Cover your eyes and ears, hardcore Joss Whedon fans, because today brings more discouraging news: production has temporarily shut down on Dollhouse, Whedon's upcoming sci fi series.

Zap2It's Korbi Ghosh reports that Whedon was unhappy with a couple of the Dollhouse scripts, having sacrificed time in the writers' room to direct two consecutive episodes of the show. Realizing that he and the writers needed more time to fine tune the scripts, Whedon asked permission from 20th Century Fox to halt production for a few weeks to regroup; the production studio happily gave it to him.

"We have every confidence that [the extra time] will allow Joss to make the show the best it can possibly be," a rep for the show told Ghosh. "It's very rare that you have a head writer who is also directing two episodes in a row. But we are happy that Joss is directing, because this is his vision."

The situation mirrors that another Fox drama: on Sept. 5, 24 shut down production for two weeks in order to rethink the season's story arc and rewrite several scripts. Because both 24 and Dollhouse won't join the Fox roster until midseason, network execs and the writing staffs of both shows assure fans that the setbacks will not delay premiere dates.

However, this isn't the first problem Dollhouse has faced. In July 2008, Whedon announced that he had decided to write and shoot a completely different pilot for the show, having agreed with Fox executives that the original premiere episode didn't entirely work. Whedon told fans several times not to worry, apparently forgetting that while viewers may be able to suspend their disbelief while watching fiction, it's a little harder to do in real life.

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