| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 10.12 | 5.79 | 4.75 | 3.77 | 1.30 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.2/7 | 1.7/6 | 1.4/5 | 1.4/5 | 0.5/1 |
Led by Ghost Whisperer, Friday’s most-watched show, CBS continued its Friday night domination. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse continue their downward slide Flashpoint does seem to be taking a 10%-15% hit among 18-49s. Whether that is due to Dollhouse or something else is hard to say.
Friday Night Lights which also appears doomed unless it again plays gold digger to DirecTV’s sugar daddy in the fall. We have no idea of DirecTV’s state of mind when it comes to handing NBC a blank check. But Friday Night Lights and Dollhouse are locked in a fairly competitive battle in the 9pm hour.
Ghost Whisperer’s 11.57 million average and 2.8/9 (rating share) among adults 18-49 was far and away the most-watched show of the evening. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had less than a 3rd of the viewers GW had, and worse slid to a 1.2/4 among 18-49s, that was down from last week’s 3.84 million and 1.3/5.
Dollhouse didn’t dip by much. It was down to 4.13 million and a 1.6/5 with 18-49s versus last week’s 4.22 million and 1.7/5.
Tahmoh Penikett had a diverse Friday night. He went from being shot in the abdomen in Dollhouse to getting it on with [edit: spoiler deleted, sorry about that, BSG fans who hadn't gotten around to the DVR yet] in Battlestar Galactica.
I’m sure Summer Glau fans will moan about her lack of air time in last night’s TSCC. It was like they threw in a scene of her walking around in her bra just to make up for it. But, too little, too late I suppose. TSCC even lost to Howie Do It (including a repeat episode!) That’s gotta sting a little.
Here’s last Friday’s overnight report.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 11.57 | 2.8/9 |
| ABC | Wife Swap | 4.63 | 1.5/5 | |
| NBC | Howie Do It | 4.56 | 1.3/5 | |
| FOX | Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles | 3.42 | 1.2/4 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris (R) | 1.55 | 0.5/2 | |
| 8:30 | NBC | Howie Do It (R) | 4.04 | 1.3/4 |
| CW | The Game (R) | 1.25 | 0.5/1 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | Flashpoint | 9.17 | 1.9/6 |
| ABC | Supernanny | 5.55 | 1.8/6 | |
| NBC | Friday Night Lights | 4.22 | 1.5/5 | |
| FOX | Dollhouse | 4.13 | 1.6/5 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris (R) | 1.07 | 0.4/1 | |
| 9:30 | CW | The Game (R) | 1.33 | 0.5/2 |
| 10:00 | CBS | Numb3rs | 9.61 | 2.1/7 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 7.10 | 2.0/6 | |
| NBC | Dateline | 5.79 | 1.6/5 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
poor tscc and dollhouse. both down from last week.
I would switch Numbers and Flashpoint and see what happens.. Flashpoint is losing almost a full point in the demo and Supernanny was only .1 behind.
Wonder what Nick C has to say about that Demo numbers ?
LOST, Nick predicted those demo numbers. There was a lot of what if blah blah blah. Actual performance is in line with his predictions but not the blah blah blah.
Ouch, TSCC losing to a repeat of Howie Do It? That does sting… a lot. That 1.2 demo is very ugly.
Everyone knows that what matters is C3 and Dollhouse is going to DOUBLE its ratings in C3 when those numbers come out!! Really! All that matters is that Dollhouse gets at least 2.0 in the demo!! Wait, you mean it didn’t get 2.0 in the demo?!! Well a 1.7 in the demo is great!! Wait, it dropped even below that??!! Well, whatever it got is, coincidentally, right where it needs to be!! Really! There is nothing wrong with losing out to Flashpoint, ‘cause who cares about that show?!! And who’s watching Supernanny except for icky people like old women?!! Really! Plus when those C3 numbers come in, Dollhouse will do better than them all, and that’s all because of the awesome, awesome show that’s full of Jossy goodness, and not because there’s few commercials!! Really!
This show is the next X-Files!! Really! Over the summer, the bazillions of people who haven’t heard about the show are going to hear all about it as places like Comic-Con, and this will be the Next Big Thing next season!! Do you all remember when NBC did that self-congratulatory commercial about how Comic-Con loved Heroes at the start of the second season?!! It’s gonna be exactly like that, only even more awesome, ‘cause this has Joss!! Really! And people are gonna watch the show in reruns, ‘cause obviously people are dying to watch Dollhouse reruns in summer on Friday nights!! Many things have changed about TV in the 15 years since The X-Files came out, but people are more willing than ever to watch FOX reruns in the summer now!! Really!
