Woo hoo! OK, so normally this would be a huge "so what?"
We learned last season that shows could be downloaded only around 25,000 times and achieve number one status on the iTunes top TV show downloads list. And with it being summer, it could be a lot less. We know the Dollhouse DVDs didn't sell like hotcakes the first week of release (should see second week details by Tuesday).
It's probably for the best that eleventy billion people don't download Epitaph One, because you don't want to do anything to encourage people at the networks to start thinking "You know, maybe we should hold back all our season finales for the DVDs and iTunes!"
I think it's a lock that not even 50K have downloaded it so far (if anyone from 20th Century studios wants to give me the exact number, I will very happily publish it!), but there is actually a "So What?" here.
The so what is that fans of decent science fiction, Dollhouse or simply all things Whedon can buy the epiosde for $1.99 without having to spring for the whole DVD. Sure, you can just wait around and hope it shows up somewhere in syndication someday. It no doubt will. But there are a few hours to kill before the next episode of True Blood and the season premiere of Mad Men air, so if you have some time to kill, I think it's worth the $1.99.
Well this is kinda nice to actually see something good for this show. I loved the episode and for me it was worth it to buy the set. Not to mention the much better unaired pilot.
I meant the unaired pilot was much better than the pilot they did show, not that the unaired pilot was better than “Epitaph One”, cause the Epitaph is definitely the best episode to date.
25,000?! Oh you silly goose! I heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone who knows something that the episode has been bought by 11 MILLION people so far! And the number is going up, up, up with each passing day! Growing exponentially!
Some people might think that iTunes and the studios don’t regularly put out the info about what is necessary to become a #1 hit on iTunes because the numbers are much, much smaller than the media would prefer you to believe! I am here to tell you, though, that iTunes doesn’t regularly release that info because those numbers are so irrationally large that no one could possibly comprehend them! If people knew how wildly successful iTunes was becoming, TV as we know it would cease to exist, and the Powers That Be aren’t ready for that day to come just yet!
Six months ago I declared that iTunes would be one of the ways that Dollhouse’s ratings would grow, grow, grow compared to its seemingly paltry Nielsen ratings! I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I just have to say that this evidence from iTunes prove that I was 1000% correct! Dollhouse’s iTunes’ ranking is a clear sign that Joss’s spectacular vision is shattering our understanding of what television can do and taking the medium to a place no one has ever been to before!
Dollhouse returns in 40 days! Watch it or else!
Epitaph One has been the number 1 download on iTunes for the past 3 days or so. Does that mean each day it would’ve been downloaded around 25k times, cumulating around 75k downloads?
grr_argh, no, not necessarily. especially in the summer I would guess less than 10K downloads would get you to number one and keep you there for a while. But regardless, it beats being number two!
Any good news is good!
Hopefully at least some of those downloads are going to people who are either new to the show or were wavering in their commitment enough to pass on the DVD/BR. And hopefully after seeing the quality of Epitaph One it will encourage them enough to watch it next Season. Realistically, DH still has a lot of hurdles to overcome in order to get it’s Back 9, but I’m happy with any and all steps that get it to that finish line. Go DH!
You might want to also stock up on the other top ten at iTunes. There’s the “Unbeweavable” episode of the Real Housewives of Orange County. And the “Wizards and Vampires Versus Zombies” episode of The Wizards of Waverly Place sounds promising: “Justin convinces Juliet that if she goes to the prom with him it will be the best night ever. Meanwhile Alex opts to plan an anti-prom with a Zombie theme unaware that Zombies from the Wizard World will attend.”
Why spend the 1.99 when u can download it for free on a torrent site? Its what i did and the ep was ok nothing special. If it were any other show it would be worth the money but talk about a waste of money here lol
Well, it motivated me to follow Felicia Day on Twitter. I’m also following Eliza, Dichen, and Mo Tancharoen.
I agree that Epitaph one and the un-aired pilot are two of the better and possibly the best episodes of Dollhouse so far. Whether it’s worth $2 is a matter of one’s personal budget. Since I’m broke, I downloaded them elsewhere.
I think most of the real Whedon fans will have bought the DVD, so E1 being number one on iTunes implies less committed fans or people who have just heard the Internet buzz about the show. So it’s good news for Dollhouse to some degree – we just don’t know how much it will matter to actual ratings when the show returns. In that respect, given the low numbers, probably not much at all.
