'Dollhouse' premieres soft; 'Terminator' dives

Expectations were low.

But they weren't quite this low.

The series premiere of Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" was seen by 4.7 million viewers Friday night and garnered a 2.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 6 share. It was beaten in the 9 p.m. hour by ABC's "Supernanny" (6.1 million viewers, 2.2/7) and is the lowest-rated scripted series premiere on a major broadcast network this season aside from NBC's now-defunct "Crusoe." 

"Dollhouse" was paired with the midseason return of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (3.7 million, 1.3/5), which was shifted from its previous Monday post. "Terminator" came in third place in the hour and hit a series low (by like 27%). "Terminator" beat NBC's "Howie Do It" (3.9 million, 1.2/4), but not by much. Both "Ghost Whisperer" (10.3 million, 2.4/8) and "Wife Swap" (4.3 million, 1.5/5) did better.

The performances represent a disappointing debut for what was, on paper, a good idea: creating a male-skewing sci-fi block to go against CBS' night-topping female-skewing crime shows. Fox didn't expect to win against CBS, but had some hope of coming out ahead of ABC's reality shows. But "Terminator" was sinking in the ratings earlier this season and "Dollhouse" has suffered from negative buzz and creative trouble for months. Critics, overall, seemed disappointed with Whedon's latest effort.

Fox had a third-place finish for the evening despite airing full-budgeted dramas. "Dollhouse" fared OK against two of its competitors, with CBS' Canadian import "Flashpoint" (8.9 million, 1.9/6) and NBC's ailing "Friday Night Lights" (3.5 million, 1.1/3) pulling lower numbers. It also did better than last year's short-lived "Canterbury's Law" in the slot.

At 10 p.m., an episode of ABC's "20/20" (10.9 million, 3.4/11) about the impoverished hill people of the Appalachian Mountains drew the newsmagazine's largest Friday audience in more than four years (ABC, in fact, won the night over CBS, which is rare). Yes, there was a whole morbid curiosity "real-life 'Deliverance'" aspect to its popularity. But give ABC and Diane Sawyer credit for convincing so many people to watch a report on poverty. Usually a newsmagazine needs an octuplet mom to pull off those kind of numbers.

RELATED: "Dollhouse" set visit: Joss Whedon talks pilot revamp

PREVIOUS: Friday ratings prediction: "Dollhouse" vs. "Flashpoint"

Comments

[Knile]

The problem is Males tend to gravitate to SMACKDOWN. Where i was....If we're going to watch a fake show. We're going to watch one that we've watched for most of our lives. lol.

[Chris]

do these site know any ratings cause one site said Ghoast Wisper 10.3 million and this site says 8.9? i dont re ally under stand how you can tell ratings when Varity and tv guide have all differnt ratings for all these shows

[Forrester]

It's kind of unfair to go blasting headlines like this in this day and age. I fully intend to watch the Terminator ep later today. People use Tivos and DVRs now, moreso when you have a show on a Friday night with a likely tech savvy audience. Can't you give more weight to the three day totals?

(By the way, this page keeps refreshing and erasing my comment mid-way through. It's very annoying! I had more to say but I better finish before I lose my comment again.)

[Gemini1179]

The industry seriously needs to stop knee-jerking. It doesn't count those that watch shows online, or from PVR's, etc. Terminator and Dollhouse are a nice return to scripted Sci-fi for Friday nights. The 'reality tv' flooding of the market that has happened in recent years thanks mainly to low production costs is getting incredibly stale.

I watch Terminator on tv, and when I can't, I watch it online and I've bought Season 1 on Blu-ray and intend to buy Season 2 on Blu-ray as well. Dollhouse has potential, and honestly what scholastic expectations are we setting for a series based around Cyborgs from the future and a place where people are programmed as needed? They just need to be fun. I'm a 29 yr old male and I have no interest in ANY reality show on tv anymore (I've watched Survivor, Amazing Race and I've gotten sick of them) and if the networks want to use the low-production incentives of 'reality tv' as a crutch to lean on, so be it.

I just hope FOX can look past their noses on these shows.

(Seriously, this refreshing business has got to go!)

[Melvin]

Chris, I think there was just a typo on here in regards to the Ghost Whisperer ratings. Looks like he accidentally copied the Flashpoint viewer numbers. 10.3 million is the correct viewer number for Ghost Whisperer.

[Shawn]

Has anyone considered maybe that it's a Friday night at 9:00pm. Perhaps it's just a bad time slot, where people in their 20s and 30s are likely not staying at home.

[James Hibberd]

Used a different chart than usual for total viewers. Fixed.

[bolomkxxviii]

The 20 and 30 somethings are more likely to watch dollhouse on hulu Saturday morning after they recover from their Friday night outing. They really should take those numbers into account.

