TVSquad

If you're one of those Whedon fans that gets a throbbing vein in your noggin when the subject of Firefly, Fox, and the original pilot come up, you might want to have a seat before you continue. It seems that the newest member of the Whedonverse, Dollhouse, is getting a new pilot.

As Whedon explains in a post over at whedonesque.com, the original episode "...didn't bring the visceral pop the network had expected from the script. The network was cool about it, but not sure how to come out of the gate with the ep." If you read that and immediately think of the network wanting a different opening for Firefly, I can't blame you, but it doesn't seem as bad as all that this time.

My Name Is Earl and The Office are still working at reaching those viewer numbers from the Must See TV of a few years ago. But what they lack in audience, they are making up for with cool. How else do you explain the ability of the two to draw such a collection of guest stars and guest directors?

Joss Whedon is joining Harold Ramis and J. J. Abrams as a member of the Office directorial pool. Julia mentioned this last month, but now there is a video on YouTube where Joss talks about why he decided to work on the show. He also says that in doing something like this the director needs to be anonymous and that this will not be "The Joss Whedon episode." Looking at the clips that go along with the interview though, I don't think the writers got that message. It looks like the Joss Whedon episode. Video is after the jump and contains spoilers, just so you know.

[ via whedonesque ]

Yeah, the title involves more than a little wishful thinking. But, in case you missed it, that whole Joss Whedon Wonder Woman thing isn't happening. He announced it himself over on Whedonesque. Oddly enough, that announcement came about right as some other Joss stuff was tumbling onto our internet.

The VH1/MTV monster has an interview up that took place before we learned that we won't be seeing what Joss had in store for Diana. They talk about what his plans were for Wonder Woman, the Buffy comic, Goners, and touch on the possibility of a Buffy movie. Whedon acknowledges that such a thing is doubtful, but adds never say never.

If that isn't enough Joss junk to fill your day, geekmonthly.com is smack dab in the middle of their four part interview with Whedon. You can read part 1 and part 2 now. The remaining installments will be along soon. They hit on lots of different points, including how his involvement with comics developed, why TV is better than movies for exploring the human condition, and the fact that Giant Dawn is his favorite thing. Good reading for fans.

Rumor has it that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly mastermind Joss Whedon will be directing an episode of The Office. Considering that Scranton is situated right over a Hellmouth, it makes perfect sense. The rumor first surfaced on both Televisionary and FilmIck, but has been confirmed by Joss himself over on Whedonesque. (Scroll way down to see his two cents.)

As connoisseurs of the Whedon oeuvre may remember, Joss got his start writing for the sitcom Rosanne. He earned his television directing chops care of Buffy, Angel and Firefly. What should we expect from this most inspired of pairings - long master shots through the entire office, sequences done entirely in silence and lots of Pam's feet? Probably not, but I bet we're in for at least one guaranteed heartbreaker of a moment between Pam and Jim. Whedon's awfully good at bringing the funny and the waterworks, but so long as he's not actually writing the episode, I feel relatively safe. I wouldn't want anyone to die on us. It's not that kind of show so don't get any ideas, Whedon.

Thanks to reader Brendon Connelly for the tip.

I'm sure that those of you that consider yourself part of the Whedonverse already know about all the shenanigans surrounding the big Flanvention this weekend. But for those of you that don't follow all things Whedon, it's an interesting tale. These are strange days in the Whedonverse. I've only been following it through random posts around the internet, so feel free to add/correct details in the comments, but here is the quick and dirty version of the story.

This weekend there was supposed to be a huge Firefly event in Burbank. There was a banquet, panels, booths to sell wares, photo ops and autographs from cast members, all the usual convention stuff. It was to be a somewhat limited affair, so the tickets were not cheap. With the various events , autographs, hotels, airfare, etc. many of those attending had spent their way into four figures for this opportunity. Then last week things started to get really weird.

Our friends at Whedonesque have pointed out an interesting addition to everyone's favorite reference site, IMDb: ratings!

Yes, I'm talking about the ubiquitous user ratings, which is one of the most popular parts of the site, but now they're applying them to TV series and episodes. And the fun part? You can see them grouped any way you want. Want to see the ratings achieved by every episode of every show Joss Whedon ever produced, for instance? Just click on the "by ratings" link in his profile, which gives you these results. Want to know which Jennifer Aniston project was the most popular among the users? You've got it (it's interesting that every Friends episode is rated higher than any of her movies).

It's a weighted system, whose formula can be viewed at the bottom of any ratings listing. I like it; any new way to kill time at work is aces in my book.