Michael Ausiello posted the following on Twitter:
Exclusive: Hearing FOX will bench DOLLHOUSE for November sweeps and air back-to-back eps on Friday night in December.
Either way, I suppose the 13 episodes will wind up finishing at the same time either way. But if that’s the way FOX goes, I don’t see why they couldn’t just have made that decision a week ago when they announced the November sweeps schedules.
We’ll see.
–
Update: it’s true with FOX confirming (via The Futon Critic) the following schedule:
Friday, October 23
8:00/7:00c – “Brothers”
8:30/7:30c – “‘Til Death”
9:00/8:00c – “Dollhouse”Friday, October 30
8:00/7:00c – “House: Broken” (Two-Hour Repeat)Fridays (as of November 6)
8:00/7:00c – “House” (Repeat)
9:00/8:00c – “Bones” (Repeat)Sundays (as of November 8 )
7:00/6:00c – “Brothers”
7:30/6:30c – (Various Programming)*Fridays (December 4-18)
8:00/7:00c – “Dollhouse”
9:00/8:00c – “Dollhouse”
No current return date for ‘Til Death.
Wouldn’t surprise me. But its odd since a week ago they decide to put in sweeps……..maybe they’ll air back to back Brothers and Til Death during November to finish them off faster?
At least episodes will be aired. I’m not surprised they will burn it with back to back episodes like what they did with Arrested Development.
“I don’t see why they couldn’t just have made that decision a week ago when they announced the November sweeps schedules.”
That’s my confusion on this. As is the fact that I kind of suspect the “back-to-back” thing is Ausiello being confused about back-to-back reruns being scheduled for Christmas Day, December 25, which was announced a week or so ago.
If this is legit, it would be interesting to know (but likely impossible) what changed their mind. The Nov. schedule with Dollhouse on it was released 6 days ago, and Dollhouse hasn’t aired since then.
Wild guesses:
- Fox decided over the weekend that after never winning a November sweeps period that they finally have a shot at it and are jettisoning all the flotsam.
- Something Fox has in development had an unanticipated schedule acceleration
- Are You Smarter Than A Fourth Grader deal just signed
Well, they are rumours that they were supposed to air back to back Dollhouse on Christmas [Robert's Christmas pressie??] & they did say that it might not be shown during sweeps…but that was before the press releases like you say. I don’t think anyone would have been disappointed if they said at the time they were shelving them for sweeps & doubling up in Dec., so why didn’t they just do that instead of getting my hopes up of seeing the episodes one right after the other? I’m especially pissed that if this turns out true, they will be breaking up the Summer Glau 2-parter.
I really have just two questions:
1. When is the next fresh episode?
2. Should I post my eulogy for dollhouse now, or should I wait for December?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Nay! Negatory! Never! I refuse to believe this! Lalalalalalalalala I can’t hear you!
This just CAN’T be true! I’ve just arranged for a handy-dandy plane to cross the country with a skywriting message to get everyone and their brother to watch Dollhouse this November! (I believe I got the idea from this website, in fact! Thank you, TVBytheNumbers, for telling me about the awesome power of skywriting!) Now what ever will I do? WHATEVER WILL I DO?!
I just refuse to believe this is happening! If it did come true — and that’s a BIG if! — I’d be forced to cry and moan and rend my garments! And I didn’t want it to come to that! I’m such a happy, happy, happy person (particularly when I’m on my meds) and that could change if this is true! Which it’s not!
On the bright side, my gut says that ratings would rise, rise, rise if new episodes aired in December! Good things come to those who wait! Absence makes the heart grow fonder! If Joss builds it I will come!
Watch Dollhouse this week or else!!!!!
I’m hearing it now, too. Separate source.
Susan, this Friday is the next scheduled episode.
JBF, no rending!
Someone doesn’t know the difference between flotsam and jetsam
If I had to guess I’d say it’s an embarrassment of riches. 6 days ago we were less than a month into the season but we just passed that marker and everyone’s taking stock (including TVByTheNumbers: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/21/cbs-fox-by-far-most-improved/31117)
Fox is within striking distance of CBS in the 18-49 demo and I think winning a non-American Idol sweeps would be a huge windfall for them (even if it’s only for bragging rights). But to accomplish that they’ll have to marshal every resource they have and that means benching anything that doesn’t perform well.
Dollhouse apparently also gets a new lead-in for January, as it seems Brothers and Til Death are going somewhere else.
Speaking of leads, I feel sorry for Dollhouse. Til Death looks so unbelievable bad, I cringe whenever I see its promos, and DH has it for a lead. In fact it has two sitcoms for a lead… blech. I do wonder if Til Death is just meant to be so horrific that it is actually funny. An example of that would be the summer TV disaster miniseries, that always star Luke Perry.
To be fair, Dollhouse isn’t great, but I’d actually watch it over virtually every sitcom on the air. The Office could be an exception, but I’d have to tune in once to be sure.
Here’s my projected schedule for the remaining episodes that would tie in well with Fox’s known January plans already:
10/23: Ep. 4
10/30: Ep. 5
12/4: Eps. 6, 7
12/11: Eps. 8, 9
1/8: Eps. 10, 11
1/15: Eps. 12, 13
And then Past Life will start airing in Dollhouse’s spot on January 22nd.
