Categorized | Featured, Watching TV

Say Hello to Dollhouse!

Posted on 24 September 2009 by Robert Seidman

Dollhouse-Dushku

Update 9/26: you can check out the preliminary ratings for the season two premiere.

Obviously four and a half short months ago I didn’t think I’d be eating any crow for Say Goodbye to Dollhouse.

But it turned out to be a pretty big crow and I’ve been chewing on it for the last four months, and paying penance by posting this poster in every Friday report for the last month (and making it my Twitter background for the last month):

dollhouse-season-two-poster

But my penance is just about over, and now, finally,  Friday September 25 at 9pm is upon us and the madness begins again.

Ratings expectations

I’m sure there will be a lot of attention on Dollhouse’s ratings and its DVR numbers.   But if last year taught me anything, it’s that paying attention to Dollhouse’s ratings might not matter much in terms of whether the show is renewed or canceled.

I’ve heard all the arguments about why it won’t be renewed after the 13 episodes air, and I’ve heard the arguments about why the renewal is a certainty.  But the bottom line is this: I won’t be surprised by anything barring massively worse ratings than last year.  I don’t expect massively worse ratings than last year.

I won’t be surprised if it loses two tenths of a ratings point with adults 18-49 and is back next September anyway, and I won’t be particularly surprised if it it gains two tenths of a ratings point with adults 18-49 and isn’t back next year.

Why did FOX renew Dollhouse?

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and I don’t believe FOX renewed the show for 13 episodes simply to screw with TV by the Numbers, but that reason strikes me as just as plausible as any of the explanations for renewal that I’ve heard.  OK,  that’s a lie.

The most plausible reason I have is FOX  really likes Whedushku (Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku), and sometimes, especially perhaps on Friday nights “we like you” might be enough of a reason.  Especially when you’re not all that expensive.  Also, FOX seems intent on sending the message that it isn’t throwing in the towel on Friday nights by throwing on unscripted shows or repeats of their dramas.

FOX may yet throw in that towel, but I wouldn’t look for a towel toss anytime soon.   Barring massive ratings drops I think the one thing you can count on is seeing all 13 episodes of Dollhouse.   Whether you’ll see more either via a back nine pickup or a renewal for another season of 13 episodes next year is a story still waiting to be told.

Please note: I’m not a Dollhouse basher.  When it comes to the show itself, I’ve seen every episode that has aired and even one that didn’t air — Epitaph One — which was actually my favorite episode.  But here, we look at ratings, and the ratings for Dollhouse simply weren’t that good.

The DVR effect is real, but…

A lot of talk has been made to the DVR effect and how when you factored in all of Dollhouse’s DVR viewing the #s weren’t that bad for a Friday night.  And technically, that’s true.  But Dollhouse aired no repeats, so it does compare favorably to the season averages for say, Wife Swap and Supernanny, which did air repeats and had a lot less DVR viewing overall.  It still got dusted by Ghost Whisperer even with Ghost Whisperer repeats factored in, but I don’t think FOX was ever expecting Dollhouse to best Ghost Whisperer.

Dollhouse’s loyal DVR viewership — and I’m factoring out the DVR viewers who watched the show the same night — consistently added about a million overall viewers to the average and about .5 of an 18-49 ratings point to the Live+SD numbers we (and everyone else) regularly report.   So when you see the overnight ratings for Dollhouse, you don’t need to wait weeks for the Live+7 numbers to guess that you can just add around a million viewers and a .5 to its 18-49 rating.  So if it gets 3.8 million viewers and a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating, you can pretty much figure it will be around 4.8 million and a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating when the Live+7 numbers come out.  That might not actually wind up being the case, but it should serve as a good proxy to occupy you during the lag for the Live+7 reporting.

My best guess is that if it averages a 1.4-1.5 adults 18-49 rating in Live+SD numbers, FOX should be OK with it.  But keep in mind, last year in order to get to those averages it premiered with a 2.0 live+SD adults 18-49 rating and ended with a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating.

This year, the competition is stiffer

Dollhouse will face off ultimately against scripted dramas Medium, Southland and Ugly Betty though for the first couple of Fridays it will be repeats of new ABC shows on ABC, and Dateline episodes on NBC (edit: and Stargate Universe on Syfy).

