THR: Dollhouse ratings drop back down - Dollhouse

Depressing. Sad face.

*sigh* Yeah, a grand slam of an episode doesn't do much good when baseball interrupted people's viewing schedule last week,and they forgot to return (or gave up) this week... Heart sinking.

CellarDoor | October 24, 16:39 CET

I told the network this would happen. Poor, poor, poor promotion again. They sent out clips of the episode to press yesterday where you could hear crew walking around, lines weren't looped, cuts overlapped - it looked appauling. Yesterday they twittered and Facebooked articles with the wrong airdate for the next episode, today they updated the website saying the next episode is next week... Screeners went out too late to press, press review quotes weren't used anywhere on the website, in the promos etc.

It also had one promo I'm aware of for the week during GLEE. That was it. After being off air.

You name it, they're doing it wrong.

[ edited by gossi on 2009-10-24 16:41 ]

gossi | October 24, 16:40 CET

Just finished the episode. These ratings are a tragedy :(

ThorpeWithoutShrimp | October 24, 16:49 CET

Yeah well :(

maz | October 24, 16:50 CET

This is expected, but sad. I'm just glad that these episodes are so good. It's one silver lining - the show has a limited life left but at least it's living it well.

Poor team.

brynmars | October 24, 16:54 CET

This is so discouraging that I am almost actually bummed out (for a second). But it is how it is and we can't change the past. What we can do is affect the future, and FOX's bottom line while we're at it. Please consider doing some early shopping for the holidays: DVDs here, iTunes here, and of course say hello to Hulu!

whyiwatch | October 24, 16:54 CET

Why did I expect something decent today? Genre programming with no promotion up against genre programming with a lot of promotion. The victor is obvious, but I make myself forget it only to see this once again.

I'd be interested to see if it gets better ratings at 8 in December.

Jaymii | October 24, 17:04 CET

Marc Berman reports slightly (very slightly) better numbers: 2.15 million; A18-49: 0.9/ 3

[ edited by JMaloney on 2009-10-24 17:08 ]

JMaloney | October 24, 17:08 CET

It's almost certainly an issue with rounding with THR rounding down and Berman rounding up.

helcat | October 24, 17:11 CET

Fox have given up. Actually, so have I. As long as I get to see how the season plays how I'll be happy. At this point, the show is a goner, so why care about ratings?

flugufrelsarinn | October 24, 17:16 CET

Hmm...with Ugly Betty and Dollhouse getting these bad ratings, my two favorite network shows won't have that much of a long life anymore, huh? Lost joins them, at least Glee & HIMYM stay around, but boy, UB and Dollhouse are my favorites.

Thank God my cable favorites have been renewed and don't seem like goners.

Donnie | October 24, 17:29 CET

yeah, dollhouse is done. at least we're going to be able finish the series properly.

kefka | October 24, 17:36 CET

I forgot it was on last night. The week off broke my pattern.

will.bueche | October 24, 18:00 CET

It's just a shame. I can't believe we're losing this... it's just... it's making me a very sad person.

maxsummers | October 24, 18:18 CET

Whatever I say. We're getting the 13 and Joss and the team aren't saving anything for the swim back so we're at least gonna get as much story as a very talented bunch of writers and performers can give us in 9 episodes.

Things could be better, things could be worse. 'Twas ever thus.

Saje | October 24, 18:39 CET

Someone should buy the set, just in case. It's too pretty to be destroyed!!

Krusher | October 24, 18:42 CET

gossi, it had a good number of commercials this week, actually. It's just that they were placed during ad breaks usually preempted by local affiliates to advertise that night's news. So no one actually saw them. (Also, some ads at 12:30 at night. So no one actually saw them.)

Which is actually why it's a bit of a windmill tilt for Joss to say he's going to lean on the network to get the word out in the run up to December. The reality is they've been doing just barely enough as it is to be able to say to Joss with a vaguely straight face, "But we are advertising it."

We might think "advertising it" should mean doing so in a way that people actually see the ads. They, on the other hand, just need the ads to exist so they can say they had some.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2009-10-24 18:45 ]

The One True b!X | October 24, 18:44 CET

I'm with you Saje, screw the numbers. We're getting brand new awesome Joss television and if the rest of the world doesn't get it, that's their loss.

