View Full Version : Fox Pretty Much Assures Failure of Dollhouse
DoctorFinger
11-07-2008, 07:50 AM
Raise your hand if you were looking forward to Joss Whedon's new show: Dollhouse!
Now raise your hand if you were completely sure that Fox would find a way to completely fuck over the show!
Your fears are now confirmed (http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/11/07/dollhouse-start-date-wtf/). Fox has officially placed Dollhouse in the TV equivalent of the Dead Zone: Friday nights. Putting a new show on Friday nights is pretty much the quickest and easiest way to kill it outright. My guess is that Dollhouse will air it's first 3 episodes in that timeslot, then get bounced around the schedule for 3 more episodes before being canned.
The best part of this? Everyone knew Fox would pull something like this. This past summer I mentioned that groups were already organizing "Save Dollhouse" campaigns, and were in fact trying to figure out what items to mass mail to Fox as a protest, a la Jericho and nuts (I suggested severed doll heads, possibly implaed on pencils). Now forget the absurdity for a moment of organizing a campaign to save a show of which you haven't seen a single minute of. Everyone knew this would happen.
Fox is the only broadcast network at the moment willing to give sci-fi even as light as Dollhouse a chance, but they won't give it much of one. I said this months ago, and I stand by it: Whedon should have taken Dollhouse to either Sci-Fi or FX. The budget he'd have making a show for those networks would be less, but you'd be a guaranteed hit. Instead he insists on taking it to a network, knowing full well it's likely fate. This announcement is just the beginning of the end.
pheriannath
11-07-2008, 07:59 AM
I am shocked. Shocked.
Oh wait, I'm not.
Widgetcraft
11-07-2008, 08:02 AM
Raise your hand if you were looking forward to Joss Whedon's new show: Dollhouse!
Now raise your hand if you were completely sure that Fox would find a way to completely fuck over the show!
Your fears are now confirmed (http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/11/07/dollhouse-start-date-wtf/). Fox has officially placed Dollhouse in the TV equivalent of the Dead Zone: Friday nights. Putting a new show on Friday nights is pretty much the quickest and easiest way to kill it outright. My guess is that Dollhouse will air it's first 3 episodes in that timeslot, then get bounced around the schedule for 3 more episodes before being canned.
The best part of this? Everyone knew Fox would pull something like this. This past summer I mentioned that groups were already organizing "Save Dollhouse" campaigns, and were in fact trying to figure out what items to mass mail to Fox as a protest, a la Jericho and nuts (I suggested severed doll heads, possibly implaed on pencils). Now forget the absurdity for a moment of organizing a campaign to save a show of which you haven't seen a single minute of. Everyone knew this would happen.
Fox is the only broadcast network at the moment willing to give sci-fi even as light as Dollhouse a chance, but they won't give it much of one. I said this months ago, and I stand by it: Whedon should have taken Dollhouse to either Sci-Fi or FX. The budget he'd have making a show for those networks would be less, but you'd be a guaranteed hit. Instead he insists on taking it to a network, knowing full well it's likely fate. This announcement is just the beginning of the end.
Well, FX is owned by Fox, and I'm quite sure he likely tried to get Dollhouse onto FX. He would have had a larger budget over there, and likely more success (take a look at any of their dramas; The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Sons of Anarchy... etc) Dollhouse simply doesn't fit what FX likes to push though, which is gritty, semi-realistic dramas.
Anyhow, I couldn't force myself to get excited about this show, even as a Whedon fan. Fox was just one part of it, as the show itself sounds incredibly lame, and Eliza Dushku is second only to Sarah Michelle Gellar in terms of weak actors/actresses associated with Buffy/Angel.
Alkanos
11-07-2008, 08:03 AM
Joss Whedon needs to stay the fuck away from Fox. You'd think he learned his lesson from Firefly, but nooo...
MachEnergy
11-07-2008, 08:10 AM
Joss Whedon needs to stay the fuck away from Fox. You'd think he learned his lesson from Firefly, but nooo...
Fox is the late night drunken booty call to so many creative producers.
DoctorFinger
11-07-2008, 08:11 AM
Well, FX is owned by Fox, and I'm quite sure he likely tried to get Dollhouse onto FX. He would have had a larger budget over there, and likely more success (take a look at any of their dramas; The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Sons of Anarchy... etc) Dollhouse simply doesn't fit what FX likes to push though, which is gritty, semi-realistic dramas.