Are you sure about your source “The One True b!X” ?
(Especially what you’re writing at Whedonesque)
Isn’t this a done deal? I thought it said its pulled during sweeps and airing back to back on Fridays when it returns in December.
@Cheif
They’re having a new lead in during January for Dollhouse, so more like…
1/8: Eps. 10
1/15: Eps. 11
1/22: Eps. 12
1/29: Eps. 13
@ Tory,
The last official word from Fox was that the show is airing during November Sweeps. It seems very possible that they have now changed their minds, but all 3 Friday shows were on their November Sweeps Calendar.
What new lead-in Charles? Are they going to pair the last few episodes with Past Life on Fridays?
wow. this ruined my day. couldn’t they have at least waited until friday’s episode ratings to see if it was trending up?
Futon Critic is saying that they’ve confirmed that House/Bones repeats will air on Fridays this November. No Brothers/’Til Death/Dollhouse.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=8350
Futon Critic confirms this news.
So Brothers will be moved on Sundays and Til Death is once again yanked off the schedule!
Put a fork in Dollhouse.
Maurissa Tancharoen, a writer on Dollhouse, just twitted a link to the futon critic news. so it seems like this is all true. bummer
No, I didn’t mean a done deal as in word from Fox, I remember what they said. I thought in Ausiello’s report that he said it was benched and airing back to back in December. Ausiello didn’t seem to be saying, this was a rumor, but basically confirmed and a done deal. This release has a question mark in the title making it seem like its only a possibility not close to a definite.
Forget it. I see what the difference was now. I read Ausiello’s site, not his Twitter account. On his site, he said “sources exclusively confirm” that the show would be benched for November sweeps. But on his Twitter site, he posted “hearing word that…” His site gave the more certain answer, his Twitter made it sound more like a possibility and less of a certainty.
That’s all. And look at me all curious! I so don’t watch Dollhouse. Tried it last season, but couldn’t get into it.
I’ve done it: my clothes are now rended! I ripped apart the clothes I was wearing! Then, in my grief, I went through my closet and rended the rest of my clothes! Everything! Now I’m either stuck looking like a hobo with ripped clothing, or I go without clothes! FOX has made me into a nudist!
Dollhouse! Dollhouse! Dollhouse! Dollhouse rules! FOX drools! Dollhouse!
uh oh. it’s starting. watching Joss’s Biggest Fan’s slow descent into madness won’t be pretty.
well at least 2 seasons of dollhouse don’t take up too much space on the dvd shelf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_GU1QTqe4
^i understand how she feels now! lol xD
‘Til Death, more episodes keep being produced, but never aired!
Bring back Terminator!
Once Dollhouse and Brothers air out all episodes there should be four back to back episodes for Til Death haha.
Seriously, poor show
forg, there are more episodes of Til Death than that, all the unaired episodes from last season (10?), but based on what others have written, enough characters are gone from the show that airing them at this point on Fox wouldn’t make any sense. They will emerge for syndication.
Today my Dodgers got eliminated in the playoffs.
Today Dollhouse’s chances of a back 9 or Season 3 went from, I dunno, maybe 15% to less than 5% (okay less than 3% but I’m not giving up hope yet)?
Thursday my Angels will probably get eliminated in the playoffs.
And Thursday it’s my Birthday!
i like dollhouse and stuff
but why hasn’t fox realized that when you start a Whedon show no matter what you do, you’ll be hated, even though they brought it back for a second season, fox is getting more grief from all them Joss hungry whedon-nites
there still getting grief from firefly which has been off since 2002, there was even a movie made and fox was still hated (but did fox have anything to do with the movie cause it was made by universal right?)
How cool of a plot twist would it be if Joss’ Biggest Fan was Joss himself? I’ve speculated on this theory before, but I think it bears repeating.
Regardless of whether we’re talking about Dollhouse or not why in God’s name do networks put sci-fi shows, aimed at a young crowd, on Fridays? WHYYYYY?! Sci-Fi is only watched by a pretty select group of people. Shows like Dollhouse and Buffy and (insert Whedon-esque soap-opera style quirky action-drama here) are only watched by young people. Friday is a day on which people go the hell out and do stuff.
So, why would a network, with any God damn sense, put a sci-fi young-person’s show on at 9 on a friggin’ Friday?! And right from the start, too – not moved there after failing on another day (like TSCC).
Fox has definitely given Dollhouse a chance (though a back-handed chance with the crappy time slot, next to no advertising, crappy lead ins, etc) but Dollhouse was doomed from the get go no matter how you slice it (at least TSCC started with a good time slot and was fully marketed… it just sucked really, really hard). The fact that it’s definitely not Whedon’s best work doesn’t help either (I do like the show and have seen every episode).
I guess Fox just only now looked at the ratings.
They obviously weren’t looking at them when they announced the show would stay on for sweeps, or when they renewed it last May for that matter
Bill, I think Forg meant that the rest of this season Fridays should be back-to-back-to-back-to-back episodes of Til Death.