And as for those of you Joss Whedon fans (obviously you're all members of this site) that assume the show is a goner and are depressed, take a chill pill. It's the same chorus we heard for months about how there wouldn't be a season 2. And here we are discussing seasons 2's numbers...

I've had more squee moments with Joss than any other story teller and I wouldn't have it any other way. Best case scenario, we get more. Worst case scenario, we get to see what Joss does next. Either way we win. So no more doom and gloom people!!

alexreager | October 24, 18:47 CET

But on another note: I prefer to see these ratings as a measure of my pity for all of the people who deprived themselves of something awesome.

The One True b!X | October 24, 18:47 CET

hear hear B!x

alexreager | October 24, 18:50 CET

It's interesting to look at these numbers in context. Ugly Betty only pulled a 1.2 in the demo. Dollhouse pulled a .9. Medium was the big winner at a 2.2. No one in the demo is watching network TV at 9pm on Friday night. I'm not sure that is a reflection of the shows.

IrrationaliTV | October 24, 18:55 CET

Just woke up, watching the episode again now. We should let people know about this if the episode only got an 0.9. We should tell people "are you going to let all this thought-provoking and sexy drama go to waste"?
Or maybe people are waiting for Summer Glau to arrive.
If so, we should also say "Do not wait, guys. See what you're missing on Hulu or Fox on Demand."
That's the one advantage we have. For the next five weeks, we can get people to catch up on season 2, especially with last week.
I mean, if nothing else, we saw who the real dolls are, and which ones want to be the wake-up call.

impalergeneral | October 24, 19:20 CET

I saw a couple of promos in the last week. They were 5 seconds long. Those surely got 0 new viewers on board. Even if they didn't blink and miss it, there wasn't enough to even remember the name of the show let alone make people want to watch. I'm grateful for the second season, but that doesn't blind me to the fact that there is not a single show on that Fox has done less for.

hacksaway | October 24, 20:11 CET

Part of FOX's problem when it comes to commercials for Dollhouse, I think, that their marketing people don't seem to grasp that sometimes less is more. So much of the premise seems too complicated to explain that they end up cutting pretty run-of-the-mill paint-by-numbers commercials that could be for anything.

They tried promoting it with guns. They tried promoting it with sex. They tried promoting it with color-by-numbers. None of it worked. What they've never really tried is selling the actual show the creators make.

I still think they should just run 15-second and 30-second spots consisting entirely of an unedited cut from a scene from the next episode. No strained ad copy in voiceover. No over-packaging. Let the show sell the show.

People might want FOX to advertise/promote the show more. But so much of what little they've done has been so bad, that all we have right now, if they do more, is a recipe to get more of the bad.

Whatever FOX does, if they do anything, we don't just need more. We need different. It doesn't have to be my different. But it can't be more of FOX's the same.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2009-10-24 20:23 ]

The One True b!X | October 24, 20:17 CET

Exactly, Bix. You see this happen in movies all the time with misleading marketing. Even if it draws people in, the movie inevitably underperforms when people realize they were lied to.

Drag Me To Hell was a wonderful horror-comedy, but horror comedies aren't traditionally successful, so they marketed it as straight horror. Those who loved classic Raimi stuff thought it looked boring, and those who wanted a straight up horror film didn't like it because there was so much humor.

I'm sure if the guns and sex promos drew anyone into Dollhouse, they would be pretty disappointed with what they got. Is it really so hard for Fox to cut a promo that sells it as something dark, cerebral, smart and disturbing? In other words, as something it actually is?

They seem obsessed with selling it to the teenage boy demo. Why not try selling it as something sophisticated?

The fans are putting so much effort into this (Why I Watch is one of the most sophisticated fan promo sites I've seen), but there's really not much we can do when Fox's marketing team seems to have never gotten the show/already given up.

bonzob | October 24, 20:57 CET

'Why I watch' is only distinguishable from official promotional materials in as much as it actually makes me want to watch the show (even more I mean). It's an amazing bit of work.

They seem obsessed with selling it to the teenage boy demo. Why not try selling it as something sophisticated?

Because they don't believe the American viewing public are sophisticated. Just once though Fox, why not give them a chance to prove you wrong ? What do you have to lose at this stage ?

Saje | October 24, 21:45 CET

Why not try selling it as something sophisticated?

I'm not shure that the average American audience is waiting for that, see all the shows currently airing..

