Dollhouse to be shelved for sweeps

[Exiled Master]

See, this is why Fox should have kept TSCC instead. Don't get me wrong, I love Dollhouse. But everything in TSCC was better: John Connor becoming completely awesome in one scene, tension between John and Cameron so strong you could pick it up with a geiger counter, the maddening machinations of Weaver, the perfectly scored fights (I'll always think of dead FBI agents and Johnny Cash when I see a motel swimming pool now)

[DigiFluid]

As mis-managed as Sci Fi (pardon me, Syfy ) is, wouldn't that just be the best bet? If Fox drops it, for Syfy to pick it up?

Yeah there'd be logistical problems involving sets, but I mean.... Fox would dump a project they clearly don't have any love for, Syfy would get a ton of geek community cred back, and the Dollhouse cast and crew would get to keep working--giving us fresh new shows.

[DigiFluid]

As mis-managed as Sci Fi (pardon me, Syfy ) is, wouldn't that just be the best bet? If Fox drops it, for Syfy to pick it up?

Yeah there'd be logistical problems involving sets, but I mean.... Fox would dump a project they clearly don't have any love for, Syfy would get a ton of geek community cred back, and the Dollhouse cast and crew would get to keep working--giving us fresh new shows.

[jelgate]

As mis-managed as Sci Fi (pardon me, Syfy ) is, wouldn't that just be the best bet? If Fox drops it, for Syfy to pick it up?

Yeah there'd be logistical problems involving sets, but I mean.... Fox would dump a project they clearly don't have any love for, Syfy would get a ton of geek community cred back, and the Dollhouse cast and crew would get to keep working--giving us fresh new shows.

SyFy would require Dollhouse to severly reduce their budget.

[Amalthea]

"Fringe" isn't on Friday. TSCC wasn't on Friday for the first season and first half of the second season.

There is no place on the schedule for the show. If they put "Dollhouse" in another time slot then they'll have to move another show to Friday.

They could cut back on "So you think you can dance" which, it turns out doesn't work so well in the non-summer. Or just stopped with the ridiculous reality shows all together. That's probably asking for a miracle, though.

I'll give them a little leeway on this right now since the World Series commitments make it tough, but after that, there are a plethora of options should Fox decide to try.

As mis-managed as Sci Fi (pardon me, Syfy ) is, wouldn't that just be the best bet? If Fox drops it, for Syfy to pick it up?

Yeah there'd be logistical problems involving sets, but I mean.... Fox would dump a project they clearly don't have any love for, Syfy would get a ton of geek community cred back, and the Dollhouse cast and crew would get to keep working--giving us fresh new shows.

I like this plan. Or maybe the WB? Or UPN? (Do they still exist?) They were good to Joss.

SyFy would require Dollhouse to severly reduce their budget.

I'm sure they could make it work.

[jelgate]

They could cut back on "So you think you can dance" which, it turns out doesn't work so well in the non-summer. Or just stopped with the ridiculous reality shows all together. That's probably asking for a miracle, though.

Why Fox (a busineess) get rid of the thing that gives them the most profit?
.

I like this plan. Or maybe the WB? Or UPN? (Do they still exist?) They were good to Joss.

Neither of those stations exist anymore. They were mergered into CW. Given their teenage drama methods I don't see it happening.

I'm sure they could make it work.

With the big name actors (compared to other SyFy shows) and Joss Whedon it would be difficult to obtain. Less money for stunts and VHX and special effects.

[Giantevilhead]

It's highly unlikely that the show can move to another network. This kind of thing has happened maybe ten times in all of US television history, not counting the UPN WB merger where all their shows moved to the CW.

[Amalthea]

Why Fox (a busineess) get rid of the thing that gives them the most profit?

My point was they're assuming it would give them the most profit. In the wake of the reality TV explosion, networks just assume it's the way to go and forget the years of quality, scripted dramas and comedies that came before that made them plenty of money.

Wes, said it best:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Mendell

[jelgate]

My point was they're assuming it would give them the most profit. In the wake of the reality TV explosion, networks just assume it's the way to go and forget the years of quality, scripted dramas and comedies that came before that made them plenty of money.

Wes, said it best:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Mendell

No they haven't Their are still an ample supply of comedies and drama. As for quality that is entirely up to the viewer

[Giantevilhead]

They would get rid of reality shows if DVD's and other merchandise of scripted shows they produce can actually make up the difference. However, "Dollhouse" DVD sales have not been very impressive.