[dgg]

Great season start for Terminator. It'll have at least one fan... usin' tivo

[Tahko Tetsujin]

Yeah. It's funny how you guys always ignore WWE even though they have the longest running weekly show and better ratings than anything on TV except for maybe the Super Bowl.

Perhaps, you should give credit where credit is due. If the fake reality shows can get mentioned, so can wrestling.

So you are all, "Gee why aren't these shows full of hot girls doing well? It can't be Smackdown...that isn't even a real show!"

Idiots.

[casaandra]

wouldn't people who love scifi would be internet savy also? and usually watch all the shows using torrents or hulu? i know i do.. do they take that into account??? jesus..

people who watch super nanny are old non tech epople who dont like sci fi

anyways, doll house was awesome

[Addison]

Please PLEASE speak for yourself. I, along with 99% of the males I spend time with, can't stand wrestling.

[Enigma]

How in the name of hell is the ghost whisperer pulling in these numbers the show is utter shit, no one can act and it's the same shit week in week out unlike the Terminator: TSCC which actually has a storyline. Seems Americans do not know good TV if it hit them in the skull, I also find it unfair to cancel a TV show based purely on American ratings especially if the show is shown internationally.

[sage]

What do you expect?

Television is basically bullshit now anyway.
There's nothing good on the tubes regardless of where you go looking.

This is probably why the youth spend so much time in gaming and so little watching the tripe they expect us to lap up.

The last good scifi I remember aside from BSG or Firefly is an original little thing called Life On Mars by the BBC and I'm hooked.

And it's about all I watch now.

[Johnny]

I stumbled into the last few minutes of Terminator - I hadn't even realized they moved it to Friday night - and I'm only watching it now out of some sense of misplaced loyalty. I then watched about 10 minutes of Dollhouse and instantly wished Firefly wasn't cancelled I was so bored. Finally, I lost my patience when ads came on and I went and watched something online instead. Friday night is where US networks put shows that they intend on cancelling. And after Firefly, why should I invest any time in watching Dollhouse on network TV, where it seems shows are interrupted every 15 seconds with 10 minutes of advertising, and the show will likely only last a few episodes? My family has had broadband internet for a month, and I've concluded that traditional TV is dead for the 18-40 year olds. I'd prefer it if production companies just started websites where we could just watch their shows (including in Canada) with limited commercial interruption.

[ephemere]

"lol" is not punctuation. A period will suffice.

[James Hibberd]

When a show debuts to a number that -- if left unchanged all season -- would give a network pause before deciding a renewal, it’s a cause for concern since ratings tend to go down following a debut.

That said: in the case of “Dollhouse,” – a Joss Whedon show on a Friday night -- DVR and online streaming are probably going to be huge. Remember “Lipstick Jungle” had steep DVR gains from its Friday airings and I would expect “Dollhouse” to do even better. We could easily see a new record in terms of the percentage of viewers added to a show’s audience.

As for the refreshing – you’re right! I just got refreshed out of commenting on my own blog. I thought six minutes was long enough to not annoy readers yet display any new changes. Clearly I need to add some minutes onto the clock.

[tom]

Who's bright idea was it to put a show aimed at the under 40 crowd on Friday night?

[tom]

You lost your patience when ads came on? Why would you be surprised a channel you get for free had commercials? There weren't many commercial breaks anyhow, one every 10 minutes or so which is typical for an hour long show and with the exception of the last commercial break before the end all breaks were 60-90 seconds, shorter than most hour long shows.

[Holly]

The ratings posts and sites don't include WWE because they don't get the numbers. MyNetworkTV does not pay the fees to have their data included in the daily reports available to most sites.

[Billy Holland]

Dollhouse was incredible and I look forward to seeing where Joss takes us now that he has setup the relationships and personalities of the characters. I always thought Buffy and Angel and Firefly were more about the interactions and relationships than the actual concepts and you can't have that until you introduce the relationships and motivations. First episodes are rarely good except when watched after the series has matured and you see more than you initially would of realised. I am glad also to see Tim Minear on this as well because as a fan of Wonderfalls, I am always sold when I see his name on a show. Thank you Joss and Tim and I look forward to watching everyone back pedal once this show starts rocking.

[jason]

It also could have been affected by the 20 million that friday the 13th made in theaters in one day.

[C-Note]

Wrestling is on the decline and cannot compete with anything at the bigger networks. Regardless, CW shows can manage to survive on lower ratings, so Smackdown's survival is not a testament to its popularity.

[Scott]

Does the 4.7 million include those who watched online?

[bob]

Absolutely. Males gravitates toward choreographed sessions of oily muscular men rubbing against each other while wearing next to nothing.

Anyone who doesn't should have their sexual orientation strongly and publicly questioned.

[Active Dollhouse]

Ratings weren't tooo terrible considering it was Fri night. The show will get better...hopefully.

