This isn’t a good sign: Sources confirm to me exclusively that Fox has decided to pull Dollhouse off the schedule during November sweeps. Joss Whedon’s ratings-challenged drama is expected to return in December and air back-to-back episodes on Friday night.
Bottom line: Barring a ratings miracle, Dollhouse will be shut down for good after it completes its current 13-episode order.
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Why does Fox constantly insist on breaking my heart?
More importantly, why does Joss keep working with Fox when they keep pulling his shows? He can do better than that.
Eliza approached him about doing a show with her. She already had a contract with Fox. I’m betting he will probably steer clear of Fox in the future.
More importantly, why didn’t Joss make a good show that people actually wanted to watch?
Fox did not do a disservice to this show in any way. In fact, renewing it for a second season was borderline idiotic, considering the ratings from last season. I’ll admit that they effed up Firefly, but the failure of Dollhouse had nothing to do with Fox. It was a bad show and lost ratings as a result. Even though it’s much improved, it took too long to get there.
Most of his shows and movies are with Fox and or 20th Century FOX…must be a work contract…and here I thought it was because it was baseball
You kind of get what you deserve if you’re a fan of this stinker of a show!
It is actually a great show if you give it a chance. The actor who plays Victor is AMAZING. Any the premise is very unique unlike most of the shows on TV. It is just on at a very BAD night.
Really? Just pointless insults that you’re not even backing up? Grow up.
Sorry, but this one needs to go. I’m the worlds biggest browncoat, loved Buffy, but this is just a waste of time this season. Sorry Joss. Gotta go!
It’s a fascinating show. Rich premise, provocative, intelligent, endless character exploration potential and funny too at times. What, not enough fighting and car chases for you?
Everybody has their own likes and dislikes, and for someone to refer negatively to another individual’s preference(s) is a sign of their own idiocy.
Good riddance to an awful show!!!
If you consider an interesting idea and great actors the basis of an awful show, then you need to reevaluate your way of thinking.
It was awful to be truthful, I watched all the episodes, and only one episode was good and that’s the one that wasn’t aired. The rest, awful.
I was encouraged that FOX renewed it for a second season, but once they decided to keep it on Friday nights, I realized it was on borrowed time…
When will Joss learn? Stay the hell off of Fox.
You’d think Joss would have learned not to work with FOX after the Firefly debacle. This stinks; I was just starting to get into this show.
NOOOOOO!!!!!!! WHY!!!!!!!????????
Because its ratings are terrible because nobody it watching it?
…Because everyone knows Fox is going to cancel it anyways and don’t want to waste their time watching a show only to be left with a cliff-hanger? People want beginnings, middles and ends. When you tell them (either explicitly or by being Fox) that you’re going to get a promising start and a middle, but no end, they don’t tune in.
The ratings are bad because it is on Friday night at 9, when most of the age demographic that will watch it is out…
Is there such thing as a Friday night show with good ratings?
@Quirky…I think Friday night shows with good ratings went away with Full House and Family Matters. *sigh* Those were the days…
There sure seems to be alot of comments for a show that nobody is watching”. Fox never wanted to keep it otherwise why would they put it on Friday nights? They just set it up to fail, just like Firefly.
REALLY fox…really WTF
To be fair on fox its not their fault the show isnt getting the ratubngs, you can say o well they moved it to a friday night but if people really wanted to watch it they would tune in on the friday nigt, the problem is dollhouse has a bigger international following then an american one but fox unfortunatly for the fans cant take that into consideration! I persoanlly think fox were nice to pick it up for a second season in the first place their ratings last year were terrible as well, they did that to please the fans!
Yeah, you can blame Fox. They do no publicity, cut the budget and expect miracles. Had they at least publicized the show, I wouldn’t blame Fox but the execs set this show up to die.
You can totally blame fox! First a lot of people dont even know the show is still on because of the poor marketing and you say if people really wanted to watch it they would tune in…no…people are not going to change their weekend plans for one show…so the blame can fall sqaurely on fox.
The show did get promoted. The initial ratings weren’t too bad, but the audience mostly disappeared. So viewers checked it out, mostly held their noses while turning the channel, and didn’t come back. Fox is not to blame for anything except the decision to pick up this sexist POS in the first place, and to renew it despite the putrid ratings.
