And just after she lost all that weight and is looking incredible. Crap.

The numbers aren’t great, and they’re not even good. They are however better than previous shows on Friday on FOX. Yes, better than the game shows (by about .8 in the demo a substantial lead) and better than the reruns from THIS season. Last season FOX had some big numbers with reruns one Friday. I’m sure Bill or Robert know the week I’m talking about.

If FOX is serious about building up Friday Night, they need to keep it and give it a serious try. They definitely have the ability to gamble with the success they’ve received from their other nights.

The theory is that if you renew the show for a second season the audience start to believe that Friday isn’t just a dumping ground for shows you don’t want them to see and become more inclined to watch it. That theory however relies on the belief that people aren’t watching Dollhouse because it airs on Friday, which was much easier to buy before it started airing.

As I said before I think ultimately Dollhouse’s future is going to rest on whether Fox are serious about Friday nights or not. If they are then it’ll be back but if they’re not then Dollhouse won’t be back because frankly these numbers (Friday or not) shutdown the option of moving it to another night next season. As things stand I can’t say I’d be remotely disappointed to see Dollhouse go, the quality isn’t there right now. If the rumblings of improvements as the season develops are true then I might change my mind on that but right now I won’t be losing any sleep over the fate of Dollhouse.

You seem to forget that Sky and Fox both belong to Rupert Murdoch, in the grand scheme of things, when News Corp. reported a $6.4-billion loss for the quarter ending Dec. 31, and it’s stock is down 65%, it is not a real profit, it’s creative accounting.

New Amsterdam got the boot last year with much higher demo numbers, as well. I’m not sure why FOX would be any more lenient this year when they seem to have plenty of pilots in the pipeline.

I’ve heard the argument that FOX may want to rebuild Friday nights but I’m failing to see what Dollhouse has to build around *right now*.

That makes no sense. DOLLHOUSE will finish third this week (yes for Friday). DOLLHOUSE is just as cheap as FLASHPOINT because FOX splits costs pretty much with SKY ONE. In addition FOX gets DVD revenue from DOLLHOUSE, CBS will not get DVD revenue from FLASHPOINT. FLASHPOINT averages losing .15 in the demo in C3 numbers. So that 1.9 becomes a 1.75. DOLLHOUSE at worst will go up by .2 so that 1.8 will be enough to finish 3rd behind GHOST WHISPERER & NUMBERS and tie 20/20.

DOLLHOUSE is so cheap its already a profit for FOX and they still have 10 episodes to air. I don’t see how that wouldn’t make FOX happy. It does better than their other Friday fare, and it’s more profitable.

Every other show on Friday should be cancelled. I think Flashpoint should be renewed with a 1.9 very quickly. Since CTV in Canada pays for almost all of the show, it makes it a cheap option for CBS. Dollhouse wont finish in the top 3 FOR THE WEEK. It wont even finish in the top 100 FOR THE WEEK! If you mean for the day, it will finish below 5. FOX wont renew it.

If you mean the license fee, can DVD sales, online viewing and foreign sales even be factored in as revenue for FOX Broadcasting?

And if it’s the production cost, that seems really quite cheap for a scifi drama (I’ve seen $2.7M total cost for Heroes season 1). That would be really easy to recoup as you mentioned oversea sales of $1M/ep. As Firefly sold 4M sets as you wrote earlier, 1M might well be possible for Dollhouse. I don’t know how much that would make per ep but higher 6-digits at least?

That 1.8 that you scoff at will win the time period for DOLLHOUSE. Better than FLASHPOINT and better than SUPERNANNY. It will likely finish 3rd overall for the night behind GHOST WHISPERER & NUMB3RS.

So the numbers aren’t bad. If you compare them to a Monday Night or something they’re horrible. However on Friday, they’re actually decent.

Fox really could have tried something bold by putting ep 6 away from that dreadful March 20 and behind Idol that week.

Robert, the FIREFLY situation is actually something all original parties would jump at. Baldwin even has it in his CHUCK contract that if a FIREFLY movie or project comes up he is guaranteed release or a break from shooting on CHUCK.

Universal is starting to kick the tires on a sequel, and I’m thinking it is likely Straight to Video, but any talk about that always makes FOX think “what if,” but I put its chances at higher than 3M for a JERICHO repeat. I mean I heard the statements, but never believed that ever had a chance. The FIREFLY stuff has merit, at least in the form of a straight to video sequel to SERENITY.

edit: Deja vu all over again on the Castle tie in. Firefly won’t comeback unless Castle fails and frees up the lead actor

It’d be like Angel and Buffy being shown back to back.

I’m just not a pessimist twisting Friday numbers into the same reality as say Thursday programming. DOLLHOUSE numbers aren’t bad for a FOX Friday Night. Its the best numbers so far of any original scripted Friday night programming for FOX in a decade. I think that means something. Of course it isn’t much of a feat, but then again, why hasn’t any other show done it?

I’m not a fan of Network TV execs. I work with them and can tell you all they are as dumb as you think they are in many regards. They’re separated from reality. That separation leads to thinking “You know that Jim Belushi sure is funny and popular!”

I love the fact that Whedon made FOX look rather stupid. DVD sales of his previous show surpassed the number of viewers. This in a market where selling 1M copies is considered great, and his show has as of now sold over 4M copies.

So while I’m not a big Whedon fan (I dislike and or hate most of his work) I am a fan of him making FOX look stupid. So my statements may make me look like a fan since I’m defending the numbers, but the reality is the numbers are still the best of a FOX Friday Night scripted show in ages. Yes, they’re not good, and they’re just above average for a Friday. Still that usually keeps shows around.

I have not yet decided what to blame if the ratings are bad in April! (I have, however, written an epic poem for when the show’s ratings rise!) But Dollhouse is a work of Jossian genius, and nothing about its ratings have anything to do with the quality of the show!

My hope is that it does get canceled, and Whedon can go back to writing something good, even if it’s comic books. The premise is strangely illogical, which is odd given how much logic he put into something as silly as vampires in Buffy.

If you want to understand why Whedonites keep watching, check out this week’s penny-arcade: it’s spot on.

You’re fooled by your sources. Trust me.

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the same person who said I was stupid for watching “American Idol” and not “Lost,” yes?

“Joss’s Biggest Fan, I’ve found that really successful forum trolling requires at least some level of reality. 0/10.”

But it has some level of reality. Sure, it might be some level of Nick reality, but… that’s what makes it successful.

Keep up the good work, JBF. The Dollhousers may not agree, but I’d rather read your posts than the Lostards, that’s for sure!

It’s already profitable for FOX. That is the key. It’s about money. They are going to make more money off of DOLLHOUSE than off the previous programming they had in the same time slot, and more than they would with reruns (likely). The show is cheap, they’ve sold it over seas. They have decent expectations for the DVD set. They’re really happy with the 2nd half of the season in quality. They believe that word of mouth will spread about the show when people see the 2nd half of the season.

They’re either right or wrong. Then again TSCC and DOLLHOUSE can continue to drop and pull a 1.1 and 1.5 next week and make it all moot.

Then again I heard that TSCC might get canceled in favor of moving PRISON BREAK up if it got worse, and it got worse. I don’t think FOX thought it would dip to a 1.2.