The show will survive or not depending on its promotion by the network and the quality of the episodes, not its iTunes or DVD performance.
Robert (he who posted asking about the torrents), there are two reasons.
First, some people believe that that is stealing. Obviously you don’t and that conversation has been had billions of times already and I doubt that it ever changes anyone’s minds, so I doubt that anything constructive would be had by arguing it again now. But some people do believe that it is wrong, especially when doing the right thing only costs $1.99.
Second, as it has been well explained here, at Nick C’s and elsewhere, The Fox Studio has put up more of their own money in order to enable Dollhouse to get a 2nd Season. I am sure that the Fox Studio had several reasons for doing so, but obviously the primary one was because they expected to make that money back in DVD/BR sales, iTunes, and through other revenue sources. Perhaps it will not do as well as they had expected, but for fans of the show who are thankful to have it back and wish to see it continue, then the single most effective action that we can do is spend money on it. If you don’t enjoy it enough to care if it continues then that’s fine, no worries. It’s your opinion and your money and you are entitled to do do what you want with it. But for those of us fighting and hoping to keep this show alive then it would be hypocritical not to spend money on it.
In my case, Dollhouse is not my all time favorite show ever. I will readily admit that the first Season was far from perfect, but it has a lot of potential and imo it’s still much better than 90% of the complete and utter excrement that’s on Network TV. And I have lost far, far too many shows in the past to not fight as hard as I can now, when doing so might actually give a show that I enjoy (like Dollhouse, like Chuck) a chance to continue. So I am MORE than happy to have the opportunity to put up my money and fight for Dollhouse.
Epitaph One is probably the only episode worthy of buying. I’m a fan of Joss Whedon and I actually like Buffy season 1, but Dollhouse season 1 was really, really weak.
I find it quite disappointing that you, as professionals observing the media world, do not know (or do not wish to know?) that “Epitaph One”, like the rest of “Dollhouse” and pretty much all current series, was sold on iTunes also in 720p HD for $2.99.
Makes me wonder how much your ‘reporting’ is worth, really…
Hey good news is good news no matter how small.
Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with telling your friends about a show you like. And going onto a fan site on the internet to make online friends with other people who like the show is fun, I get that.
But there is a point where a line gets crossed in these communities and people are being asked, sometimes pressured, to join armies to fight for screwed-up failing TV shows. To DVR-record the show AND download it on Hulu to look like more than one person to the network. To bombard the network switchboard to make the fanbase look bigger than it is. And now you see people basically being told they’re not real fans unless they lay out money to “support” a show that’s supposed to be on free television. That’s why all those commercials are there – so you can watch it for free if you want.
AO, you don’t think Dollhouse is that good a TV show, but you are “more than happy” to put up your money and fight for it. I’m sorry, that’s kind of strange to me. What happened to casting your vote and trusting to collective wisdom? Isn’t that how democracy works?
Well If i thought Itunes sales would help the series i might buy it but come on people be realistic the show isnt going to get another season or the back 9. It will be going up against Medium, Ugly Betty, Southland. There is simply not enough viewers on a friday night to support the show. Medium i hope will win the night and id like to see Southland do well but sadly i dont think it will.
FOX never seem to get good numbers on a friday. Dollhouse id like to see do well but i wont be crying when its cancelled. I still cant believe there were so many bad episodes made, It still makes me sick thinking of the first 5 eps. And ep 7 and 10 oh hell the last 2 werent much better either. Epitah one was ok but i understand why FOX didnt air it as it felt like a series finale.
“Hopefully at least some of those downloads are going to people who are either new to the show”
I’d be willing to bet that 99% of the purchases were made by the Whedon faithful with a small percentage of those sales representing more than one purchase by the same people.
I might amend my comment to suggest that while Whedon fans have bought the DVD, they probably ALSO bought the iTunes version so they could watch it on their mobile phones or whatever. So, yes, probably a lot of Whedon fans who already have the DVD also bought the iTunes version, not just to support the show but to have another version of that episode.
I’m not sure 99% of the sales could be attributed to that, without further evidence.
“And now you see people basically being told they’re not real fans unless they lay out money to “support” a show that’s supposed to be on free television”.
Where do you see that happening?
I am assuming that you are not talking about Epitaph One, as Epitaph One was never purchased or shown by the Fox Network and so in the U.S. does not in any way fit the above criteria.
