Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger writes about his recent tour of the “Dollhouse” set — guided by the creator Joss Whedon himself — in anticipation of the start of Season 2 in late September.

The articles gives us a lot to look forward to — as well as a reminder to catch the last unaired episode of Season 1 — which is critical to understanding Whedon’s expansion of the show’s mythology in the upcoming season.

But what’s most interesting is the way Whedon articulates the politics of art in the Age of Image:

Whedon talked about how he and Fox both felt the show would be more accessible if they focused on standalone episodes built around Echo’s missions. But both he and the network realized after a while that those simply weren’t working, and that the audience was more invested in the ongoing stories of the characters in the Dollhouse.

“(Fox) saw that when we liked it (ongoing storylines), everybody liked it, so they liked it. So they stopped going, ‘Let’s try this, let’s try that.’ They said, ‘You do your thing, it’s not for everyone, but the people who love it, love it hard.’”

If Fox can come to see the value of a serial story, we might be getting somewhere.