TV Ratings (Thursday & Friday 12/13th February)

[Angel4576]

Invasion took a while to get going. I really had doubts that it ever would but thankfully stuck with it. It did pick up after a while but you're right, it was far too late. One constant in television is that once you've lost viewers it's incredibly difficult to get them back again.

If the premiere numbers persist, or get worse, it'll be interesting to see how Fox deal with it. Will they try it in another timeslot? Or will they kill it, and if so, how quickly?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Next will will tell the tale. Dollhouse tied for first in the 18-49 demographic so things aren't so bleak now. The reason I thought the rating was bad is because I already expect a big fall-off next week, and the ratings would have to be spectacular now for that fall-off not to kill it.

Or if the show had been very good and delivered on expectations, maybe the fall-off would not be so bad. But a bad show combined with unspectacular ratings means that the best it can hope for is to limp thru this season but chances are sketchy for an S2.

It's possible that at the sub-5M level, Dollhouse has a viewership of undemanding fanboys willing to watch simply to see what outfits Echo wears next. At such a low viewership level, niche tastes can take over completely and keep a show going. I'm convinced that's why Heroes hasn't dropped much below the 8M level it hit last Nov, despite godawful writing. People are just invested in certain characters and the folks who actually demand good writing from the show are long gone.

 

[Angel4576]

9pm's just a really bad timeslot.

Given what it was up against, it's hard to see what people actually were watching. The only conclusion that I can come to is that people just weren't watching anything.

If people tune out of Dollhouse it's tough to see what they'd watch instead. Flashpoint? Friday Night Lights? Supernanny? Probably not. Either they'll just switch the TV off, or they'll probably watch it again next week.

I don't think the dropoff will be that severe. Let's face it, it can't be, otherwise they'd literally have no viewers left!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

People don't watch anything on Fridays. They go out and let the DVR catch the shows, but advertisers don't count that, because they know people zap the ads. Maybe Dollhouse is doing relatively well for Fridays, but it still costs money to produce and if nobody is watching the ads, where is the money coming from? Could be that Fridays just have to be turned over to dirt-cheap reality TV; viewership levels will support nothing pricier.

And of course shows can have zero viewers, or close to it. Just ask the CW!

 

[Angel4576]

^^ Can't understand why they'd put a show of Dollhouse's profile on such a stupid night. Well, beyond the obvious, that Fox wants Dollhouse gone as soon as possible.

Have to say, watched the first episode, and it's not Firefly quality is it. Perhaps it'll grow. I've got time for anything with Eliza, and I like Tahmoh, but beyond that I didn't really find a great deal to latch onto.

If The CW pulled in the numbers that Dollhouse got it would surely be their top-rated show!

 

[Warp Coil]

^^ Can't understand why they'd put a show of Dollhouse's profile on such a stupid night. Well, beyond the obvious, that Fox wants Dollhouse gone as soon as possible.

I'm pretty sure this is what happened. Have you seen some of the comments from the FOX brass? They don't seem too thrilled with Joss Whedon's latest show. They didn't like the show he was making, so they made him change things around. They spent a lot of money on episodes that will never air (the original pilot was scrapped, and IIRC the second pilot ultimately got canned too). I'm surprised the project didn't fall apart at this point, but the network needs something to air so they let Joss fulfill his 13-episode order.

 

[Angel4576]

^^ It's hard to imagine that the other couple of other 'pilots' could have been as lacklustre as the one they eventually went with.

I really don't know why Joss agreed to work with Fox again. You'd have thought he'd have learn't that by now.

 

[Borgminister]

It's possible that at the sub-5M level, Dollhouse has a viewership of undemanding fanboys willing to watch simply to see what outfits Echo wears next.

Or what outfits Echo isn't wearing...

 

[nx1701g]

There are always rumours that shows will go to The WB / The CW, and they never ever will.

More so the Terminator, The CW wants more TV shows that only 12 year old girls watch, they don't care about guy shows.

However Terminator has one thing going for it other shows don't:

WB can't afford it being cancelled with Terminator: Salvation going to theatres days after. The way its being set up TSCC's finale will air two weeks before Salvation opens.