Anyhow, I couldn't force myself to get excited about this show, even as a Whedon fan. Fox was just one part of it, as the show itself sounds incredibly lame, and Eliza Dushku is second only to Sarah Michelle Gellar in terms of weak actors/actresses associated with Buffy/Angel.FX and Fox are owned by the same company, but have different management.
Besides, all of those great FX shows do have smaller budgets (as Shawn Ryan says here (http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/09/the-shields-cre.html)), they work because they're character dramas with no effects. Dollhouse won't need a lot of greenscreening (as far as I know) but it's going to have big fight scenes in ever ep, and they cost money.
DigitalFirefly
11-07-2008, 09:42 AM
I wasn't expecting anything less from Fox.
Mike Kelehan
11-07-2008, 09:49 AM
Friday night is a big vote of no confidence, but with DVRs, it's not as bad as it perhaps used to be.
Stoke
11-07-2008, 09:55 AM
Don't be mad at Fox, this is how they work and they've made that clear many times already. Be mad at Whedon, he's the one that keeps coming back for more.
biosc1
11-07-2008, 09:56 AM
This is why they invented PVR's. Saves me the hassle of trying to figure out when to actually watch something.
Now, they will be upset that I am skipping the commercials and their advertising, but if they put it on at a time I could actually watch it...or even find it, they wouldn't have this issue.
PathMaster
11-07-2008, 10:06 AM
Sigh....I had "High Hopes"..
A sci-fi show on Fox airing on Friday nights? Clearly this is doomed, just like Firefly and the X-Files.
I said this months ago, and I stand by it: Whedon should have taken Dollhouse to either Sci-Fi or FX.
As I understand it, the only reason Dollhouse is getting made is because Fox offered Eliza Dushku a show, and she got Whedon involved. So I don't think he could just shop it around to other networks.
Widgetcraft
11-07-2008, 05:53 PM
A sci-fi show on Fox airing on Friday nights? Clearly this is doomed, just like Firefly and the X-Files.
The X-Files aired on Sunday nights, after The Simpsons.
The X-Files aired on Sunday nights, after The Simpsons.
Sure, for part of its run. But it debuted on September 10th, 1993 - a Friday. And it stayed there for a while. A brief check shows the first four seasons debuted on a Friday, and the fifth on a Sunday.
Rogue_hunter
11-07-2008, 06:17 PM
CSI had also started on Fridays, at 10 PM. Fridays is when I watched both X-Files and CSI until they got moved around.
Widgetcraft
11-07-2008, 07:28 PM
Sure, for part of its run. But it debuted on September 10th, 1993 - a Friday. And it stayed there for a while. A brief check shows the first four seasons debuted on a Friday, and the fifth on a Sunday.
Hm, weird... Oh well, I didn't watch it until it showed up on Sundays.
OrangePulp
11-07-2008, 07:56 PM
They used to have Sliders and X-Files back to back on fridays, when I was a kid. That was also in the first season or two of Sliders, when it was still a good show.
GunnyMo
11-07-2008, 08:19 PM
Joss Whedon needs to stay the fuck away from Fox. You'd think he learned his lesson from Firefly, but nooo...
There you go. Joss has no one to blame but himself on this one. Don't worry, it'll be on DVD soon enough and we can all enjoy being rabid fanboys of the one and only season. ;) Just like Firefly.
Oh, and for the record, Friday nights are fine. The gamer-Joss-nerd-geeks that will flip out watching this show are, guess what, most normally dateless on Fridays. Bazing!
or maybe that's just me. yeah, probably just me. *cry*
So finally read the article linked to in the OP; while Terminator moving to Fridays might be bad news for it, it strikes me as good news for Dollhouse. It seems like a good lead-in.
5y1v4r
11-08-2008, 10:22 PM
Seems like he should have tried NBC to me, I mean, obviously sci fi would be the best but it is kind of a niche market. NBC already has a bunch of shows trying to jump on the Heroes wave and be realistic yet have fantastic elements, seems like dollhouse would have fit in well over there.
muddi900
11-09-2008, 07:20 AM
has anyone seen the trailer. As much as a Buffy freak I am, the show looks kinda lame!!
Lutheran
11-11-2008, 12:09 PM
I agree , it looks like Fox may actually have a good reason for sticking this on friday nights. And I love Joss but this whole show has been 1 big clusterfuck after another and it hasn't even aired yet. A good show can get decent ratings on friday night , look at Numbers ratings or Ghost Whisperer ( not my idea of a good show but big JLH boobs and ghosts equals good ratings on a bad night ).
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