Dollhouse

[zero]

So, I assume there have to be some Whedon fans that caught this tonight? What'd ya think? I liked it, kinda had a Matrix meets Burn Notice vibe to it, definitely more grown-up than the usual stuff from Joss.

Anyone want to start the cancellation pool? I give it nine episodes.

Edited February 14, 2009 by Zero

[Lint]

I caught it..didn't like it at all. Thought it was actually rather boring. Which really sucks because when I saw the ads/previews for it, it really caught my interest and seemed like something I'd really enjoy

I'll take 6

Edited February 14, 2009 by Lint6

[naiwf]

I'll go with 4 episodes just because Friday night is generally not the spot for a new show to succeed. I liked what I saw, but don't feel like this is going to be one of those shows that gets anywhere near a second season.

[TKz]

I thought it was fantastic, really enjoyed it. Of course, Joss+FOX can only lead to the cancellation of a good show. I'm hoping there will be atleast a full season this time around.

[zero]

Well on the bright side, there's no need for speculation - the show pretty much bombed (got beat by Supernanny), so I wouldn't be surprised if it's axed in a few weeks.

The bad news is, the timeslot change completely fucked over Terminator, drawing its lowest ratings ever, so I suppose we can kiss that one goodbye as well.

Edited February 15, 2009 by Zero

[MalaCloudy Black]

I just looked at the ratings and ouch.

[Ananas]

You have to put those ratings through the Friday scope. Compared to other FOX's other Friday shows, it was a tremendous success. It built on SCC's lead in by 25%, and was their highest demo performer on Friday in years. That said, it's not to much the opening number as it is the likely drop-off in subsequent weeks that will give me pause. Although since it's a Friday maybe it'll hold reasonably steady. And I'm pretty sure Whedon has a deal in place to ensure that the entire episode order airs, so give me 13.

[wCwCreator]

First episode was Faith: The Beginning where she'll eventually meet the Mayor soon.

Seeing as this was labeled the New Fox Friday, I naturally assumed it was too bad to air on a better day of the week. I feel bad for Terminator, just a major downgrade...

[livid]

Haven't seen it yet, actually about to watch it in a minute.

But apparently while it's ratings weren't amazing, it is the number one show on iTunes. And with the apparent increased emphasis on online tv watching (Hulu ads anybody?), I'd say that that may have a strong effect on whether it would be canceled or not as well.

EDIT: Now having seen it, it's pretty good. Will definitely be looking to see what the season brings.

Edited February 18, 2009 by Johnny Quid

[DeeJam]

Solid concept, poor execution. The only reason I finished watching it and will continue to watch it is because I would like to do a number of sexual activities with Eliza Dushku.

The acting of Eliza in the very beginning was a little over the top for me. She doesn't seem like the right girl for this part.

[TKz]

Really? I can understand not thinking she's right for the part when she's being the blank Echo, but Eliza plays the tough chick to a tee. And even in the scenes where she's blank Echo and it doesn't feel right, I think that kind of helps that part of the character. She's a blank slate, it doesn't feel right because it's just not right.

Though, I think they'll need to be careful with which personalitys they give her, because I don't think I'll ever be able to buy Eliza as a cute, clutzy girl (ala. fred), having litteraly grown up falling in love with the tough as nails Faith. (though, I've always been more of a Buffy man).

And can someone clear up the ratings for me? Some people are saying it's done terrible, yet others are saying for the slot it's in it's done fantastic, which is it? Is it so bad that we most likley won't see the end of this series or is it doing quite well for a what has been refered to as the Graveyard slot.

First episode was Faith: The Beginning where she'll eventually meet the Mayor soon.

Seeing as this was labeled the New Fox Friday, I naturally assumed it was too bad to air on a better day of the week. I feel bad for Terminator, just a major downgrade...

I don't agree with this at all, but don't tell me you wouldn't mark out hard if that was the ending of the series. ¬_¬

I've decided that while I enjoyed the episode greatly, I'm going to reserve my judgement for a couple of episodes. I trust Joss, but the idea of the full series being Echo taking on missions and slowly becoming self aware doesn't do anything for me. She's going to need to become self aware sooner rather than later, or the show has a good chance of getting a lil' stale after a few eps. This isn't Angel, they won't get away with Eliza being a badass for the first series and just doing missions with an over-arcing storyline that spans the full season, because they haven't got ready developed characters this time. They're going to need to pull out some big twists and have a lot episodes that continue on from the lasts story, because even though I know I'd personally watch it, I don't think the general audience would tune in once a week just to see Echo get a new character, save the day and then every so often remember something.