Just saying, this is not a show for everyone.

Krusher | October 24, 21:46 CET

Just saying, this is not a show for everyone.

Right. But they keep trying to sell it like it is. Which is likely turning off some of the audience it is for but who don't hang out on fan sites that would tell them the truth of it.

They need to stop trying to sell it like a show for everyone, and sell the show that's being made. I'd be willing to bet my season one press kit Active doll that if they did this, and aired ads that did this where people would see them, more of that niche would realize it's a show for them.

The One True b!X | October 24, 21:50 CET

OK, apparently nobody thinks the American viewing public is sophisticated. Sorry American viewing public, I tried.

...more of that niche would realize it's a show for them.

Yeah they want to try to get some of that 9 million 'Lost' "niche" or the 10 million 'Flashforward' "niche".

Saje | October 24, 22:00 CET

Right, I agree it's not for everyone. It's much harder to sell than a procedural or something centered around a single charismatic character, like House or Monk.

Dollhouse, like Firefly before it, is going to be a tough sell no matter what. What I'm saying is, when you have a tough sell, misrepresenting the material often ends up hurting the show more than helping.

Instead, why not market it like a prestige show? Why not market it like a show that wins Emmys? It's certainly getting the reviews. Go after the audience that likes smart, challenging TV. Go after a cable audience. I know that audience is fairly tiny but I'm betting there's still a fair amount of people who would actually really like Dollhouse if they thought it was something other than Eliza Dushku parading around in skimpy clothing and shooting people.

A lot of the posters on Whedonesque are big genre fans, but Dollhouse is far less genre-y than Firefly or Buffy were. Other than the tech, last night's episode could have been a straight drama, and really good one. I think there are fans of smart dramas who get turned off by genre stuff who probably see Dollhouse as some B-movie sci-fi actioner, thanks to the marketing, but would actually find the show worthwhile.

It may be a poor example because it aired on cable and had a fairly small audience, but I thought they did a good job with this with BSG. When it was first announced as a reboot of a campy 70s show, people thought it would suck. But the marketing clearly showed how smart and serious it was, and, in the later seasons, played up all the acclaim it had received. I think even someone who'd never seen the show would know that it was something sophisticated and well-regarded, whereas I would imagine most people who've never seen Dollhouse think it's sleazy junk.

bonzob | October 24, 22:02 CET

Why not ramp up the campaign? Advertise Summer Glau's appearance.

A concerted effort all around on many advertising platforms would be good. We would have many weeks to raise money to do things more extravagantly, to be sure to reach more people.

Or do we not care any more because it's been confirmed we will get all 13?

My FB ad had 270,000 impressions over 4 days. On just my donations. If we pooled together, we could really reach people with a series of ads. We don't want our target to see the ad once. We want them to see it enough times to be intrigued enough to Hulu it or whatever.

Ivalaine | October 24, 23:30 CET

First, I agree that we need to ramp up the promotion for Summer's eps. in December. Like Joss said, we have a whole month to spread the word.

Also, I don't think we should hit full panic till the DVR numbers come in. If people forgot this was on, then found it in their in-box, it might have enticed them to watch then. If it bumps us up to a 1.5, that would:

a) show a nice increase in viewership and,

b) if this is the last ep. the DVR crowd got, and they watched the preview for the next ep., it might get them jazzed about its return in December. And, again, like Joss said, Dollhouse is returning with a ridiculously appropriate lead-in. I'm not only looking forward to the next ep. in December, I'm looking forward to the Saturday after. :)

ETA: Yes, I'm ever the optimist :P

[ edited by crhobbs42 on 2009-10-25 00:20 ]

crhobbs42 | October 25, 00:21 CET

Oh, we care. I for sure am still holding on to some strange, bizarre hope for a back nine or a season three. Because I want more Dollhouse. WAY more Dollhouse. Especially now that it's gotten this good.

If it ended after season one, just think of all the pure, undiluted awesome we would have missed out on.

Season two is shaping up to continue to blow season one out of the water, and I'd bet anything season three could do the same to season two. There are just so many astounding places this story can go. I want to see it make the journey and will do whatever it takes. We cannot become complacent or pessimistic.

CZGoldEdition | October 25, 00:47 CET

Season two is shaping up to continue to blow season one out of the water

It's a Joss trademark, building up on storylines and characters spread out in time.