This is the best job a scripted show has done on FOX Friday night at 9 in a few years!! Really! (Well, for a new episode, anyway; reruns of House have sometimes done better!! Like February 29, 2008, when House scored a 2.1 in the demo!! Or March 7, when a House repeat had a 2.3!! ) But the show is doing better than Canterbury’s Law was last spring, and who can ask for more??!! That’s such a huge hurdle to overcome!! FOX should run a promo that advertises that: “Dollhouse is higher rated than The Return of Jezebel James and Canterbury’s Law!! Woo Hoo!!” Can’t you just see that on a billboard?!! Really! FOX is going to give the show time to grow, and you can’t do that in three months!! No, they’re going to order another season of the show!! Really!
This show is the best thing ever!!!!!
speaking of blah blah blah
So, I am curious. Does Neilson take a snapshoot of viewers say at 9:04 and 9:35 to get their numbers or do they look at the whole time period?
Well, the preview for next week indicates TSCC will be better than it has been the last couple weeks. Hopefully, more people will watch.
Joss’s Biggest Fan, I’ve found that really successful forum trolling requires at least some level of reality. 0/10.
LOL @ Joss biggest Fan
Well FNL is still maintaing above 4 million almost every week. So i’m hoping directv finances another season of this show. Long live FNL . Too bad for TSCC. But lately i’m noticing that this show is getting more and more depressing.
@Dovepage my understanding is that technically they look at every minute. the level of reporting typically is at the half hour level of detail (which unfortunately I didn’t see for last night) intervals, but 15 minute data also exists though we don’t receive it.
TSCC
Well, Dollhouse is getting better, I think Joss could really put up a interesting show if he had the time. And TSCC, well it is really not getting better. The lasts episodes are really juste boring me…
Still sad the numbers aren’t getting better
“Friday Night Lights” was awesome Last night
Terminator’s ratings don’t surprise me really. Starting the back nine with these slow episodes was wrong, wrong, wrong.
As I wrote somewhere else already: The show will pick up now, next week’s preview looks extremely intense, but no one is left who will be watching it.
And I can’t even blame Fox on this one. Fox warned Josh not to do this, and this is a point where he should’ve listened.
Why some people get such a perverse pleasure out of seeing Dollhouse (or any show) fail is beyond me.
Does anyone finds Eliza Dushku’s acting Below par ?
Ghost Whisperer had a little boost last night was that the episode where Hilary Duff guest stared in?
Sam, I think that’s not until April 10.
The show fell by a meager 90,000 viewers on a week that most of those critical about the show said it would die: i.e., during a week when its competition was not in repeats. That Dollhouse pretty much held its own versus a Friday ratings Juggernaut like Flashpoint is a very good sign. Plus, not every episode every week gets the same ratings. 90,000 viewers could be well within the natural variance of these things.
You see, Joss Whedon’s Biggest Fan, it’s good to be optimistic and not freak out about every small variance.
Also, it’s good to not be a troll.
woah i was way off
No the Hilary Duff episode of Ghost Whisperer 4.19 “Thrilled To Death” is not airing until April 10…..
Where is the TSCC fans???
I can say this not because I’m SUCH a nice guy but because I’m indifferent to it: Give it up to the people who watch enough tv since the Clinton years, who smelled a skunk with Dollhouse. On paper it sounded about as good as other stuff that sticks to the wall for a few years. Also, original Ghost Whisperer did real well in the demo with a 2.9 plus I guess. Is that the Jennifer’s Loved Duet effect? ( Sorry. Really idiotoc pun.)
Well I think FOX is not happy, but I think in a sense they’re happy that it appears DOLLHOUSE may have leveled off. They have to survive the storm of “bad episodes,” and last nights was supposedly the worst of the bunch according to FOX people.
I don’t foresee the show getting worse, although that is a real possibility. I foresee it growing. It’s “other trackables,” are high, and despite the 1.6 I bet it still finishes in the top 4 for the night when the C3 numbers do come out. That is good enough to keep around. The game shows didn’t provide those numbers (in C3) and game shows don’t sell DVDs.
Last week FOX sounded like DOLLHOUSE had a future, and I’m sure this week will have a sound of a foggy future.