Bill, Julia got it right
Based on the Futon Critic post this should be the schedule for Dollhouse:
2*04 – 23/10/09
2*05/06 – 04/12/09
2*07/08 – 11/12/09
2*09/10 – 18/12/09
2*11 – 08/01/10
2*12 – 15/01/10
2*13 – 22/01/10
It looks like the rumor that American Dad is being moved to 7:30 was not true, unless that was supposed to happen later in the season.
Can someone answer me a question please. Currently Dollhouse costs less than $1million an episode, and averages around 2.5 million viewers an episode. Warehouse 13 costs $2million, so would it not be an option to shop Dollhouse to Syfy?
It’s no surprise really. I think Joss is brilliant, but man he blew it w/this seasons premiere. It wasn’t just bad it was terrible! He went from the great season finale that was bringing Alan Tudyk from “Serenity” fame as the bad guy to the crap that has been this season so far. I am thrilled to see he has brought Alexis Denisof from “Angel” fame, but I’m afraid it’s too little too late. Now if only it was done last year maybe. It’s a shame & I really like Eliza Dushku, but just like so many other stars that have had failed or moderately successful shows (such as Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey & others I can’t think of) maybe this will be a good thing. She should be a movie star already & maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. Plus I have a feeling this could get Joss doing other things such his take on “Wonder Woman” He’s got Charisma Carpenter or Eliza to be that gal! So oh well for “Dollhouse.” I’m sure we’ll get another good show/movies from Joss soon.
Best thing for Whedon is to move as far away from FOX/TCFOX as he can.
Kill the show already, it’s so boring. Whedon’s worst show.
Back to back … hmmm let’s see if Dollhouse fairs any better @ 8pm
@Gavin
DH is getting about 2 million viewers on a major network and is losing to all competition including repeats and cable shows, on a cable network it would probably be lucky to get 1 million. Warehouse 13 is produced by SyFy, is extremely popular, is well written and well acted and they get all the DVD revenues too. Not a good comparison.
JBF
This means the UK schedule will start running ahead of the US schedule – that can only hurt the US ratings more (work it out).
They’re replacing it with repeats of House? This is worrying: it means Fox’s schedulers are finally taking TVBTN’s advice!
Adios Dollhouse – it hasn’t been fun.
Dreamscribe says:
“How cool of a plot twist would it be if Joss’ Biggest Fan was Joss himself? I’ve speculated on this theory before, but I think it bears repeating.”
Wouldn’t it be even more cool if it were the other way around?
“Wouldn’t it be even more cool if it were the other way around?”
Then it wouldn’t be a plot twist. We all know that Joss his is biggest fan.
S. says:
“Then it wouldn’t be a plot twist. We all know that Joss his is biggest fan.”
Cue the shade of Angelo Muscat.
Guys,
I’m a big JW fan, but this dog just won’t hunt anymore. I would rather watch reruns of “Dead Like Me” than any more tedious episodes of Dollhouse. The budget cuts have also taken their toll. The show now has the appearance of a daytime soap and the disappearance of Amy Acker, one of the show’s better actors, is a big loss. I hope Fox lets this one die with dignity rather than dragging out the remaining episodes through next Spring.
So is Brothers moving to 7:00 hour. Its repeats get better rating by far.
Dullhouse should be allowed to expire. Keeping it on life support is pointless.
I still trying to understand why people think SyFy will just come along and pick up shows that are clearly failures on other networks? The only show I could have ever seen Syfy picking up would have been Firefly if that was a possibility back then. DH will not end up on SyFy, they have a better track record developing their own scifi shows than Fox ever has.
Actually, Joss should have just pitched the show to SyFy in the first place LOL. What was he thinking getting together with Fox again, its not like they did well together the first time….
Worst new fembot show – when will Joss get back to writing women characters w/character, this show is one looooooonnnnng excuse for half-dressed stupidity – and to think they cancelled Sarah Connor (totally rocking woman) for this trash.
This is the only thing Joss Whedon’s ever done that’s been good (and when it’s been good it’s been superb) and it’s a complete flop. The various vampire shows were not only twee and rooted in some kind of emotional/hormonal driven drama system that should never have been attempted, but have managed to spawn countless superstition dramas from direct spin-offs like Angel to poor imitations like Charmed that have managed to be even worse.
Firefly was “OK”. It certainly wasn’t better than, say, the first season of Dark Angel (and I’m inclined to think the second season of Dark Angel was awful precisely because James Cameron was idiot enough to think the key to a successful show was to follow in Whedon’s shoes and throw integrity out the window in favor of hormonal dramas about monsters), and Firefly certainly was never the “best science fiction show ever” thing the Browncoats have claimed for the last eight years by a long shot.
I sat through the first three years (actually, it was technically probably five minutes, I turned off midway through the song in the laundrette) of Dr Horrible, watching a spectacularly unfunny “Evil genius doing a video blog” thing that then broke into a confused, misplaced, musical number that wasn’t any good either.
Finally, we get to Dollhouse. Five episodes of alternately mediocre and merely “OK” episodes, followed by seven good or superb episodes, followed by an overrated “show finale” – a clip show that wasn’t a clip show – followed by a decent episode, a terrible episode, and a superb episode that apparently Whedonites hated.
And what makes Dollhouse good? The very thing that turns critics (I’ve given up arguing with you guys) into moronic baying loons: the fact it asks serious questions about ordinary, recognizable, sympathetic, people’s ability to become willing cogs of an evil system.
