Ok, it is after midnight here in the Jet City, and as I sit down to bang this post out on my beloved Model M it would appear that my tasty glass of juice is half empty. Maybe I'm just not in the right frame of mind to spin this news in a positive direction that will lead to a 2009 full of Dollhouse win.
Tucked away in a report on various network goings on over at Hollywood Reporter is a little line that says "Dollhouse is expected to launch mid-season." This is me shaking my fist in the general direction of Fox and screaming "Khaaaaan!" Just, because. Doesn't this seem like a road that has been traveled before? It's one that usually leads to a pretty disappointing destination. We haven't seen the finished fall schedule yet, but I would wager that most of us could easily find three or four hours where the network would be better served by inserting Dollhouse. Highlights of what the networks have planned are available after the jump.
Fox: Orders are reportedly in for J.J. Abrams' Fringe, the Jason Bateman directed The Inn, and the animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up from Mitchell Hurwitz. As reported earlier, 'Til Death will be back for another go, while it's the end of the line for Back To You, New Amsterdam, and Canterbury's Law.
ABC: It looks like a deal will be made that will bring Boston Legal back for another season this fall. That deal could also bring about another David E. Kelley production, the remake of U.K. hit Life On Mars. Other additions to the schedule include the relocated Scrubs, and another Ashton Kutcher reality show, called Good Lord You Just Don't Care Opportunity Knocks. Interestingly, it looks as if Wednesday nights could return unchanged with the Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money lineup. Miss/Guided is questionable, but positive, and it looks like things are over for Women's Murder Club.
CW: As has been widely reported, the big story is the new 90210. The network also is set to renew The Game. There is also an all reality night in the works, pairing Next Top Model with the new Stylista. Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Smallville, and Supernatural all return, but the fate of Reaper remains unknown. Come on CW. What do you have that's better than Reaper? Aliens in America, will not return.
CBS: Eleventh Hour and The Mentalist are expected to be picked up. Mythological Ex, Can Openers, and Harper's Island appear likely. Two comedies, Worst Week and My Best Friends Girl are still up in the air. In returning series news, things are looking up for The Unit, and down for Shark.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-12-2008 @ 11:26AM
Thomas said...
Midseason aside, if Dollhouse is good and it gets cancelled, then frankly Whedon will have himself to blame. Everyone knows Fox will cancel pretty much anything of any quality, yet people still keep going back to them. The same goes for Tim Minear and Michael Hurwitz and their various endeavours.
Shame about WMC, I enjoyed it.
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5-12-2008 @ 11:41AM
Corey Atad said...
I don't blame Joss. Sure he should know better than to work with Fox again, but then we also have to remember that Fox is probably the only network willing to give Joss' out-there ideas a try. They may crap all over the product, but at least they give him money to make a couple episodes, which is more than you can say about any other network.
And let's also face the truth that on some level it is cooler to watch a show that nobody else saw and the network treated like garbage before ultimately cancelling. It may sound pretentious, but it's totally true.
5-12-2008 @ 11:40AM
Continuum said...
I think Whedon has a deal with Fox that means he has to produce any new shows on their network. Something tells me it wasn't his choice to go back to Fox.
5-12-2008 @ 12:06PM
Ashley Boyd said...
Wasn't it something like Eliza got the deal with Fox, and then approached Whedon?
Anyway. Midseason means 24 and Prison Break (they are Jan-starters are they not?) so it could have good lead ins at least...
5-12-2008 @ 12:12PM
CRVBOY said...
Prison Break is a fall starter (or has been it's first 3 seasons)...
5-12-2008 @ 12:04PM
Jesus said...
Firefly was so good I almost don't want to watch. I'll really like it and then it will get cancelled. It seems like only comedies are allowed to be daring/risky. Anything that doesn't make fun of it's self but attempts to be deep is torn apart by cynical critics.
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5-12-2008 @ 12:11PM
DJ said...
That sucks about New Amsterdam. I really liked that show.
Back to You may not have been great, but it was better than 'Til Death.
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5-12-2008 @ 12:11PM
fred said...
I don't know about Whedon, but I'm pretty sure Elisha Dushku has a deal with Fox.
