'Ghost' climbs; 'Terminator,' 'Dollhouse' sag

"I hear Kevin Reilly. He's saying we suck"

CBS easily dominated Friday night with the top-rated "Ghost Whisperer" (11.6 million, 2.7 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 9 share) climbing to enjoy one of its strongest numbers of the season. "Ghost" helped propel "Flashpoint" (9.2 million, 1.9/6) and "Numbers" (7.1 million, 2.1/6) to win their hours, too.

ABC was second with reality and news, while Fox tied NBC for third place with "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (3.4 million, 1.2/4), dropping a couple tenths of a rating point to another all-time low, and "Dollhouse" (4.1 million, 1.6/5), slipping a tenth this week.

Eliza Dushku recently told The Onion that the network has stopped trying to micro-manage creator Joss Whedon and, as a result, "Dollhouse" is about to hit its stride:

"I understand it from a business perspective, and from Fox’s view, but at the same time we’ve now done 13 episodes, and people have said that the show took off once they finally realized that Joss is best off left alone to do his thing. That happens around episode six — six through 13 are just extraordinary. I love one, two, three, four, and five, but Joss’ first script that he did after the pilot is number six ... and it is just unbelievable. From that point on, the world unfolds in Joss’ way, with Joss’ speed, and it’s really remarkable."

The show creatively takes off ... at episode six? Eliza, at this rate, there's hardly going to be anybody left to watch the show at episode six. Also, the read-between-the-lines on this is that after five episodes, Fox essentially threw up its hands and gave up. Which, yes, creatively, might be a good thing, but it's always a bit worrisome when your boss gets all quiet.

The blogosphere piling on re: new-kid-on-the-block "Dollhouse" ignores "Terminator," which is in a worse spot, but does have hope for, um, salvation, should the pending May theatrical release of McG's "Terminator Salvation" gets viewers excited about idea of watching stories in that universe again. Long shot, and the timing doesn't really work because "Salvation" will be released at the end of the season, but there you go. (The savior of "Dollhouse," by and by, could be its sure-to-be-significant DVR, iTunes and streaming data, which haven't yet been tallied and released.)

Also in a tough spot is NBC's "Friday Night Lights" (4.2 million, 1.5/5), the one 9 p.m. show that "Dollhouse" edged out in the adult demo. Remember when you couldn't read any entertainment press without being inundated with critics gushing about "Lights"? Not that you ever hear anything about, say, 10 p.m.-winning "Numbers," either, but its remarkable how this show went from media-clarion to media-crickets.

PREVIOUS: "Dollhouse" episode one ratings; episode two

Comments

[Mike Keller]

You have me really curious now James, what the market share of ANYTHING is on Friday nights. I do wish people would get rid of this anti-friday 'chip' they have on their shoulders. I wonder if the public would even notice it, if it weren't pointed out to them again and again.
I agree that Fox may be gambling on gaining some ground with the upcoming release of the new Terminator movie. I know I'm psyched. Also I am really enjoying the pairing of Sarah Conner and Dollhouse. Like ANY show, it will take a few episodes to introduce the characters and get things going. I say stick with them. Remember "The X-Files:?? The network nearly cancelled it, yet in managed to run for 9 seasons.

[apethticatbest@gmail.com]

Hey now, don't forget that FNL already aired it's entire third season on DirectTV last fall. There's a reason noone's talking about it. It's old news...

[TheRupert]

Friday Night Lights is by FAR the best show on television. BY FAR.

[aka]

it's sad that friday is considered the original-programming graveyard, when right now 2 of the best shows out are playing here (of course, they're on opposite each other): 'friday night lights' and 'terminator: sarah connor chronicles.' both shows are just so well done, it's a righteous shame that people aren't watching.

[Scott]

Terminator and "best show" should not be used in the same sentence. Never.

[Tony]

Hey now, don't forget that FNL already aired it's entire third season on DirectTV last fall. There's a reason noone's talking about it. It's old news...

Just what I was going to say. I read an article every week this fall about how good this season of FNL was. The problem is it was three months ago.

[aka]

i have to beg to differ on 'terminator' -- i love what they're doing with the story and the characters