I don’t doubt Whedonites will split between those who blame Fox for Dollhouse’s demise, and those who blame Whedon for not making a sufficiently whedonesque television show. Indeed, we’re seeing that now, and it hasn’t even been canceled yet!
I’m not a Whedonite. I’m thankful Whedon made Dollhouse, I’m glad to see evidence that he does have the talent his supporters claim he has. And while I’m getting increasingly queasy about Fox anyway, whose owner is apparently trying to ferment a civil war in this country, I don’t see myself stopping watching Fox because of any mistakes they made with Dollhouse. But I don’t see myself following Whedon after this. If the consensus is “This isn’t Whedon’s best work” amongst those who know Whedon, then it seems doubtful he’s ever going to make anything like this again.
That’s a shame. I look forward to seeing the remainder of the show. I’m no longer interested in its ratings.
If Fox keeps its word and advertises the show for the next couple of weeks, with Terminater’s Summer Glau joining the crew. The show can’t complain about lead in now.
“So, why would a network, with any God damn sense, put a sci-fi young-person’s show on at 9 on a friggin’ Friday?! And right from the start, too – not moved there after failing on another day (like TSCC).”
Word is Fox didn’t like what they saw with the pilot and had second thoughts about its marketability as a series so they put it on Fridays where it could play out for awhile and not get yanked. And maybe I’m in the minority among people who have watched the show, but I also think the original pilot (which was on the DVD as a bonus) was a mess compared to the pilot they aired. Sure, the one they aired had the dumb motorcycle/Eliza wears a belt as a dress scene to start off, but at least it presented the characters and the concept in such a way that the viewer could figure out what was going on. The unaired pilot just felt slow and talky and ponderous and uneven to me, Ballard’s “investigation” of the Dollhouse was a joke (Whedon obviously is out of his depth writing police proceduarals) and frankly it wasn’t alot of fun to watch. They didn’t actually hit one out of the park until late in the season with “Needs”, but at least in those early engagement-heavy episodes they were telling competent stories. The problem with the engagement episodes wasn’t that Fox insisted on them to start the season–frankly I think Fox was right to insist on them because delving into a labyrynthine Dollhouse conspiracy before you take the time to engender any interest in the characters on the part of the viewers just won’t work–the problem was that Whedon and company just aren’t very good at writing straight-up action-drama. There is no law that says Echo on a straight up engagement must make for boring drama. But it did, mostly, and for that blame the writers, not Fox. And the ratings went south even *faster* after Whedon’s episode six, the one in which the Dollhouse conspiracy started moving front and center and the show became much more serialized.
Bottom line for me is, Whedon and his writers never managed to find this show. I think Fox saw the structural problems too late; they committed to the series before they even saw a script. They thought they were getting Alias with Elza Dushku and instead they got a show about slave trafficking and rape with a protagonist it is essentially impossible to warm up to because she is literally either brainwashed or imprinted with a personality that isn’t hers at all times. And on top of that the actual stories were flat. And the problems simply can’t be fixed without gutting the show and starting over.
I definitely hope Olivia Williams and Enver Gjokaj land on their feet because they have talent to burn.
The writing is on the wall for the show, when it whimpered in ratings wise this season and didn’t seem to deliver the promises that the cast and Joss extolled from the start, I already said to myself: “This show’s done”. I for one loved “Belle Chose”, I have no clue why die-hard Whedonites hated it. I never was really a Joss fan to the extent that some people are, but there was something about this struggling little show that got me. Oh well.
American Dad is supposed to move to 7:30 when Sons of Tucson appears at 8:30 and Cleveland moves to 9:30 in mid-season. I’m guessing around the time 24 returns. I personally won’t move Cleveland. It’s a good transition between Simpsons and Family Guy.
Fox can throw ‘Til Death in the Saturday night slot after the talk show, where they now burn off Sit Down and Shut Up.
The House and Bones repeats will certainly beat anything the comedies (and I use the term loosely) and Dollhouse would put up for Fox.
Mark — ‘Alias with Eliza Dushku’ would have been a fun show.
FOX has yet to decide to do this actually. Futon Critic has sources confirming, but nothing “official,” from FOX. I heard about this being a possibility as well, however I was told they were specifically waiting to see how DOLLHOUSE did on Friday with Summer Glau.
“Mark — ‘Alias with Eliza Dushku’ would have been a fun show.”
I agree. I don’t blame Eliza for the failure of Dollhouse. I think she can act, even if she doesn’t have the greatest range. What she does have is magnetism–she’s fun to watch. But this show wasn’t a good vehicle for her and expecting her to create a bond with the viewers when she can’t even play an actual non-brainwashed person was expecting too much. I hope she finds something that fits her better after this. Whedon was the wrong star to hitch her wagon to.
Did I read it right? Instead of showing new episodes of Dollhouse they’re going to be showing repeats of Bones? Not even new episodes, repeats? Ugh. As much as I really do love Dollhouse, it’s a pretty bad sign when the network expects a repeat to perform better than something brand-new.
I’m sorry Joss, but honestly, this IS what you get for getting back into bed with Fox after what they did to you the last time.
