Are you still losing sleep over FOX's unsurprising yet tragic cancellation of Josh Joss Whedon's Dollhouse? This may be the melatonin you need.
CollegeHumor has uncovered the true reason FOX nixed the action drama from its airwaves. It needed more room for more Seth MacFarlane cartoons about pop-culture spewing families with anthropomorphic pets and American Idol. I never thought I'd long for the good ol' days was Fox was known for quality programming like Bad Orderlies Caught on Tape 2 and When Lawn Equipment Goes Screwy 4.
Is this a surprise? Not at all. In fact, a lot of people were rather surprised when the show was given a second season. I wonder how many fans of the first season didn't even bother watching the second season of the show because they knew it was a surprise that the show got renewed and they knew it was just a matter of time before FOX canceled it? Or maybe the Friday night slot was another reason a lot of people weren't watching.
The show will actually finish its whole 13 episode order, which is something a lot of canceled shows can't say. Now we'll just have to see if Whedon will have an actual ending for the show.
A lot of shows on the list won't surprise us: Hank, The Forgotten, Numb3rs, Gary Unmarried, and 'Til Death (each either gets low ratings or has been on for a while), but there are several that I think will actually make it to a another season, including The Good Wife and Parks and Recreation.
In the original version of this post, I wrote about the big success of Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central -- last Thursday night, his new show The Jeff Dunham Show drew 5.3 million viewers, the highest ever premiere for a show on that network. However, I mistakenly thought the show aired Friday and compared the ratings to shows on other networks that night. I sincerely apologize if that confused readers. Here's the story as it should have been written in the first place.
Jeff Dunham's success was surprising and quite a feat. As my mother might say, "Go figure." The Jeff Dunham Show.
And the number of viewers got even better later that night when a repeat of the show aired -- 7.9 million viewers.
(S02E04) It's somewhat ironic that upon news that Dollhouse is going on something of a hiatus and will likely not be back next year that it delivers one of the best episodes of its run. Co-written by Joss' brother Jed (and it wouldn't surprise me if he wrote the music to the episode as well) and Maurissa Tancharoen (both of Doctor Horrible fame), we got the backstory of Sierra and received a major view of how dark the underbelly of the Dollhouse really is.
In another surprise, they redid the graphics for the opening credits and they're better. Does anybody else make up lyrics while listening to the theme or is it just me? If so, what are your lyrics? Mine begins with "This is the Dollhouse. We're in the Dollhouse. This is the Dollhouse song."
In a portent of things to come, Dollhouse is being shoved aside by Fox during November sweeps. The popular rumor is that November will see a repeat of House shown on Friday nights. The upside is that December will have Dollhouse go double-long as two episodes will be shown back-to-back on Friday nights.
At least Fox is living up to its promise to show all 13 episodes of the second season. Granted, Dollhouse has not been Whedon's best effort, but Fox hasn't exactly been kind to the show what with relegating it to Friday nights.
This is just an example of how outdated the current ratings system is. I'm sure if DVRs or Internet downloads were taken into account, Dollhouse's ratings would be much better than they are on paper. Sadly, we live in an unfair world (with an unfair Nielsen Ratings system) so it's likely we're looking at the last season of the show.
It's one of those things that you think would be cool if it happened, and then it actually happens. Joss Whedon is reporting that he'll be directing an upcoming episode of Glee.
We know he has on occasion stepped outside his usual genre of sci-fi and fantasy based on his directorial work on The Office. We know he's into musical theater based on his creation of the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Now, he's merging all that he's done before. Or at least he would be if the episode of Glee ends up involving evil scientists and vampires.
Despite my own history in musical theater, I haven't been watching Glee. Whedon's involvement in an episode would certainly pique my interest enough to catch it. Perhaps he could get together with his brother Jed and write the music for the episode, as well, turning it into a 42-minute operetta. They've done it before.
She saved John Connor, but can she boost the ratings for another struggling Fox sci-fi show?
Former Terminator fembot Summer Glau joins Joss Wheodn's Dollhouse on Oct. 30 for a recurring stint as Bennett, a programmer who shares a past with Eliza Dushku's Echo. During last week's episode of Dollhouse, the network hyped Glau's upcoming appearance with a special promo promising, "In three weeks, Sumer Glau joins the cast of Dollhouse!" I could be wrong, but it seemed like Fox was banking on Glau's star power to get more people to watch the show. Sadly, I don't think that's gonna happen.
I love Summer Glau. I was a big fan of TSCC and Firefly, and I'm eagerly anticipating her appearance on Dollhouse. I'm sure Whedon has crafted an interesting character for Glau, and I'm sure she'll be part of a compelling arc that will fold nicely into the Dollhouse mythology. But I doubt she'll be able to attract a ton of new viewers.
It's not the most encouraging news about the long-term potential of the show, but at least Whedonites can rest assured that FOX will honor the entire 13-episode commitment they made to Dollhouse. Scheduling guru Preston Beckman said, "During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show."