No polls, but

I’d include a poll for you to guess the ratings for the season two premiere, but I’m wary of gaming from fans of a certain show that used to air on FOX on Fridays that is no longer airing on FOX on Fridays (or any other day).  But you can feel free to post your predictions in the comments.  No prizes, just chest-thumping rights.

My prediction is 3.3 million and a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating.

Edit: I’m taking the opportunity to take the over on Robert and will go with a 1.4 demo rating, 3.5 million viewers. – Bill

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109 Responses to “Say Hello to Dollhouse!”

  1. Roop says:

    and it begins…
    *rolls eyes*

  2. Julia says:

    You know, when the number is so small, it’s almost boring to try to guess what it’ll be. The logical choices fall within a range of 0.9-1.6. I’m going to go with 1.1.

  3. Bruce says:

    We’ve all analyzed, bickered, laughed, and/or threw up our hands about the Dollhouse renewal and its numbers. It’s been a lot of fun so far.

    For me, the bottom line is that I’m glad it’s still on the air and will enjoy it for however long it lasts.

    As for its stiffer competition (Ugly Betty, Southland, Medium), I’m not ready to count Southland among the shows that will eat into Dollhouse’s viewership. The viewers were leaving that show in droves for the last few episodes of the season and I doubt people will follow it to Fridays.

  4. Ian says:

    I didn’t watch this show last seasoned because I figured it would be cancelled ASAP. After the mysterious renewal, I watched every episode and will definitely be tuning in this season.

    I don’t think I’m special… so I predict an increase over last year.

    On a side note, the advertising campaign for its return is much bigger than I anticipated. There was a 30 second spot for it on Fringe tonight.

  5. Dan says:

    I think the show will get 3-4 million if its lucky. I know everyone is expecting a full season renewal, but theres no way thats gonna happen. With so many shows doing well for FOX, and their already packed midseason scheduled, theres no way, we’ll see Dollhouse on it.

  6. buffywrestling says:

    That was a nice read Robert; very synergy-y.

    Oh yeah, guesses: 1.8

  7. Bruce says:

    Oh, I almost forgot…

    3.5 million w/ a 1.5

  8. buffywrestling says:

    “Everyone” expects a full season renewal? Wha? There is like maybe 3 people expecting that.

  9. VA says:

    Fox still has Elisha under contract, so they need to use her. I think she signed a contract with them after Tru Calling, but I remember her talking about on a late night show a few years ago.

  10. ljo says:

    I can hardly wait for Friday’s ratings to come out on Saturday.

  11. VA says:

    “I know everyone is expecting a full season renewal, but theres no way thats gonna happen. With so many shows doing well for FOX, and their already packed midseason scheduled, theres no way, we’ll see Dollhouse on it.”

    This is on Friday night, so it isn’t like that’s their best day.

  12. greennogo says:

    I’m surprised nobody’s guessed eleventy billion in the 18-49 yet.

  13. Dan says:

    buffywrestling – well everyone that has commented on me about Dollhousethinks the series will be renewed. I think it will be axed by December, but Im still anticipating the friday ratings on saturday.

  14. Vader says:

    I’ll go with 1.3.

  15. Vader says:

    Uhh, well I didn’t realize that was Robert’s guess, so how about 1.2 then? :P

  16. Rhi says:

    I’ll be generous…4.1 million w/ a 1.4 18-49.

  17. tvmegafan says:

    Yay, I hope it premiers WELL, I like the show alot, Also cannot wait for Ghost whisperer and I know I wont have to worry about their numbers.

  18. Carol says:

    I’m predicting a substantial drop in ratings from last season for Dollhouse. Dollhouse is a SciFi show and it will be competing with Stargate Universe in the same time slot. Plus it doesn’t have Terminator as its lead-in, which helped its ratings last season. They dropped a lot after Terminator ended and Prison Break took over the lead in. Instead they now have as lead-ins 2 comedies – one of which is new and neither are SciFi genre (I don’t see the same audience being interested in the comedies as Dollhouse).

  19. Doug (2) says:

    How much further can it really drop, Carol? At the end of last season, it was around 3 million viewers. I doubt it will fall much lower than that.