Yeah, it got promoted some before the series premiere, but after that…not so much. And for having so much faith in Joss like they said they did when they renewed it, they certainly haven’t shown that at all. “Yeah, let’s give this show another shot, but leave it in the Friday death slot, and not promote it at all.” In what way does that say they care about Joss or this show? Also, had Fox not butted in where they didn’t belong during the first half of season one, those viewers who did check it out in the beginning, would’ve stayed. The show got remarkably better after they decided to step aside. So yeah, I say we can absolutely blame Fox.
Alas, I’m a fan of the show. But when a commercial for Instinct came on in my dorm’s common room, everyone in the room exchanged weird glances except for me (who buried my face in my hands and asked “Why, Fox? Why must you kill it?” Even trying to explain that it’s a good show after some of the advertising is no use.
Is gia a troll or someut? I don’t think I’ve every heard anyone call Whedon sexist before.
ROFL.
Whedon a sexist!! HAHAHAHAHA. Right.
Friday night death slot? I will admit, I don’t know about how ratings are calculated these days, but don’t all of you have DVRs? I’ve seen every episode of this show (and I think that this season has been really bad so far), but I’ve rarely actually watched it on Friday nights. Tivo to the rescue.
Darn you, Fox. It was actually better this season >_<
we just get FOXKS!! AGAIN
I hate being upset with Fox after they surprisingly renewed Dollhouse last spring, but they’ve mostly treated the show like crap since day 1. Thank you Joss for giving us two seasons of a show that truly challenged viewers. I look forward to the rest of this season.
Would you look at that, my DVR suddenly stopped recording on Fox during that time slot. Good DVR! I’ll find another treat for you to take in as a replacement.
Try White Collar premiering tonight USA. I’m very excited about this one!
Not surprising after they put it on Friday nights; but VERY disappointing. Fox just keeps chucking good shows out and keeps the crap stuff on.
ah
Well, at least it’s going to be a cheap DVD set. Sad, because over-all, it’s a good show and is certainly more intelligent than most of the tripe that’s on Fox or the other netowrks.
this show should of been off the air last year and terminator sarah connor chronicles should been picked up dollhouse SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TSCC was tired and boring, killed by a limited premise and lazy, lazy, lazy writing. I cancelled it early on. Dollhouse has always been far more interesting, complex sci-fi.
Dollhouse was boring for the first 5 episodes, wtf is that?
Claps. So true, DH has problems, but it’s the West Wing compared to TSCC.
Both shows should’ve been picked up. Ditching T:SCC shattered any faith that people had in Fox staying with quality, not-appreciated-by-Nielsen-family shows.
WOW JACK-ME-OFF, nice NAME. Show is a GREAT SHOW. And for those of you who don’t think its intelligent, what do you watch it on MUTE to just stare at Eliza??? The entire story is Smart, which makes it WAYYYY different compared to the CRAP on TV. Reality shows, American Idol, all this garbage can continue for YEARS on top of years and yet a LEGEND like Joss Whedon can’t get a season without gossip of cancellation??? RIDICULOUS. Fox is just plain stupid and Joss would’ve NEVERRRRR went back to them if it wasn’t for Eliza who is STUCK in a contract with them and wanted to work with him. And because of all this crap we will most likely NEVER see another tv series created by this amazing guy. He will probably stick to the internet, and i don’t blame him.
Just because something is different, does not make it better. This show is ok, but then again, I always thought Joss’ shows were overrated. Buffy seasons 1-3 were good, Angel was ok, and Firefly was crap.
I would hate to see what shows you like to watch Andy… Joss Whedon is amazing, and Firefly was his bet show. The stories were great and the writing was hysterical
Andy Bluebar, I usually like to respect people’s opinion on these forums, but honestly you are must have watched these shows on mute.
I totally agree. I couldn’t belive they renewed this crap and cancelled Sarah Connor Chronicles
JMO, but T:SCC was simply TOO unrelentingly dark. A story arc has to have at least the possibility of something good on the other side of the darkness to keep an audience’s interest; otherwise, it’s just real life. As for Dollhouse…Joss kind of dug its grave himself when he let the writing go for those few episodes last season. When you’re only making 13 damn episodes per season, you’d better damn well make them ALL at least GOOD. Great premise, fine actors – poor execution by Whedon. This one’s on him.