Let’s face it, the Brothers to Sunday, House to 8pm, Dollhouse to Dec/Jan was exactly what we thought Fox should do…
except we thought 9pm would go to Glee repeats. What happened there? Was this just Fox realizing that promoting Glee for the three weeks it has left (before shelving it for Human Target until March) wasn’t an effective use of the Fri 9pm slot? Or was it just Fox realizing the AI cross-promotion will be all the PR Glee needs?
Nick C, Glau isn’t this Friday anyway – she’s in episode five.
Not a good sign.
This sucks for the fans. They had their hopes up and now it’s been cruelly crushed. It’s also another strong indication that FOX is going to burn off these episodes and not renew the show.
This smells like a high-up executive overruling the decision of programming and marketing. Think about it: they go to all the trouble of scheduling Dollhouse for November and even marketing the show, then basically change their minds in a heartbeat. Why would 2 departments allow their work to be erased in the span of a day? It only makes sense if someone very high up in the network was briefed about Dollhouse in a meeting and decided to change what was planned. Since this guy’s the boss (or 2 bosses working together) everyone has to get in line.
@Ardath – You said…
“I’m sorry Joss, but honestly, this IS what you get for getting back into bed with Fox after what they did to you the last time.”
Who else should he “get in bed” with?
Has it ever occurred to you that attitudes like yours is why no other network even tries to air Whedon shows? Fox has given Dollhouse an unprecedented number of chances up to and including this last week when it promised to air all 13 episodes no matter what.
Yet still you bash Fox?
Why on earth would any network take a chance on a guy whose shows rarely deliver in the ratings department and whose fans will bash them no matter what? The most annoying part is it’s people like you who want SyFy to pick up Dollhouse while at the same time your attitude shows exactly why they shouldn’t bother.
Nick C – while Friday’s episode is a long awaited episode (the story of how Sierra ended up in the Dollhouse) it’s not the two parter with Summer Glau.
As far as it being officially confirmed, the cast and crew are certainly tweeting as if it has been.
tGSJP – I don’t think this sucks for the fans, we already know the show’s not going to get a third season unless something astonishing happens in the ratings between now and S2E13. Nobody with any sanity believes that’ll happen, it’s going to limp on with something between 0.7 and 1.2 for the remainder of the season, and we’ll just enjoy it while it lasts.
This news really doesn’t bother me in the least. It’s not a cancellation, it’s just a delay. Fox doesn’t think Dollhouse can carry the sweeps, not exactly surprising.
The_GodfatherSJP, “This sucks for the fans. They had their hopes up and now it’s been cruelly crushed. It’s also another strong indication that FOX is going to burn off these episodes and not renew the show.”
While it certainly may suck, it can’t be a surprise for anyone who’s been paying attention to the ratings. (acknowledging that’s a small fraction of the people who watch the show, but a large fraction of the people who come to our site).
@ squiggleslash
Yeah I found out about Fox shelving Dollhouse for a bit from Miracle Laurie’s Facebook status and then I instantly went to this site and all my fears were realized!
I think for me, the earnest love that the cast and crew seem to have for the show also leads to my corny affection to the show.
What I was referring to wasn’t the cancellation. Any reasonable person (and yes, I recognize that by using the term “fan” many aren’t reasonable) realizes that Dollhouse is done after 13 episodes.
What sucks for them is seeing an official press release with a schedule showing that Dollhouse will be broadcast in November, and now finding out that instead it’s been really pushed back. The rug’s been pulled out from under them.
I figured FOX would air Glee reruns on Fridays@9, but NOT for the November sweeps. FOX is doing backflips with their fall slate (minus Fridays), so it would make sense to do House/Bones with their proven track-record. House made a killing during the writer’s strike with reruns @ 8 on Fridays, and Bones does well in reruns too.
Very smart move FOX. Now please don’t bring Til Death back after the sweeps.
Please.
@squiggleslash: It is nice to hear someone who enjoys DH, but isn’t a Whedon fan and seems to get that the elements that make it an interesting show for some are what turn others off (and that those elements aren’t, in themselves, inherently good or bad).
@Tom/Ardath: I (mildly) agree with Tom on this one as well — but the real question is, why not get in bed with Fox? As far as I know, Whedon didn’t really have the opportunity to shop the show around and even if they did, I suspect Fox was more likely than any other network to pick it up. It’s not as if Joss could decide which network would air his show and Fox — for what it’s worth — decided to give Joss a chance on this show. A show is better than no show, perhaps?
On sci-fi shows aired on Friday. It seems to me that networks generally try to get “younger” people every night of the week. However, the young people who prefer to watch shows like “The Simple Life” (or most varieties of Mon-Thu shows, like “The Office”, “House”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, …) are probably more likely to go out on Friday than the people who would watch “The X-Files” — at least, that would be the conventional wisdom. Which is to say that, a sci-fi show (such as “Lost”) can be successful when moved to Mon-Thu; but any other type of show would lose many more viewers when moved to Fri than sci-fi show would.
There was always something in my gut that told me this would happen. FOX is going for the double House/Bones repeat fridays and Dollhouse would double up and be burned off. Brothers is being burned at the same rate and Til Death is likely to move to sundays at 7:30 come January. At least nothing is officially cancelled yet, but it seems as though we have candidates. Its more likely now that Lie to Me will get a full year.
