ABC's 'Hank' and Fox's 'Dollhouse' get yanked

Despite last season's middling numbers, the network decided to take a flyer on a second season because purported creative genius Whedon has this way of growing on network suits and, besides, anything in which Dushku stars sells well on DVD.

So Fox decided to take a flyer on a second season of "Dollhouse," but moved the drama series to its Friday Night of Low Expectations, and moved the production to Canada to cut costs.

Late last month, Whedon fans had drunk heavily from the Happy Cup when Fox suits promised to air all of this season's 13 episodes, only to discover a dead mouse at the bottom.

Fox said it was yanking the show off the air for the November sweeps and its future beyond the 13 episodes was uncertain.

"Dollhouse" was a victim of Fox's success. Fox is usually a ratings also-ran in the fall, but this fall is very competitive and could win the November ratings derby. If, that is, it dumped its entire Friday Night of Low Expectations, and slapped reruns of its highly rated Monday and Thursday dramas, "House" and "Bones," respectively, into its Friday night.

Which Fox did.

Fox plans to pair Dushku and "Terminator's" Summer Glau when the show returns on Dec. 4 in a two-part " 'Dollhouse' Movie Event" -- a.k.a. Every Teenage Guy's Fantasy.

"Dollhouse" episodes will continue to air, two a night, for three weeks; the remaining few episodes will air in January. Whedon is said to have "embraced" the finale and is ending the series in a "significant way."

"I'm off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking," he wrote Wednesday on his Whedonesque fan site.