Joss Whedon plans meeting with FX

 Joss Whedon

Credit: AP

This means absolutely nothing tangible, of course, but "Dollhouse" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon has a tentatively scheduled lunch with the brass at FX.

Like we said, that isn't the same as having a pitch for FX or having a pilot at FX or anything actual and real, but HitFix is just reporting what FX President John Landgraf told reporters on Sunday (Jan. 17) morning at the Television Critics Association press tour.

Asked about possible interest in Whedon after "Dollhouse" completes its run on FOX on Jan. 29, Landgraf didn't even feign indifference.

"You know, his representatives called and scheduled a lunch," Landgraf said. "I think I'm supposed to have lunch with Joss in the next two or three weeks, and I have, you know, enormous respect for him. By the way, if you look at Shawn Ryan, who created 'The Shield' and is running 'Terriers,' Shawn learned at the feet of Joss Whedon in the Joss Whedon school and Carlton Cuse, by the way as well. So I don't really know Joss, but I'm really looking forward to meeting him. I love his stuff."

Due to the swift cancellation of Whedon's "Firefly" and slightly-less-swift (but still too-soon) cancellation of "Dollhouse," cable has long been considered a logical destination for the writer-producer-director.

As for FX, the network is coming off of a development season in which it went six-for-six in pilots going to series, including the dramas "Justified," "Terriers" and "Lights Out" still to premiere later this year.

"I've been now at the channel for six years. We've made nine drama pilots, and we've picked eight of them up," Landgraf explained. "So we really don't make very many pilots that we don't order. Sometimes we have to go in and do a little reshooting or a little recasting, but I think we tend to grapple and struggle with that question of, if this show is really well executed, will we program it, will we put it on the air. We tend to grapple with that question before we pick shows up. And, again, we don't have to feed as large a mouth as a 15 hour a week broadcast network like FBC or a 22 hour a week broadcast network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. So we had the luxury of time and sort of careful consideration. That said, I think we'll probably only make one drama pilot right now because we have seven drama series currently on our roster. We have three that have not aired yet that we're preparing 'Justified,' 'Terriers,' and 'Lights Out.' And I think, in all probability, if we make a drama pilot, we'll pick it up, and probably we only need one sort of back up drama right now."

Stay tuned for additional information if/when it unfolds.

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

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A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.