Well remember, this was Eliza’s project and she brought Joss on. She got a contract to star and produce in her own Fox show and the only one she really wanted to work with is Joss. So he didn’t shop it to Fox really. It was more of a collaboration between him and Eliza. The show had to be on Fox because that’s who gave Eliza her contract.
The next two episodes are “the best,” of the series according to one person I know at FOX. So the reason FOX hasn’t publicly stated anything could be their waiting to see how this coming episode plays out. Summer Glau could bring a couple hundred thousand extra younger viewers and give it a jolt in the demo. Could being the primary word.
Well at least this show has a chance of proper closure unlike Tru Calling
Again, Summer Glau is NOT in this Friday’s episode, which will be forth of the season. She is the two-parter comprised of eps 5 and 6, which are currently scheduled as the first December double-header. (Which Fox will surely try to advertise as a big Summer Glau night thingy and might even bring in new demo viewers.)
I predict a 1.0 Live+sd for this Friday’s ep. With a possible uptick to 1.2 with that Summer Glau two-parter in December. If it can grow from that, the show’s future might become interesting again.
nkinsey – FOX will bring Til Death back after sweeps. They have a lot of episodes that they paid for and though its licensed for cheap, I dont think FOX would pull what they did last year. My guess,
By December 18, Dollhouse will have aired 10 original episodes this season. If FOX keeps it on for January 8, 15 and 22, it will air all 13. I think they should do that and by February, they can schedule a replacement maybe Kitchen Nightmares.
Brothers will have aired 7 episodes by October 23, which means the remaining airdates are likely November 8 and 22, and doubles on December 13 and 27 and that will finish up the series.
Til Death will return, to sundays at 7:00 or 7:30 around January. I dont know why FOX didnt air Til Death at sundays in the slot last year from January-May 2009 If they renewed the show anyway. That way until Sons of Tucson premeires, FOX will have a sched like this where they can just air repeats of a comedy in the shows actual slot
7:00 Til Death
7:30 American Dad
8:00 The Simpsons
8:30 Sons of Tucson
9:00 Family Guy
9:30 The Cleveland Show
FOX really should have known, placing 2 of their lowest renewed series as well as a newcomer on fridays would be a disaster but atleast theyve committed to burning off the trio.
One thing Miracle Laurie’s been highlighting is that Dollhouse will be paired with itself in December as they’ll be showing the missed episodes together with the scheduled episodes that month to catch up.
chaos – yeah, I probably came across as a bit of an a-hole above, but the point is I really didn’t “dig” what Whedon’s done in the past. This one’s different.
Honestly, if Fox is truly looking to boost Dollhouse’s live numbers, a repeat of Glee, Fringe, House, or Bones would probably do the trick as a lead-in. As much as we debate the validity of a lead-in these days, it still brings attention to the night and shows airing that night whether they stick around for the show after or not.
Oh yeah, and “critics” above should have been “certain critics”. That’s a huge whoops on my part.
SAC – I think Dollhouse is the perfect lead-in to Dollhouse. It’s genius on Fox’s part actually, they’re finally pairing Dollhouse with a show that appeals to the kind of audience that would appreciate Dollhouse…
And the more and more I think about it, I’d love Fox to burn off Dollhouse with a repeat of Fringe in front of it. It’ll be Friday night geek heaven for me.
A boy can dream.
ouch
after reading the headline i was like oh snap
sucks they got the fans-and my-hopes up after the last announcement saying they would indeed air dollhouse
had a glimmer of hope for the show
now im back to they are gonna cancel it
too bad
still havnt forgiven them for FIREFLY and TSCC
this was the only conclusion for this show
just got my hopes up only to be dashed..again sigh
damn you FOX…again
i promise never to watch fox again until they have another show im interested in…..lol
@ squiggle
I can see the promos that Fox won’t air: “Fridays get your double dose of Dollhouse!” or “It’s Summer in December at the Dollhouse”.
Ahem.
Ok, that’s all I will say on that. As to the other, Fox is providing Whedon access to direct “Glee”, and has asked to consider other future works. Fox is NOT anti-Whedon. They were the only network willing to take a shot.
And, just so it can be said, the biggest problem of the show may be the concept and the way it played out, but it was hurt directly by Dushku’s inability to really bring in an audience or provide chops to grow that audience.
This is just sick.. this is more desgusting than pulling it off without a second season.. they did the same with tru calling.. dollhouse: the new tru calling. fox didnt change so much in these years. why we should keep watching the next new fox’s shows or the sophomore shows if they are always in danger?
SleeperActiveCompass – Or “November and December have become hot with an extreme burn off. Check out multiple Brothers episodes every sunday then check out the remaining 8 Dollhouse episodes piled up into 3 days.” The new cancellation is an extreme burnoff, FOX wasted money for these episodes so the viewers should feel their pain and watch them.
@Mary: “why we should keep watching the next new fox’s shows or the sophomore shows if they are always in danger?”
Err, if people are watching the shows they wouldn’t be in danger. No one suspects Fox will cancel Glee tomorrow – because people are actually watching that show.
*Disclaimer: Dollhouse is one of my favorite shows right now. That still doesn’t mean I think it should stay on the air, with the ratings it gets.
