Yeah, I think cancellation probably helped out Firefly in its own way by keeping it from devolving like so many TV shows usually do. Dollhouse did really take off when the network cancelled them, you're right. I love the first season, though, and have a lot of issues with the second, so... That said, I also love the second season.

The thing I was complaining about is more the Browncoats that flood every conversation with whining about how Firefly was cancelled and it's so unfair because these other shows are "waaaaay worse." And while I understand that feeling, they get rather rude about it because other people like those shows they're dissing, you know? Like I said, I like Firefly. I thought it had great writing and it was a neat show to see, but it ended over ten years ago, and it's stillllllll being touted in every conversation. Gah.

(Also, I'm probably a little sensitive about this because a show I love just ended after five very awesome years where it never wavered, and then I have to deal with Firefly fans who tell me, "Oh, that's just too bad! Hey, my show got cancelled in less than a season. So your pain means nothing." Is it too much to have some freaking empathy? Why does everything have to be a competition? Shut up, Annoying Browncoats)

And I absolutely got fooled when Alan showed up and acted all Wash-ly at first lol. Well played, Joss.

Ah. This is a fan/people problem of fail, luckily one I haven't come across. Let me see, I remember reading an interview with Peter Jackson about how him and these two other directors - one was the director of Avatar - keep building on each other's work, like developing techniques that the next person can use to make their film better, or possible even, when asked if he felt like he was in competition. Or something like that. I just remember loving the idea of that, these bigshots getting their geek on by raising the bar for the next person not to jump over but to use to pull them all up. I'm sorry you met the other kind of people. They're really missing that point of being a Browncoat were even if you lose out on something that doesn't mean it meant nothing.