While yesterday we brought you one of the big names on the female side of the cast for the upcoming animated Batman: Year One film with Katee Sackhoff. That’s only one half of the female firepower that film is bringing to the table, as they also managed to cast Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku as Selena Kyle aka Catwoman.

We got a chance to speak with Eliza about her role, how she managed to return to also voice Catwoman in the DC Original Short, and what she’s currently working on.

Best known for her work with Joss Whedon in both the Buffy universe as well as the star of his most recent TV project, Dollhouse, Eliza has managed to portray the “hot badass” archetype for nearly a decade now. Things are changing only slightly as she’s turning in her Doll clothes and vampire stake for a leather catsuit and whip (animated, of course).

Aside from working constantly working in front of the camera, Eliza is also working as a producer for a few upcoming projects including one for the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

Take a look at what Eliza had to say in our exclusive interview after the jump, and be sure to grab Batman: Year One when it hits shelves on October 18th.

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Remember that movie The Cabin in the Woods we first told you about almost a year ago? What ever happend to that one?

It had a lot going for it, coming from Cloverfield writer and director Drew Goddard and co-written by the man himself Joss Whedon. It also starts Chris Hemsworth, soon to be seen in Marvel’s Thor extravaganza.

With all that going for it, why haven’t we seen it yet? Well, it was initially postponed for conversion to 3D. Why? Who knows.

Then, it fell victim to MGM’s money troubles and ended up being put on the shelf until the company emerged from its money troubles or found another company to distribute the film. Fortunately, both of those things seems to have happened and Lionsgate has agreed to take on the film and bring it to a waiting audience.

With all this good news we still have a bit of bad. We don’t know the exact release date for the film and we still don’t know exactly what the film is about. However, based on prior experience with films of this type we can guess it involves several attractive people, a cabin, blood, death, creatures and a bit of humor.  Sounds good. I’m in.

In addition to Hemsworth, the film features Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford and Brian White. When we get an official release date, we’ll let you know.

We were all sad when Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse was canceled by Fox. Sure, the series had some problems and kinda got lost mid season one, but it came back strong and finished in true Whedon fashion.

Obviously, some mysteries still remained after the series ended. One of the biggest was what happened between the episodes “Epitaph One” and “Epitaph Two.” Fortunately, the folks at Dark Horse have us covered and are releasing a brand new comic called Epitaphs that will bridge the gap and tell that previously unknown story.

Here’s the official synopsis from Dark Horse:

Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, joined by longtime Buffy the Vampire Slayer artist Cliff Richards, take us on an intricate trip through the precise moment when the Active technology went global, and how the protagonists from Epitaph One and Two narrowly avoided death, and worse.Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen wrote the Epitaph episodes of Dollhouse Seasons One and Two, and currently write for the Starz series Spartacus. This is their first work in comics. Artist Cliff Richards has drawn more Joss Whedon-related comics than any other artist, including issues of Buffy Season Eight.

The limited edition Dollhouse comic will come with the season 2 DVD and Blu-ray of the show, set for release on October 12th. It was written by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen who will also be attending this week’s Comic-Con in San Diego for a signing at the Dark Horse booth.

If you’re attending Comic-Con, you can pick up your copy of season two packaged with this limited edition comic starting on Wednesday during Preview Night and running through Sunday. Or, just go out and buy the box set when you can. Check out the full cover for the comic after the break.

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Some of our favorite shows happen to be on the Fox Network. Sure, Fox is also the network that, shall we say “mis-handled” both Firefly and Dollhouse, but that doesn’t stop them from also having some shows we really like.

With that in mind, we bring you the announcement of Fox’s premiere dates for most of its upcoming Fall shows. Some of the ones we are most interested in include the return of House on September 20th, the return of Glee on September 21st, the return of Fringe on September 23rd and the return of Human Target on September 24th.

Also, Family Guy is back on October 3rd with a one-hour special which will, most likely, feature a couple musical numbers. Click through for the full schedule of new and returning Fox shows along with their premiere dates.

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In case you’re not familiar with the story of actor Steven Baldwin. He’s had a long career, was pretty popular and did some decent movies, including The Usual Suspects. But now, according to reports, he’s broke and needs money.

So, what do celebrities do when they’re broke and need money? They turn to the Internets of course. Although, according to the site established by a Christian ministry for Baldwin he didn’t commission them to put it together, they are just doing it to help out the actor.

What does all this have to do with Joss Whedon and his ass-kicking chicks? Glad you asked. Watch the video after the jump and all will be revealed in a pretty hilarious way.

Enjoy and don’t say we never gave you anything good.

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It seems the prayers of geeks everywhere are going to be answered as Joss Whedon is reportedly in final negotiations to direct The Avengers movie for Marvel Studios. This comes after rumors have been circulating for weeks that the Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse creator was on the short list of possible helmers that would take on the project.

Marvel’s Avengers is to be a massive superhero team-up film featuring characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Nick Fury and many others all assembling to fight bad guys and rally to save the world. Needless to say this film will be a huge undertaking for all involved and a giant, expensive release for Marvel.

I have to say that this news is still somewhat surprising given Whedon’s track record. His shows (Dollhouse, Firefly) get canceled by the networks, his one decent-sized feature film, Serenity, performed modestly at the box office and he seems to have a tendency to get kicked around a bit by “the powers that be” in Hollywood — which, of course, is one of the reasons fan’s love him. However, he is a tremendously talented writer, of that there is no doubt. Plus, he can direct.

It just seems like a very large and important project for a studio to take a chance on someone that’s never done a very large project before. Hollywood is not known for taking chances. They definitely prefer as much of a sure thing as they can get. And make no mistake, if Whedon is getting this job, somebody is taking a chance.

That said, I firmly believe he can do it and do it extremely well. He’s a smart, talented and thoughtful man. Plus, I’m just pretty damn psyched for the idea. I’m just still sorta amazed its actually happening. Maybe some of those “powers that be” in Hollywood are not as lame as I thought?

How about you guys? Do you think Joss Whedon is the right man to direct The Avengers? Assemble and sound off in the comments.

While the news broke yesterday that Joss Whedon is on the short list of names being looked at to direct the upcoming Avengers flick, we were skeptical given that 80% of the news yesterday was to feed into “pranksgiving.” But after extensive research, we now can officially report that this news is legit.

Nothing is official just yet, and Marvel still has two other films to finish and release before even looking at The Avengers, but with a script from Zak Penn allegedly finished, they’re looking to fill the director’s chair sooner than later. From IESB:

Director Louis Leterrier has thrown his hat into the ring as wanting to bring Earth’s mightiest heroes together under one tentpole but we are hearing it will not be his cross to bear. Leterrier mentioned a short list of directors recently that Marvel was looking at, he didn’t know who else was on the list but IESB has found out one other member.

The same sources that spilled the beans to IESB about Spider-Man 4 being put on an indefinite hold back in December, have revealed that another leading contender on that short list to direct “The Avengers” film is none other than Joss Whedon.

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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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