Well if this is true why bother airing double episodes in December? they will still get awful ratings.They should keep the unaired eps for the DVD. The House and Bones repeats will do better than this trashy show. To think this was the most talked about show last yr and it turned out to be the worst show ever made.
Im a TSCC fan and yes it had its flaws eps 13-16 of season 2 were very poor but compaired to all the Dollhouse eps ive seen TSCC bad eps should have won Emmys lol.
JW has only himself to blame. I liked Eliza in Tru Calling so i dont blmae her.The woman can act when she has a good show and a good script.
THANK GOD!!!
This show continues to suck further everytime I watch it. Eliza sucks as an actress and ir ruins the whole vibe of this show.
There are better stories that could be told…yet, we have to see Echo’s plight…I mean, why send a broken active out each week on stupid assignments (I am a mother…OMG!…WTF???).
Someone shoot this dead horse again.
Joss post on whedonesque[dot]com concering scheduling:
[snipped]
H”owzabout that schedule? Well, I’m not as depressed as everyone else. We weren’t about to rock sweeps anyway, and though there’s a chilly November, December is CRAZY. It’s like an Advent calendar of episodes! We get November to try to spread the word (which I’ll be leaning on Fox to do, though it’s hard to imagine them doing as good a job as the WhyIWatch guy) and then December is pure gluttony. Plus the episodes line up extremely well in these pairs, and we’ll have an absurdly appropriate lead-in.”
@ buffywrestling, I’ll say it again, the guy’s got a sense of humor!
Wow, fox made a right decision for once. Too late though, I hope one of the execs gets fired for picking up failhouse after the first season ended.
Fox should bring back Terminator! Can’t believe they let the show end like that.
For me personally, I consider Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku responsible for Dollhouse being a mess. They both came up with the concept I read over lunch which to me is a bad concept. I don’t get why anyone would think that a show where the main characters get raped for money in every episode would be loved by large number of viewers or ever attract big ratings. At least with La Femme Nikita the agency was fighting terrorism and the agents were spared from being executed for capital crimes they were convicted of. On Dollhouse the company is just doing it for money. It’s like a Fantasy Island with real people as the props with the company and its employees the pimps.
The concept might have worked for 1 episode of The Outer Limits if serious questions were asked about the morality but on Dollhouse they aren’t.
And while I liked Eliza Dushku on Buffy, she doesn’t seem able to carry a show. She needed to be a supporting character in my opinion on Dollhouse and not its main focus. They way that the show is written she has to be able to carry it. It’s not a true ensemble show.
Whedon needs to go back to what worked, he should make a third Buffyverse-series, Whedon was never better than when he did Buffy and Angel
Look at that, Fox with the psych-out!
Not that I take any great joy in people losing jobs, especially in this economy (I don’t feel for Whedon though; I don’t like his style, but it’s not like he’s two paychecks from being totally broke), but man, what a burn.
Hmmm – script idea for the last Dollhouse:
…they wind up in San Francisco, where they repeat the first setpiece from Trauma, but with:
- twice as much flying glass,
- ten gasoline tanker trucks,
- a DOD convoy of depleted, highly shrapnelized uranium…
- a very angry T-3000,
- and the guard rail of the Golden Gate Bridge is gone…
…as Calvin would say, “this ought to be good…”
…oh, did I forget four crashing helicopters, and Ray Romano – I’ll have to sing the “really sorry song” from Calvinball…
…eh-oh – Calvinball would be interesting to watch on TV
Fear not, “Dollhouse” fans whom FOX is so afraid of. They didn’t pull your beloved Whedon show for November sweeps. They just pushed the airdates back to make the episodes 3-D.
And LOL at “Til Death” getting put on indefinite hiatus for the second October in a row. Last season, it airs 7 episodes before bidding the rest of the season a fond farewell. This season? 3 episodes. I look forward to its 5th season in October, 2010 when it airs 1 entire episode before going back on hiatus.
Haha, Fox blinked *g*
Wonder if this is like last season with Til Death where it was pulled and never reappeared. I guess at some point though they may run off the episodes. Seems like FOX might finally be done with this stinker but who knows. Maybe they will get paid to take it next season. LOL
@Carol
Word!
They need to get rid of this show already.
Theoacme, yea, and why not add Atlantis crashing in the San Francisco Bay as well?
Oh, and as for Calvinball? Be careful what you wish for… NBC might pick that up as a mid-season filler lead-in for Chuck or something!
IMO, J. Whedon’s strength is humor and character development. I haven’t seen Dollhouse, as it’s not my cup of tea, but from what many have said the show, as it is constructed, doesn’t lend itself to much character development. Some of Buffy and Angel’s most “stand out” eps are one that usually are the ones that had some humor involved, even if it had a more serious tone overall-the famed Angel “puppet”/Spike fight comes to mind-”You’re a wee little puppet man”(if you’ve never seen it, go look it up on Youtube under Angel puppet.) Granted, he might not have always written every line personally, but he usually kept his hands “on the reigns” concerning the direction of a show, at least according to writer David Fury. He always is heavy handed with the drama and the angst-nobody in a Whedon-world gets to be happy even as long as a real life person normally does. Life doesn’t always have a happy ending, but thankfully it does more than life did in the Buffyverse, and that is a big fault in his writing-again, just IMHO.
