Fox announced its winter schedule and Joss Whedon's Dollhouse will air on Fridays beginning February 13, 2008 at 9pm. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will serve as its lead in.
Bones will air Thursdays at 8pm, followed by Kitchen Nightmares for a couple of weeks, and then a much earlier in the year Hell's Kitchen starting January 29 at 9pm. Great, toss Gordon Ramsay to the wolves. Thursdays' demo numbers will be interesting.
The Fox game show Friday lineup will air for a month or so from January 16 until February 13 when Dollhouse/TSCC begins. I know "people will watch broadcast TV on Fridays if you offer good programming", but I think Dollhouse will be competing against Battlestar Galactica for a while. Good catch by Zac in the comments, BSG airs at 10pm!
I still don't anticipate good numbers for these shows on Fridays, and it looks like Fox didn't think enough of Dollhouse to air it after American Idol (which will still be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Zap2its Dan Fienberg's theory is that they were too worried about 24 to use Dollhouse as its lead-in and wouldn't have been as able to be patient with it if it failed there.
Hole in the Wall is not dead yet. It will air Sundays from 7p-8p starting January 18.
Prison Break Status (via Variety): Conspicuously absent from Fox's midseason sked is laffer " 'Til Death," which was benched from the Wednesday 9 p.m. berth earlier this month. Fox said it would return later in the season. "Prison Break" will also be back later in the season after its skedded winter hiatus.
These schedules are prone to change early and often. James Hibberd has the full schedule on the Live Feed.
That’s great logic FOX, Hole in the Wall is your worst show and you give it a good timeslot. And you wonder why people jump on you for killing shows…
*ironically* Great! I suppose all those who said/were afraid that DH is doomed before even airing were spot on. BTW, today I stumbled across an article about Whedon’s explanation about the troubles with DH (about which he wrote about on his site, forgot the name). What he said was that once it was done the way he wanted to, Fox had a different picture in mind. So he had to pretty much re-write everything, though he implies that the core he wanted stayed put.
What I can’t comprehend is why even pitch to a network that is known to have screwed you so many times in the past. And even now, tend to show no respect.
I suppose this news was the last straw. Will see if DH survives even the first weeks…
Wow if they keep jerking around House, it may just die. For a really popular show, it should not be treated this way.
Also no mention of Prison Break, so I would assume the back 9 episodes are going to air over the summer? Or did they only pick up 13?
Also, no mention of when the new animation shows (the Mitch Hurtwitz one and the Family Guy spinoff) will air, though I think those were planned for March-April area and will run into the summer.
If Fox is going to keep Fringe at 9 on Tuesdays, then keep House at 8 on Mondays. Consistency helps, just ask CBS.
This is the “Bones,” effect. BONES did well enough on Wednesday Nights (usually winning its time slot) to give their producers the edge to keep the show from airing on Fridays. I knew Terminator was going to Friday Night, but I’m surprised they moved DOLLHOUSE to Friday. The DOLLHOUSE/24 combo would have been good. Now it’s a HOUSE/24 combo.
The real surprise is LIE TO ME. Which is getting a big Idol jumpstart….
Then again if I were the producers of BONES I’d rather be on Friday Night against Ghost Whisperer than against the Thursday Night competition.
I’m not convinced this will be the Spring Lineup. I think it’s still far enough away that more shake ups can happen.
Alde, Joss didn’t pitch DOLL HOUSE. DOLL HOUSE was pitched to him. It’s not his idea. They just brought him in as the show runner. There is a pretty big difference.
Fox’s scheduling moves for the winter look absolutely brilliant on paper. We’ll see how they plan out but it’s a very strategic schedule without any placements that will obviously backfire.
ughnn… Terminator as a lead-in still? I’m scared. =( How well is it gonna do in its new timeslot now?
Hole in the Wall, so cheap it can’t be killed! It’s television’s Undead!
Also, does this mean Terminator will be off the air for a few weeks in Jan-Feb?
Actually I’d be more worried about Dollhouse than Terminator. Brand new show has no viewership, so it’s going to rely on Terminator fans for the lead in. Terminator fans will actually watch the show though, as it’s Whedon. And if it’s good they will stay. I mean genre-wise it’s actually a good pairing, the day notwithstanding.
As for Terminator, I think with the numbers it has now (come on Robert, back me up!
)Terminator can go nowhere but up. As long as it’s not competing with any other show it’s demo watches, I think it will putter along at the worst with the same ratings it has now. Getting it away from Monday will help a lot though. Chuck, on NBC, is getting better and better with each episode, and I fully expect, after sweeps (which reviews coming in for the trio of episodes are STELLAR so far) and the Super Bowl promotions and the 3-D episode, that show is going to take off. Terminator would not fair well against that and Gossip Girl, etc.
FOX will probably let the season run out, as they seem to be getting some kind of deal from WB. If the numbers go up, or Lie to Me goes down, there might be a switch to another night. But then again didn’t Bones do well on Friday? And X-Files I think. Might find it’s niche there. And, to speculate even further, maybe that’s what FOX has in mind for Dollhouse – they let Whedon have more of his vision, but trade off a premiere day for a day that they’ll tolerate niche genre ratings.
u need new initials for doll house… DH is desperate housewives
how about DLH
Nick C…Joss thought up Dollhouse himself when out to lunch with Eliza. It was not pitched to him.
And Alde…Eliza had a contract with FOX. Joss thought up the show, Eliza was on board as was Joss – he couldn’t help himself. And they have new people at FOX now.
With that said, I had faith in FOX this time around, even with the suggested changes to Whedon, but they just completely lost it now. Friday is a kill zone basically. Unless they’re willing to deal with cruddy ratings? Regardless, this is crap.
Oooh… that makes sense Frank!
You’ve made me feel a lot better about this now. Thanks! I think you are right too. I think Terminator has a dedicated fanbase that is dedicated enough where it will at least be doing as well on Fridays as it is now on Mondays. And if we’re lucky, it might even do better.
Where’s The Moment of Truth?
Typical. Order a full season then kill it.
“Typical. Order a full season then kill it.”
That Answer Is………..True
(Cue the music cord)
Terminator/Dollhouse are dead!!! LOL its FRIDAY!!!
So you’re saying every show that is on Fridays automatically dies? Based on that logic, why even bother showing TV on that night then? Might as well just close down the stations, right?
Yeah, I was going to say that, Gina, but then I figured that “Nick C might know better”, as he seems to know entirely everything that’s going on *snicker*.
Unfortunately new people at Fox seem to take after old ones, if not otherwise then at least subconsciously, because as You so elegantly put, “it’s crap”
Robert/Bill, assuming that TSCC stays on Friday nights, what kind of ratings would it have to get to possibly reach a 3rd season?