In the US, the Fox Network's scheduling chief is a bloke by the name of Preston Beckman. Anyone who was a big fan of Firefly or Drive (is that even possible? They aired four episodes ferchrissakes) probably already knew that that. Hell, they might have sent him an abusive e-mail at some point.

Fox, let it be said, are brutal when it comes to cutting shows that don't do the numbers... Or should that be ‘were'?

Hardly anyone thought Dollhouse would be back for a second season - judging by the correspondence Joss Whedon sent out to US journos with the S2 press pack, even he didn't think Dollhouse was coming back. But back it came...

As Mr. Beckman so eloquently put it: "If you cancel it, you're an asshole; if you renew it and then don't put it back on, you're an asshole... I'm still paying for 'Terminator'. "'Dollhouse' has a small rabid fan base that in the world of social media seems bigger than it is. We gave them another season knowing full well we were going to burn in hell if we pulled it."

And d'ya know what? Not only have they brought it back, Fox are going to back it all the way too. Well, at least to the extent that they intend to show all of the 13 episodes they've commissioned so far for the new run. Very few people expected that, certainly not after the show re-opened to the same disappointing ratings that had characterised its first season - and some 50%ish down on the season one premier.

Nevertheless, according to Joss Whedon - quoted in The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed Blog: "When we got our first numbers, which were bad, the first thing [Fox president of entertainment] Kevin Reilly said was, 'You'll have all 13,' which was great. They're not going to pull the rug out from under us."

This is good news. Echo et al will get to tell their story to some sort of conclusion it seems, rather than being left floating in TV mid-season limbo, ghostlike and wailing at the walls. What's more, we get to see Olivia Williams scorch the scenery of every scene she's in 13 more times when Sci-Fi UK begins the S2 run next week. We like Olivia Williams.

So why the sudden change of heart? Has Fox gone soft? No, it's the two Ds: DVR and DVD. Dollhouse always got good TiVO/Digital Video numbers - pretty much every episode of season one benefited from a .5 Nielsen ratings boost (according to analysis site TV By The Numbers), the problem has always been that the boost has come from a low viewer base - S2 kicked off with a Nielsen of 1 in the key US demographic (18-49, it's what the ad men like) with a total of 2.52m viewers.

The Friday 9pm slot was, however, won by Medium - with a 18-49 Nielsen of 2, and 8.78m viewers - and even a repeat of new sitcom Modern Family kicked the Dolls' collective (well toned, natch) butts. However, when the playback numbers were added in (who the hell wouldn't rather be in the pub at 9pm on a Friday?), the show's Nielsen hops by .5. Impressive.

Fox aren't stupid, Fox knew this was coming... Fox also lurve the DVD box set. They murdered Firefly, only to wallow in the cash that rolled in as fans bought the DVDs to see unaired episodes. With the screams of the Internet ringing in their ears, Fox slunk off to cash its cheque. This time around they're going to air the series, and then laugh all the way to bank on the back of a two-season, 26 episode ‘complete' box set. But not before tanking any chances of a full season two - let alone season three.

Is that progress? S'pose so. Bet it doesn't make Nathan Fillion feel any better, mind.