Whedon's "Dollhouse" Endangered

Geek fans of Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fame) have been holding their collective breath for months now, awaiting the premiere of Whedon's new TV show, Dollhouse. (Trailer for the show above and here.)

Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku, the character Faith from the Buffy and Angel universe, as one of a stable of secret agents who get their memories wiped and replaced by that of an alternate personality for missions. (Of course, we see a version of this in the mediocre NBC drama My Own Worst Enemy starring Christian Slater.)

I don't like the premise, but there's possible complex high drama involved, which is good. I also have issues with Joss Whedon, but am still a Buffy fan, so complexity there as well.

And now it seems that what happened to the mediocre and extremely problematic Firefly (please don't kill me, my geeks!), namely that Fox didn't believe in it, stuffed it into a corner for 11 episodes, and then killed it, is going to happen to Dollhouse, too.

I find these TV network politics weird. Why invest at all in a show you don't believe in? Why premiere a show if you're going to do your damnedest to see that it doesn't succeed ... or at least do nothing to help it succeed?

So much of TV drama seems to be in a fight with itself over ... what? Not money, because shows that promise to do the slow burn and build large, fanatic audiences over time--ultimately bringing in millions in DVD and merch sales--aren't given a chance, and shows with no growth potential whatsoever are preferred. Why do TV networks shoot themselves in the foot over and over again? Is quality really that hard to see?

Any other Whedon fans out there?