewed for a third. There are two ways of looking at it: 1. FOX mishandled the show from the beginning by meddling with the (deeply flawed) early episodes and debuting it on Friday night, which set it up for failure. 2. FOX generously allowed the show two full seasons on the strength of its fervent critical and cult following, even though the numbers never justified it. On balance, I’m inclined to take the half-glass-full option and be grateful for two seasons’ worth of Whedon’s flawed yet ambitious and often brilliant series. We’re fortunate to live at a time when weird factors like downloads and DVR numbers can compensate for traditional metrics like the Nielsens, and Dollhouse benefited greatly from the passiondex. If there’s any positive takeaway from this, it’s that fans should feel empowered by their ability to make an impact in this new environment. Without them, Dollhouse likely gets pulled as early as Firefly did.