Also, isn’t FNL starting to grow in its numbers?
Really impressive numbers for Ghost Whisperer. Those would be good numbers for most nets on a regular weekday.
Dollhouse continues to fall, but that’s not unexpected. James Hibberd quoted Eliza Dushku(?) on his ratings report saying the show really takes off after episode 6, but I agree with him, by that point, there won’t be enough people left to matter.
Cheap Canadian show or not, Flashpoint needs to perk up or it’s being shipped back north. Though, I could see them putting it back in the summer where it started.
Once again, TSCC was boring last night. I kinda watched it out of the corner of my eye and saw nothing compelling. Perhaps Josh should have went full speed ahead for the entirety of the back 9…because starting off with the last three episodes was a HUGE mistake.
Nick C, I really want to believe you, but Dollhouse numbers are weak no matter how you play it. I just hope Dollhouse starts growing and that those numbers are good enough for a Friday. I’ll buy the DVD as soon as it comes out.
It’s hard to improve with a lead-in like that. They should kill Terminator now before it starts dragging Dollhouse with it. Oh wait! It’s already doing that.
dollhouse downer than friday night lights, that’s really bad :S
Nick C, FNL was maintaining a 1.4 in the demo before it took a hit from Dollhouse’s premiere (dropping to a 1.1). So, it has recovered from that and is up a bit from the average.
Surely TSCC can’t have fallen further *spies numbers* SON OF A..!!
Weren’t people saying that if TSCC was taken off of the Monday night line-up and moved to a different night, like Friday. That the ratings would go through the roof? Whoops…guess not!!
I don’t usually watch ghost whisperer but i did watch last night and i really enjoyed it!!! I also liked dollhouse last night!!! i hope fox gives it a second season!!
FOX put TSCC on Fridays because they knew nobody would watch. At least that would be my strategy. Send it to the graveyard.
Ricardo, they’re not good, but they’re not horrible either. I’m sure it will be a 1.8 in the C3s and win its time slot. Again that is due to Remote Free TV, but also from a decent DVR viewership. The show is already set to be in the black. So it has that going for it. DVD sales are expected to be decent, so the show has a chance to stick around. It’s a very slim one.
The show is either able to grow viewers over the summer or it isn’t. If it is, then I think FOX would be smart to renew. It’s cheap at $1.5M to produce.
where is American Gladiators??? did it not used to be on fridays?? when is it coming back?
I’m hearing FNL 4th season
sam, American Gladiators hasn’t been on since last summer. I don’t think it’s coming back, but it could.
As I said last week and the week before that I suspect that Dollhouse’s future may very well rest on how serious Fox are about making Friday’s a viable night – ultimately that means are they will to take what I assume will be a hit over the short term in favour of shooting for long term gains? At the same time they may, as was suggested like week decide that they want to grow Friday night’s but Dollhouse isn’t the show to do it in which case it’ll be gone.
Come the end of this season I don’t think Dollhouse is going to be in a strong enough position numbers wise to give itself a free pass to a second season, so its future is going to rest on whether Fox believes its the show to make Friday’s work over the long term. Right now I don’t think it is, three episodes in and the quality of the show isn’t picking up neither is the quality of acting or the chemistry levels between the cast. Pretty much all Dollhouse has going for it is the ‘Created by Joss Whedon’ tag and that doesn’t carry massive weight and if Fox really want that they can get it somewhere else – a Firefly revival would probably pull comparable numbers on a Friday night at this point for example and probably bring much better reviews and with TSCC and Chuck looking (at best) unlikely for next year and hype dying down for Castle I suspect the cast may very well be free for it as well. Creatively, in terms of long term future, its hard to see where Dollhouse goes.
I’m begining to think the reason the CW exists is so the other 4 major nets can always tell themselves, “well at least we’re not getting beat by -those- guys”.
Shame we can’t just hook up everyone with a nielson monitoring box. This was one of the few nights I actually tuned in live to watch Dollhouse. It was interesting to find out actives who don’t do as they are programed are put in the “attic”.
Dollhouse is stil in 4 mils. This is fine enough for a friday nite. I think…I hope…
Nick, Dollhouse’s prospects for next fall are pretty horrible as of right now. It’s just that TSCC has set the bar for horribleness, and indeed, Dollhouse isn’t as in as horrible of a position.