Time we do not have anymore. The attention span of the average viewer is none to nothing anymore. Sigh.

Krusher | October 25, 00:56 CET

Disappointed about last night's drop in ratings, but can't say I'm all that surprised. I'm sure I'll get flak for saying so, but unfortunately the awesomeness of last night's episode (my mind kept going back to the Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Allison from Palmdale") just acted to further highlight the show's key weakness at this point (also ala tSCC): the single most important character on the show comes across as the least interesting.

brinderwalt | October 25, 01:00 CET

I don't think you could call Echo the "least interesting". As far as the Actives go, what she's going through right now is the most interesting, it's just that the writers shoved Echo down our throats for three meh-ish episodes. Echo wasn't in the episode much last night, but her development was better than the first three episodes combined. The writers just need to use her properly.

hitnrun017 | October 25, 01:12 CET

I don't think you could call Echo the "least interesting".

I'd be hard pressed to name a supporting character who comes across as being - generally speaking - less interesting than Echo (and I'm talking about supporting characters here - ie. they're supposed to be subordinate to the lead character by definition.)

As far as the Actives go, what she's going through right now is the most interesting[...]

Unfortunately watching her "going through it" tends to be less interesting than watching the other more minor characters go through technically less interesting stuff - ie. the problem all over again.

brinderwalt | October 25, 01:38 CET

It might have been nice to have an episode where everything works as it is supposed to. There is a sameness in my mind- we see the DH, we see someone implanted, we see something unexpected happen to that someone, we see complications, and we see no one actually learn anything (outside of Echo and her returning memories). Topher still goes and does what he does, Adelle still goes and does what she does, Boyd, etc. I think seeing it work right would help; it just never does.

DH is cooked. Right now, it was reported earlier this week that Fox is considering canceling Lie to Me, which has 4-5 times the number of viewers that DH does.

Dana5140 | October 25, 01:58 CET

DH is cooked. Right now, it was reported earlier this week that Fox is considering canceling Lie to Me, which has 4-5 times the number of viewers that DH does.

I'd hesitate to come to that kind of conclusion on such a basis; Lie to Me is bound to have a totally different set of financial considerations in play than Dollhouse does.

It might have been nice to have an episode where everything works as it is supposed to. There is a sameness in my mind- we see the DH, we see someone implanted, we see something unexpected happen to that someone[...]

You mean the show is formulaic ala one of those "intellectually inferior" procedural shows like - say -Castle? ;)

I'm really asking for it tonight aren't I?

[ edited by brinderwalt on 2009-10-25 02:15 ]

brinderwalt | October 25, 02:04 CET

Not really. I love Dollhouse, but I actually completely disagree with Joss on this point. Although it's not my show so who cares.

It would never hurt the believability to show WHY everyone has the position they do. To have the Dollhouse pull something miraculous off and make it look routine might come of as stupid and procedural if you do it wrong, but it adds to the believability of everything else.

My guess is, its supposed to be implied that 95% of the time everything is working perfectly. But most viewers won't give you that benefit of the doubt if they don't see it at least once. And if the interweb isn't lying to me, apparently they're not since most criticisms start with a snarky comment about the unbelievability of an organization that fails constantly.

azzers | October 25, 04:40 CET

Please Fox, let Joss take Dollhouse and cast to HBO if you ain't feelin' it.

Hjermsted | October 25, 09:01 CET

Put on Dollhouse after House. It's like House but with Dolls.

OK, really I just want to be able to watch both shows on the same night without DVR, but some of House's massive audience would have to stay on to watch, right?

archon | October 25, 09:38 CET

I watch both which means so far 100% of 'House' viewers surveyed would watch 'Dollhouse' afterwards. Woohoo ! 10+ million viewers here we come !

(that's how statistics works right ? ;)

Saje | October 25, 09:57 CET

I'm there too, Saje. The 100% just keep getting... stronger.

Re ratings: It's disheartening, really. Last season when it was a week off it also lost .2 in the demo, so maybe it's just the week off.

wiesengrund | October 25, 10:50 CET

So that means if it has four weeks off it'll lose .8, right ?!? Yikes. But then the double bills are effectively the same as having -1 weeks off so it should recover. Phew.