Reality shows cost almost nothing to make and each 30 second commercial spot can get up between $20,000 to $40,000 per million viewers for a prime time show, depending on the demographics.

"So You Think You Can Dance" gets an average of 7 million viewers so it makes around $5.9 million per episode. "Dollhouse" gets an average of 3 million viewers so it makes around $2.5 million per episode.

"So You Think You Can Dance" also costs a lot less than "Dollhouse," probably less than half. "Dollhouse" probably costs at least $2 million per episode even with the budget cuts. It's very rare for a scripted one hour prime time shows to cost less than $3 million per episode. That means it costs $26 million to make 13 episodes of "Dollhouse" but it costs the same amount to make a full season of "So You Think You Can Dance."

13 episodes of "Dollhouse" can earn Fox $32.5 million in advertisements so that's $6.5 million in profits. 13 episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" can earn $76.6 million in ads so that's $63.6 million in profits.

"Dollhouse" season 1 DVD's sell for around $30, at least 80% is profit for Fox. To make up the difference, they'd have to sell 2.38 million copies. So far, they've sold less than 500,000 copies.

[ShadowMaat]

Can't say I'm surprised. Dollhouse has been doing what (IMO) Stargate did for years: giving us half a season of half-assed garbage followed by some tight, awesome stuff that leaves you craving more. But by the time you get to the back nine (or whatever the number is) it can be too late for people who aren't entirely hooked to start with. Fans shouldn't have to sit through half a season of dreck just to get to the good stuff, shows should start strong out of the gate and keep it going. Sure, kick it up a notch for the finale, but don't waste the audience's time beforehand.

Can't really comment on whether it was "properly" advertised or not because 1) I don't watch much FOX and 2) I don't pay attention to the commercials, but I'm pretty sure I have seen some ads for it and as far as I'm concerned it isn't lack of advertising that is killing Dollhouse, it's the lack of better stories. And quite frankly I think the near-exclusive focus on Echo has also hamstrung things a bit. But I really dislike the character (and Eliza's portrayal of her) so that could be tainting my view a bit.

As for the stuff about TSCC can we please not go the backbiting flamewar route? Just once? Saying it was "better" is a matter of opinion and I'd be willing to bet hard money that if the roles were reversed it'd be TSCC heading for the chopping block right now. FOX isn't the most loyal network out there especially when it comes to scifi shows. I'm amazed that Dollhouse even got renewed once and I would have been equally amazed if it had been TSCC instead. I think both of 'em should have been scrapped. *shrug*

I don't think FOX is blameless, of course (it's still FOX), but I wouldn't pin the blame ENTIRELY on the network. Not for the pending death of Dollhouse and not for last year's death of TSCC.

[knowles2]

If anything Joss probably guilt tripped the execs by mentioning the fact that they screwed him over with firefly last time.........on the other hand he could have just begged and pleaded.....

Nope the execs just did not want to deal with joss crazy fans again, that all, they even admitted, that they wanted to avoid the hassle of cancelling Dollhouse so they sacrifice the superior TSCC because they would get less hate mail. Wimps.

[Giantevilhead]

Even though TSCC got better ratings, the show wasn't produced by Fox so Fox doesn't get anything from the DVD sales. That's probably one of the reasons they renewed "Dollhouse." They probably thought that "Dollhouse" would sell a lot of DVD's and they'd earn back their investment that way.

[Amalthea]

Quality, scripted dramas made tons of money. Frasier, Seinfeld, Wings, Cheers, The West Wing, ER, I Love Lucy... so many good pre-reality TV shows. Quality is definitely up to the viewer (since I don't count everything in my list as quality to me), but the point is they made money and tons of it. Reality TV is cheap, in every sense of the word and has been taking over the airwaves to the detriment of national discourse.

Now, that said, there are certainly plenty of scripted shows that are being developed now, and they're doing well (some of them) but their networks are supporting them. For instance, the web 2.0 stuff ABC is doing with Castle is remarkable.

My point is it seems to me that Fox is not thinking out of the Nielsen box anymore and that is hurting their scripted TV. Dollhouse, TSCC (though I didn't watch that) are out of the box-type shows so they suffer. All the blame is not theirs, of course, but it is part of it.

Anyway, it's done and decided so it doesn't really matter.

[Giantevilhead]

Fox is also beholden to their stock holders. If Fox executives "think outside of the Nielsen box" and ratings/revenues drop then the stock holders will get angry and get rid of them.