Dollhouse's 'Needs' Unfulfilled. by Haken

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Dollhouse's 'Needs' Unfulfilled.

POSTED BY: HAKEN
UPDATED: Sunday, April 5, 2009 21:44
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VIEWED: 1753
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Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:01 PM

Likes to mess with stuffs.

The television ratings are in for Friday night to the much hyped about 'Needs' episode of 'Dollhouse,' unfortunately it leaves the series wanting as the viewership nosedives against no major competition from other networks.

Sad, but unfortunately true. Here is how 'Needs' stacked up against its competitors on the other major networks. Rating stats courtesy of TVBYTHENUMBERS, which is also currently predicting the demise of the 'Dollhouse' series.

CBS Flashpoint: 1.8/6 shares, 8.64 million viewers. ABC Supernanny: 1.4/5 shares, 4.55 million viewers. NBC Friday Night Lights: 1.2/4 shares, 3.61 viewers. FOX Dollhouse: 1.4/5 shares, 3.49 million viewers.

During the previous two episodes, 'Dollhouse' had to contend with the NCAA Basketball Tournament on CBS and the airing of the 'Battlestar Galactica' finale on SciFi, which may or may not have had an effect on Dollhouse's 'Man on the Street' and 'Echoes' episodes. Both episodes were heavily promoted along with the current 'Needs' by Joss Whedon as pivotal episodes in the series that were more inline with his original vision for 'Dollhouse' as a series.

Whereas the first 5 episodes were standalone episodes mandated by FOX, the subsequent three were touted as 'Joss episodes' that were very intense and heavily woven into the series' mythology that were supposed to carry the show for a 5 years run.

Looking at the rating numbers, it's interesting to note that the early standalone episodes were actually out performing the current Joss episodes. One could surmise that a certain percentage of the viewership gave the series a chance until the Joss episodes, and not finding what they needed in terms of a good series, decided to bail on 'Dollhouse' (sorry, I couldn't resist).

To see for yourself, here are Dollhouse's rating up to this point:

Ghost - 4.7 million. The Target - 4.22 million. Stage Fright - 4.13 million. Gray Hour - 3.5 million. True Believer - 4.33 million. Man on the Street - 4.13 million. Echoes - 3.87 million. Needs - 3.49 million.

I really hate to say this, but with the current trend and an average viewership of about 4 million with only five remaining episodes, it looks like FOX is just about done playing with their 'Dollhouse.'

FOX got a friend that wants to play?

Cross posting from Shiny Universe: http://www.shinyuniverse.net/news.aspx?nid=208

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:16 PM

WHOZIT

Maybe you're right it's over, but does have FOX have anything to put on Friday night? This may be it's saving point since Friday Night Lights has been renewed. It's either that or reruns of FOX movie of the week? What esle can FOX put on Friday night? Maybe Friday is a dead zone......BOO!

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:21 PM

CELLARDOOR

Yeah, why in the world is there such a vast dropoff after the lesser episodes stopped and the "Joss episodes" began? ...Can we still blame it on other programs (they didn't run this week concurrent with Dollhouse, but maybe breaking the watching habit (ala out of sight, out of mind during BSG/March Madness) made people more reluctant to come back? :(

Sad that the audience is missing out now that the show is hitting its stride.

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:37 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

Quote:
Originally posted by whozit: Maybe you're right it's over, but does have FOX have anything to put on Friday night? This may be it's saving point since Friday Night Lights has been renewed. It's either that or reruns of FOX movie of the week? What esle can FOX put on Friday night? Maybe Friday is a dead zone......BOO!

Well, actually, prior to Dollhouse's premiere, FOX was running episodes of COPS and America's Most Wanted. Those were aired one week prior to Dollhouse's premiere.

So to put things in perspective, these were the ratings from Feb. 6th, 2009.

COPS - 4.13 million. COPS repeat - 4.67 million. America's Most Wanted - 4.62 million.

Clearly, if FOX can put repeat episodes of COPS and America's Most Wanted on the air, which by the way cost almost nothing to make, and still outperform expensive series like 'T:SCC' and 'Dollhouse,' it's fairly easy to predict what FOX is going to do.

On the subject of Friday Night Light. Doesn't matter. It has a deal with Direct TV for two more seasons. It's not going to get cancelled anytime soon unless Direct TV pulls out.

No one is going to touch T:SCC and Dollhouse.

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:50 PM

WHOZIT

The key word is "repeats", if you owned a network would you want to run repeats on Friday night or any other night? What would you do if you owned FOX (don'nt laugh) run I4 for the 800th time, or put on Dollhouse.

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 12:55 PM

BYTEMITE

We're losing to SUPERNANNY?

*world shatters*

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 1:08 PM

WHOZIT

Fine, Fuck Supernanny! FOX should run T:TCSS & Dollhouse for the us "cult" viewers, (not Satan) 4 million viewers is alot of people. I'm sure us "cult" viewers will buy alot of DVD's.

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 1:42 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.