  20. Vader, since there are no prizes other than chest thumping, it’s ok to share! :-D

  21. Lisa says:

    Only some posts by JBF will make this situation tolerable.

    I’ll guess 3 mill/1.1, but hope for worse, and also hope that the show is far less sexist than it was last season.

  22. Dan says:

    Well Dollhouse will have a Brothers lead in so maybe that could help, but once Til Death returns, Dollhouse will get really hur by its lead in.

  23. CK says:

    It’s Friday night. The target audience is out for the evening. Anyone who has all ready sampled the show (like yours truly) and was not interested is not likely to watch again. There has got to be something uber-compelling to get them to stay home. The producers and writers have had a few months to regroup and maybe they’ll figure something out.

  24. Terry says:

    I hope it does well…I enjoyed last season :) I know it wont get 10 million viewers, but i hope its enough to give it a full season!!!

  25. karaito says:

    Let see two of my favorite shows on at the same time Medium and Dollhouse . Is this a problem? No Multiple Dual Tuner HD DVR’s to the rescue. It’s the only way to watch :^)

  26. mayorofsmpleton says:

    I’m gonna guess 3.8m, 1.8 18-49

  27. Tony says:

    4.2 million and 1.6

  28. Jason says:

    Hmm…I’ll predict 3.1 mil and a 1.4 demo. But really, the fun with everything that revolves around “Dollhouse” is that it’s all so unpredictable.

  29. Riff Rafferty says:

    Refresh my memory – what rating qualifies as hashmarks with Nielsen?

  30. Nightstar says:

    “How much further can it really drop, Carol? At the end of last season, it was around 3 million viewers….”

    Well, it can drop all the way to zero, actually, at which point we can listen to the crickets singing. ;-)

    That being said, I’ll go with 3.4m, 1.4 18-49.

  31. grr_argh says:

    I predict 4.5 million with a 2.0 rating.

    comments will be crazy big come saturday morning. is there any way that the site could implement new commenting features? such as replying to certain comments so it appears below the comment you’re originally replying to? just an idea. :)

  32. Nightstar says:

    @Riff, would that be the 0.0/0 demos (i.e. below measurable)? Like what the unfortunate “Kings” got on July 4th (Saturday) among teens (12 – 17 crowd)? :-)

    And I’m guessing this question was rhetorical? ;-)

  33. Fin says:

    I think Dollhouse is in a odd position because the final episodes of season one were really really good, so I would expect higher than say a 1.1 (possibly a 1.2) but part of wonders whether talk about the show and maybe more people watching it on hulu over the summer may help it (but part of this may be in the fact that I want it to surivive) so my guess is. 4.6 million 1.5 18-49

  34. Buddy says:

    I secretly hope it will experience some miraculous turnaround and increase by several million viewers (or at least shoot up in the demos). My reason for feeling that this is not entirely impossible: “Epitaph One” made Whedon once again “Whedon” and seems to have won over lots of sci-fi fans and former Whedonites. I do think a lot of people caught on to the show via the internet or DVD this Summer. No one saw the True Blood ratings spike coming. Maybe it will happen here too.

  35. Anil says:

    Dollhouse is very very special.
    I’m just happy that it will have 26 total episodes regardless of what happens this season.
    With all this hype about about its ratings and dvd…I think it might gain some more viewers. If it at least gets 3 million it might be renewed…lets see what happens. Tonites gonna rock so good!!!

  36. AO says:

    Overall, a great article Robert!

    Is there any chance of posting this on every Dollhouse thread for the next couple of months? I think that your rational analysis might help to enlighten those who can’t understand why it was renewed.

    Ratings might take a downturn, Fox may change their level of commitment to the show, it could be canceled come December.

    But for now I’m hopeful. As you say, anything may happen and we don’t even know what Fox’s expectations are for the Dollhouse experiment. I continue to be heartened by Reilly’s quote that last Season’s numbers would be fine with him.

    And guest appearances by actors such as Jamie Bamber, Summer Glau, Ray Wise, Felicia Day, Alexis Denisof, Michael Hogan and Keith Carradine might convince some new people to give it a chance.