And she was the one who went to him to see if they could work together again, and he then came up with the idea for Dollhouse. So, obviously, it had to be on Fox...
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5-12-2008 @ 12:32PM
Carissa said...
I was looking forward to no other new shows in the fall, so that should make my TV viewing a bit easier.
Dollhouse will appear midseason, when everyone is already all invested in the middle of some other calamitous reality series, no one will want to miss the oh-so-exciting results and it will be canceled with only 6 eps of 13 aired. Again, I will be left sadly disappointed at another Fox series attempt.
Eliza warrants much better treatment than that.
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5-12-2008 @ 12:42PM
C C said...
I may be in the minority here, but I think Dollhouse will benefit more from being a mid-season replacement. I doubt if Dollhouse will have mainstream appeal. Whedon's shows were/are successful "cult" series, not "hits". Although Dollhouse already sounds like it's Whedon's best series yet, it could easily get lost in the shuffle if it debuted in the fall and had to compete with other new series.
There's another thing to keep in mind: the Screen Actors Guild likely will go out on strike at the end of June. The networks are facing a wipe-out of the fall tv season. Even if Dollhouse had got a spot on Fox's fall schedule, we probably wouldn't have seen it this fall anyway.
I also think that Fox, for the first time in it's almost 25-year history, is having problems with not enough space to put their shows and have the diverse schedule they want. Look at next fall: two weeknights will be filled up with House, Bones, Prison Break, and Sarah Connor Chonicles. Their weekends are set for crime and animation. Fringe (which I think has more of a shot to become a mainstream hit than Dollhouse and Fox knows it) will occupy another hour. Fox wants to have some sitcoms/comedies in the mix, of course, plus they have Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, which has performed fairly well. Then they have the World Series to air. And a football game or two outside of Sundays. So their slate is pretty full.
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5-12-2008 @ 1:33PM
Ruefrex said...
Um, guys?
Buffy premiered midseason. Different network, of course, but just because a show's premiering midseason doesn't mean the network hates it. And with American Idol, Fox shows get a lot more exposure midseason.
It's interesting that CBS is trying dark genre with Eleventh Hour (they've utterly failed at it before). And look at the studio attached to most of the pickups -- Warner Bros. That doesn't necessarily bode well for healthy budgets with these shows.
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5-12-2008 @ 2:04PM
Midnight13 said...
Here is why this is both expected, and why its not so bad. The reason a lot of Fox shows were doing pooringly during the Fall, is because Fox tends to air lots of specials during that time that pre-empt thier schedule. None more pre-empting then the Baseball season. This is what did in "Firefly" because thier premire got premepted by a baseball game. Everyone who first heard about "Dollhouse heard the new that they got a seven episode pick up? Seven episodes?! Well, starting mid-season will most likely raise that to the more traditional intial 13 episodes. If those thirteen episodes do well, then it will be picked up for a second seasn in the fall. And we are more likely to at least end up with thirteen episodes either way, and not four episodes and then an unceremonious cancellation.
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5-12-2008 @ 6:37PM
stjohnob said...
Really really bummed about New Amsterdam. thanks fox!
What about Eli Stone on ABC?
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5-12-2008 @ 6:54PM
Brett said...
Reports say that Eli Stone has been given a 13 episode order for the new season.
5-12-2008 @ 6:57PM
scotty said...
Yeah, I agree with others here -- I don't mind Dollhouse premiering in mid-season. FOX usually loads up on too many specials and sports events in the Fall, thus effing up the weekly schedules of their scripted series.
And Dollhouse will have a more cult appeal. I think 6 or 13 episodes for its first season is perfectly fine. To be honest, lately I've been thinking that most scripted shows should only have 13 episodes at most per season, like the way it works usually on the cable networks. Most scripted series concepts, no matter how cool, tend to have problems stretching out storylines and episodes across 22+ episodes.
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5-12-2008 @ 7:09PM
Nathanael B said...
Wasn't Sarah Connor Chronicles a midseason replacement? It looks like Fox hasn't axed that yet, and as another commenter pointed out, Dollhouse could benefit from Prison Break and 24 viewership (depending on the schedules).
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5-12-2008 @ 10:55PM
Michael said...
Pissed about "New Amsterdam"
Still holding my breath about "The Unit"
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