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Joss Whedon’s much anticipated Dollhouse premiere hits FOX next Friday the 13th. Fans are worried that more than the date might mean bad luck for the show. After news and rumors of reshoots and problems with the vision for the show, visions of Firefly danced in their heads. This week Joss Whedon spoke with TV.com , however, and tried to reassure everyone that everything’s fine, everyone’s happy, and the show’s going to be great. He defended the Friday night timeslot, saying that Friday shows are allowed to be quirky and build an audience, rather than having to be a primetime dynamo right out of the gate. He also said that the dispute with the network was merely over how the show should be explained to the audience–like with Firefly, FOX preferred that Dollhouse just jump right into the action rather than show an origin. Rather than having the network show the series out of order like Firefly, Whedon decided to give them what they wanted and present the show as asked. Thus, some rewrites.

Here Whedon and star Eliza Dushku discuss the show:

I’m still not sure how much I’m going to like Dollhouse. The basic premise of operatives being imprinted with different personalities and skills for each mission and then wiped clean afterward is definitely intriguing. The fact that these women can be hired for anything, including sex, and that all the girls live in this “dollhouse” environment disturbs me somewhat. According to the TV.com interview, Whedon wants to make viewers uncomfortable, so I guess it’s all about pushing the envelope. His episode on sexual perversion didn’t make the final cut, however. I’m fine with pushing the envelope, and mixing sex and drama, but I just don’t want it to be some teenage boy fantasy girlie show every week.

The good news is that Whedon hired two female showrunners, Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft (Women’s Murder Club), to keep the female perspective, though he says they share his sick, twisted sense of humor. On the strength of Firefly and its sense of humor, I’m reserving judgment on Dollhouse until I see it for myself.

“Usually words of calm in these situations, they lead to panic,” jokes Whedon to TV.com, in response to fans’ premature concerns about Dollhouse’s feared early demise. “My concern isn’t whether the show gets saved, it’s whether the fans love it… At the end of the day my biggest concern is that I give them something worth panicking over.”

Read the full interview at TV.com .Watch Dollhouse on Fox on Fridays at 9/8c.

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