Dollhouse sorta deserved it.
And this is coming from a diehard Browncoat and Whedon fan.
But, let's be real a sec. This wasn't the "Fox curse". Fox actually gave Dollhouse more of a shot than I believe it deserved -- likely BECAUSE of the Firefly cancellation backlash and resulting popularity if the series.
Personally, I stopped watching the show during the first season for one reason. I think Joss copped out and shifted his show focus because of the way the early episodes were received and out of fear that the show would get axed before it ever got off the ground.
When I first started watching, Dollhouse felt...uncomfortable as a concept. Here was this world in which people were property. Willingly (or for their own reasons) giving up their identities to become a company asset and used for whatever purpose the company deigned necessary without having to deal with any residual guilt or memory of the event.
People being used for whatever purpose, with no memory or guilt -- and a company profits. Experimentation without limit, on human beings and it's just a day to day occurrence.
Now, that was interesting to me. Orwellian and thought provoking and, like those of us that saw the dismantling of Summer Tam as something a government would do if they could -- grossly fascinating.
But, in my opinion, the show shifted focus and I lost interest. It stopped feeling creepy and just started feeling like another week of "Here goes Eliza and what is she wearing this week."
But that can get old. Quickly. And once you've seen one episode and you know how it goes, why do you come back to watch again?
Go watch "Once More With Feeling" and ask yourself if Echo ever touched you anywhere near as deeply as Buffy did discussing something as out there as being pulled back from Heaven for the (second, third, fourth I forget?) time?
Joss works best when he has his characters dealing with the repercussions of their actions, even when the circumstances are utterly out there.
When you hold Dollhouse up to that standard, does it really measure up?
