More than a fair share of Joss Whedon fans tuned in Friday to see the premiere of Fox’s Dollhouse. The mythological drama starring Eliza Dushku attracted 4.7 million viewers — a pretty decent jump over the eyeball levels for The Sarah Connor Chronicles at 8 p.m. (which lured a mere 3.7 million), according to fast national ratings. In fact, Dollhouse helped Fox double its viewership levels among women versus Chronicles and helped the net finish in second place among adults 18-34 and in first place across key male demos for the night.
So what does this mean for Dollhouse’s long-term prospects? Although 4.7 million isn’t that great — Fox typically averages 5.5 million on Fridays — the Whedon drama has a better chance of making it over the long haul if it stays put on the night. In fact, network insiders have long cautioned that if the series were scheduled earlier in the week and ended up attracting these kind of (low) viewership levels, it would have been axed by its second or third airing. So relax, Whedonites — Dushku and Co. appear safe for now.
Chronicles will remain as Dollhouse’s lead-in until Fox runs out of episodes; later, the Terminator franchise will be replaced by Prison Break for its final six episodes.
More Dollhouse and sci-fi:
Dollhouse snap judgment: Barbie or bad ass?
Ken Tucker on Dollhouse: Did I underestimate it?
Dollhouse: Pros and cons of a Friday time slot
TV recaps: A landmark Galactica
Sarah Connor Chronicles: Any fans left out there?
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given that it was only a so-so start that high is really awesome. we’ll see if that many folks stick around next week. and if the show gets better once they get the ‘gotta get all the back story out there’ out of their systems.
Really loved the show!
they should replace TSCC by PB immediately TSCC is killing dollhouse
plus since prison break now has 8 episodes left and they wouldnt want to air the 2 hour backdoor Gretchen spinoff pilot in June (they’ve been casting for episode 23 / 24 and they’re set in a womens prison with Gretchen back)
I watched the Dollhouse and enjoyed about 85% of it. The parts with the female who runs the center were the weakest part to me.
FLOP!4.7?
BOMBED!
I think we need to see how well it does next week before we pop open any champagne. The numbers are bound to drop off by at least a million or so.
It wasn’t the best start, but I trust Whedon and will stick around for a while. The stuff with the mission was the weakest part for me. I want to know more about Amy Acker’s face and Echo’s handler. The ending scene and the idea of a rouge whatever-they’re-called was also intriguing.
That’s just terrible news for Terminator. It’s probably the smartest, best written show on a major network out there right now. I really hope the ratings improve before it’s too late.
thought the show has alot of potential..had some slow moments but It seems like it can be a pretty great show…hopefully some of the actors from FIREFLY will make appearances!
Ghost Whisperer attracts about 10 million viewers. I give the series about 2 seasons. It is better suited for FX.
It has a lot of potential. I’ll be back next week, with my non-Nielsen acknowledged online viewing.
DOLLHOUSE IS ACTUALLY GOOD! Keep it on the air people. If the schlocky “True Blood” can earn a 2nd season, this show deserves a decent run.
I have nothing to add here. I’m just posting because it’s nice to see an item on EW.com that has nothing to do with “Twilight” for a change.
The numbers obviously don’t include subsequent viewings online, etc–airings should include numbers for several days, much like movie numbers for an opening weekend, to get more accurate counts. Especially since it’s so bloody easy to count viewings on the internet.
All in all, while the pilot wasn’t quite as clean as the one for Firefly, it was still beautifully acted, written and directed. No one tells a story quite like Joss, so I’m looking forward to each new episode (online).
Here’s to hoping each new eppy is equally or more awesome with an extra side of awesome sauce . . . buuuuuuuttt not so much as it gets cancelled after eleven eps.
Sorry, Fox, but unless you bite the bullet and let this show ride at its fullest potention whilst giving Joss absolute creative control, you don’t deserve to live the dual fiascos of Firely and Drive down. Let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we?
Howard Stern had Eliza Dushku on earlier this week…He has 20 Million + faithful listeners. Bet it helped!
