Comments on: How Will Dollhouse Fare on Fridays? What Should Fox Do?

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:47:22 +0000

Kiza, I agree the shows’ viewers will be more likely than the general viewing population to watch online, but that isn’t good news for the show at all. TV advertising still pays the bills. Online/Hulu are growing, but on a by-show basis, there’s not much revenue generated via online viewing yet.

By: Kiza Armour

Kiza Armour — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:42:46 +0000

How do ratings account for online viewership? TSCC is consistently among the top episodes on hulu.com, and can also be seen on fox.com. Given the sci-fi fan base of the show, viewers are much more likely to be seeing it online than being slaves to a network timeslot.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:06:03 +0000

What FOX should do in my opinion:

JANUARY
Sunday, Jan. 11 and Jan. 18:
8:00-10:00 PM 24 (Season Premiere)

Sunday, Jan. 25:
7:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
7:30 PM AMERICAN DAD
8:00 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:00 PM 24 (Do you remember The Sopranos in this timeslot? With SNF over, more male viewers available for this kind of show at sunday nights)

**************************

Monday, Jan. 12, 19 and 26
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (AUD.)
9:00 PM LIE TO ME (i don’t belive that much on this show!)

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 20 and 27
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (AUD.)
9:00 PM FRINGE

Wednesday, Jan. 14:
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (AUD.)
9:00 PM HOUSE

Wednesday, Jan. 21 and 28
8:00 PM BONES
9:00 PM HOUSE

Thursdays, Jan. 15, 22 and 29
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (AUD.)
9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE (Season premiere)

*****************************
FEBRUARY

Monday, Feb. 2
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Hollywood Round)
9:00 PM LIE TO ME

Tuesday, Feb. 3
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Hollywood Round)
9:00 PM FRINGE

Wednesday, Feb.4
8:00 PM BONES
9:00 PM HOUSE

Thursday, Feb. 5
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 24 Chosen)
9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE

Monday, Feb. 9
8:00 – 10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 12 Men Perform)

Tuesday, Feb. 10
8:00 – 10:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 12 Women Perform)

Wednesday, Feb. 11
8:00 PM BONES
9:00 PM HOUSE

Thursday, Feb. 12
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 24 Results)
9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE

Monday, Feb. 16 and 23
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 10 and Top 8 Men Perform)
9:00 PM LIE TO ME

Tuesday, Feb. 17 and 24
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 10 and Top 8 Women Perform)
9:00 PM FRINGE

Wednesday, Feb. 18 and 25
8:00 PM BONES
9:00 PM HOUSE

Thursday, Feb. 19 and 26
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Top 20 Results and Top 12 Revealed)
9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE

***********************

MARCH

Monday, beggining March 2
8:00 PM BONES
9:00 PM LIE TO ME

Tuesday, beggining March 3
8:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Performance show)
9:00 PM FRINGE

Wednesday, beggining March 4
8:00 PM THE HOLE IN THE WALL CELEBRITY EDITION (season premiere) ???!!
8:30 PM AMERICAN IDOL (Results show)
9:00 PM HOUSE

Thursday, Feb. 12
8:00 PM DOLLHOUSE (Time Period Premiere)
9:00 PM Hell’s Kitchen (season Premiere)

By: Kyle C

Kyle C — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:06:41 +0000

Just because a show doesn’t lead out from Idol, doesn’t mean it won’t be promoted during Idol. There’s going to be a lot of key demo eyes watching T:SCC & DLH spots.

By: Nick C

Nick C — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:48:05 +0000

I think the press will be positive once we get closer to launch. The show will debut after IDOL (I heard it again this morning). I’m going to guess 11M to 12M viewers for that episode. If they can retain half of that to Friday they will be fine.

All the people that think FOX is sending the project to Friday to die don’t understand the passion that Peter and Kevin have for Eliza and yes, Joss. They are extremely happy with the latest scripts coming in. The show just has to survive IDOL season on Friday. If it does it will benefit from a stronger lead in on a more popular TV night. Then again it may stay on Fridays if it can garner good ratings there. It is NOT impossible.

Plus they’ve already started promoting the show. Commercials are already airing.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:42:10 +0000

I have a feeling that all the negative press going on about Dollhouse will hurt it more than the Friday timeslot. I suspect there are going to be a fair amount of people who have picked up on this vibe and will not tune in at all in order to protect themselves from a Moonlight/Firefly heartbreak again.

By: CT

CT — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:28:04 +0000

If there’s a show people want to watch they’ll watch it, whatever night it is on. Saturday and Friday nights being a wasteland for the networks is more self-fulfilling prophecy than anything else in my opinion.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:27:36 +0000

I think Dollhouse will launch with under 5 million viewers and below a 2.0 in the demo, from the day announced Fox has tried to kill this show. The show itself seems promising in terms of quality but Terminator won’t be much of a lead-in.