The reactions to this news from JBF and his real life counterparts are much more entertaining than any episode of Dollhouse. Especially when people blame FOX, which is worth at least three epic eye rolls.
Atleast FOX is committed to airing all 13 episodes of Dollhouse, with any other series theyd just pull the series and never bother to bring it back.
R.I.P.
Dollhouse February 13, 2009 – January 22, 2010
Brothers September 25, 2009 – December 27, 2009
Friday Night Death claims 2 more series
Yes, clearly unless a miracle occurs, Dollhouse is finished after January. But we knew that.
The only interesting question is why Whedon couldn’t do better than what he did. Since I recently went through three seasons or so of Angel (I’ve never seen Buffy), and I’ve seen all of Firefly plus Serenity, it’s clear to me that Angel (despite some of its “dramedy” aspects”) was a much better written show than Dollhouse.
And as I’ve said before, the basic concept was flawed in that Eliza’s character should have been an EX-Doll on the run from the Dollhouse and aiding Ballard in bringing it down. Using flashbacks to see her engagements would have changed the entire dynamic of the character and allowed her to have a consistent personality and be someone the audience could relate to. This was the biggest problem the show had – no POV personality. That and the lack of focus as to whether the show was about the possibilities of the technology or whether it was a morality play or a conspiracy story.
Joss needs to call me – I have a concept that would be similar but even darker than Dollhouse but much more interesting. Plus the concept has roles for both Summer and Eliza that would fit them to a T.
Bill – There are 10 episodes from last season and 19 left from this season (after tonights airing). My guess is the remaining episodes from Season 4 will be burned off probably on sundays at 7 starting January. I mean 29 episodes is a lot to pay for and not air. I still think FOX should have burned off the 10 Season 3 episodes last summer in place of repeats of the show. But with syndication all unaired episodes will finally see the light of day.
Riff – Who knows if FOX will buy another season after this year’s disaster. The series has 76 episodes produced in total (22 season 1, 19 season 2, 13 season 3, 22 season 4) 76 is a little under the amount for an off network sale but other series have aired reruns with similiar amounts (8 Simple Rules, Hope & Faith)
Note to all Showrunners:
It don’t matter how you film the show, it’s always about what you film.
Gunplay, boobies, and karate won’t save a script that is written without any followable, intelligent plot.
Dollhouse: Episode 27–Echo makes an informercial.
i dont watch this show because it gets GOOD ratings, but because its a GREAT show which is improving and getting better and better in any episode. i don t understand why people hate it so much. 3 million people watch it live or not, and its a big number, not for fox of course, but its huge. do you really like house so much that can t have enough watching a repeat on friday? or watching are you smarter? dollhouse is a good/smart alternative on friday night.
hope the show got 15 million viewers and 6.6/17 in the demos last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so fox will be happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
opssssssssss a mean tonight!!!!!
I wonder if FOX will try to save Dollhouse with a publicity push before december, or just let it die. I’m hoping for the former. They seemed to be trying to pull fans with that summer glau promo, albeit the little fans who know who she is.
Wow, my prediction came true. Welcome to “Repeat Fridays” Just like the dying of newspapers and magazines, live broadcast TV is changing. The target demo on Friday is out, and if you don’t put more emphasis on DVR numbers, advertisers will still be getting an inaccurate picture of what people watch. If live Nielsen are the only factor the networks use to determine profitably, instead of DVD sales, online viewing, ipod downloads, then expect the other networks to follow suit. they could put a video loop of a dog pooping and be able to the same demos and profit margin as the Leno show.
The thing is though that the network only get revenues from Live Airings – at least that is my understanding. Unless a show is produced from an in-house subsidiary of the the network, they don’t get any money from DVD sales, sales for air the show outside of the U.S. or syndication.
Ratings aren’t designed to tabulate who is watching the show but who is watching the commercials and what demographic they fall into. DVR viewers typically don’t watch commercials plus many commercials are time sensitive so they don’t really count. Only shows watched Live are going to matter to advertisers and therefore the network unless you are a subscription network like HBO.
Hmm, interesting episode though one, like the second episode of the season, where I felt the lead in may have driven away casual viewers. Kind of interesting to see them take away the “DeWitt knows what’s going on” thing only to introduce a new dynamic where she’s still culpable.
I’m likeing what they’re doing with Topher this season. Just saying.
The ridiculous hate talk in these comments makes me chuckle.
Anyway, the internet is positively buzzing with reactions to tonight’s episode, let’s see if it translates to a ratings up-tick of any kind, just for kicks.
For the money Til Death after Idle may be the way to go, just move Glee to Tue night after Idle, put Family Guy and American Dad on Wed., 24 Sun at 9PM
Sunday(spring)
7PM Cleveland Show/Brothers
8PM Simpsons/Sons of Tuscon
9PM 24
Tue
8PM A.I.
9PM Glee
Wed
8PM AI Results/Til Death
9PM American Dad/Family Guy
This way Fox will have a 2nd comedy Block.
The Futon Critic updated its news item and added that Til Death will return for a four-episode Christmas ever marathon