But it’s in horrible shape anyway. Another factor here is that on this trajectory, its not like these shows will repeat well. I think if FOX regularly scheduled House and Bones (or Lie to Me) repeats on Friday and promoted that even the tiniest bit, it would outpeform what they are doing right now. With no promotion whatsoever, House/Lie to Me rerun combo a month ago pulled almost identical numbers to last night’s (the reruns had more viewers, but were .1 lower in the demo).
Jordan said…
“Once again, TSCC was boring last night. I kinda watched it out of the corner of my eye and saw nothing compelling. Perhaps Josh should have went full speed ahead for the entirety of the back 9…because starting off with the last three episodes was a HUGE mistake.”
I agree with last night’s episode. It was boring, and rather confusing. Next week’s episode looks like it is getting back on track. The filler episodes might be over.
The sad part is… the ratings were not good last season (which was one of the best seasons in television IMHO), and at the start of this season (which was also great).
I don’t know who to blame the ratings on, as the show is FAR better than the ratings indicate. I mean, how the frak does TSCC get beaten by reruns (last week) of Wife Swap? Seriously!
I do blame the studio on pushing for more stand-alone episodes (the writing on the wall), which has degraded the quality of the story. Though the stand-alone episodes seem to be over, they didn’t have as much story to push off from, and even these serialized episodes are suffering a little.
I can’t wait until next week though. The preview looks great!
Is there anything Fox can put in TSCC’s place? That show is going to kill any hope of Dollhouse being given a second season. I’m not saying Dollhouse is great, but if TSCC keeps scaring viewers away then Dollhouse needs a better lead in.
@Paul J
from where? sources?
Chad, looking at the numbers Robert linked to I’d think that a House rerun leading into Dollhouse would work much better than the current TSCC lead in. On that note, what are the chances of Fox trying something like that? We’ve all (for good reason) written off the chances of them slotting an established show into a Friday night slot for an original airing but a rerun of an established show leading into Dollhouse might make things look better in terms of averages for the night at least.
TSCC episode last nite was interesting, confusing but not really terminator level – I can see why the viewership is fading away (although I’ll stick by it to the end). What happened to the action? I’ve been watching Dollhouse & until last nite I wasn’t sure I’d keep watching. But last nite Dollhouse finally gave us some mystery & doll glitches that should prove interesting – so I’ll keep watching which doesn’t seem to be what others are doing.
There were people who thought TSCC numbers would go way up when put on Fri.? I was thinking it hold on to the same numbers it was getting on Mon. and look good in comparison to other Fri. shows.
@ TesserT
I’m wondering where the action went as well. Terminator needs to BE Terminator if any fan is going to watch.
Glad Flashpoint is getting decent numbers, but is it enough for a third season?
Consider Dollhouse and Terminator terminated!
Yeah, when FNL is beating you, it’s not looking good.
Man, TSCC is DH’s cement shoes, although it’s questionable whether it’d be doing well with better program partners. DH hasn’t really hit a groove yet creatively either. It’s reminding me a lot of Bionic Woman… just feels like a show that doesn’t know what it is. There’s definitely appeal there so I’ll probably watch the full run.
How would TSCC do on the CW? I don’t even know what to think now.
LJ says:
Man, TSCC is DH’s cement shoes, although it’s questionable whether it’d be doing well with better program partners. DH hasn’t really hit a groove yet creatively either. It’s reminding me a lot of Bionic Woman… just feels like a show that doesn’t know what it is. There’s definitely appeal there so I’ll probably watch the full run.
The same thing happened with Fringe. It was a creative rut for the first few episodes. Now, that the show has finally found its footing, it’s become brilliant!
I didn’t really care for last nights Dollhouse a lot, I thought the second episode was better. It has potential though so I will continue to watch.
I actually really REALLY liked last night’s episode of Dollhouse, and am hoping it will improve in the ratings. That little headshake between Echo and Sierra KILLED me!!
FOX may run 2 or 3 episodes more of Dollhouse, but it wouldnt surprise me if they finished all 13 episodes. It wont see a 2nd season though.
Hmm, I think Dollhouse’s second and third episodes were quite good. The third wasn’t better than the second, but the combination of the goodness makes my affection for the show accumulate. Well, right now I’m just hoping we at least get 13 episodes that form a somewhat cohesive narrative, a la Wonderfalls, which despite the low ep # is my 4th-favorite show ever.
The third episode of Dollhouse was by far the worst so far. I’ve heard the show doesn’t really kick into gear until episode 6 or 7, so I’ll give it a chance, but if future episodes continue to be of last night’s quality, this show is 100% toast (which it probably is anyway).