By: FrankJ

FrankJ — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:22:49 +0000

I was about to say, I read something online the other day about FOX mulling over an Idol lead-in for Dollhouse for the premiere. Then they’d shift it to Friday.

By: Nick C

Nick C — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:20:13 +0000

Andrea, FOX is currently trying to figure out when to air the pilot for DOLLHOUSE, and I’m under the impression it will be after Idol.

By: Cool

Cool — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:49:08 +0000

Dollhouse is DOA. FOX will be ashamed if Supernanny or NCIS repeats beat Dollhouse (and I think it has a chance)

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:21:34 +0000

Frank, Nick C:

FOX not giving Dollhouse the coveted AI spot to me is a show of no-confidence. Why not pair Fringe with TSCC on Fridays? Well, because FOX Friday is where shows go to die. FOX has more faith in Fringe because of its demo numbers; Lie To Me has super buzz behind its pilot; that’s why those two shows got the AI slots.

No doubt both Fringe and LTM will get hits from AI, but how much audience will they retain? AI made House a hit–will it do so for both or one or none of these shows?

By: FrankJ

FrankJ — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:27:40 +0000

I also have a slightly different take on how the networks are looking at this. Granted, I have no inside knowledge, just my guess on how if money drives networks, then money was the discussion. What equals money? 24 & House. What also equals money? I would imagine beating out another network in the demo on any given night. With the pairing FOX just put on Monday’s, I have concerns for both Heroes and Chuck. The CBS comedies…those things are bullet proof. As is, apparently, Gossip Girl. But NBC is vulnerable. Chuck will not fair well against House, or at least lose out to it in the demo even if it retains it’s audience, and I would imagine Kevin Reilly actually knows what ails Heroes more than NBC does right now.

FOX putting TSCC and Dollhouse on Friday may have it’s downsides for both of those shows, plus the stigma of Friday night, but there is also the chance of an upside, which is better than no chance on Monday. I doubt either would have faired well on Mondays come the Spring, thus leaving FOX in fourth place. Now FOX can jump NBC on Monday, and probably claim second place in the demo on Friday. Not a bad bit of chess if it works.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:10:20 +0000

Frank, I agree and would be very surprised if Fox wasn’t happy w/the results so far.

By: FrankJ

FrankJ — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:04:05 +0000

Fringe may not be the definition of a hit, but it’s definitely an important show to FOX. A lot of their shows are running long on seasons. They need something new working it’s way up as the older shows start to wind down.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:02:28 +0000

Nick, how did Heroes do vs. Fringe in the C+3 ratings among 18-49 year olds for the week ending October 26 (last week that both shows aired). In terms of live+SD 18-49 year old viewing, Heroes #17 was slightly ahead of Fringe #19 that week (5.194 million vs. 5.167 million). For me personally at this point “hit” is routinely over 6 million in the demo, but that’s a very subjective line draw on my part.

Outside of sports, it’s not a very long list.

By: Nick C

Nick C — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:40:28 +0000

Fringe is a top 20 C3 show. I’m not sure if that is a “hit,” or not. It used to be that top 20 was important.

By: Corey

Corey — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:28:30 +0000

Robert, correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t Fringe sustained better numbers than Heroes this year?

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:03:45 +0000

@Mike, I remember when Friday TV was a big deal. I think the proliferation of cable/satellite did it in more than anything.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:01:03 +0000

Corey, Fringe has pulled decent numbers for sure, but unlike the PR team at Fox, I’m not ready to declare it a “hit”.

By: Corey

Corey — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:59:02 +0000

Add Fringe to the list of hit shows that you must supsend disbelief.

Also, T:SCC isn’t that expensive of a show to make as everyone thinks. It has the same budge as Pushing Daisies.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:50:22 +0000

Doesn’t anyone remember TGIF. Friday was once the arguably biggest night of TV during the week.

By: Christian

Christian — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:36:44 +0000

If memory serves me correctly, Fox used to air Idol specials on Fridays (extra auditions, those William Hung centered shows). I wonder how they did?

By: dave

dave — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:12:50 +0000

I like your idea of an idol coverage show, but not on the broadcast network. FOX has to protect the idol brand, and having that many hours of broadcast primetime coverage could kill the big event feel of idol. I think an idol coverage show would work better on a fox owned cable network, (fx, or even better fox news) This says idol is so big other networks feel the need to cover it. How would I program fridays: I would pick up the broadcast rights to regular season NHL games for cheap after it NBC’s contract is up, and air hockey games. It won’t rate huge nationally but its cheap.

By: Jalen

Jalen — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:59:52 +0000

Do you think this is Fox’s way of getting rid of Terminator:SCC?
Or is it a way to keep it because you cant expect great ratings on a friday?