So we go from Red Alert to Purple Alert? Or is it Maroon?

zz9 | October 05, 23:18 CET

Is it Mauve?

kishi | October 05, 23:23 CET

Deviled eggs.

MissKittysMom | October 05, 23:23 CET

Now all it needs is another million viewers this week.

danielgm | October 05, 23:33 CET

Changes nothing.

Dana5140 | October 05, 23:42 CET

Yeah, I'm not seeing the 0.8 vs 0.9 thing as crucial as it most probably reflects a tiny change in number which has just altered the rounding, rather than a major change from fast nationals to finals.

helcat | October 06, 00:23 CET

Will this make any difference at all? I mean, it did better than the sitcoms on before it, and as far as I know they aren't in danger of cancellation.

Dawnfire87 | October 06, 00:27 CET

I think we're on Teal alert. Share is up, but audience total is down. I bet with a more competent attempt at promoting "Belle Chose", even against an "Ugly Betty" doubleheader, we can get a two rating, and three million fans.

impalergeneral | October 06, 00:31 CET

I'll wait for gossi's interpretation before I start to picnic.

SteppeMerc | October 06, 00:47 CET

LOL.

gossi | October 06, 00:52 CET

I came for the food, but I stayed for the ants.

QuoterGal | October 06, 00:56 CET

Dawnfire, comedies are usually much cheaper to produce, so need far fewer viewers to remain profitable.

zz9 | October 06, 01:12 CET

Honestly? I'm not a mod here (thank the lord, I'd be awful at it) but if we start looking at the fast nationals AND actuals we'll never get any sleep. Let the network think about it.

gossi | October 06, 01:12 CET

One of the sitcoms is in total danger of cancellation. You don't hear about it because no one cares. The other is so cheap that it is basically free.

TamaraC | October 06, 01:21 CET

What on earth could Not-At-All-Brothers be replaced it?

gossi | October 06, 01:24 CET

I'd put repeats of Cleveland or Family Guy in there. Or a Glee highlight show. Just the musical numbers. Moving that death show to 8pm first.

[ edited by TamaraC on 2009-10-06 02:30 ]

TamaraC | October 06, 02:30 CET

Good lord, Cleveland show is one of the worst shows ever, how in the world is that better than the two horrid shows before Dollhouse now?

SteppeMerc | October 06, 02:37 CET

better ratings I assume?

[ edited by mortimer on 2009-10-06 02:48 ]

mortimer | October 06, 02:48 CET

Family guy reruns might be an excellent idea. I don't watch it, but the people who do seem to generally have similar TV taste to me (read: fairly geeky) so there'd be more overlap with potential Dollhouse viewers than the current lead-ins have.

sab39 | October 06, 02:58 CET

Family Guy might make sense, though you think with it being on reruns every night on Adult Swim, and the fact that Friday for whatever reason isn't a popular night to watch TV, it wouldn't be a whole lot. More than the shows they have now.

[ edited by SteppeMerc on 2009-10-06 03:23 ]

SteppeMerc | October 06, 03:19 CET

Ms. Sunfire tells me my original Picnic scene wasn't very panic-y or scary, so I've found one that I think is a little more ominous.

Its scare-creds are impeccable...

QuoterGal | October 06, 06:31 CET

0.9 of what? What does it mean? What does any of it mean. It's just bollocks isn't it.

Oh and we're not going to do umpteen ratings thread a week. There will be the normal one on a Saturday and whenever the DVR numbers come out. That'll be it.

Simon | October 06, 07:19 CET

Simon, it's not bollocks.

Maybe it's not a big up-stick, but the MAIN THING you need to get from this is: Dollhouse did better than Brothers and Til Death. Maybe they will rethink their strategy and put a good lead-in for Dollhouse.

BTW, the final numbers are more accurate than the overnights. They are the ones you should be worried about, not the DVR ones.

Rikardo | October 06, 11:29 CET

Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb.

spooforbrains | October 06, 11:32 CET

Does anyone know when will we see the DVR numbers for Vows?

Anuris | October 06, 11:37 CET

Next week. Sometime between Tuesday and Thursday.

wiesengrund | October 06, 11:41 CET

Wednesday being just one instance of that class.

0.9 of what? What does it mean? What does any of it mean. It's just bollocks isn't it.

Quick Simon's having an existential crisis. Somebody do ... oh, what's the point, everybody dies alone and, taking the long view, everything is ultimately futile (note to self: you're not good in an existential crisis).

Not exactly overjoyed myself that it's gone from "very bad" to "not quite very bad" but if it consoles folk (albeit unduly IMO) then I guess there's no harm. And if Kevin Reilly isn't paying attention he might see the 0.8 to 0.9 as an uptick. I mean, an uptick from Friday to Monday when the show isn't even on has to be good right ? It's like a magic uptick and with fairies on our side how can we lose ?

Saje | October 06, 11:53 CET

That and he's wondering why the fandom spends more time talking about the ratings rather than the episodes/plot arcs/characters.

Simon | October 06, 12:02 CET

I honestly think that going from 1.0 to 0.9 is totally predict- and acceptable (especially if nearly the whole night drops more than that). The 0.8 on the other hand felt really disastrous. The smaller the numbers, the more such small differences matter, I think.

wiesengrund | October 06, 12:04 CET

If it's a turning point towards higher ratings/share then sure, great, 300-400,000 more viewers and a point or two next week would be cause for hope, even optimism if it didn't drop back (this could be a blip because of SGU, which a lot of folks may not stay with after what was to me - a longtime Stargate fan - a bit of an underwhelming premiere). But as I say elsewhere, IM(deeply unqualified)O at a certain point Fox isn't looking at whether the percentage drop is slightly less disastrous than for other network's shows (unless, obviously, it means 'Dollhouse' is beating those shows - which it isn't), it's looking at absolute numbers of advertisable eyeballs and if 'Dollhouse' stabilises at 2 million viewers and a 0.9 in the 18-49 demo then I don't think it'll be around too much longer (much as it grieves me to say it).

That and he's wondering why the fandom spends more time talking about the ratings rather than the episodes/plot arcs/characters.

Yeah, the episode discussion threads seem to have tailed off in (very) rough proportion to the ratings decline. Which I guess makes sense.

(and here I am, once again sucked into ratings discussions. I may give up quitting stuff, i'm just not very good at it)


ETClarify the '0.9 share' thing

[ edited by Saje on 2009-10-06 12:30 ]

Saje | October 06, 12:24 CET

I just stumbled into the wrong thread and stayed for QuoterGal's pictures. :) Personally I'm looking forward to 10/16- let's see how well they do when we're not on the air.

(I was naive in thinking the ratings threads had some actual found worries to picnic about. Luckily, I was wrong- same stuff from last season. And look how that turned out. ;) )

korkster | October 06, 15:42 CET

Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb.

Go to beige alert. If I don't make it, tell my wife "Hello".

(Answering a Red Dwarf quote with a Futurama one.)

zz9 | October 06, 16:25 CET

QuoterGal, that second pic is indeed much more ominous. I got a little shiver as soon as I recognized it.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | October 06, 16:37 CET

I refuse to accept its validity because the rock isn't actually hanging. Still, I don't see any potato salad and that's an ominous sign for any picnic.

Saje | October 06, 16:48 CET