(really getting the hang of this numbers thing, s'easy)

Saje | October 25, 11:23 CET

most criticisms start with a snarky comment about the unbelievability of an organization that fails constantly.

Anyone who observed the workings of the U.S. government for eight years of Bush/Cheney, should swallow that one, with no problem.

I can't help wondering what would have happened if Fox had promoted DH the way CBS (NBC? - can't remember) is promoting "V".

Shey | October 25, 12:04 CET

True, but government isn't ruled by the 'invisible hand' of the market... or is it?

baxter | October 25, 12:14 CET

So that means if it has four weeks off it'll lose .8, right ?!? Yikes. But then the double bills are effectively the same as having -1 weeks off so it should recover. Phew.

Nah, long-term counts different: During the summer hiatus it lost nothing.

You still got a lot to learn, young Padawan, but the numbers are strong with you. I can feel that.

wiesengrund | October 25, 12:17 CET

Ah but 4 weeks is less than a hiatus so presumably the drop off will be less than 0.8 but more than 0.0 - it should be proportional to 0.2 but weighted by the ratio hiatus-length/4.

It stands to reason (where by reason I mean "reason" and by all this fake figuring stuff out I mean "i'm a bit sceptical that the drop off was due to the week's break" ;).

Saje | October 25, 12:36 CET

Frankly, I won't fret over DH getting cancelled, so long as Joss starts making something else right away. I liked DH, but I would also love to see other live action from Joss. And honestly, while DH has often been great, it has often been less than great, and overall I would say that it does not fall in the same category as Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Doc Horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Joss himself is kinda ready to move on. After all, I'm sure he would prefer to make shows that people watch.

Of course, the worst thing that could happen is that DH gets cancelled and then we don't get another show from Joss for years...

Squishy | October 25, 13:48 CET

I'm there too, Saje. The 100% just keep getting... stronger.

Nope, since the fact that Saje watches both shows means 100% of House viewers would watch Dollhouse, the fact that you also watch both means that 200% of House viewers would watch Dollhouse.

And damn it, Belonging was so good that it made me really care again whether Dollhouse gets renewed. I almost wouldn't have minded that much if it had been cancelled after the first three episodes of this season

Let Down | October 25, 14:56 CET

Barney voice: if Dollhouse gets cancelled, Joss plans to move to Australia and start a business making pancakes whilst wearing funny hats. FACT!

Ted voice: The truth is I don't believe Dollhouse is done. If the network steps up and shows the love.

Robin voice: *knock knock knock* Ted, this table says you are a douche.

gossi | October 25, 15:07 CET

I watch House but don't much care about DH, so there goes your perfect stats. Sorry. As Lie to Me follows House, I'd prefer to watch that, since it a show I really do like.

Dana5140 | October 25, 17:15 CET

I can't help wondering what would have happened if Fox had promoted DH the way CBS (NBC? - can't remember) is promoting "V".

It's neither. ABC runs "V". You make a valid point, though. However, "V" is already a familiar, beloved brand, so much of the work is already done. Additionally, the premise of the show is a lot simpler (visitors from another world come to Earth) and therefore easier to market and squeeze into ominous, curious 15-second ads. The consensus here seems to be that the ads for DH we have now are too short, abrupt and spastic to be worthwhile.

If I had some choice footage from the show so far, with music removed, I promise you I could easily make a 3-minute trailer that was all about the dark, cerebral intricacies of the show itself.

kungfubear | October 25, 21:02 CET

I don't like House, but I REALLY like Dollhouse, so it would work for me.

Perfect.

whedon is GOD | October 25, 21:03 CET

Much of the work is already done for V only if you were alive in the 80s and watched the original. A significant portion of the target demographic isn't included in that. People currently, what, 25 were just being born when the original V was on.

So these ominous curious ads can't possibly be geared only to people who remember the first incarnation.

