Dollhouse: Joss Whedon Writing Last Episode, Planning for Cancellation

[R.jsheedy]

As fans of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse are painfully aware, the series has failed to attract a significant number of viewers each week.

Though the show has a devoted following and a solid cast (including Eliza Dushku, Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, and Tahmoh Penikett), Dollhouse is consistently one of Friday night’s worst performing shows. Even when you factor in the DVR numbers, viewership is still quite low.

The season two premiere tallied just 3.42 million viewers and a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demo. The later episodes have done even worse and help keep the network in fourth place for the night.

Despite the poor numbers, FOX scheduling chief Preston Beckman tells THR that the network is committed to running all 13 episodes. Optimistically he added, “We’re not saying we’re happy with those numbers, or accept them, but we don’t have to overreact.”

That doesn’t mean however that the show won’t be put on hiatus, particularly during the sweeps period. Beckman noted, “During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show.”

Officially, the network won’t decide about ordering the “back nine” or season three until the current installments have finished airing. That’s not a good sign for a couple reasons. Production will have already shut down by then and, once a show is off the air, most viewers and networks tend to forget about it pretty quickly.

Considering the current numbers, any kind of Dollhouse renewal looks highly unlikely anyway. Last season, the show averaged just 4.63 million and a 1.6 rating and was barely renewed. This season of Dollhouse is doing worse.

Whedon has seen the writing on the wall and is writing the last episode of this season as a series ending. He says, “We’ll definitely have closure, but will leave some doors open.”

He’s thankful for the chance to finish the season and acknowledged the poor ratings. Whedon added, “When we got our first numbers, which were bad, the first thing [FOX president of entertainment] Kevin Reilly said was, ‘You’ll have all 13,’ which was great. They’re not going to pull the rug out from under us.”

What do you think? Are you glad Whedon will be able to write an ending or upset with FOX’s treatment of the show? Would you like to see it continue somehow?

[TJL]

I'm really not surprised Dollhouse isn't going to make it.

I'm not much of a Joss Whedon fan, but I gave the show a shot, and it wasn't very good.

Plus, the canceled Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles in favor of Dollhouse, so I'm not going to shed tears.

[catlover79]

Next time, Joss Whedon should make sure none of his shows should go to FOX (like the late, great Firefly).

[tv star collector]

Eliza Dushku was a good actress on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel
and (especially) Tru Calling; but I could just never really get into the
Dollhouse premise myself. I didn't really care for the supporting cast
or the storylines.

[Adamantium]

I've not seen an episode of Dollhouse, though I always planned on getting the DVDs. But to me, if Fridays are so bad for ratings, it should not reflect the show itself. It's just that Friday nights are bad for ratings. I mean Joss is smart to plan ahead and not leave it's fans without closure. I'm just saying, you can't put a show on Friday nights and expect good ratings. Not these days anyways.

[xxaviera55]

The blame for Dollhouse’s poor numbers lies with both the show and FOX, but rather more with FOX, IMHO. On the Dollhouse side, the central concept behind the show is a difficult one to convey,and the writers took a bit too long in coming to terms with where they wanted to go with the story. Perhaps a bit more pre-first episode story planning in the writer’s room would have helped? They needed to start the big central story arc sooner to hook in the audience. The bulk of the blame though has to lay at FOX’s feet. They placed the show on the worst night of the week, Friday, especially for a science fiction show designed to attract a younger audience. They interfered with the first five episodes, losing Dollhouse’s audience except for the hard core Whedon fans and the few others willing to stick with the show. First impressions are important and FOX sabotaged Dollhouse’s first five impressions. Kudos for FOX renewing Dollhouse for a second season, but they also left the show on Friday nights, gave it two incredibly lame and thematically totally unrelated sit-coms as lead-in shows, and have given it virtually no promotional support at all. Overall, I have to mostly blame FOX for once again pulling a “Firefly” and killing another intelligent and entertaining show from Joss Whedon. At least , as consolation, we will have a full 13 episode second season to fill a dvd set. I will certainly be buying it.