Strong 20/20
Robert, I was told by people at FOX that DOLLHOUSE is “likely to be renewed,” at this time. That is why I’m stating what I’m stating. That was before it dropped to a 1.6, but I thought it would drop to a 1.6 and I’m sure FOX did as well.
It’s already profitable for FOX. That is the key. It’s about money. They are going to make more money off of DOLLHOUSE than off the previous programming they had in the same time slot, and more than they would with reruns (likely). The show is cheap, they’ve sold it over seas. They have decent expectations for the DVD set. They’re really happy with the 2nd half of the season in quality. They believe that word of mouth will spread about the show when people see the 2nd half of the season.
They’re either right or wrong. Then again TSCC and DOLLHOUSE can continue to drop and pull a 1.1 and 1.5 next week and make it all moot.
Then again I heard that TSCC might get canceled in favor of moving PRISON BREAK up if it got worse, and it got worse. I don’t think FOX thought it would dip to a 1.2.
“Dollhouse is stil in 4 mils. This is fine enough for a friday nite.”
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the same person who said I was stupid for watching “American Idol” and not “Lost,” yes?
“Joss’s Biggest Fan, I’ve found that really successful forum trolling requires at least some level of reality. 0/10.”
But it has some level of reality. Sure, it might be some level of Nick reality, but… that’s what makes it successful.
Keep up the good work, JBF. The Dollhousers may not agree, but I’d rather read your posts than the Lostards, that’s for sure!
@Nick
You’re fooled by your sources. Trust me.
Nobody can defend those dollhouse numbers but Fox could probably make a profit producing the show strictly for DVD, if I know Joss Whedon fans.
My hope is that it does get canceled, and Whedon can go back to writing something good, even if it’s comic books. The premise is strangely illogical, which is odd given how much logic he put into something as silly as vampires in Buffy.
If you want to understand why Whedonites keep watching, check out this week’s penny-arcade: it’s spot on.
haha http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2009/20090227.jpg
I LOVE DOLLHOUSE….FOX PUT IT ON MONDAY …PLEASE SAVE DOLLHOUSE!!!!
I am confident that the ratings for Dollhouse will rise! If it doesn’t happen next week it’ll be because the target audience watched Watchmen! (I prefer to Watch Joss, not Watchmen!) And if it doesn’t happen the week after that it’ll be because the first week of daylight saving time messed with everyone’s minds! (I’d have that problem too, except I have a countdown clock on my wall that counts down the hours and minutes til the next episode!) And if doesn’t happen the week after that it’ll be because everyone was watching the finale of that ratings juggernaut Battlestar Galactica and/or basketball on CBS! The week after that ratings can be blamed on basketball again too!
I have not yet decided what to blame if the ratings are bad in April! (I have, however, written an epic poem for when the show’s ratings rise!) But Dollhouse is a work of Jossian genius, and nothing about its ratings have anything to do with the quality of the show!
Riff, I’m not a fan of Joss Whedon or JJ Abrams. Sorry.
I’m just not a pessimist twisting Friday numbers into the same reality as say Thursday programming. DOLLHOUSE numbers aren’t bad for a FOX Friday Night. Its the best numbers so far of any original scripted Friday night programming for FOX in a decade. I think that means something. Of course it isn’t much of a feat, but then again, why hasn’t any other show done it?
I’m not a fan of Network TV execs. I work with them and can tell you all they are as dumb as you think they are in many regards. They’re separated from reality. That separation leads to thinking “You know that Jim Belushi sure is funny and popular!”
I love the fact that Whedon made FOX look rather stupid. DVD sales of his previous show surpassed the number of viewers. This in a market where selling 1M copies is considered great, and his show has as of now sold over 4M copies.
So while I’m not a big Whedon fan (I dislike and or hate most of his work) I am a fan of him making FOX look stupid. So my statements may make me look like a fan since I’m defending the numbers, but the reality is the numbers are still the best of a FOX Friday Night scripted show in ages. Yes, they’re not good, and they’re just above average for a Friday. Still that usually keeps shows around.
Lol. a Firefly revival would easily do Fox for a friday night. There’s an idea. do a Firefly revival, and pair IT as a lead in for Dollhouse. That’d be a ratings winner.
It’d be like Angel and Buffy being shown back to back.
Great Ghost Whisperer numbers! and next week’s episode looks to be a stronger one!!!