    Btw, for any Dollhouse fans, Fox now has a new website and twitter up for the fictional Senator Daniel Perrin from the show:

    http://www.senatordanielperrin.org/

    http://twitter.com/SENDanielPerrin

  37. Mumbo says:

    And come November, say goodbye to Dollhouse!

    1.4, 3.5 million, and an erosion every week after that.

  38. The1337 says:

    Would anyone have preferred Amy Acker (not necessarily Wiskey) as the main character instead of Eliza Dushku?

  39. Bryan says:

    I’m going to go with 2.8 million and a 1.1 to 1.3

  40. Igor says:

    I will go 2.1 million and 0.9 ratings

  41. Anna says:

    I am going to be VERY generous and guess 5.1 million and a 2.2 Then in the next few weeks it starts sinking faster than the Titanic.

  42. Alex says:

    Its really quite difficult to know what to make of Dollhouse and what Fox are expecting of it, I mean will they really be happy if it sticks at the level it was last year or did they renew it with the expectation of growth for a second season? The whole thing is a minefield of possibilities. Personally I’m not expecting much in the way of immediate growth and I’m not especially confident that it’ll actually grow but we’ll see. Having said that I’ll be optimistic and predict that the first episode back is right in line with last years average a 1.5.

    On the subject of the shows renewal I suspect whether Dollhouse gets a back 9 or another order of 13 episodes will be based more on how everything else on Fox performs this season. If for example Lie To Me takes off out of House (which it should) then Fox are going to have some problems on their hands because with 24 back in Lie To Me’s spot from mid season where do you put the back 9 for Lie To Me? Friday seems to be the only day where Fox would theoretically have space (unless something else tanks, which seems unlikely) which would mean one of Dollhouse or the 8PM comedy block would have to go off the air and I guess that decision would be made on which is cheaper since I’m not expecting major things from any of the Fox Friday shows.

    And whilst I might be alone on this I think the shows third season might depend on how well Human Target does mid season. You can read that one of two ways, firstly Fox gets the sci-fi/action block they wanted with Terminator/Dollhouse with Human Target/Dollhouse next year or Human Target replaces Dollhouse.

    But as always Dollhouse is an interesting show to keep an eye on…

  43. ABCFanatic2009 says:

    Its like totally going to be cancelled

    Especially with the 9pm competition between Southland, Ugly Betty and Medium.

    Dollhouse will end soon.

  44. Rick L says:

    C’mon folks, it’s a season premiere, it should get good viewer numbers but the rating/share won’t be high. I’ll predict 1.5 rating and 4.5 mil viewers and I also believe that will drop for Ep2 and probably hover around Ep2 numbers for its run.

  45. Ali says:

    My guess if on 2.0 Rating with 5.1 Million viewers. Mark my words.

  46. aboleyn24 says:

    4.1 and a 1.5

  47. rob says:

    I think the repeat of ABC comedies will beat Dollhouse tonight.

  48. Mark says:

    Amy Acker would be better as the main character. Dushku is so disappointing..I wish anyone would be the main character instead of her. Sorry, Eliza..I just don`t like your acting.

  49. C says:

    I think the ratings will be massively worse. I really enjoyed Terminator and only watched it cause it was after that. Without Terminator, I’m not going to bother.

  50. SleeperActiveCompass says:

    The heated discussions about this one little show makes me love this site even more.

  51. Cody says:

    I’m really hoping it flops because i am one of those angry TSCC Fans who thinks it should have been renewed over Dollhouse. :)

  52. Matthew says:

    For those TSCC fans who are saying they hate how this show is still on but TSCC isn’t, don’t blame Dollhouse, Dollhouse had nothing to do with it being cancelled, and I love TSCC too, but I honestly think Dollhouse is a better show.

    I can’t wait for the premiere, I know the show is going to get a lot better so I hope the ratings stay consistent, and also for the bitter bitter TSCC people, Summer Glau will be appearing in Season 2 ;)

    I predict about 3.5 – 4.00 for the premiere.

  53. Cody says:

    I disagree with you that Dollhouse is a better show but i’m not bitter. From a business perspective i understand. I JUST NEED CLOSURE

  54. Kermonk says:

    The only thing which would surprise me is if it suddenly gains a huuuuge following and stellar ratings.

  55. Jorge says:

    Dollhouse will not end so soon! Erase that ideia from your heads! Joss has enough space to turn Dollhouse awesome! And today, the seson 2 premiere will be fantastic!