[Gunmetal]

Ghost Whisperer pulls in those numbers because everyone forgets the majority of viewers are older (biggest group is in their 50s i think). So shows like Dollhouse don't appeal to them. Young audiences end up on Xbox Live, WoW, Smackdown, or actually going out on a Friday Night.

If Dollhouse pulls this for it's premiere, it's not good for the rest of the series. There is always drop off, and I know I won't be dying to see it again.

Unfortunately first impressions are tough to lose, it's sad Fox had to work over Whedon's pilot. They likely did the same thing with Firefly's pilot which sucked, although the series was great.

[FPM]

That's nothing. I used to be a homeless rodeo clown but now I am a world class magician !

[smokeybear]

I thought Echo was a super bad ass? The character she was given should have made for an episode midway through the season.

The techie dude was lame. He seemed too young and unprofessional.

The show is a lot like My Own Worst Enemy except she'll have different personalities every mission.

They also threw in the token Brit chick, I thought that was funny. If you recall MOWE also had one.

[TroffLolly]

It was about time good Sci-Fi like Terminator: TSCC, Battlestar and Firefly returned. The incredible trash that is "reality TV" has bored the general population into mind-numbing drool fest.

Dollhouse was excellent, as was T:TSCC. Season 4.5 of BSG is shaping up for a spectacular finale.

The rating really need to take into account streaming media, DVR and TIVO like products.

As said before, people who would watch a show like Dollhouse, Firefly (why oh why was this CANCELLED!!!), BSG or T: TSCC would be the exact same audience that would be in a bar/movie/on XBOX Lice on a Friday night and watch their recorded show at 4am when they get home, the next day while recovering from the night before or any other time at their convenience. Welcome to the 21st Century boys and girls

[chizzle]

Fran Kranz from dollhouse is on this awesome site, showbizzle. He's awesome on that too! And there's a cool contest! Showbizzle Contest. They'll fly you out to LA if you win :)

[JJW]

ok fuck this, I had a good post going and it kicked me out with a refresh.

In short: Shows like BSG, T:SCC, Prison Break, even 24, and I am sure DollHouse, are not meant for a weekly format. To watch everything in succession is an entirely different experience since story arcs over many episodes.

Battlestar had the wonderful miniseries to pull you in, and Terminator suffered (badly) from the writer's strike. The gaps in the show are only finally going away. Doll House will have it's own growing pains, and the network should let it have a chance to get through them. Terminator has finally got me interested, only because I waited and watched most of it in succession. I did the same with Prison Break. It is the only way to watch a show like this were an EP might refer to something 5 episodes ago. In real life 5 weeks ago is a long time.

I am interested in Legend of the Seeker, but the amount of time it takes for a new EP to come out kindof ruins it.

[JJW]

I forgot to add... the age group these shows target. We are never usually around on fridays in any kind of way that can be predicted. A weekly show on a friday is going to have several EPs missed. Mondays too.

I tend to have to download almost all TV because I am just not there when the show comes on on a regular basis. I build up a folder of 6 shows and watch them all, being pulled into the show much deeper. Battlestar needs to be seen this way. Waiting for one show a week is not fun. I would rather watch 4 in a row once a month. Yes as someone said, welcome to the 21st century.

[Gloria]

I wouldn't assume that ratings would be high for a show that most people in the "target demographic" will watch on Hulu. Ratings based on television viewing at the actual time of airing are on their way out. Of COURSE Supernanny is more interesting to boring old people who have nothing better to do on a Friday night and have no lives.

[Bernie B]

I didn't know anything about the show until hearing an interview with Joss on NPR. With the titular name "Dollhouse" I just assumed it was another reality makeover show.

[Mike]

I was just about to click "Post" on the comment I just wrote when the screen refreshed and wiped out my comments. Seriously, I'm done with this site!

[Dan]

Ok people do you all not know that if you are downloading a show from a torrent site you are stealing it? How exactly do you expect the actors writers and such to get paid if you download it rather than watching the commercials which is where they get their money? Hulu is an incredibly different thing and a good thing for them to try. Still torrenting needs to die or television is going to die.

[Doctor Bluto]

Dollhouse and Terminator are great shows, but Friday night is the worst night to have them air. Most people that would be interested in these shows are out on Friday nights, not wasting away in front of their TVs. If they were on Monday or Tuesday the ratings would be much better (at least for dollhouse).

[E]

Let's see... Friday the Thirteenth premiere weekend + Valentines day weekend + president's day long weekend == low ratings for a sci-fi show targetting 18-35? Imagine THAT.

[e Yarbrough]

I'm bummed to hear that Terminator isn't doing so great. It's a really entertaining show and I love the twists and John Connor mythology they've built. So 4 million people isn't enough to make them happy? If 4 million people were standing on the executives lawn they'd think it was a lot of people. There's 4 million of us who love the show. Why not make us happy rather than make another dud to put in it's place?