Joss Whedon may have lost his shirt gambling on Dollhouse, but his fans never seem to lose faith in him. Dollhouse was cancelled by FOX this week after failing to draw in competitive ratings for the show’s second season, but Whedon fans continue to believe in his talent despite his seemingly cursed track record of cancelled series.

No one probably could have predicted Joss Whedon’s series remake of the cheesy Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie would go on to run successfully for seven seasons. But Whedon managed to take an impossible concept and turn it into a riveting, passionate series that converted millions of viewers into rabid fans. Unfortunately, many of his other brilliant ideas have  failed to pan out quite so well.

Firefly also had a rabid fan base of ‘Browncoats’, but not enough of one, and it was cancelled despite its fabulousness before it even really got off the ground. The Buffy spin-off Angel managed to struggle along for five seasons, but was always a pale shadow in comparison to Buffy. Now Dollhouse, too, has received the dreaded cancellation notice.

Yet, Joss Whedon is still revered as one of the most influential people in sci-fi and fantasy TV programming. J.J. Abrams once said Whedon is “an object of worship for viewers who like their television smart and funny and transcendent.” We have to agree, even when he just ups and kills off our favorite characters out of nowhere – seemingly just for the fun of it.

As Jessica over at SmallScreenScoop.com writes: “I mean, we call him a God as a joke but we also sort of mean it. Joss is God. We don’t always agree with him, but we always respect him.”

And as Jessica says, we hope Joss Whedon will “never stop doing your thing” even when it crashes and burns or never gets the appreciation it deserves. Because true art is art created out of love. Whether or not a Whedon project is a hit or not, you always know – as he’s often said – it was something done out of joy and the desire to try something unique and different.

So keep on keeping on Joss, we’ll be there, patiently waiting to see what awesomeness you’ll be pulling out of your bag next.

>> More on this topic: Dear Joss Whedon, Don’t Stop Believing