I was so ticked the canceled SCC so DH could continue> Just because they replaced terminator with dollhouse i swore i would never watch it.
At least terminator has\had a cult following.
Same here. I tried DH when it first came out and didn’t care for it. I’ve heard it’s better now but I refuse to watch it since I was afraid it would see the same fate and TSCC. From the looks of this article – it’s looking like I made the right call!
TSCC had a great story to it – especially the season 2 finale! FOX sure made a bad move canceling TSCC.
TSCC’s cancellation still hurts. That show ended extremely strong. Dollhouse is getting better, but, I DVR it every week. Not exactly must see TV IMO. Not like Terminator was.
I wonder if Joss still feels good about his decision to return to Fox, and if he still believes that Fox is a different studio from the one that canceled Firefly.
Why does everyone continually dog Fox? This isn’t the same network that screwed over Firefly and Arrested Development. There was no reason to give Sarah Connor Chronicles all the chances it got, and Dollhouse was given the benefit of the doubt, too. At the end of the day, the network has to make money so it can survive. It gave Dollhouse a chance, and DH isn’t performing. As much of a Joss fan as I am, I don’t fault the network.
I have to agree with Jen here. It’s not the network. If you read all of the write ups out there – Fox has been generous with this show.
It IS a good premise. The problem was and still is that the story is all over the board. It is as if the writers don’t even know where they want to go…and everyone has an opinion so now that the heat is on so is the pressure to cave in to opinions – FAN…AND NETWORK.
It’s like Heroes – with the exception that Dollhouse didn’t have a breakout 1st season. But the writing is mediocre.
I wasn’t wild on Firefly either. It was quirky. It was good. Buffy is the ultimate feather in Joss’ cap. Just remember – Buffy wasn’t on a major network (the WB and then UPN) and low viewership on those networks made it a #1 ranked show for THEM. If Buffy HAD been on Fox or NBC or CBS or ABC…it would have died a horrible death EARLY in its lifetime.
Let Dollhouse go. Good premise. Absolutely terrible writing and a story that never really got off the ground. Fox gave it a chance this season and ALREADY its squandered it (and I’ve watched from Day 1).
Yeah, the problem isn’t the network, it’s the show. I love Whedon’s other shows and I gave Dollhouse a chance multiple times but when you get down to it the show simply isn’t very good. There were some nice elements to it, but it was hard to get attached to any of the characters and many of the stories were down right silly.
“If Buffy HAD been on Fox or NBC or CBS or ABC…it would have died a horrible death EARLY in its lifetime.”
That’s very true. And look at how much money Fox is STILL making from Buffy to this day from licensing merch, because the fan-base was allowed to grow to a level where they’ll support it indefinitely. Think about how much they’ve made on Firefly, and it never even had a full season on the air. That’s what I find so frustrating, is that they can’t seem to see the long term benefits of sticking with a long-tail show like Dollhouse, which will never have strong live air ratings, but creates a devoted fanbase that will follow you for decades.
DH would have been successful on the SYFY Channel, were a small core audience would be enough. But on a major network a show needs decent ratings to keep it going. Also some are comparing Buffy to DH if it were on FOX it would have also been canceled. I don’t think so, DH viewers are in the low 2’s at best. Buffy at its best was in the low 5’s and its worst the high 3’s (that was its first season only). Put it this way the first season is the only season were Buffy had less viewers than DH and TSCC combined, still think it would have been canceled?
Yeah… DH had some promise and a premise at least more interesting than a lot of random shows you see out there. The problem is, the premise is rarely lived up to.
They sort of have the priorities backwards. The ‘A’ plot of most episodes is usually just a standalone ‘look! An excuse for Eliza Dushku to play another different character!’ and the ‘B’ plotline is usually something more interesting, generally involving Topher, Victor or Sierra.
Interesting premise, good cast, bad execution. I like Joss Whedon’s work, but I can’t really blame FOX on this one.
That said, I agree that this should would’ve survived on SYFY. I mean, DH is still better than Sanctuary, which should be killed just to rid us of the ear-bleeding horror that is Amanda Tapping — an otherwise good actress — trying to do a British accent and failing miserably.