Baba Booey!!! Baba Booey!!! Baba Booey!!!
Pretty sure Fox can still screw it up. How about playing episodes out of order so they can kill it like Firefox? That network exists only for lowest-common-denominator dredge like FoxNews or reality game show sludge.
I’m really disappointed that Terminator didn’t post better numbers. That show is consistently good and entertaining, and it would be a real shame to see it die. However, I do hope that Dollhouse finds a solid and dependable audience, unlike what has happened with Terminator.
95% of the people I know that watched Dollhouse weren’t counted in the neilsen numbers, so I wouldn’t place any bets on the accuracy of any genre numbers. It was heavily watched.
TSCC has been blah for me the entire season, but my mom loves it. I’m gonna give Dollhouse another shot, it couldn’t keep my attention, I kept finding myself watching vids on Youtube.
I’ll be watching dollhouse on hulu. I’m loyal to FNL, and it needs every veiwer it can get.
I want this show to do well so I hope that the viewers increase.
I never understood the nielson ratings because they don’t know what 300 million people are watching..
If for some sad reason it does get canceled from fox then they should bring it back to FX because then it could be a lot better.
I love FX for Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me.
Fan of FNL, TSCC and Dollhouse ! I watched TSCC and FNL last night. This weekend i will watch and rewatch Dollhouse on hulu, fox.com and amazon. Same thing for FNL. These three shows are great and they need our support !
Against Ghost Whisperer, GW wins to Terminator franchise. Ghost Whisperer is the superior and more interesting of the shows. Doesn’t surprise me that the ratings for Sarah Chronicles was less than mediocre. BUT Dollhouse shows plenty of promise so I hope it stays on television.
I watched both Dollhouse and T: SCC. I found both to be interesting episodes and it was great to here the GRR ARRGH ending of Dollhouse. I’ve missed that sound.
Let’s just hope that Fox can quit being short sighted when it comes to shows because they’ve let go of countless good shows and continue to screw with the existing good shows. Solid shows like Bones get moved around like crazy to make sure that as many hours as possible can be devoted to American Idol. I’ve never seen a single AI episode and never intend to.
Watching the premiere episode of the Dollhouse reminds me the classic Two Coyote Ugly joke in which a guy is willing to gnaw off both arms in case the ugly girl comes looking for a one armed man, except in Dollhouse case there’s no more need to be chewing off limbs when the ready solution is to just have the girl’s memory erased. Continued at:
http://freakingscary.blogspot.com/2009/02/dollhouse-babes-worth-forgetting.html
Please why is FOX even airing Prison Break.The entire show is a hot mess full of stupdity and even more stupid the people still watching that pure uninteresting garbage!!
TSSC is the same plot over and over again. Dollhouse is refreshing, original, and highly irreverent. I’m surprised that it made it to the air at all! I guess the only question left is:
How is Fox going to screw this one up?
A. Move it to another time slot when it realizes it needs ratings on that day.
B. Preempt it with sports programs or some lame reality show until all of the fan base is wiped out, then let it die without any sense of closure or continuity.
C. Insist on redevelopment until the “new and improved show” has so little similarity to the original that it might as well be a lame reality show. (Of course with Joss Whedon at the helm there is significantly less chance of this happening. After all, if the going gets to rough, he can always more it over to CW or make it into a feature film)
Fox’s biggest liability as a network, is it’s cavalier attitude to it’s fans. I would be willing to spend another thirty seconds watching commercials (although the limited commercial angle is refreshing) if the network would just show the slightest amount of loyalty to the people it is trying to show these commercials to!
Terminator was good. Still a bit slow in pacing.
Dollhouse sucked. Slow, plodding, boring. Eliza is the only good thing. Put her in Terminator and don’t waste her.
Sarah Connor is WAY better than Prison Break. FOX needs to keep it on the air! This was the first night it was on Friday and perhaps not every one knew it moved to Friday. FOX needs to give it time to grow as a Friday night show.
This, for some reason, is really surprising. I am so sure there are more Joss Whedon fans than that. Or maybe not?