I think it's a legitimate question whether or not that sort of ad campaign would work now for Dollhouse (although I hardly think it could work less than what they're doing), but had it been the sort of thing FOX did originally, it could have been effective.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2009-10-25 21:13 ]

The One True b!X | October 25, 21:14 CET

There seems to be an emerging consensus that if all Fox did was focus on the darkness of DH in its promos, the show would have done better. I am not certain this is true. First, I am not certain how to encapsulate DH in a short 15-second burst. Second, I am not convinced that people really do want a dark show at all- few of them work well, and shows like Lost only maintained a diminished popularity by calling for an end-point to the show. While Epithet One may seem an end-point, a lot could happen between it and the current-day show. So I think the "blame Fox" argument does not work on many levels. In the end, DH would remain on air and there would be no discussions such as this if it had a lot more viewers. It has failed to attract those viewers, and even critical acclaim has not helped it; in fact, in some ways, I think it hurts it, since the message seems to be "There is this really dark show created by this really innovative guy who created other shows you never saw, and it talks about gender, prostitution, and identity, and we think you should watch." This is not a message the average viewer is going to hear.

Dana5140 | October 25, 21:50 CET

Epithet One? Freudian slip?

The One True b!X | October 25, 21:51 CET

But anyway, I don't think the consensus is on dark. I think the consensus is on not promoting the show as a gun thriller or a sex thriller, which FOX tried and failed to build an audience with.

The One True b!X | October 25, 21:53 CET

Yeah, I wasn't advocating for dark, I was advocating for not misrepresenting the show as tits and gunplay. That's harder to represent in fifteen second bursts, perhaps, but far from impossible. Again, Why I Watch has done a great job of presenting the tone of the show and making it look interesting.

Maybe you are right, Dana, that people don't want a dark show, but the argument I was making is that the show IS dark, and marketing it as something it isn't does more damage than showing what it is. It's never gonna be a top ten or even top fifty show, but I think it could attract a couple million more viewers with more and better marketing.

I'm not saying "blame Fox," and have defended them before. Kevin Reilly remains my favorite exec in the biz. But the marketing and publicity for Dollhouse has not been good, period. I freely admit it's a tough show to market. But that doesn't change the fact that they've done a mediocre to poor job with it.

I don't think you can say critical acclaim has not helped it -- the marketing and publicity need to let people know it's receiving this acclaim. Like I was saying, an average TV viewer has likely a) not heard of Dollhouse, b) heard of it as some dumb Fox T&A action show, or, unfortunately, c) watched a couple of early episodes and didn't like it. Most people don't obsessively follow Dollhouse media like Whedonesquers.

The marketing needed to let people know a) Dollhouse exists, and is back for season two, b) Dollhouse is not a dumb T&A action show, but a smart, character and idea driven sci-fi drama, and c) It's a lot better than it was at the start of its run.

Fox has flat-out failed to do this. It is kind of a catch-22, because they only picked up the show because they found out a way to spend very little money on it, but, in order to make money on it, they had to spend money marketing it, which they didn't do. It seemed they thought that all they needed was pick the show up, and count on the Joss fan base and the DVD release over the summer to maintain or grow an audience. That's not enough, and was never going to be enough without them flexing a little marketing muscle.

bonzob | October 25, 22:10 CET

There's never a consenus amongst the fandom. We're like the UN, except instead of people we're all cats.

gossi | October 25, 22:12 CET

... marketing it as something it isn't does more damage than showing what it is. It's never gonna be a top ten or even top fifty show, but I think it could attract a couple million more viewers with more and better marketing.

WBS.™

ETA that part of the problem (and this is one of my biases showing) is that marketers tend to want to inject their own creative take on things instead of being the more transparent conveyors of what something already is.

One can be a creative marketer without trampling all over what it is one is marketing. It's just that many marketing people don't seem to get that.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2009-10-25 22:18 ]

The One True b!X | October 25, 22:17 CET

Ways to improve the marketing:

- Do a brand exercise for the show and figure out a new image.
- Have a strategy. Seriously.
- Do promos with review quotes.
- Do promos which make it clear the show is smart.
- Use mood music in promos at times.
- Embrace social media PROPERLY.
- Set up an official mailing list so the fans are on the same page.
- Pre-empt negative publicity by anticipating and setting the media agenda.
- Use sites like Hulu and Fox On Demand creatively.
- Don't 'try something different' or 'see what sticks'. Do smart new media things.
- Think how to engage Joss Whedon fans to reach a wider audience of their friends and family.

And there is so, so much more which could be done. If they did it for the relaunch, they would make more money from the airings.