“AO, you don’t think Dollhouse is that good a TV show”
From where do you come to that conclusion? While I said that it was from from perfect, which is my honest opinion of it, I also said that I preferred it to at least 90% of the (incredibly bad) alternatives. Imo a show that falls into the top 90% would be classified as at least good.
“but you are “more than happy” to put up your money and fight for it”.
Absolutely. Almost every show that I have ever enjoyed has been canceled rather than allowed to reach a natural end. And usually quite quickly. When a show that I enjoy actually lasts for one entire Season then that’s a victory for me. The opportunity to fight for one is more than welcome and comforts me in the knowledge that I at least had the chance to try.
I don’t believe that I have ever bad-mouthed another show, or a fan of another show. I don’t try to put any pressure on anyone, but I will absolutely write posts such as “Wow! Look at the really good deal that Amazon is having on _____ right now!” Rarely will it work, but sometimes it does and I am glad to have at least tried. I have convinced several people to try Firefly, all of whom have truly enjoyed it. It’s not for everyone, but a lot of people who do give it a try honestly seem to enjoy it. Just three days ago I convinced someone to try Veronica Mars, as it seemed like the type of show that he would like given his listed interests, and indeed he did. No matter what, it’s a nice thing to send someone in the direction of a show that they wind up really enjoying.
“I’m sorry, that’s kind of strange to me. What happened to casting your vote and trusting to collective wisdom? Isn’t that how democracy works?”
I do not comprehend the thinking behind this sentence. Trust? I sure as heck trust them to cancel almost every show that I have ever liked, as happens every Season. But why should I be happy with that? What shows do you like and do you honestly mean to tell me that you are happy when they are canceled as it was a democratic decision?
And it should be obvious by reading this site that whether or not a show is renewed or canceled has much more to do with the small percentage of people who are chosen by Nielsen then any other factor. Probably ever other factor combined (unless the Network is run by Dawn Ostroff) is worth less than the decisions made by that small segment. Even if democracy was a desirable goal, then how is that democracy?
I didn’t think E1 was as good as the Whedon faithful seem to think, though I admit Dollhouse is the first Whedon production I’ve actually enjoyed. In some ways E1 came across as an apology for the series, which was entirely unnecessary. To me E1 lacked Dollhouse’s depth.
If I had to rant and rave about an unbroadcasted episode, it would be the pilot. That doesn’t appear to have gotten the same level of hype alas, and I don’t know to what extent my enthusiasm about the pilot is based on lowered expectations, given Episode 1 was so awful.
Still, glad to see E1 is doing well on iTunes. If Fox is serious about the whole “Make it up in DVD/etc sales” thing then it may well be the best news for television we could have. Smart TV is rarely popular TV, yet it’s almost always the case that the smart shows are the ones people actively and enthusiastically watch and follow rather than leave on as transitory entertainment.
If you’re just after advertising eyeballs, then the distinction doesn’t matter, as it doesn’t matter why the TV is on as long as it is on in the first place. Actually pro-actively courting DVD sales changes the dynamic.
Yeah, I’m using the term “DVD sales”, but of course I’m including iTunes/Amazon VOD/etc sales too.
The other thing is that there’s an incentive for Fox to do this: DVR usage. People are skipping ads like never before. Ads will continue to be a source of revenue for many years to come, but they’re going to be declining. So getting other sources of funding to ensure the network is profitable is going to become increasingly necessary.
I’m a little more optimistic about Dollhouse going into a third season than I have been. I “see” a logic Fox could be using, and it seems fairly compelling, in terms of doing what they can to make Dollhouse a useful experiment in the future of TV. The key elements are:
- Cut the budget to the bone to reduce the exposure
- Ensure it’s a show people actively love
- Sell it.
This takes time to do and see if it can be made to work, so I do see a third season as almost inevitable, unless the second season completely tanks. If it drops below a 1.0, then, sure, I think the future is in doubt, but that’d probably be because of an assumption DVD sales will be too low, rather than because advertising revenues will be.
If each season rakes in 500,000 DVD set sales (yes, Season One is not likely to get that far in the short term, it made less than 70,000 in its first week, but it was a poor season and the show hasn’t hit its stride. Plus that’s US sales only), with Fox getting a take of $15 per set (half the $30 Amazon is selling the set for), and if it’s true that S2′s episodes are costing around half a million each, then that’s the second season paid for in DVD sales with a little profit on top.
In reality Dollhouse is not going to get to half a million per season any time soon, but advertising is still high enough to make up the difference. Time will tell.