Miranda, I’d consider FIREFLY a real possibility, but I just saw 3 episodes of CASTLE, and I take back my thoughts it will be canceled. The show ain’t bad.
Castle = ABC. Firefly comeback = same chance as reruns of Jericho on the CW getting 3 million viewers.
edit: Deja vu all over again on the Castle tie in. Firefly won’t comeback unless Castle fails and frees up the lead actor
Robert, I think the reference to Castle is because the lead in that show (Nathan Fillion) was the lead in Firefly. They can’t really do a Firefly revival without the captain. Of course, chances are better than even that Adam Baldwin will still be busy with Chuck.
And, you know, when the Firefly revival is in development, they’ll still have trouble working Summer Glau in, because she’ll still be doing Terminator!
I wish.
Could it be possible that Flashpoint’s numbers are slightly down because of all of the repeats shown lately?
Isn’t it kinda late in the game for a Firefly revival? The buzz has worn off.
Rick, It’s possible (scheduling has been rather erratic), but viewers figured out GW and Numb3rs were new. We’ll see in the next couple of weeks, before it goes back off the air for basketball.
The fact that people here are discussing Firefly as if there’s any chance at all it would return to television is good evidence that people who know the numbers should probably not assume that means they know about other parts of television as well. Firefly is not going to come back to television.
The return of Firefly is not out of the question, as one of my sources has informed me and NO I won’t disclose who – I want him/her to still have a job !. Dollhouse has to stabilize or it is in trouble and TTSCC can be considered TERMINATED if it
doesn’t show a sizable turnaround in March. For Joss fans, get the word out fast -
consider yourself warned!
Dollhouse fans, I hate to say it, but your quite dilusional. The show doesn’t have a chance for a second season. I dont see how a 1.6 with limited commercials is anywhere near good.
RJ, because it will be a 1.8 on C3 or higher. First episodes final numbers were 2.2. We’re talking FRIDAY Night and FOX. We’re not talking about any other night of the week or Friday CBS.
Robert, the FIREFLY situation is actually something all original parties would jump at. Baldwin even has it in his CHUCK contract that if a FIREFLY movie or project comes up he is guaranteed release or a break from shooting on CHUCK.
Universal is starting to kick the tires on a sequel, and I’m thinking it is likely Straight to Video, but any talk about that always makes FOX think “what if,” but I put its chances at higher than 3M for a JERICHO repeat. I mean I heard the statements, but never believed that ever had a chance. The FIREFLY stuff has merit, at least in the form of a straight to video sequel to SERENITY.
Nick C, what is with you and C3 ratings? I doubt networks bother to look at those. If some networks cancel shows the night after they air, then they dont look at those, do they? I thought it takes 1-2 weeks for those to come out? If it takes that long, then networks wouldn’t look at them. Either way, a 1.8 would be pretty bad still. The show costs 1.5-2.5 million dollars an episode when FOX could produce Dont Forget the Lyrics for 100-250,000 dollars. If I was FOX there is an obvious choice, DFTL gets the spot, and Dollhouse dies. Once again, there is no way FOX will renew Dollhouse. If they had any thoughts it would do good, they would of given it a better timeslot. Every other new show on FOX (Fringe and Lie to Me) got a chance behind American Idol. Obviously FOX has faith in those two series, not Dollhouse.
Goodbye TSCC
if fox would have never interfied with the show, and manteined the original pilot and the storyline, it would have get 5-6 million in every episode. now people are waiting for improvement in the story, and it will happen, not from the second episode, but the sixth!! i hope dollhouse mantein more than 4 million until episode 6, then people will gett interestes in it
The big problem is: The much applauded and anticipated episode six that kicks off the arc for the rest of the season is up against CBS’ Basketball Madness and the finale of BSG. Probably the most important episode against probably the worst competition it can have during its run. If ep 6 tanks, that’s to be expected. If ep 7 doesn’t pick it up again thanks to DVR and iTunes and stuff, there won’t be a second season.
Fox really could have tried something bold by putting ep 6 away from that dreadful March 20 and behind Idol that week.
RJ, you are misinformed about the importance of the C3 ratings. A few years ago it was decided between the networks and advertisers that C3 would now be the standard metric used to determine ad prices. So they do indeed bother to look at them! They are only officially released 3 weeks after, but networks can get an unofficial estimated C3 figure from Nielsen much earlier than that. For a bubble show Fox will definitely look closely at the C3 numbers. I don’t think it will be enough to save DH, but Fox will certainly consider them.
