Fans who have been sulking over the cancellation of yet another series featuring Summer Glau (Angel, Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse) won’t be crying in their beer for much longer. The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively announced that Summer Glau will be joining NBC’s superhero drama The Cape in a leading role.

The Cape centers around a former cop (David Lyons) who is set up as a criminal and becomes a masked hero to clear his name.

Glau will play Orwell, an investigative blogger who isn’t afraid to aggressively go after corrupt cops and bad guys in costumes. So, yes, expect her to be kicking some serious ass on the show.

In the first installment of TV Digest: Canceled, I talked about shows such as Moonlight, Jerico and Studio 60 that were gone too soon. This time I’ve got more shows that were canceled way before their time, and are a testament to both how amazing television can be but also how nearsighted executives can be when making the decision to cancel a show.

While these shows may no longer grace our television sets with shiny, fresh new episodes, they live on in our hearts and on our DVD shelves. These are what I consider to be the most beloved canceled TV shows of our time.

Arrested Development

Produced by brilliant filmmaker Ron Howard and starring a slew of incredible actors, Arrested Development ran for three seasons from 2003-2006. Shot in a documentary style fashion, like The Office, the show is about the wealthy but seriously crazy Bluth family after their father gets arrested and their company faces bankruptcy.

Oldest son Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is the glue that holds everyone together while siblings Gob (Will Arnett), Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) and her husband Tobias (David Cross), and Buster (Tony Hale) do their best to make a mess of things. I really can’t say enough about how good this show was.

Other than the incredible casting, this show has some of the best writing and comedic timing I’ve ever seen on television. I have watched all three seasons multiple times and I can watch an episode now and still find something brand new to laugh about, because of how well the writers reference old jokes and spin new ones in their wake.

But the show also can have these incredibly heartfelt moments, in between the insanity, that remind us how important it is to be a family despite how much money you have in the bank. And as the economy continues its slump, this crazy family in the midst of financial turmoil is looking far less eccentric and just plain average. As this show ages it becomes more and more relevant, and it becomes clearer and clearer just how great it is.

Despite all that, as well as numerous Emmy nominations and wins, the show was canceled. Luckily we’ll see more of the Bluth family soon, in a feature length movie that begins shooting this year.

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Listen up Heroes fans. Mind-reading cop Greg Grunberg is convinced Heroes will be back for another season. This is certainly great news for anyone still watching the show and concerned about the ratings. Keep in mind, this is his opinion, and does not necessarily reflect that of the network.

Grunberg made his renewal prediction while attending the People’s Choice awards, “We wrapped yesterday and the [final episode] is nowhere near a series finale…It is cliffhanger-y and exciting, but it is nowhere near an end to a series that people are so invested in. It does not tie everything up in a neat bow… I don’t have any doubt that the show will be back.”

It’s a bold statement to make. Just because the season finale is “…nowhere near a series finale…” does not guarantee the show will return next season.  Let me present Exhibit A: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. That wasn’t a series finale either, and we all know what happened to it (here’s a hint, Fox canceled it).

That said,  I hope Heroes viewers do get their show back. Fortunately, Heroes has some other things going for it other than Grunberg’s gut instinct. The series has solid DVD sales and a strong international following. Further, Heroes was the top pirated TV series of 2009. Okay, that may not be the best endorsement given the legalities (or lack there of) involved.  Regardless, it is a strong indicator that people are watching the show.

At the end of the day I think as long as NBC can continue to sell ads alongside Heroes it should last. With shows like Dollhouse and the aforementioned Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles getting axed there’s less genre programming to watch. In that, Heroes may find a resurgence in viewers as similar options in programming continue to dwindle.

With Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse winding down to its eventual final episode, Fox again will show two episodes of the series back to back tonight. To help whet your appetite for the episodes, we’ve got five, count ‘em, five clips from both of them to show you today.

Because we’re friends, I’m not going to lie to you. These clips do contain a few potential spoilers. Granted, you might want to go into tonight’s episodes cold and not know anything about what might happen — and there’s nothing wrong with that. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.

However, if you do want a bit of info to build the anticipation and make you count the hours until showtime, go ahead and check out these clips.

Dollhouse airs tonight at 8/7C on Fox. At least for now.

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Though there is no word whether or not FOX will air the rest of Dollhouse’s second season, we do still have some things coming up to be excited for. This Friday marks the show’s return after being off the air for nearly two months, and it’s coming back with a bang. Two episodes will air this Friday on the network: “The Public Eye” and “The Left Hand.”

According to IMDb, in the first of the two-parter, Echo is sent to Washington, DC to stop Senator Daniel Perrin (guest Alexis Denisof) before he can expose the Dollhouse’s secrets. Adelle and Topher also travel to the Washington DC Dollhouse where they meet its genius programmer, Bennett Halverson (special guest Summer Glau), a woman with a mysterious past connection to Echo.

Following that episode, in “The Left Hand” Echo and Bennett have a shocking confrontation as Adelle goes head-to-head with the ruthless head of the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse. Meanwhile, Topher sees double when he involves Victor in his espionage plans, and Senator Perrin finds a surprising witness to testify against the Rossum Corporation.

