Fox also fought Whedon tooth and nail about the most minute of plot points, and the literature published about the behind the scenes stuff hints that they became more forceful as the series continued.
Above all though, Fox screwed up the marketing. They initially pushed it as a goofy/wacky comedy (they used Smashmouth for the original promos,
!), because they were afraid that anything that showed the actual dark tones of the show would drive viewers away - when in reality, it created a lot of confusion for those watching the first episodes, because they were expecting a different show entirely. Imagine if it had been marketed at it's actual target audience! All those passionate fans would have been on board and invested far earlier. All the subsequent screw ups were just more nails in the coffin.
Many people seem hesitant about dumping the blame solely at the shuffling feet of Fox execs (and there probably were lots of other factors that contributed to the show's demise), but pretty much every piece written about it shows that Fox really did drop the ball.
I really do miss that show. It made the whole space cowboy thing seem so awesome, believable, and human.
Time for another firefly marathon!
