Dollhouse Premiering Friday February 13th

[Wyndam]

Well this is just absolutely horrible news.

I don't really know what to say besides that I can't believe Fox is already giving up on this show. Terminator will also be joining Dollhouse on Friday's as well. Now it looks like they both will be able to die a slow death.

I read on Whedonesque that February 13th is also the 5-year anniversary of the Angel cancellation announcement.

Really, really upset by this news.

[hitnrun017]

I have to do it, I'm pissed right the [censored!] off! Friday death slot, Angel cancellation anniversary AND Friday the 13th. This is just absolutely ridiculous! What happened to the show getting "priority treatment"? I feel sick. Terminator IS my favorite show on television right now, but it's no good as a lead in, especially on Friday night before a new show.

Screw you FOX!

[Wyndam]

What is also ridiculous, is that House is moving to Monday's as the lead in for 24. That can only be followed by a big WTF as both of those shows are Fox's highest rated and most popular shows. Why put them on the same night? 24 should be used to launch Dollhouse just like House helped launch Fringe. Utter stupidity.

[hitnrun017]

Here's interesting post from Whedonesque: (stop reading if you have thoughts of suicide)
whedonesque.com/comments/18042#265722

What the hell is going on??

Certain elements of FOX absolutely hate the show. That's the sad truth.

I've known for a while Dollhouse has been in serious trouble, and I've kept (relatively) quiet about it online. In fact, I've pretty much kept my mouth shut about it, as I found the whole thing too depressing (yes, folks, I never thought email could be depressing as it's just words - but now I hate that wee Google Mail logo. Sod you, Google).

Dollhouse has gone from being this genre-bending, amazing sounding show pitched to people in New York last year (which, also, I kept quiet about) to being a long, protracted Agent Paul Ballard hitting-things to music scene. (You will all get that on Friday February 13th - which as Jackal points out, the day Angel got cancelled). The product Joss sold isn't what certain folk at the network really wanted, and what's happened (and is happening) is Joss and friends trying to mash Dollhouse into FOX's format. (Edit: well, that's my take) Its led to loads of problems. FOX refusing reshoots, an aborted pilot, episode reordering, it loosing its air date, it shifting to Friday... But wait, it gets worse! Dollhouse is shooting until the end of January, so unless they order more episodes...

Head. Desk.

There's an interview Joss did with Neil Gaiman (who, co-incidentially, I met at a Jonathan Coulton gig the other night) -- in it, Neil went on about the creative process, and how well meaning execs can sometimes plow into a property and end up scent marking it to the point where it ends up stinking of piss. At the time, I thought that was funny - as was Joss' reaction in the interview. Now I feel the pain. Now I know how personal Dr Horrible, a silly internet musical, actually is.

If this things dies, I know who fired the death ray.

[Emmie]

Oh my god! This is awful news. Wow, I really hate FOX for doing this. Do they never learn from their past mistakes? Hello, Firefly anyone?

[vampmogs]

Oh well that's that then. We may as well kiss this show goodbye.

I've heard so much terrible news about this show in just a couple of hours. I've just started to given up hope.

You'll find me in the line for ignorant bliss.

[Joe]

Oh SHIT ugh horrible :broody:

[dragonweaver]

That SUCKS!!

Wow, FOX really just doesn't like Dollhouse and apparently their not big fans of Terminator either.

A part of me wants to be positive and say that both shows will do great on Friday given the lack of competition. I'll let you know when I make it to lala-land and start believing that.

[spurtyknowledge]

This is certainly rather upsetting. Dollhouse should've atleast moved to Tuesdays with Fringe (not sure if Tuesday is American Idol night or not) rather than dead Friday with a series that despite the second season order, isn't doing all that well and does not seem like it'll survive the move either.

[Rebecca]

I certainly hope Joss has learned his mistake and is currently looking at other networks. It has good premise, maybe scifi?

[hitnrun017]

Nov 8, 2008 20:42:58 GMT -5 Rebecca said:

I certainly hope Joss has learned his mistake and is currently looking at other networks. It has good premise, maybe scifi?

I'm also hoping for this, but I don't he could because Eliza is under contract with FOX. The contract is the reason why Dollhouse is on FOX. Joss wrote the show for Eliza, but since she was contracted, he had no other choice.

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

I mean, this could either go two ways. Since all the shows do bad supposedly on Friday nights, Dollhouse has a large enough following already that it'll blow away the not-so-competition on Friday. Or, Fox will just cancel it.

But what's weird is that quote from Whedonesque. So, was Joss lying this whole time about how Fox was being really easy-going on Dollhouse and letting him do things his own way? And I thought it was his choice, as he made it really clear, that HE wanted to change the first episode and the order of the episodes.