Creatively, Friday Night Lights has never been better. Except for perhaps the premiere episode this season, every episode since has been a home run. Next week is Scott Porter’s final episode as home town hero Jason Street, and those who have already seen the episode on DirectTV say it is a highlight of the entire series. Over 600,000 of FNL’s most ardent fans have already seen all of these episodes on DirectTV and it is still drawing over 4 million new viewers on NBC. I hope whatever economic model NBC derived to justify renewing FNL for this year will work again. However, they will have to continue to introduce new and younger cast members if the show is renewed, since so many current cast members are set to “graduate” from Dillon High this year.
RJ, DOLLHOUSE costs just under $1.5M per episode. DONT FORGET THE LYRICS costs $350,000 per episode. DFTL averaged a 1.1 in the demos in C3. Since that is what the advertisers use to PAY you, there is a difference. DOLLHOUSE is likely averaging around a 2.0. So DOLLHOUSE makes more money in revenue from advertisers. DOLLHOUSE was sold for $600,000 per episode to Sky One. So now the show only costs $900,000 per episode. Total overseas sales equal $1M. So it really costs $500K per episode. So you’re talking $6.5M in total costs. Throw in DVD sales and the show is profitable.
That 1.8 that you scoff at will win the time period for DOLLHOUSE. Better than FLASHPOINT and better than SUPERNANNY. It will likely finish 3rd overall for the night behind GHOST WHISPERER & NUMB3RS.
So the numbers aren’t bad. If you compare them to a Monday Night or something they’re horrible. However on Friday, they’re actually decent.
They may be decent, but not renewal worthy.
RJ, so finishing in the top 3 every week isn’t worthy of renewal? So you’re saying that every show not named GHOST WHISPERER or NUMB3RS should be canceled? FLASHPOINT isn’t renewal worthy? Is that right?
Nick, I’ve read that the Dollhouse license fee originally was between $1.5 and $2 million. You said that Dollhouse now costs under $1.5M – license fee or total production costs? Or is that more or less irrelevant anyway as it’s a Fox production?
If you mean the license fee, can DVD sales, online viewing and foreign sales even be factored in as revenue for FOX Broadcasting?
And if it’s the production cost, that seems really quite cheap for a scifi drama (I’ve seen $2.7M total cost for Heroes season 1). That would be really easy to recoup as you mentioned oversea sales of $1M/ep. As Firefly sold 4M sets as you wrote earlier, 1M might well be possible for Dollhouse. I don’t know how much that would make per ep but higher 6-digits at least?
Nick C, Friday shows that should be renewed:
* Flashpoint
* Numb3rs
* Ghost Whisperer
* Supernanny
* 20/20
* Dateline
* CW Sitcoms (Since The CW has much lower expectations)
Every other show on Friday should be cancelled. I think Flashpoint should be renewed with a 1.9 very quickly. Since CTV in Canada pays for almost all of the show, it makes it a cheap option for CBS. Dollhouse wont finish in the top 3 FOR THE WEEK. It wont even finish in the top 100 FOR THE WEEK! If you mean for the day, it will finish below 5. FOX wont renew it.
LOL! Friday Night Lights beats Dollhouse!
Not really
I love the impartial review by Joss’ Biggest Far! LOL. Sorry, dude, your show sucks. No one cares about it.
RJ, so you’d renew FLASHPOINT which will have finished behind DOLLHOUSE for all 3 episodes of DOLLHOUSE on the C3 (the only list that matters to the Networks)? As well as SUPERNANNY which lose an average of .5 in the demo every week on the C3 compared to Live +SD?
That makes no sense. DOLLHOUSE will finish third this week (yes for Friday). DOLLHOUSE is just as cheap as FLASHPOINT because FOX splits costs pretty much with SKY ONE. In addition FOX gets DVD revenue from DOLLHOUSE, CBS will not get DVD revenue from FLASHPOINT. FLASHPOINT averages losing .15 in the demo in C3 numbers. So that 1.9 becomes a 1.75. DOLLHOUSE at worst will go up by .2 so that 1.8 will be enough to finish 3rd behind GHOST WHISPERER & NUMBERS and tie 20/20.
DOLLHOUSE is so cheap its already a profit for FOX and they still have 10 episodes to air. I don’t see how that wouldn’t make FOX happy. It does better than their other Friday fare, and it’s more profitable.
