Finally. Friday the 13th is here and so is Dollhouse, tonight at 9pm ET. By Saturday morning we'll finally get a glimpse of ratings for Dollhouse (as well as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint and Numb3rs, Wife Swap, etc). But to tide you over until then, here's a roundup of a few more reviews of Dollhouse:
To say there has been anticipatory buzz surrounding Joss Whedon's return to television with Fox’s “Dollhouse” is like saying octo-mom has gotten some media attention. The moment Whedon announced the project, fans of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly" began their internal countdown. When bad things began to happen -- the network wanted so many changes in the pilot that Whedon chucked it and began again from scratch -- the buzz only got louder. - Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' Seems Too Empty by Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times
Slices of mumbo don't come much more jumbo than this new entry from producer Joss Whedon; it's enough to make one long for the days when TV dramas were criticized for being too pat, too predictable, too much like one another. Whedon, who directed the pilot, certainly dressed it up stylishly, but I'll take simple coherence over fancy-pants trappings any day. After all, this is television, not an art-house cinema in Greenwich Village. - 'Dollhouse' Deserves To Be Condemned - by Tom Shales, The Washington Post
Unfortunately, he's expending his considerable talents on an empty-vessel premise that probably couldn't support a series even were it more adroitly cast, or didn't resemble the already dismissed My Own Worst Enemy. The result is a show that his most devoted fans will debate and embrace, and a mass audience just won't get. - Fox's 'Dollhouse' is its own worst enemy by Robert Bianco, USA Today
Viewers may also have trouble maintaining interest in the perils of Echo, even if Agent Ballard can help salvage some of her memory banks. "Dollhouse" has an amusing premise, but the universe it inhabits in the early episodes is thin and bland. The sinister corporation behind the Dollhouse is ill-defined, and the show's main characters are one-dimensional, including the real-life dolls. The plot lacks the metaphoric allusions and richly imagined contexts that enliven other science-fiction series like "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "Battlestar Galactica." - Directions: Brainwash, Rinse, Repeat by Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times
Unfortunately, it's a disappointment. It lacks the humor and vivid characters of Buffy and Firefly, which might be OK if the plots were more compelling, but that hasn't been the case in the three episodes sent for review. The show has a good premise but wastes it with derivative storytelling, the kind of stuff Whedon avoided when Buffy and Firefly simultaneously tweaked and respected their genres. - 'Dollhouse' lacks the teeth of producer's earlier series - Robert Philpot, Star-Telegram
I know this now because I just watched Fox's new, much-hyped show "Dollhouse," from the guy who brought you "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel." And unlike the aforementioned ideal date that went south, I'm not in love, but I am intrigued. - Dream 'Doll', 'Buffy' Creator Back With Mind-Erasing Fun Linda Stasi, New York Post (she gave it three out of four stars)
If you want more, here's a link to a Google News search that should sate you. Personally, I'd love to see the show get 12 million and a 4.0 rating in the 18-49 demo. All hell would break loose and that would be kind of fun. But so would Gisele Bundchen randomly showing up at my doorstep and that isn't going to happen either.
My prediction: 6.3 million and a 2.3 rating among 18-49 year olds for Friday's premiere.
id say 6-7m viewers. and 2-2.5 in the demo.
but i wouldnt be suprised if it did worse.
the reviews are disappointing.
i predict 5 million viewers and 1.7-1.8 in the demo. yeah, im pessimistic..
Are FOX going to air the back door Prison Break spinoff on Friday night or will they give it another ime slot? (they’re currently casting for episode 23 / 24 set a womens Prison with Jodi Lyn O’Keefe’s Gretchen Morgan back)
who cares about what dollhouse gets i just hope and pray Terminator improves.
i hope dollhouse gets good ratings along with terminator. i like eliza dushku so i hope the series for her is a success
Ghost Whisperer didn’t (and still doesn’t for most part) get the greatest reviews when it came out either. With all the promotion both TSCC & DollHouse are getting, at least 5-6 million for the premier episodes with a 1.8 in the demos that matter is my prediction.
I’ve seen better reviews elsewhere (IGN) And for the ratings, I think it’s gonna be better than we expect. When everyone is talking about something, they will at least drop by and check the first episode!
I can’t decide if this will be a surprise hit or a huge flop.
At least the nutters can’t whine that FOX never promoted the show.
Well, they WILL, but they have no factual basis to do so.
(Yes, I’m watching it. )
“Everyone” isn’t talking about Dollhouse. Whedonites and people posting on sites like this, maybe.
If it gets over 5 million viewers, I’d be shocked. I’m expecting 4 million.
FOX needs to take note of the reviews and possibly learn to leave the showrunning to the guy they hired to do it instead of trying to convince themselves they are one of those “creative types”.
Joss keeps imploring people to stick with it and seems to hint that it will get better, but, for the most part, critics aren’t going to re-review the show in their papers/magazine when episode 8 hits. First impressions are everything.
I have liked Whedon’s stuff, but never to the extent that his more ardent fans have. I was a Johnny Come lately to Firefly, which I regret.
This premise just doesn’t interest me.
Ouch those reviews suggest a real mess.
all the reviews are so disheartening. give the show some time to flesh itself out. joss says he has five seasons of story/character growth mapped out. i’m not going to drop it after not being immediately satisfied. joss has always come through before.
my guess is 8-9 million (i am somewhat of an optimist)
if terminator can get at least 6.5 million, it’ll be doing great! i really love that show (summer glau) and hope it survives for another season.
It seems this horse has been declared dead even before it has ever made it to a race. I am an optimist so my DVR has already been programed to record the entire series (ever how long it may last). I generally rely on my own enjoyment regardless of what the previewers say. Sometimes the creator’s original vision for a project is more knowable than the suits that control programing. Fox was smarter than NBC when they took House from them and maybe they will win with this one. Friday nights time slots are filling up with some very good shows because the suits will take a chance on a show on this normally weak programing night. What seems to be overlooked is DVRs are changing viewing patterns and to me when a show is available no longer matters if the viewer has enough tuners to record the program to view later. The only drawback is as I understand it for ratings the earlier viewed the better for ratings. I have 10 tuners available so I can record 10 programs at any given time and be watching a 11th one at the same time. I miss very few programs I want to watch and do not have to choose between competing shows, because of this, the networks should take first and second choice ratings into consideration before cancellation a program.
Even though i am a huge fan of Whedons work i just can’t exited about this show. It might get great numbers tonight, but after that it will fall like a rock
I’ll take the under on a 2.0 in the demo
I was a huge fan of Buffy (seasons 1-5, anyway) and Angel, but never got into Firefly. I enjoyed acts 1 & 2 of Dr. Horrible, but then, as Joss always does, he screwed over the characters for the sake of “drama”.
He may have things mapped out for five seasons of Dollhouse, but I don’t feel like investing the time into characters that are just going to be hurt over and over. Much better ways to spend my time, honestly.
That, coupled with the numerous pans, and the fact that the premise of this show is just not that interesting – yeah, I won’t be watching Dollhouse.
On the other hand, WOO!! Terminator is back!! I hope that all the hype over Dollhouse results in a lift for TSCC.
I’ll go with it.
Predictions?
8 million and a 2.8 rating among 18-49 year olds
The big thing is the most read source for news for its target demo rated it a 7.5/10. More people in their target demo read IGN than all the above sources for Robert combined.
7 million will be lucky, with the crappy Terminator lead in overall ratings could go down. I’d say 6 mill.