I kinda agree here, DH AND TSCC got plenty of chances. Saying the ratings are because the shows are on Friday night doesn’t work, compare them to the other shows on the other networks, they are not doing well.
A long term view would be as you suggest to milk the DH fanbase via the DVD market, something TSCC didn’t have going for it as all DVD money goes to WB rather than FOX.
Stupid Fox. They really can’t make up their own minds. Last I saw they were planning on airing it during sweeps. Sick of the back and forth.
They were planning on airing it over sweeps. But considering what sweeps’ purpose is…you can’t leave in a show that is going to be detrimental to your ratings and the possible ad revenue that comes from it.
I really hate how FOX is trying to make themselves seem like they’re treating “Dollhouse” fairly by airing all 13 episodes. No, if they truly wanted to be fair, they’d air it during November sweeps so the ratings on the show would climb and they could, hopefully renew it for a third season, but apparently that’s not what FOX wants to do. In my opinion, they’ve had it in for Joss ever since they messed with “Firefly” and it became one of the biggest sci-fi shows of the decade, but that had nothing to do with FOX so, because they can’t outrightly admit their jealousy, they try to sabotage Joss with “Dollhouse” instead.
Nope, this show has crap ratings. Even during sweeps, it would have sucked in the ratings. The only way this show could get good ratings would be if they aired in the spring right after American Idol.
I don’t think you understand how TV marketing works. Sweeps week doesn’t improve a show’s ratings. It’s the week where the advertisers set their rates based on the ratings. So the network has to make a business decision here and pull out the ratings stinkers. Unfortunately that means Dollhouse. Fox’s really given this show a chance; they could’ve cancelled it after the first season. It just never found its audience. You can’t blame scheduling on this one because it was always on Friday night at the same time everyone’s old beloved BSG was on on another channel last year.
That’s just silly. Firstly Firefly’s nothing like one of the big Sci-fi shows of the decade, it’d have to actually finish a season to be even considered remotely a success. Secondly FOX aren’t going to kill a show out of jealously, not at the price of possible tens of millions of dollars.
Silly.
I think that Sean Johnson was reporting on Firefly’s success AFTER it was a TV show – through DVD sales and the critically acclaimed movie.
Why must fox always screw Josh Whedon… first firefly and now Dollhouse. They always cancle the shows just as the story line is just getting going. Also, here’s a though. You might get better ratings if you stop putting these kind of shows on Friday night.
Who’s Josh?
Now u know how us terminator fans feel
Um…the show is entertaining, and exciting, sure, but intelligent? I’m sure even Whedon himself would laugh at that…
The show is fluffy fun, nothing groundbreaking or deep or smart.
Nothing groundbreaking or deep or smart? Have you even watched the show? I’m sure Whedon would be more apt to laugh at your comment than he would at Dollhouse being called intelligent. That’s like saying they didn’t use metaphor on Buffy.
Sorry, it isn’t groundbreaking. Maybe for Americans, it is, but this type of story has been done dozens of times in Japanese manga and anime series.
’cause all the cool people watch those, right?
A lot cooler than the people who think Joss Whedon shows are the bestest-shows-ever!!!
I never watched it because I knew Fox would bury it alive.
Well just think, maybe they will make it into a crappy movie like they did with Firefly.
Serenity was an amazing movie!
Serenity was an amazing movie. He better make a movie of Dollhouse if they cancel it, I think it is the best show he’s ever done which is saying a lot for me.
Didn’t any of you read my previous post, Fox would not have asked Whedon to direct an episode of Glee if they didn’t like him.
It looks like FOX is going to stick it to the viewers again.
1.Cancelling the T.S.C.C.
2.Threating to cancel Dollhouse after S1.
3.Now doing the same as no 2.
Time to stick it to FOX where the sun don’t shine.
Fingers crossed they come to sense (I mean, what else they got really to fill a Friday?) but still annoying.
This is the only really interesting comment/question in the bunch. Do they really have something to play on Friday in November that is going to get better ratings? I doubt it.
House and Bones reruns are the plan, I think. They’re clearing all of Friday night, both Dollhouse and the sitcoms before it. So they’ll first play House’s 2hour premiere on October 30th and then a Bones/House thing for November.
Yeah, they do. Repeats of House and Bones which get higher viewership as reruns than first run eps of Dollhouse.