Which means if they haven't already decided to yank the show for sweeps period, then they're about to. It doesn't bode well for the series at all, though it's still too early to say if the respectable DVR figures will help things at all. DVR usage is at an all time high, and Dollhouse leads DVR usage, increasing its demo ratings by a whopping 50% (still only to a 1.5).
It's a big deal but I still don't think networks know what to do with DVR numbers. Many of those viewers are skipping commercials, so it may not matter in that sense. But it's telling that the Friday shows are the most DVR'd. It's a sign that their fans want to watch these shows, just not on Friday night.
As part of our ongoing efforts to infiltrate every one of your senses, we've decided to bring back the APB Podcast, last seen in various forms around two years ago. In this first podcast, Jason Hughes, Kona Gallagher and myself discuss the following topics:
The Letterman scandal
A minute (if that) about Jon and Kate
How the fall season's going so far, including why Dollhouse's ratings are so bad,
Ask TV Squad, where we answer a question submitted to Isabelle's column,
Other campaigns have popped up on the web over the past few years to save shows. While most of them are unsuccessful, once in a while a network will actually listen. This happened to Jericho after fans of that show sent so many nuts to CBS that the network finally decided that producing another seven episodes of the show would be cheaper than having fans send even more nuts to them and having to get rid of them somehow.
[Watch episodes and clips of Dollhouse and other shows at SlashControl.]
Suppose you were the head of a real-life Dollhouse that wiped volunteers' personalities, downloaded new ones into their brains, and rented them out to the super rich and privileged. Would you let your Dolls walk away, no strings attached, after they've honored their contract?
Yeah, me neither.
The last episode of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, "Instinct," featured the newly liberated November/Madeline (Miracle Laurie) returning to the Dollhouse to undergo a "diagnostic." According to Adelle, the procedure is necessary to make sure Topher's tech didn't permanently blow a fuse inside Madeline's pretty head. Madeline was understandably cautious when Adelle came to visit her and prod her into getting the check-up. "I have this irrational fear that if I say the wrong thing, men in suits are going to throw me in a black van and take me away," she said.
In last week's season premiere of Dollhouse, we learned that the usually empty-headed Echo is becoming self-aware and is now able to access memories from her many personality imprints.
This puts her in a very dangerous place, star Eliza Dushku told reporters during a conference call this week. While a self-aware Echo might be more fun and challenging for an actor to play than a "dumbed down Doll," Dushku reminded us that any sign of Echo's evolution in the Dollhouse might get her sent to "the attic," aka Doll hell.
The vulnerable Echo will be looking for allies this season, Dushku said. She and former FBI agent Paul Ballard (Tamoh Penikett) "may possibly be trying to bring down the Dollhouse from the inside," she teased. During the conference call, Dushku also talked about the unaired first season episode, "Epitaph One," working with Summer Glau, and she teased more origins and back stories for the show's other characters.
This seems to be the week for cancellation notices. ABC canceled Eastwick yesterday and Hank today, and now FOX has announced that they are canceling Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.
A couple of weeks ago, I did a post about the shows that were "on the bubble," the ones in danger of being canceled. Now AOL TV has given the odds on what shows might not be coming back.
In the original version of this post, I wrote about the big success of Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central -- last Thursday night, his new show The Jeff Dunham Show drew 5.3 million viewers, the highest ever premiere for a show on that network. However, I mistakenly thought the show aired Friday and compared the ratings to shows on other networks that night. I sincerely apologize if that confused readers. Here's the story as it should have been written in the first place.
(S02E04) It's somewhat ironic that upon news that Dollhouse is going on something of a hiatus and will likely not be back next year that it delivers one of the best episodes of its run. Co-written by Joss' brother Jed (and it wouldn't surprise me if he wrote the music to the episode as well) and Maurissa Tancharoen (both of Doctor Horrible fame), we got the backstory of Sierra and received a major view of how dark the underbelly of the Dollhouse really is.
At 7:30, Cartoon Network has a new Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
In a portent of things to come, Dollhouse is being shoved aside by Fox during November sweeps. The popular rumor is that November will see a repeat of House shown on Friday nights. The upside is that December will have Dollhouse go double-long as two episodes will be shown back-to-back on Friday nights.
It's one of those things that you think would be cool if it happened, and then it actually happens. Joss Whedon is reporting that he'll be directing an upcoming episode of Glee.
She saved John Connor, but can she boost the ratings for another struggling Fox sci-fi show?
As part of our ongoing efforts to infiltrate every one of your senses, we've decided to bring back the APB Podcast, last seen in various forms around two years ago. In this first podcast, Jason Hughes, Kona Gallagher and myself discuss the following topics: 
Suppose you were the head of a real-life Dollhouse that wiped volunteers' personalities, downloaded new ones into their brains, and rented them out to the super rich and privileged. Would you let your Dolls walk away, no strings attached, after they've honored their contract? 
In last week's season premiere of Dollhouse, we learned that the usually empty-headed Echo is becoming self-aware and is now able to access memories from her many personality imprints. 
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
