You could say that I follow television ratings a little closer than the average bear. I monitor the numbers for my favorite shows the way a 35 year old woman with a ticking biological clock charts her basal body temperature. It’s precisely for that reason that I have no idea what FOX is up to with the renewal of Dollhouse for a second season. Where the ratings are concerned, there is no convincing reason to be bringing the show back. That’s not to say I’m disappointed by the development. I’ll be happy to enjoy another 13 Whedon episodes on Rupert’s dime. However, it does leave me wondering just what show will be coming back.
According to the THR Live Feed post, “Fox received some serious budget concessions from 20th TV and Whedon to continue the show.” Budget concessions are one thing. Serious budget concessions are another. Will that result in a smaller cast? Less adventurous scripts? Or is this a signal that 20th TV is willing to take the hit on the license fee from FOX, planning to make their money when the Whedon faithful start buying up DVDs by the bucketful? Some of that cost trimming could be mitigated by how they make the show. According to the same THR post, Whedon presented the unaired 13th episode as an example of how he can cut costs in production.
The more puzzling question is whether or not FOX has requested changes in the show itself. Common sense suggests they would have to. After all, the season one direction of the show was bleeding viewers to the point that the finale wasn’t just second to last on FOX that week, it was also beaten in the demo by five shows on the CW. You can spin the numbers all you want with Hulu, iTunes, and DVRs, but man … getting beat by anything on the CW is really bad. You would think the network might have ideas on how to change that trend. Of course, I said that was common sense. Clearly, common sense has left the building, to be replaced by gut feelings and a roll of the dice. If nothing else, it will be fascinating to see how it all plays out.
We’ll have to wait until the big presentation on Monday to get the full story, but the early bets are on a return to Friday. That feels like a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy to me, but who knows. At this point, anything could happen. I mean, Dollhouse just got renewed. So, if you count yourself a Dollhouse fan, congratulations. On the other hand, if you were pulling for more Terminator:TSCC, you are now completely justified in being pissed.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on May 15, 2009 @ 21:39 EST5EDT
Fuck Yeah!
Very excited to have more Dollhouse!
The Live Feed also reported the pick up of ABC’s ‘Happy Town,’ who’s Pilot included Amy Acker. Who knows how that will affect Dollhouse, as she was never a regular.
*POST AUTHOR*
Hopefully she can do both. The more Amy Acker on my TV, the better.
I thought it suddenly got cold.
I’m going to go and stock up on food and water.
While I think that FOX is waiting for the big DVD purchase boom I also wonder if this is their apology to Joss for dumping Firefly. If they said that 13 episodes was enough for Dollhouse I’m sure that the network and Whedon would have parted ways in a very acrimonious manner.
As for severe budget cuts, I wouldn’t be too shocked if they got rid of most of the cast and focused primarily on Eliza as some rouge agent.
The Live Feed article also said that the DVR numbers are huge and the online streaming numbers are strong, so that’s a really good sign across the board that the networks — or at least FOX — are looking at those numbers. Hopefully that will be a new trend and we’ll get more surprise pick-ups like this one.
Like a season 3 of Chuck
Good news indeed. And yes, I will continue to pout over TSCC.
Yeah, its kinda weird if Dollhouse gets picked up and T:SCC based on the ratings. Not that I’m complaining, as I didn’t really expect to see any more of either.
I also felt neither show had a chance, so while I can’t stand Dollhouse, I won’t blame it for the loss of T:SCC.
That must have been some deal, though, as I understand that even for a cult series, DVD revenue is miniscule compared to commercial fees. Is it coming back as a Sunday half-hour animation?
bsg- with all the renewals, questionable renewals-maybe TSCC has a chance. Though it probably was one or the other.
Stunning. My only theory is that they plan on airing this with Fringe next season, maybe with a move of fringe to Fridays?
Oh, I hope not. But, those would be too good shows to pair up. Maybe on Tuesday?
I sure hope that the network doesn’t request any changes. the only reason those first 5 horrible episodes ever happened was because of network interference. After “Man on the Street” and Joss started making the show that he had always wanted to make it got soooo much better. He started making a conspiracy show about the possible implications of strange new technology. After that it also became a ensemble show that focused less on echo and her stupid engagements which was a welcome change for me.
Sure the rating kept going down after it got better but those first 5 episodes drove away so many people who would have liked the show that it became. My hope is that the DVD and word-of-mouth will bring those people back for the second season.
Yey!!!!!
Hey guess what, I just got served a cold one by the devil :-)
Seriously though, I expected this just as much as I expected the FNL renewal. To me, it makes sense. I bet my fat ass that the DVD sales of FNL were high enough and that Fox expects the DVD sales of Dollhouse to go through the roof.
This is purely a business decision and maybe they got an offer they could not refuse from Whedon and Fox TV.
Well, I would have preferred a renewal of TTSC, but I kind of am interested in Dollhouse, so I will go with the flow. Maybe they are going to allow Joss to finish the basic mythology and then let it go. At least I hope Joss writes it that way and keeps a finale that can wrap up the whole thing. In any case, I hope that Sierra and Victor come back and are part of the plot. Oddly enough I could do without Echo with no real problems.
I am glad it will be renewed but the budget cuts are worrisome. Aren’t shows generally cheaper in subsequent seasons since the sets are already built? Besides how expensive can the chair light show be? Having AT as a recurring character would be a “wash” with the departure of Amy Acker (Victor could take over as the new Dr Saunders.)
The actress who played November is also gone so that is one less salary. Budget cuts would probably mean more green screen shots and they rarely work well.
I saw the pilot for Happy Town and it dragged on forever.
I play close attention to the ratings too, and there’s no way I would have ever predicted Dollhouse returning. The first episode had OK, but disappointing ratings, and its been going down almost week to week. I can’t see Fox teaming the show up with Fringe, or anything else successful. If they didn’t have much faith in the first season and banished it to Friday nights, why would they then risk it affecting another one of their shows? We already know Hulu and DVR mean next to nothing to advertisers at the moment, so I don’t see how they could save the show unless they were adding a huge amount of viewers, enough that one could guess that enough of them aren’t skipping through adverts. Either they’re getting the episodes dirt cheap, their pilot development sucked, or they know something we don’t. You never know, maybe it’s pre-orders are MASSIVE. But right now, based solely on ratings, I have no idea why they decided to pick the show up.
I’m surprised with Better of Ted and Scrubs, but I’m guessing those are much cheaper to produce then a 40 minute drama.
Also, for those concerned with the budget cuts, word is that Joss produced the unaired pilot on the cheap too, and how that turned out was enough for Fox to agree to continue the show, even though they didn’t like the original pilot anyway.
Maybe a cut down budget will force the show to explore ideas rather than action.
Good point. Joss reminded us the last time his budget was cut so drastically: The last season of Angel that was sooo good.
This could be great! Glau on Dollhouse!!
https://io9.com/5271801/what-part-will-summer-glau-play-on-dollhouse
I think that they need to drastically reduce the Echo-centric episodes. Eliza isn’t bad, but she does SO much better as part of ensemble-style episode like Needs or A Spy in the House of Love.