I really can’t see FOX being “happy” with Dollhouse. Granted, I suppose “happy” for a Friday might be relative but the results are underwhelming when game shows or reruns can pull similar numbers (and I know reruns are much cheaper).
New Amsterdam got the boot last year with much higher demo numbers, as well. I’m not sure why FOX would be any more lenient this year when they seem to have plenty of pilots in the pipeline.
I’ve heard the argument that FOX may want to rebuild Friday nights but I’m failing to see what Dollhouse has to build around *right now*.
NicK C.
You seem to forget that Sky and Fox both belong to Rupert Murdoch, in the grand scheme of things, when News Corp. reported a $6.4-billion loss for the quarter ending Dec. 31, and it’s stock is down 65%, it is not a real profit, it’s creative accounting.
Nick, you keep going on and on about how well Dollhouse does in the C3 but that has nothing to with Dollhouse’s ratings. All it shows is that people are less likely to fast forward past 60 or 90 second commercials. If Flashpoint had 60 or 90 second commercials, that it would be doing better in the C3 too.
“I’ve heard the argument that FOX may want to rebuild Friday nights but I’m failing to see what Dollhouse has to build around *right now*.”
The theory is that if you renew the show for a second season the audience start to believe that Friday isn’t just a dumping ground for shows you don’t want them to see and become more inclined to watch it. That theory however relies on the belief that people aren’t watching Dollhouse because it airs on Friday, which was much easier to buy before it started airing.
As I said before I think ultimately Dollhouse’s future is going to rest on whether Fox are serious about Friday nights or not. If they are then it’ll be back but if they’re not then Dollhouse won’t be back because frankly these numbers (Friday or not) shutdown the option of moving it to another night next season. As things stand I can’t say I’d be remotely disappointed to see Dollhouse go, the quality isn’t there right now. If the rumblings of improvements as the season develops are true then I might change my mind on that but right now I won’t be losing any sleep over the fate of Dollhouse.
Michael, sure, but the fact is FLASHPOINT doesn’t. So the C3 ratings are all that matter. If FOX goes ahead and keeps Remote Free TV and combines it with sponsorship (that is what I’m hearing may happen) then how it does on the C3 definitely matters.
The numbers aren’t great, and they’re not even good. They are however better than previous shows on Friday on FOX. Yes, better than the game shows (by about .8 in the demo a substantial lead) and better than the reruns from THIS season. Last season FOX had some big numbers with reruns one Friday. I’m sure Bill or Robert know the week I’m talking about.
If FOX is serious about building up Friday Night, they need to keep it and give it a serious try. They definitely have the ability to gamble with the success they’ve received from their other nights.
S, it isn’t creative accounting. They’re separate entities owned by the same corporation. They have independent budgets, etc. FOX the channel is running in the black on DOLLHOUSE. SKY ONE is very likely to run in the black for it as well (which is why they bought it). So how News Corp does, has no real relevance to the question of “is DOLLHOUSE profitable for FOX?”
Nick C, I believe S is completley correct. Every network seems to be running in the red today. Even when CBS is up year to year, CBS Corporation is losing money. With these economic times nothing seems to be making money anymore. FOX wont waste time or money with the terrible Dollhouse.
Nick if News corp was not so deep in the red, I would totally agree with your argument. The problem is that News Corp is so deep in the red that they need that their companies do something better than merely being in the black. They need hits, and since SKY asn’t started airing Dollhouse, they are, so far, in the red for it. They just payed for something that might not take in the UK.
Terry yes GW is a very good show very entertaining.
Live+7 numbers out for the Dollhouse premier, 30% gain up to a 2.6 in the demo. The show may have a chance at renewal yet.
Each week I see people taking joss’s biggest fan seriously.. It ought to be obvious and I’m sure it is to all but the stupidest people here that he is spoofing the steriotypical joss fan. He is another Joss Whedon hater, just like RJ and the others, but does it sarcastically. I always found it strange how hardcore the joss fans were, but from reading these threads it seems the joss haters are actually more obsessive.
My wife and I watched Ghost Whisperer every friday until the Sam story-line and Jamie Kennedy joined the cast. Jump-o shark-o. And this from a guy for whom Jennifer Love Hewitt in HD is proof enough of the superiority of capitalism. We’ve stopped watching. Or TiVo-ing.
And just after she lost all that weight and is looking incredible. Crap.