As Drew pointed out in the comments to the last post, Fox has opted to renew Dollhouse for a 13 episode second season, despite chronically weak ratings. Here's an article that has some interesting theories on the renewal. Most interesting to me was the idea that Dollhouse didn't do that great on TV, but did great on Hulu, which is also owned by Fox and where the bar for success is much lower. So Fox has a nascent web TV business (Hulu), and they want it to succeed by getting tech savvy viewers hooked on seeing their niche shows there. What better place than Hulu for a Whedon show to flourish, where Dr. Horrible made such a splash? It also helps that unlike The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fox owns the actual show Dollhouse as well. So this is all corporatey goodness over at Fox, and with the added restriction of a lower budget, Dollhouse looks like a safer bet for renewal. Oh, and here's an interview with Joss.
Don't, however, take any of this as an excuse to not buy the Dollhouse Season 1 DVDs when they come out over the summer. This show needs (and deserves!) all the help it can get.
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2 comments:
Absolutely right, MosBen. One factor in the renewal was the expectation of Firefly-like DVD sales. Dollhouse fans owe it to Joss to make that happen. Sure, we can grumble about the time slot, but Dollhouse might be the worst-rated network series ever to get a second season. Despite the timeslot, Fox has supported the series beyond all reasonable expectations. The least we can do is buy the DVDs.
And to any of my friends who are reading this, I'm going to proselytize for this show, okay? I'm going to get the DVDs, and I'm going to want you to watch them. And if you like the show, I'm going to want you to buy your own copy.
I just want to be clear on that. Dollhouse is not the greatest TV show of all time. It's not as good as Firefly, it's not as good as Angel, and it's not as good as Buffy. But it's good, it's unique, and it has some fascinating things to say.
It is, at the very least, worth a serious look.
I think it's better than Buffy Season 1, or at least on par. It's not a great show yet, but it did quite a few things right with 13 episodes, at least some of which I'm led to believe were meddled with by the network.
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