And I know, a lot of comparisons to Angel there, which I shouldn't do because it's not that verse, but I've got a bad feeling Joss might try and go that route with this show, which just wouldn't work. A style similar to Lost Series 1 would work better I feel.

[livid]

The ratings for it are bad in general but considering it's on Friday's, which is usually the death day for any show (especially new ones), the ratings aren't actually as bad as they seem.

[Ace]

The premiere episode of Dollhouse helped FOX double its viewership levels among women versus Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and helped the network finish in second place among adults 18-34 and in first place across key male demographic for the night.

That sounds fairly good to me. Can't wait to see it down here, should it make it

[naiwf]

The audience dropped 10% this week to 4.22 million. We're still on course for my prediction to hold true that it will be officially cancelled in 2 more weeks.

[zero]

This week's episode totally sucked too. I like the whole story behind the Dollhouse itself, but the side story with the hunting trip was fucking boring.

[Boogey131]

I thought the last episode was a much better showing than the pilot. Though it's still not as good as my expectations have been. I liked the development of Echo and her handler(his name escapes me) but, I need something to hook me in. And so far I've had nothing.

[GoGo Yubari]

This week's episode totally sucked too. I like the whole story behind the Dollhouse itself, but the side story with the hunting trip was fucking boring.

Completely disagreed. Well, okay, no, the first ten minutes where it looked like a standard hunting trip was fucking boring, but that was the point. It was just a ruse for the awesome gearshift into the Most Dangerous Game takeoff and then it was great television for the rest of the episode, with the backstory for the handler being perfectly integrated into the main plot of Echo vs. the hunter guy.

Of course, that still leaves the problem of, well, the fact that the first ten minutes were really, really dull. If Dollhouse were a more established series it could get away with pulling off the shift in tone, but as it stands I wouldn't be shocked if a lot of people tuned out before the first commercial break.

[TKz]

I think Whendon may be stepping on dangerous ground by going outside of his regular niche of having Fantasticly Exuberant characters. It's clearly trying to keep a lot more with reality when it comes to people and personalities than previous Whendon work, which is probally a bit of a let down to all the Whendonites that tuned in. It's very different to Joss' usual stuff, and I'm not sure if he's quite figured out how to do a show like this.

There's clearly a main storyline (Involving Alpha) but at the moment they're still setting up the characters, which they're going to need to hurry along with because unlike a show like Bones that can just have one episode storylines but stay entertaining thanks to the characters, Dollhouse lacks something that would allow it to do that, so it needs to get onto the main story sooner rather than later. I don't really find myself giving a damn about anyone other than the handler, and Faith and Fred. Simply because of that: It's Amy Acker and Eliza Dushka on my screen again. It's pretty clear that Echo will become self aware at some point in the series, which I'm sure will make the whole thing a lot more interesting, but if they put it off too long, no one will care about the show enough to see it. (apart from me and other Whendonites)

The last episode was decent, I wouldn't really rate it above or below the previous, but it did make me give a damn about a character for reasons other than "FAITH IS BACK ON TV <3333333". I quite enjoy the Handler, he's a really interesting character.

In other news, Whendonverse nerds shall henceforth be known as "Whendonites". ¬_¬

[Lord Nibbler]

The second episode would have made a much better pilot. The whole psycho-hunter-chasing-her-with-a-bow thing meant that you actually cared about Echo a lot more than in the first episode. Plus, the active serial killer probably would have hooked more people.

I'm hoping Fox keeps the faith. After Firefly, and with a Friday night slot, they can't have been expecting a huge ratings winner, surely? At least, not at first. Hopefully they understand that the show needs time, and unless the numbers drop too low they'll stick with it for the long haul.

[zero]

I'm hoping Fox keeps the faith. After Firefly, and with a Friday night slot, they can't have been expecting a huge ratings winner, surely?

Not when CBS is pulling in huge ratings on Friday nights. Fox can easily put something much cheaper in that timeslot like Don't Forget the Lyrics and call it day.