    6.0 millions of viewes on 18-49 demografic.
    4.5/8 (rating/share)

  56. Donnie says:

    Great article. After all the Dollhouse bashing and all the Dollhouse defending from fans like me, it’s really nice to read an honest article that is in no way pro or contra the show. Ratingswise I don’t expect anything this season and that’s probably why I am really calm when it comes to the show’s fate this season. I just don’t worry about it being cancelled anymore. It had the worst ratings possible last season and still got renewed. And if FOX still cancels it this season, we at least had 13 more episodes and we can say FOX gave the show a real chance (I wish they had shown so much support for Wonderfalls and Firefly).

  57. Dee says:

    Smallville is also on tonight on the CW :D

    Tonights must see tv line-up:

    Smallville- 8pm
    Dollhouse- 9pm

  58. Survivor says:

    I think the premiere will be a red herring as to the shows survival chances with next Friday dipping to series lows…

    I’m going to go with 3.1 Million 1.2, with that being 20% higher than any of the FINAL 12 episodes.

  59. BIG DADDY says:

    I don’t consider this competition esp for people 18-34

    9pm competition between Southland, Ugly Betty and Medium

    Being a guy in his young 30’s you couldn’t pay me to watch those.

  60. Sean G says:

    4.5 million and A18-49 1.6. will be interesting to see what Medium does on CBS tonight though…

  61. ryan says:

    I Really like this show, and i hope it preforms well, i have hopes and a guess, and my guess is 4.2 million with 1.7 Rating, and my hope is 5.3 million and 2.3 rating but we can call all dream.

  62. Well, I’m looking forward to it, but I haven’t seen much promotion of the show (I think there was one very brief commercial during House and that’s all I’ve seen on TV: off TV, again, not a great deal, a few Whedon interviews and some excitement from the stars on Twitter, but beyond that, not a great deal.)

    So I’m not going to hold out hope. A 1.2 sounds about right. If it hits the 1.4/1.5 levels some are predicting, well, then I think the show will be renewed for a seventh season.

  63. Boris says:

    rob says:

    “I think the repeat of ABC comedies will beat Dollhouse tonight.”

    I’ll see your ABC comedies and raise you a WWE Smackdown.

  64. Dan says:

    My guess viewers in millions for 9

    Medium 9-11
    Southland 6-8
    Ugly Betty 4-6
    Dollhouse 2-3

  65. ryan says:

    dan, didnt southlands season finale pull like 2.8, i really doubt it will do anymore then 3 million

  66. ryan says:

    and medium will never pull in 9 milion

  67. Cimmer says:

    I think 1.6. I think a lot of people will tune in to see what the buzz is about because of the ‘mysterious’ renewal but unless the stories are a lot more accessible they’ll leave again. I agree it will suffer from no Terminator. As for SGU being competition? Only for the first couple of weeks if at all – different audience.

  68. Coleberg says:

    I’m British and therefore am unsure what the #.# Adults 18-49 means. Is that in millions, as part of the total number of viewers (eg. 3.3 million and a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating: 3.3 million total, 1.3 million of those being adults between 18 and 49) ? Over here we do have ratings but they’re presented differently, not usually with breakdowns of demographic, plus there’s other things like Appreciation Index, portion of total multi-channel audience, etc. Or am I overcomplicating things.

    My guess is larger than the season one second half viewing audience including DVR, so seeing that the last few eps circled round 3 million, I’d guess at 3.5 – 4 million, possibly up to 5 million if the marketing’s right. Expect to lose .5-1 mil by the following week. As for the rest of the series, well that’ll all depend on the writing and marketing.

    Spread the word! Tell your friends! Get a pic! Do a blog! Let’s keep this show going, you know Joss and Co won’t disappoint.

  69. Dwayne says:

    I think the ratings will be massively worse. I really enjoyed Terminator and only watched it cause it was after that. Without Terminator, I’m not going to bother.

    ditto

  70. buffywrestling says:

    Sqiggleslash: Seventh season? I like your optimism :)

  71. Ndolger says:

    Clearly, the most exciting thing about the DOLLHOUSE premiere are the upcoming posts from “Joss’s Biggest Fan”.

