FOX: Terminator film success wouldn't Have Saved TV series

[Brian Damage]

Christian Bale's John Connor can make as much noise as he wants at the Cineplex this weekend, but his TV counterpart, Thomas Dekker, has been silenced.

After two seasons, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "has completed its run — and I think it had a nice little run," Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly told TVGuide.com when asked if boffo box office for Bale's Terminator Salvation (hitting theaters Friday) might make Fox reconsider the series' cancelation.

New hope for Terminator's return emerged over the weekend when Fox picked up Dollhouse, its Friday lead-out, for a sophomore run. Both shows had struggled with smallish audiences (in the 3 million viewer range) yet enjoyed significant surges when Live+7 DVR playback was factored in. In the end, Eliza Dushku was left standing, while Summer Glau had been unplugged

"It was not an either/or" decision between Terminator and Dollhouse, Reilly maintains. "[Terminator] had a nice creative core, but ultimately we made the bet on Dollhouse for the night."

Terminator had delivered bigger ratings in its original Monday time slot, but after being shuffled to Friday at midseason, its "trend line was not going in the right direction," says Reilly.

As for teeing up Joss Whedon's show with two live-action comedies — the freshman laffer Brothers, followed by 'Til Death — Reilly says, "We thought we had some other shows that would make a better profile for the night."

"We make no apologies" for Terminator, says Reilly. "It had a huge launch ... and we gave it a lot of support. We tried, but it's time to move on."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/FallTV-T...d-1006144.aspx