Dollhouse: Perhaps I Was Wrong to Hope

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | November 7, 2008 | +

The other day I posted the new trailer for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, saying that I was anxious about the premise, but that I held out hope anyway. I may have been wrong about the “hope” part. Not because of the show itself, but because Fox just put out its midseason schedule, and it’s banished Dollhouse to Friday. (Starting Feb. 13, not January, as had earlier been suggested.) The original plan had been to pair it on Mondays with 24.

Now, this is not automatically a death sentence or vote of no confidence. There’s an audience for sci-fi on Fridays (where Fox is also moving Sarah Connor, whose ratings have been weak), as Sci Finetwork has shown . Then again, Friday network audiences are tiny, and it’s lately become the place networks send shows to die.

The question is whether Fox is setting the bar low for Dollhouse’s ratings—or just raising the bar over its head in order to whack it a good one.

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Chaddogg

Seriously dumb. Friday night should be a night networks just experiment with CNN’s hologram technology.
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I would have done what you said, pair Dollhouse with 24 — two hours of ass-kicking by Jack Bauer and Elisha Dushku.
Chaddogg

I mean Eliza….duh.
http://blog.melanism.com Seanathan

I guess those Save Dollhouse petitions that came out when the show was announced weren’t silly after all.
sulliclm

Hey James- on your Friday being where shows go to die, what about Life? It just got moved out of Friday to Wednesday, is that a good sign for its survival? I know i’m in the minority here but I actually really really like that show, Damian Lewis is the man.
jponiewozik

@sulliclm: Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… well, yes, it was a good sign that Life got moved to Wednesday, but that was followed by the bad sign that NBC’s entire Wednesday lineup got horrible ratings this week.
shara says

Oh My God. My fangirly heart is en route to being crushed. NOT a good sign. If FOX hadn’t gone and given Terminator the back nine I’d be hating them worst of all right now, but that’s earned a bit of goodwill for me. JW, in interviews and blogposts, has been so respectful in discussing the network and the people who he’s been dealing with, and enthusiastically putting the best possible spin on all their dealings, publicly giving them the benefit of the doubt at every turn. If FOX screws him over again, there are gonna be some very angry whedonites, whedonists, and browncoats around.
Tom Shaw

I’m not too surprised, Bones is doing well (especially by Fox-in-Fall standards), and putting it on Fridays to die is a bad idea; combine with Dollhouse’s apparent issues, and setting that up to die seems like a better idea.

Note this means Fox thinks Lie to Me has a stronger future than Dollhouse. I don’t expect too much out of Lie’s ratings though, going up against Criminal Minds.

And for pete’s sake, can anything kill Hole in the Wall? Ugh.
alekshy

You never know with the economy being all shotty. Maybe more people are deciding to stay home and relax on a Friday night. Maybe the Joe the Plumbers and the Joe Sixpacks are staying home and making their decision for the better choice, Friday night programming. Maybe we should welcome this new change as a positive one. Maybe Fox knows something we don’t! Maybe they’re ready for a huge season for Dollhouse!
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Or maybe they’re ready for half a season of Dollhouse and then a movie version that is clever, cool and fun.
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Then again…maybe Dollhouse is already DOOMED!
shara says

@alekshy: way to channel some optimism! I’ll certainly be watching, whether other folks are or not. . .
Ashman

I tried pretty hard to come up with a positive spin for this, but I got nothing. I am now downgrading my emotions from excited and a little to anxious to curious and detached.
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Whedon is never going to be Dick Wolf, but relegating him to such a lousy night at the outset is lame.
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Does anyone know SciFi Net’s schedule for the same time period? I am curious if they are going to have new programming directly competing with Dollhouse.
mcmagnus

Well, Friday night is nerd prime-time. Along with BSG, Dollhouse could create a strong, loyal following on Fridays.
Kemper

Fox has Fireflied us once again…..
masurix

Argh! I was just thinking that, Kemper. I was surprised he worked with Fox again after that, and apparently the new people are the old people.
http://www.kulturblog.com/2008/11/kb-360-111008/ Kulturblog » KB: 360 (11.10.08)

[...] New trailer for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. Don’t get too hopeful, Fox is sending it to Friday nights. [...]
Raked

See, I think Friday might work for it, and give it some hope for success. Seriously. Take a look at my site, if you can. I have an argument up there, but really, if they put it on Monday, they’d have to split viewers off from some of the top shows today and if it doesn’t get ratings, it’d get cut immediately. It’s got a little more leeway on Friday.