    I can’t wait.

  72. Bill Gorman says:

    @Ndolger, “Clearly, the most exciting thing about the DOLLHOUSE premiere are the upcoming posts from “Joss’s Biggest Fan”.

    I’m with you eleventy billion percent!

  73. buffy – it’s not optimism :) I just think it’s not likely to get the 1.4 or 1.5 others are predicting, but think it’d be a very good sign if it does. (Dollhouse was barely scraping a 1.0 at the end of the season despite the show having turned itself around and gone from “Warehouse 13 bad” to “Those three or four episodes of T:SCC that were actually good” awesome.)

    I’m sure it’ll get a little bump thanks to the renewal buzz, but a 40%+ increase in audience for a show with virtually no publicity that’s following some crummy, unwatchable, comedies? I think some people here are being wildly optimistic. If it gets that audience share, then the show is an outrageous success.

    I very much hope to post on Saturday that I was unbelievably wrong, especially if this season matches the last episodes of season one in quality and impact.

  74. Hunter13 says:

    4.8 million viewers and 2.2 in the 18-49 demo

  75. DW says:

    I predict 3-3.5 million viewers tonight, and under 3 million once heavy competition returns. Maybe Whedon should program one of the male Actives to be a brooding vampire for the rest of the season. That couldn’t hurt!

  76. Dan says:

    Ryan – You may be right about Southland, but with a Ghost Whisperer lead in, Medium should pull in at least 9 million. Whatever Ghost and Numb3rs pulls, Medium should pull the same. I think Ugly Betty will do worse than Southland. Southland only did crappy because its lead in wasn’t good. I think with a Law & Order lead in Southland should do better. I just think Southland will do better than Ugly Betty. The only thing I know for sure about 9pm is that Medium will get first all the time and Dollhouse will come in fourth.

    Betty and Southland dont even debut until October 16 and 23 so that gives Dollhouse some kind of advantage I guess.

  77. Dan says:

    DW – I agree 3-3.5 million sounds reasonable. Maybe Brothers will serve as a better lead in than Terminator but maybe not.

  78. Bruce says:

    Dan:
    Starting next week, FOX’s festering zombie of a sitcom “Til Death” will be Dollhouse’s lead in.

  79. Dan says:

    Bruce – Ive known for a while, thats exactly why their giving Brothers a 1 hour premiere instead of premiering Brothers then Til Death. Its hard to tell what will be a worse lead in, Terminator or Til Death.

  80. Bill Gorman says:

    Dan, it’s hard to know what would be a worse lead in, dead air or ‘Til Death.

  81. Holly says:

    @Ndolger, “Clearly, the most exciting thing about the DOLLHOUSE premiere are the upcoming posts from “Joss’s Biggest Fan”.

    I’m with you eleventy billion percent!

    Me too!

  82. Joe R says:

    SAY GOODBYE TO DOLLHOUSE

  83. Charles says:

    3.7 million 1.5 demo

  84. batman says:

    wouldn’t smallville and stargate destroy doll houses ratings ? considering how the people the watch the three shows are the same o.0.

  85. batman says:

    nevermind smallville isnt competing with it o.0.

  86. goodridd says:

    I think some of the people who abandoned it last year will tune in for at least a peek. And I think it will pick up some new viewers due to better buzz and the strong list of guest stars.

    I’ll say 4.3 million, and a 1.9 demo for the premier.

  87. huddy80 says:

    Only 4 hours and 10 minutes until Dollhouse premieres here in Ohio! I have been waiting too long for this. I just feel bad that it has a lead-in of new “comedy” Brothers (is it me or is that kind of a racist title?).

    And then next week, I pray its new lead-in Til Death won’t kill Dollhouse’s ratings. I think though Dollhouse has a following of its own and most people who watch Dollhouse probably aren’t watching Brothers and Til Death. LOL

    It’s going to be an interesting Friday Night Battle with Medium premiering at the same time on CBS. Thank god for DVR :)

  88. Dan says:

    Bill – Til Death would be worse…., of course FOX has enough episodes to air until 2011. I really think Brothers will get a full year though while Dollhouse will be gone by December.

