Friday, March 27, 2009

Dollhouse Death Watch - the game has changed!

Last night's Dollhouse episode "Echoes" = "Band Candy"+"Tabula Rasa"+"Spin the Bottle". In other words, big fun! I found it to be an entertaining hour of television despite that tarty-ass outfit Echo/Alice/Caroline had to wear the entire ep. Really? That was a bad Buffy-esque poor costuming choice via 1999. But the whole acid trip thing brought the first real Whedon charm to the series so far and the drama didn't suffer for it. I'm not going to get into the issues I had with the ep here (going back to the premier and the way Caroline was portrayed), because that's not what this post here is about. Besides, as everyone around me already knows, I've been majorly affected by the Dollhouse Uncertainty Principle, so I'm staying out of it. I will I admit, however, that "The Awakening" campaign for next week is a little cheese. It's like (say it with me now): "Dollhouse - *whispers* The Storrrrm." But whatever they have to do to put asses in the damn seats, I say. I guess it's always exciting when they give an interesting tagline to a show's promo ...and promotion is still what this series needs.

Speaking of which, on to the ratings. Last night's post "Man on the Street" game changing 7th ep scored a 1.3/4 in the demo and 3.87 million viewers tuning in.

Nearly 2 months ago now we made a bet here at Buffyfest. We wagered a little something on the "Dollhouse Death Watch" and Bitsy has now lost. Yep, the S&M hardcore skeptic group is definitely out as the 7th ep aired. Also, Dollverse posted yesterday that Fox has committed to showing all 13 episodes! (That link contains episode name spoilers, so avoid that if you're a zmiggy). Looks like my group may lose this thing after all, as well. But I'm not going to commit to any of that yet because an optimist, I'll never be. See below for the updated Death Watch stats:

Do you think Dollhouse will make it to season 2? Leave us a comment and let us know which group you belong:

Tara's Group (the bitter realists) - thinks FOX will show all 13 episodes ordered, but will then cancel it and thus, Dollhouse will not make it to season 2. What can I say? We're jaded.

Michelle's Group (the starry-eyed optimists) - who believe that Dollhouse will show all episodes and even get renewed for a second season.

13 comments:

Barbara said...

I'm with the bitter realists group. I think they'll likely air all of the episodes and while I hope they do renew it I'm not holding out much hope. I hope I'm wrong because it is getting better and better. Also I'm eager to see Alpha since I love that guy. But sadly it is more likely that this show will fall since this night seems to be cursed except for Ghost Whisperer which has managed to survive.

Anonymous said...

Ha!! See, being a starry eyed optimist is not such a bad thing, after all. I think it was Tinkerbell who first said, "Believe" (or maybe that was Cher), but whoever it was, she (it?) was right!! We have believed that Dollhouse would last past the 7th episode and we believe it will last past the first season.

BELIEVE!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'd like to say that I'm with the bitter realists because then if it does get cancelled, I will be less disappointed. But that's a lie. I will still be just as disappointed as if I'd fully expected it to get renewed. Watching Firefly after it had already been cancelled doesn't make me any less pissed about its fate.

So, paint me a hopeful bitter realist?

The Groosalugg said...

Going to watch ep. 7 tomorrow. Great to hear it's big fun!

I'm afraid I'm with the bitter realists (believed it would be 13 eps for some time now, never was with the skeptics, though that's a bit easy to say now ofcourse)

Hope to be proven wrong though!

Nitpicker said...

The actual name of episode 8 is 'Needs'. 'The Awakening' is just a byline given to it for the promo(s).

Tara said...

Oh thanks Nitpicker! You're name is appropriate for your comment :) I wish I nitpicked a little better before writing that, off to correct it!

elainecleo said...

I am an optimists to the end, although I was not crazy about ep 7, but then I did not like Band Candy either. The show does keep getting better, but ep 6 was the best and classic Joss, that gives us the best fights on TV. I liked the ending of Fridays show and I have to agree that Echo looked like a TART or worse.lol But I do "Believe" we will get a season 2, if the show keeps getting better. How is that for hedging my bets?

Anonymous said...

i have to be an optimist. the show is just laying down its framework right now and i think its really good. its not like the first season of buffy was the most amazing one out of the seven (in my opinion anyway) so maybe fox will give it a chance if the episodes keep progressing and getting better.

AndrewCrossett said...

I was terribly crestfallen (I love that word) to see that last Friday's ep actually LOST viewers compared to the previous week's ep that was on against the BSG finale.

Considering how good "Man on the Street" was and how much positive buzz it got, I'm completely at a loss to explain that result.

At this point, my hopes for a second season are riding almost exclusively on the FX option. Joss has a rabid core audience that he takes with him wherever he goes. On Fox, he gets 4 million viewers, and that's not good enough. On FX he'd still get 4 million viewers (or upwards of 3 million, at least) and that would be more than good enough by cable standards.

Cable is where this show has really belonged since the beginning, IMO.

It would mean a budget cut... they'd have to film somewhere other than L.A., and ditch the expensive set. But the show's very high DVR and download numbers, and the promise of best-selling DVD sets, make it worthwhile for Fox to keep this show around somehow.

Who knows, maybe putting it in a viable timeslot would be all it takes.

I'm still in Michelle's Group, but I'm nervous.

Tara said...

Yes, what's up with that Andrew? I guess the Friday time slot really could be all we need explain it. It's getting nicer out and justifying staying in on a Friday night to watch a show that just "was better last week than weeks before" might be getting more and more difficult for many people.

But still, it's kind of strange that it did better last week what with the BSG finale and all. Odd.

ben said...

I talked this show up hardcore while driving back from Chicago last weekend... and I think I've roped in an Alias fan at the mention of one Dr. Saunders.

We should go about this as a recruiting effort. Everyone should get two of their friends to watch it and in turn have those two people tell two people... it'll be exponential.

And just a slight comment on the episode itself: It may have been mentioned by now but Echo/Caroline/Alice's outfit--tart as it may have been--seemed to be a reference to the "Alice in Wonderland" theme of the episode. Everyone was tripped out and she was wandering around with no idea what was going on while everyone else at least knew what they were getting into. Good times, despite how she looked like a prostitute.

Jgirl said...

If Dollhouse makes it to a second season, I'll eat my Faith doll with a side of Spike sauce.

Tara said...

Ha!!!!

Guess you're in my group, Jgirl....