[ edited by gossi on 2009-10-25 22:28 ]

gossi | October 25, 22:27 CET

The ideal age range for "V" (much like many shows) seems to be 18-49. The advertising allows for both young viewers to the material who either a) only know of the show in passing as in, "Hey, didn't this used to be a show back before I was born?" or b) were exposed to it by their TV-loving parents. I'm somewhere in the middle, as a 30 year old who has heard my Mom talk about it and I've read about the show, seen screen caps and am a Marc Singer fan (as well as Robert Englund, of course), but I've not seen the original (or at least, I was too young to remember seeing it).

There are also a large percentage of people who are still alive from the 80s' and remember the show well. It's not so old and ancient as to feel completely new and original. ABC is still using the same, red painted "V" motif to promote the show to older, more familiar viewers. The original mini-series was released on DVD in 2001, with all 19 episodes of the series proper following suit in 2004. Currently, you can watch the old show in its entirety at TheWB.com.

Dollhouse, unfortunately is not so lucky. Tim Minear once said, "It's Fox's job as a network to bring in potential viewers. Once the show starts, it's MY job as a writer to maintain that audience the network brings me". Slight ups and downs from episode to episode aside, that's pretty much what we're seeing. The average number of viewers, combining live and online seems to be roughly 2 million, yes? After season one, Fox said they would be fine with those numbers continuing.

Dollhouse is a unique show in that you have Joss Whedon fans who don't watch/like Dollhouse, and you have Dollhouse fans who don't watch/like other Joss Whedon shows, and then you have the fans who happen to watch/like both. Some watch on Friday nights, some watch later online, and some do both (like myself).

It would appear, from what I've been reading, that not a lot of people watch TV on Friday nights, and the ones that do (the 50 and older crowd who usually stay home that night) are more likely to watch CBS that night (hence the decent ratings) than they are FOX. That has just as much to do with what else is on at the time versus Dollhouse itself, in both what it may or may not be marketed as and in the show it actually is.

But I digress... When Eliza tweeted about the just over 2 million, it made me happy. Not, you know, a lot, but enough. Even if she got it wrong and it happens to be 0.9 live or whatever, there is still the DVR numbers to consider, which if the previous readings are any indication, seems to be doing quite well. Point is, these numbers don't really upset me. I've no problem hoping for better, but to expect better? I prefer not to play that game.

If I were Fox, and the live + DVR equaled to around 2 million on average, I would be fine with that for a Friday night and I would order the back nine episodes. Having said that, would those numbers make me renew Dollhouse for a third season?

Well, I'll answer that one in May, probably June. :)

kungfubear | October 25, 23:02 CET

"After season one, Fox said they would be fine with those numbers continuing."

Problem is this seasons ratings have been down on season 1, they're down on even the second half of season 1. So maybe FOX would have been happy with ratings in line with last season - but sadly they've not yet seen that.

helcat | October 25, 23:37 CET

Heh heh, not Freudian, but still funny. :-)

ETA: gossi, did you read that Hulu may start charging for broadcasting its shows?

[ edited by Dana5140 on 2009-10-26 00:49 ]

Dana5140 | October 26, 00:48 CET

The One True b!X you are so right about letting them just show a 30 second clip for a promo.
I hated on instinct medical dramas so I hated House when I heard about it and every bland promo I saw was so awful it made me believe I was in the right.
Four years went by and Show Case picked it up and for their promo of it they gave an unedited clip of House for 30 seconds and I was sold, I just had to find out what happened next and have loved the series ever since. Let Dollhouse be it's own voice instead of the moody melodramatic voice over people please!

silent knight | October 26, 01:22 CET

I also still think an ad campaign modeled after the "man on the street" interviews from, well, Man On the Street, would entice people.

If the advertising and marketing people can't seem to suss how to sell the show, then just have in-world people giving voice to all the different ways of looking at the premise of what the Dollhouse does.

Again, it comes from the fairly simple premise of letting the show sell itself rather than trying to package it into "something sellable".

The One True b!X | October 26, 21:06 CET

Finals courtesy of Travis Yannan at pifeedback.com

Dollhouse
- 2.089 million viewers
- 1.3/2 HH
- 0.8/3 A18-49

helcat | October 26, 21:46 CET

I don't think there are more people out on a Friday... more people are traveling on the road on Sunday than any other day.

I think people on Friday night are watching their DVR/TiVos to watch movies, or catching up on the shows they missed during the work week.

Little Green Kid | October 26, 22:19 CET

October 24 2009