    Goodridd – I think 4.3 million would be wishful thinking. Thats what I guessed for the series premiere. But as much as we were to hope for it, Unless House or Bones was the series lead in, Dollhouse will likely get around 3.5. Even a House or Bones repeat would help the series.

  89. huddy80 says:

    “I really think Brothers will get a full year though while Dollhouse will be gone by December.”

    Dan, I really hope this isn’t true, but we are talking about Fox here. This is, after all, the network that cancelled multiple Emmy-award winning Arrested Development.

  90. AO says:

    @ huddy80,

    Fox has made a multitude of mistakes going back over 15 years imo, but they did renew Dollhouse and so there is hope for them yet. :)

  91. Nehalem says:

    I guess 6 million viewers and a 2.1 demo.

  92. goodridd says:

    Dan – Yeah, as a fan of the show, I had to go with my most optimistic guess. I’m afraid it may be much lower.

  93. AO says:

    Brothers and ‘Til Death probably won’t be much help as far as lead-ins go, but last year Dollhouse had to build on T:SCC’s ratings too. So even though this pairing doesn’t appear to have as much synergy as last year’s, then I can’t see it particularly hurting Dollhouse. DH will succeed or fail on it’s own merits.

  94. SleeperActiveCompass says:

    I can’t wait for Dollhouse tonight, and I can’t wait to see how The Battle of the Misfit Shows turns out!

  95. Budo says:

    Making predictions is silly at this point – I’m gonna wait and see the first episode. It’s not going to light up the ratings charts because that’s pretty much impossible in all alternative universes right now, but I still have this smidgeon of hope that all this useless chatter the surprise renewal generated might bring in people to see what the fuss was about. After the first episode’s ratings everything will be much clearer. As for renewal – I’m just hoping we get to see all they make, the way Whedon wanted it to be. Doesn’t really matter if there’s a third season or not as long as the storytelling is good, and I trust that Dollhouse will deliver.

  96. Dan says:

    huddy80 – Arrested got 3 chances, and as much as I love the show, ratings were too low and it was too expensive. I wish Mitch Hurwitz would have let Showtime continue it. Brothers should be a lot cheaper and unless FOX wants a repeat of last years Do Not Disturb disaster, they may keep Brothers on full time.

    AO – Dollhouse will have 3 series of competition and no lead in. Thats hard for a struggling series. Despite Dollhouse building on Terminator, it may or may not build on Brothers and Til Death. It seems like FOX grouped together its 2 lowest rated renewed series (Til Death & Dollhouse) paired 1 of them with a new show (Brothers) and created a new friday night.

  97. Adam says:

    Personally I think it’ll get 3.0-3.5, 1.2-1.7, personally I think Dollhouse will get at the very least the back nine especially if what kevin rReilly d=said holds true

  98. daniel L says:

    FRAK ME!
    i just completely forgot is was on right now
    oh well just watch it tomorrow on hulu
    (sad charlie brown piano music playing)

  99. Jon K says:

    Welcome back Dollhouse! How I missed thee :)

  100. Lanie Grace says:

    Tongiht’s episode was terrific!

    I think it should be apparent why Fox chose to renew it over The Robot Show.

    ~Lanie~

  101. grr_argh says:

    @Adam.

    You better not be a nielsen’s family!

  102. Dan says:

    Well find out soon enough, how Dollhouse did. I’m very anxious for the results.

  103. Mary says:

    I’m hoping this show does well. Whedon said he finally gets to take the story line where he wanted to go with it in the second season, and Joss fans know how great his stories are. I loved the first season finale and was already excited to see this upcoming season, but even more so now that I know Joss is more excited about the story. Can’t wait to see how this plays out. Welcome back, Dollhouse!

  104. While I’m very interested in the show’s ratings, I am not really very anxious. I really liked the season premiere and thought it was better than most of last year’s episodes.

    That doesn’t translate to better ratings, but it does translate to me just enjoying the show for as long as it airs, whether that’s just the current season or eleventy billion more!

  105. Victor says:

    ALL THE BEST DOLLHOUSE!

  106. Samuel says:

    9.5 million, 3.1 demos

  107. Kevin says:

    Dollhouse – lowest ratings ever – 2.57 million/1.0 demo

  108. Kevin, it’s 2.563 million, but yeah.


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