And reruns don’t have production costs. The production costs are just too high compared to the revenue that this show is making. I’ve blamed Fox in the past, but not on this one. It was a miracle DH got a 2nd season at all.
The people at FOX are stupid, & they need to be ALL beaten with a lead pipe.
Why is it Fox’s fault that people aren’t watching? They are watching other shows, like Fringe. Maybe people aren’t watching because Joss’s shows just aren’t as good as his tiny but extremely vocal fanbase would shriek at us to believe?
Actually dollhouse gets no advertising outside of the actual Fox chanell and those commercials are few and far between. Most of my friends never heard of the show thanks to fox. Also the show aired against more established shows with already dedicated fan bases, Which is RETARDED for them to do for a new series. Finally friday night is a just a crappy time slot for a new show. Everyone who I have gotten to watch the show love it, show advertising would help.
and yea i misspelled channel XD too early in the morning lol
James-I agree. I bought the DVD for Season 1 and so far I’ve turned 5 people onto the show.
I also agree. I’ve managed to turn several people on to the show who had never even heard of it till I told them about it, and they all love it now….
There’s some truth to that. DH is a pretty decent show, but Whedon is wholly over-rated by his fanbase.
Dollhouse should never have been on Fox in the first place. It should have been pitched to Syfy along with T:SCC.
I think Joss in general should avoid the main networks and focus on cable channels. The low ratings his shows get would work better on those channels, and since he’s more a cult creator, he is better served by being on a niche channel.
I totally agree.
What the hell are FOX thinking? They have a great show made by a guy with arguably the most aggressive fanbase ever and they’re not gonna air the show during sweeps? Yet they’ll be horrifically shocked when it get’s no ratings because they stuck it in the friday night death slot, clearly FOX didn’t learn from their Firefly messup.
Oh and to those who think TSCC should’ve been renewed, that show had 3 blockbuster movies that were basically lead ins to the series and it still bombed, Dollhouse had no movie and is an actual original concept yet it’s doing better than TSCC was so get over yourselves
so get over yourselves
Word! But can we also apply that to whiny Whedonites?
Every word of that post is true.
However, any criticism levelled at the TSCC fanbase could also rightly be levelled at the clinically insane Browncoats.
Ugh.
Fox wants only SYTYCD, Bones, Lie to Me, Fringe, Glee, AI, but is willing to cast aside Dollhouse after saving it last season.
Yes, cause unlike Joss Whedon’s shows, those shows get ratings and decent reviews. FOX isn’t going to air a show that loses money unless it wins awards (like NBC and 30 Rock).
This is true, but it’s a well known fact that genre shows, like DH don’t win awards. They also knew ahead of time that Joss has a small, but passionate fanbase, and the kind of ratings that Buffy, Angel, and Firefly got. Yes, I’m sure they were banking on him adding to that, but that’s difficult when a new genre show is poorly promoted and stuck in a bad time slot. Also, not even in the very beginning, did Fox treat DH the way they’ve treated Fringe, AI, Bones, and Glee. If they ever wanted it to do well, then they should’ve acted like it, and shown it the kind of love they’ve shown their other shows.
Um…because all those shows you mentioned get the ratings. You all whine and moan about networks getting rid of “good” programming for money. Well…yeah. It’s a business people. Without money we wouldn’t get ANY entertainment. And some of those shows you’re complaining about are really good. Maybe y’all should be more open minded!
Maybe Joss can direct or/and write more episodes of Glee now. Come on look on the bright side people. While I enjoyed Dollhouse it was nowhere near as good as Buffy or Firefly, so at least this frees Joss to go on and do other great projects
Jenn, I completely agree. I was a huge fan of Firefly, and I really wanted to like Dollhouse. I watched the entire first season and the first episode of the second season, but I just couldn’t hang with it. They needed to move the plot beyond the using dolls as prostitutes story line and get into the background of how the dollhouse came to be, the experiments by that company (can’t remember it’s name), and give Echo something better to do. That may have been where it was going, but not soon enough for me. Cancelled or not, I’m out.
What incredible logic is displayed here. “I didn’t watch it because Fox was going to cancel it anyway.” Then, you come and complain when they finally do cancel it because of low ratings. WOW?
Self fulfilling prophecy
I HATE YOU FOX!!!!!!!!!!!