The casting was brilliant -- get perpetual nice guy Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Death at a Funeral) to play a wacky environmental engineer on Dollhouse, then have him pull a 180 and stand revealed as psychotic ex-Doll Alpha. It was a casting decision that was Whedonesque in its brilliance, and would have been one heck of a shock... if we hadn't found out about it in advance. The spoiler didn't make Tudyk's performance less hypnotic, however, and we can't wait to see where he and Echo will end up at the end of this week's season finale, "Omega." We got to talk to him on a media conference call about the finale, the leak and even the remake of V he'll be appearing in. The last one he couldn't say much about, but we're sure it will all be on the Internet soon enough.

Tags: Alan Tudyk, Dollhouse, Firefly, Joss Whedon, Serenity

In the consumer culture we inhabit, company spokesmen have long been elevated to the equal status alongside their legitimate cartoon and comic-book brethren. Captain Crunch, Ronald McDonald and the football-playing Fox Sports Robot are among the corporate shills who have been immortalized as action figures, hanging on racks alongside G.I. Joe and Spongebob for nostalgic reasons, kitsch factor or sheer coolness of design alone. And I think that's awesome. But we are about to enter a new age: the age of the TV production company mascot toy.

Tags: Alias, Bad Robot, Buffy, Burn Notice, Dollhouse, Firefly, Fringe, House, J.J. Abrams, Lost, Serenity

Now, don't get me wrong -- Joss Whedon has a way with words. Every other word out of his characters' mouths has me rolling on the floor in hysterics. But his true genius -- the talent of his that really, truly caves in my skull, as if with a large rock -- is his ability to deliver the funny dialogue right up to the point where he decides that you are no longer allowed to laugh. That's when he sticks the knife in you, or throws you the curveball, or drives your tour bus off a cliff, whichever "shock and awe" metaphor floats your metaphorical watercraft.

Tags: Buffy, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon, musical, Nathan Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris, Serenity