[bitsy]

Nov 9, 2008 0:21:52 GMT -5 Tyler Austin "tiewashere" said:

And I thought it was his choice, as he made it really clear, that HE wanted to change the first episode and the order of the episodes.

This was my understanding as well. While I understand the consternation due to Fox's past indiscretion with Firefly, I'm hard pressed to drop all the blame on Rupert Murdoch's door when it comes to Dollhouse. Joss has said on multiple occasions that it was he who was not happy with his own product. While it sounds like the more the suits tried to help the more they actually hindered, I stand behind my original assertion that the concept of the show was deeply flawed and not even a seasoned show scribe like Joss could make that lead balloon fly.

[hitnrun017]

A FOX executive finally commented on the move:

www.tvweek.com/news/2008/11/foxs_slate_shuffle_a_longterm.php

Having all but abandoned scripted programming on Friday nights of late, Fox is jumping back onto the night in a very big (and expensive) way. Starting in February, the network will pair Joss Whedon’s lush new drama “Dollhouse” with the network’s big-budget action hour “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.”

While “Dollhouse” has been plagued by production shutdowns and rumors that Fox executives are uncertain about its commercial appeal, Mr. Beckman said scheduling the show on Friday is simply a byproduct of trying to design the strongest possible schedule for the network.

Mr. Beckman doesn’t pretend that “Dollhouse” and “Terminator” have an easy path ahead of them. But, particularly in the case of “Dollhouse,” Mr. Beckman thinks the less competitive Friday night will give the show a better chance to build an audience than a more high-profile night.

“If we put it on Monday and it didn’t do well, we might have to yank it,” he said. But because Fox’s winter lineup should be solid on Saturday through Thursday nights, “We can afford to let these shows run their course. We can give them 12 or 13 weeks to find an audience.”

Overall, Mr. Beckman said his goal coming out of the 2008-09 season is “to have four tentpoles for next year, and if we surprise ourselves, a Friday night,” he said. “If these moves work, it sets us up nicely for next fall. And with a little luck from our development, I think that for the first time we can put together a schedule that could actually let us be No. 1 in the fall.”

Still pissed off, especially the "surprise" comment, but there are some things that make sense and I'm reassured a little bit. I guess all we have to do now is hope for the best. Friday can be looked at as the "Sci-Fi Geek Night": Terminator at 8, Dollhouse at 9 and Battlestar at 10.

[buffyverseforever]

Interesting-as you said,hopefully all will go well for all three shows....


Best wishes,

Scott

[commandercool]

Grr. Argh.

I've got a buddy who just started watching the Joss shows recently and who has been rabidly anticipating Dollhouse ever since then. When I told him about this, he started clawing at a wall and screaming. It was awesome. ;D

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

I think Dollhouse will be fine on Friday, actually. I mean, the fan base is HUGE already.

[hitnrun017]

Nov 11, 2008 17:41:28 GMT -5 Tyler Austin "tiewashere" said:

I think Dollhouse will be fine on Friday, actually. I mean, the fan base is HUGE already.

Huge within the Whedon fanbase. We are very active and vocal, yet our numbers a few. Few in a sense that it's not enough to keep a show on the air. Buffy's and Angel's best numbers would of been cancelled within weeks on FOX. It has to appeal to general television watchers too, and most of their tv's arn't on Friday nights. It's called the "Friday Deathslot" for a reason. I just hope FOX isn't expecting much.

[Tyler Austin "tiewashere"]

Nov 11, 2008 20:37:07 GMT -5 hitnrun017 said:

Nov 11, 2008 17:41:28 GMT -5 Tyler Austin "tiewashere" said:

I think Dollhouse will be fine on Friday, actually. I mean, the fan base is HUGE already.

Huge within the Whedon fanbase. We are very active and vocal, yet our numbers a few. Few in a sense that it's not enough to keep a show on the air. Buffy's and Angel's best numbers would of been cancelled within weeks on FOX. It has to appeal to general television watchers too, and most of their tv's arn't on Friday nights. It's called the "Friday Deathslot" for a reason. I just hope FOX isn't expecting much.

Are our numbers really THAT small though? I mean, with Dr. Horrible, and Firefly...and I feel like the fanbase has really grown. I mean, have you read the comments on the trailer for the show on youtube? Everyone seems excited and the star rating is pretty high.

[hitnrun017]

Yeah, I agree the fanbase has grown a lot. With Dr. Horrible, it was mentioned that Act 1 had 2 million views. It was big with the fanbase, but not really anywhere else. With Dollhouse, I've seen more negative buzz than positive. I just hope FOX comes up with a great advertising campaign that appeals to people outside the fanbase. Even if the ratings arn't great, I bet the DVR and internet numbers will be huge.