Dushku's Disastrous 'Dollhouse' Debut

Fox was really hoping for more out of the fiery combo of Summer Glau and Eliza Dushku, pairing Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the debut of Dollhouse together on Friday night. The results were not soo good. Though Sarah Connor was celebrating its mid-season return, but only 3.7 million people showed up to the party. That was just ahead of NBC's Howie Do It, and since that Candid Camera rip-off looks like the worst show on television - maybe the worst show ever - the numbers look even worse than they are.It was within shouting distance of Wife Swap and less than half of the audience for The Ghost Whisperer. The difference, of course, is that none of those networks built massive marketing campaigns around this week's shows. Dollhouse got better numbers than Sarah Connor, its Friday night lead-in, but not enough to make you think the show will make it on to the Fall schedule. Barring NBC's Crusoe, Dollhouse was the lowest rated premiere by a drama series this season. Can the Joss Whedon show manufacture a turnaround? It's not likely, stuck on Friday nights and all. About the only way the show can gain a foothold is through the almighty TiVo or online viewing used by people who are otherwise drawn out of the house on Friday nights. But that's a lot to hope for.

Comments

[MRPigg]

If FOX was expecting better numbers than this premeiring it on a Friday midseason, then they are certifiable. What were they thinking? If they had any hope at all for this show, they should have shown at least a few episodes on a better day of the week before moving it to ratings hell.

Poor Joss Whedon...

[lisa]

Looks like taking all your clothes off to promote a pile of crap doesn't always help.

[fairportfan]

Hey - lisa - did you watch it? Or are you just dissing it to be cool?

[Duelly]

Who cares if she actually watched it? She saw the advertising and made a valid point. Go ahead and dick it up though.

[Orinn]

Despite the scantly photos, I did not see a single advertisement for the show. Only knew it exists because of here and I follow Joss's work. At least dollhouse was in the number one spot on hulu.com all weekend.

[Rachel]

Personally, I didn't know it started last week, but I did watch it on hulu.com. It feels like a cross between Alias and My Own Worst Enemy. I haven't formed a decision on whether it will survive or not. I plan to watch it next week on my DVR. I love Joss Whedon and hope this at least gets a chance to show where he plans to go with it.

[Will]

I watch a lot of Fox programming. In addition to tuning into the news at 9:15 AM each Friday, I watch 24, Lie to Me, Hell's Kitchen, TMZ, Sarah Conner, Fringe and (sigh) American Idol.

They have been promoting the hell out of this show, and I will say one thing. Titillation aside, it looks like a turd.

Look, this is Fox's apology to Mr. Whedon for canceling Firefly. They have made a ton of money off of the DVD Box Sets, and off of the Serenity movie. But I'm afraid that the loss of that gem has left him burnt creatively. But pairing it with a show that has already been canceled on a dead night can only mean one thing...

This show is gone.

By the way, Mr. Boyd...why the disdain for Dushku? Did she stand you up for an interview once?

[lara petersen]

i'm really sad that numbers for Sarah Connor Chronicles are low : (