Quote:
Originally posted by whozit: The key word is "repeats", if you owned a network would you want to run repeats on Friday night or any other night? What would you do if you owned FOX (don'nt laugh) run I4 for the 800th time, or put on Dollhouse.

I assume that this is a business decision? As such, and assuming that 'Dollhouse' continues to trend downward, I would probably cancel the series and try again with a different series next season. I might even get lucky with something new and come in at 3rd, maybe 2nd, or a miracle first place.

As a business decision, I want something on Friday nights that I can show which will compete with the other networks and maximize my profit margin.

I'm guessing production cost for Dollhouse is probably in the $1.5 million range per episode? Considering that there's probably only 15 minutes of commercial time available to me, I want to maximize my profit with those minutes.

At 3.5 million viewers, FOX is probably taking a lost every time they air Dollhouse because there's no way it's able to recoup the production and marketing cost for the episode and series as a whole.

FOX's only hope now is DVD sales because things like HULU is a dead end that runs on venture capital and doesn't currently turn a profit, which by the way, FOX is an investor.

With average reviews and lackluster reactions for the series, DVD sales aren't going to go through the roof, which explains why FOX was already promoting the DVDs several episodes ago, which seems somewhat desperate on FOX's part and unintentionally placed the series in the straight to DVD category like a B-movie.

Dollhouse isn't Firefly, and there's no way it's going to get a movie either.

Again, to answer you question, the business choice would be to cancel and try again. FOX is not going to lose anymore than it already has and simply wants to cut their losses short.

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 2:17 PM

WHOZIT

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken: Quote:
Originally posted by whozit: The key word is "repeats", if you owned a network would you want to run repeats on Friday night or any other night? What would you do if you owned FOX (don'nt laugh) run I4 for the 800th time, or put on Dollhouse.

I assume that this is a business decision? As such, and assuming that 'Dollhouse' continues to trend downward, I would probably cancel the series and try again with a different series next season. I might even get lucky with something new and come in at 3rd, maybe 2nd, or a miracle first place.

As a business decision, I want something on Friday nights that I can show which will compete with the other networks and maximize my profit margin.

I'm guessing production cost for Dollhouse is probably in the $1.5 million range per episode? Considering that there's probably only 15 minutes of commercial time available to me, I want to maximize my profit with those minutes.

At 3.5 million viewers, FOX is probably taking a lost every time they air Dollhouse because there's no way it's able to recoup the production and marketing cost for the episode and series as a whole.

FOX's only hope now is DVD sales because things like HULU is a dead end that runs on venture capital and doesn't currently turn a profit, which by the way, FOX is an investor.

With average reviews and lackluster reactions for the series, DVD sales aren't going to go through the roof, which explains why FOX was already promoting the DVDs several episodes ago, which seems somewhat desperate on FOX's part and unintentionally placed the series in the straight to DVD category like a B-movie.

Dollhouse isn't Firefly, and there's no way it's going to get a movie either.

Again, to answer you question, the business choice would be to cancel and try again. FOX is not going to lose anymore than it already has and simply wants to cut their losses short.

What will FOX do? Do you have somthing to put on Friday night? You're right, it's over for T:TSCCC & Dollhouse, so I think they shoud run the "WHOZIT FILES", in the show I play "The Zit" I blast villians with my "Wonder Puss". Soon you will have www.thezitfans.net I want 15% HAKEN

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Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:13 PM

OPPYH

Haken, I'm feeling the pain. I'm not as hooked as I was on Firefly(Don't think that could ever happen again) but I am hooked.

Not looking forward to the bad news.

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Sunday, April 05, 2009 5:51 PM

DARTHBRAUNER

I would hope fux would pair either SCC or Dollhouse with Fringe next season and give one of those shows another chance. To be perfectly honest though I think they are going to cancel both but if they don't, I think they would go with SCC to maximize the upcoming Terminator Buzz.

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Sunday, April 05, 2009 7:11 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, executive producer of Hollywood award-winning Pirate News TV at PirateNew.org

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:

Well, actually, prior to Dollhouse's premiere, FOX was running episodes of COPS and America's Most Wanted. Those were aired one week prior to Dollhouse's premiere.

So to put things in perspective, these were the ratings from Feb. 6th, 2009.

COPS - 4.13 million. COPS repeat - 4.67 million. America's Most Wanted - 4.62 million.

The number of police employees has increased 300% in 10 years, and will triple again in the next 10 years.

Hard to compete with the Police State.

Especially with millions more folks out of work trying to get a govt job during a Greatest Depression for the next 15 years.

And its so entertaining to see White Trash arrested for "domestic terrorism" by public drunkensess.

We are doomed.

Speaking of mind-controlled assassins, how many mass shootings did we have today?

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Sunday, April 05, 2009 9:44 PM

PHOENIXSHIP

Quote:
Originally posted by Haken:

Speaking of mind-controlled assassins, how many mass shootings did we have today?

I think we're seeing Dolls without imprints. Our minds are being erased by all the bullshit that passes for education, advertising and marketing.

"Why're you arguin' what's already been decided?" Mal to Jayne, "Jaynestown"

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