This marks the first time that Denisof has worked with Joss Whedon since Angel went off the air in 2004, and the first time Glau has worked with him since 2005’s Serenity. Check out two exclusive clips from “The Left Hand” after the jump. This is the first we’ll see of both Glau and Denisof, so some spoilers ahead.

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The news spread through the Internets late yesterday that Fox has decided enough is enough and has officially canceled Joss Whedon’s ratings-challenged show Dollhouse. This seems to be the week for cancellations, actually, as ABC also mercifully axed Eastwick and Hank.

Sadly, the cancellation of Dollhouse really should not come as a surprise given the show’s poor ratings performance this season. As others have speculated around The Flickcast offices, we have to wonder if viewers stayed away this season because they didn’t want to get involved with a show they knew was probably going to get canceled. Whedon fans are somewhat gun-shy after the way Fox treated Firefly — although at least the network gave Dollhouse a second season pickup, which Firefly never had.

Still, any time a show with this kind of devoted fan base is canceled, people are going to be upset. Fortunately, it seems Fox will air the whole 13 episodes made for this season, which is something that most other shows never get to do. Although, having watched the de facto series finale “Epitaph One,” I wonder what Joss and company will end up doing to wrap everything up.

Who knows, maybe they won’t completely and we’ll see Echo and the rest of the Dollhouse gang grace the pages of their own comic sometime in the future?

That Joss Whedon is a funny guy and one heck of a writer. His shows, including Firefly, Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse, are among the most favored by fans and, of course, we love his work here at The Flickcast. Now, with the Terminator franchise apparently up for sale (again) Whedon has made a modest proposal of his own to buy the entire thing in an open letter to those selling the franchise.

Among the items covered in this open letter are how much he offers for the franchise and what he would do with it if he got it. Its a funny and, in some cases, inspirational attempt at humor from a man who knows how to bring the funny.

Although, maybe he’s serious and thinks he would do a good job with the franchise? And, thinking about it a bit more myself, I think he would do a great job with Terminator also. Interesting thoughts indeed.

Take a look at the full text of the letter after the jump, courtesy of the fine folks at Whedonesque. Once you read it, give us your thoughts on the idea.

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Well, cut me open and splay my innards. This episode was awesome. Written by Joss Whedon’s little brother Jed and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen, this episode Topher develops morals and Sierra kills a client. Also, this episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes (of Star Trek The Next Generation) making it all around awesome.

The last time I recapped Dollhouse, I was pretty harsh saying the show has to give me something worth saving it for. Now I can say that for episodes like this one, its worth saving this show for more of this kind of stuff.

We open on Sierra displaying some of her art on the beach, when Dr. Nolan Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca) comes up to her and asks her out. Flash forward to a gallery showing of Sierra/Priya’s work. Priya wants to leave with Victor who has been imbued with the consciousness of an Italian Art Dealer.  Within minutes Dr. Nolan gets a little possessive and uppity demanding that Priya stay, harsh words are exchanged and Priya leaves.  Flash forward to the next year where Kinnard is seeing Sierra again, and I’m like: “Wait. There are no repeat engagements.”

Apparently Kinnard is a VIP, and is allowed multiple reservations. During a kindergarten class Sierra draws a black blotch on her drawing saying the black blotch is the “bad man” to Echo (Eliza Dushku).  Echo brings this to Topher so Topher investigates by talking to Boyd (Harry Lennix) about Sierra’s last engagement.  Its revealed that Kinnard is a doctor at a psychotic facility, and that Topher brought Sierra in from.

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You can’t always put stock in what people say on Twitter. Sometimes, people just like to say stuff that isn’t true just to get attention or boost their number of “followers.” However, when someone who is supposedly “in the know” like us or Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausielo tweets something, people tend to listen and take it seriously. And given his reputation and insider knowledge, they should.

Case in point is Ausiello’s Twitter post from last night saying that he is hearing from sources that Fox will put episodes of Dollhouse on hold during the important November sweeps and then bring the show back after and air back to back episodes. Here’s what he said exactly:

“Exclusive: Hearing FOX will bench DOLLHOUSE for November sweeps and air back-to-back eps on Friday night in December.”

If true, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe Fox wants to keep the show alive and so is actually doing it a favor by not having it air during sweeps so its less-than-stellar ratings won’t be a factor? Or, maybe Ausiello’s source simply got it wrong? To be honest, I hope its Fox actually trying to do a good thing and still give the show some kind of chance. Although, as much as I might want that to be the truth, I sure won’t hold my breath for it.

This past weekend at Big Apple Comic Con, we got a chance to talk to Dollhouse’s Miracle Laurie about her role in the show, and where things may be headed. Last season, her character November went through quite a transformation, and was left this season “released” by the Dollhouse.

Miracle went from a little-known actress to a resident in the Whedonverse practically overnight. She also mentions in the interview how she was originally up for a role on Firefly a few years back.

We were able to talk about most things Doll‘, including where her character will be going this season now that she’s “free”, her thoughts on working with mastermind Joss Whedon, and even some about her Ukulele cover band, “Uke Box Hero”.

Check out the full interview after the jump. Be sure to keep it here for some more great Big Apple Con interviews with other cast members of shows like Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and more!

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