Fox has decided to pull Dollhouse off the schedule during November sweeps. Joss Whedon’s ratings-challenged drama is expected to return in December and air back-to-back episodes on Friday night.

Bottom line: Barring a ratings miracle, Dollhouse will be shut down for good after it completes its current 13-episode order.

No surprise ... FOX is famous for starting cult shows with limited followings and pulling them for low ratings.

This sounds bitter. Is it towards FOX for scrwing DH or with Joss for failing to use this 2nd season to widen its appeal and bring in more watchers ? Maybe there's no bitterness at all. - if so my bad.

the stories go round in circles

2nd series is terrible.

Fans of the show are pretty damned lucky they even got a second season. The numbers last year were atrocious even for Friday nights. Unlike Firefly, this one is all on Joss.

My thoughts exactly. I like the series but it could have been so much more.

Why do people hate Eliza Dushku so much? Give the girl a break. Stop cancelling shows she is on.

Maybe a touch of bitterness ... As I said, FOX has always expected bigger things out of shows than are realistic. I still remember "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" in 1986, which FOX execs expected to draw Carson-like numbers (ratings), and when that didn't happen, they took creative control away from Joan's team and destroyed the show while trying to 'fix' it.
FOX top brass was originally drawn from movie people who had no real idea of how to put together a tv show made up of 26 episodes. Until recent years, their biggest shows always drew roughly 2/3 of the numbers of the other 3 networks' top shows.
That's how they destroyed Firefly ... messed with the order the episodes were shown, so the episode that introduced all the characters was aired at the end of the season ... ... Because FOX wanted an 'action' episode to start off the series.

Props to FOX for actually putting stuff like Firefly and Dollhouse on the air, but boos to FOX for expecting ratings similar to those of shows with a wider fan base (on other networks).

I remember that too, I used to watch Firefly back when it was on air, and one day I turned it on to what I didn't know at the time was the pilot episode and just thought "Oh cool, it's a flashback episode", and then they had that gag about Kaylee being dead and it was totally ruined because obviously all of the viewers knew she would live on. Nice work, FOX, you ruined what would have been one of the best moments of the episode.

Regarding Fox maybe expecting bigger numbers than they should: Not sure that's true or that even if it is, you can really blame them for it.

For instance, much is made of the fanbases of these shows being argely "Whedonites", aka followers of Josh. Well, would we enjoy the sow as much as we do if it was like every other show on TV? Probably not. And (least, I gotta figure) a major reason it's unlike the majority of other shows is Josh's mind, the way he thinks, etc.

Therefore, not everyone who tunes into a pilot or 1 other episode will understand &/or enjoy it. He's got a strong fanbase, but not a large one, b/c not everyone can catch onto the way the show &/or Josh's mind works.

Hope people understand that OK; Wasn't sure how to word some of it.

Though I agree Fox killed Firefly I don't feel badly towards them for Dollhouse's demise. Joss knew how Fox had ruined his previous baby and still he chose(?) to take Dollhouse to them. He was (somehow) given a 2nd season and even with all his classic episode writing experience has failed to bring in a bigger audience to the show.

To be honest, I never watched an ep of “Buffy”, “Firefly”, or even “Tru Calling”. This show hooked me not so much because of the names as the ideas I read about it.

The problems are 2 things:

1] The fact that it’s a 2nd season. I know few shows like this that could gain much of a crowd in a 2nd season, esp. on a night when many are known to go out (dates/club-type events, sporting events, etc.) Then, add that it has the overall plot you have to know a certain amount about to follow it, & the only thing to keep viewers aside from that is the stories that change every week, which many reviews I’ve read gave the impression many viewers hated last season.

2] The network deserves some of the blame due to scheduling. Not only b/c it’s a Friday, when many are known to be away from TVs… But at least “Connor” (which I also didn’t watch) might attract a similar audience. The shows they lead into “Dollhouse” with now will attract a very different audience, if any whatsoever.

re: scheduling: I'da thought Fox woulda told Joss when they were going to show his show. And anyway, in this age of Sky+ boxes and other tv-recording instruments, when a show is shown shouldn't stop a show getting a big audience.

You've not seen any Firefly. !!!!!

Can I most heartly recommend you purchase the dvd box set of Firefly and Serenity the Movie and a big box of popcorn. And sit back and enjoy one of lifes tv rarities. A series which goes awesome within the first few seconds and remains there for the duration of the season. No doubt it can be picked up for pennies - you won't regret it.

No, the scheduling of the show wouldn’t stop them from getting an audience on the Website or a DVR. But it would stop them from getting as much of an audience when that audience would also be watching the ads, which is how Fox & other networks make a large amount of their money. Otherwise, there’s no noticeable difference between watching it next Tuesday or next year… Nor is there a reason for Fox to keep it airing at its current time-slot, if at all.

What I said was not that I haven’t seen “Firefly”; I said I hadn’t seen a full ep of it. But I have watched “Drive”, & a bit of “Castle”, as well as his appearances on that show with the 2 guys, the girl, & the pizza place. (What was it called again?) I remain a fan of Nathan Fillion & Joss Whedon, & know with what little of that show I have seen that they’ve both done better work. (I have no doubt it can be purchased for very little, but to me, it is worth even less.)

okidoki

I don't think you can blame Fox for Dollhouse. Yeah, they messed around with stuff, but that's what networks do. It's not the first time he's had to deal with it; WB messed with both BTVS and AtS (also produced by Fox). While putting it on Fridays, they threw a lot of money into promoting it, it had a reasonable built-in fanbase (many of which were alienated) and they gave it a second season despite numbers that would have got it canceled on nearly any network. It had plenty of chances.

The way it seems to me, Joss doesn't have enough people around him to tell him what's what. It's typical of cult creators that they think they alone are the reason for somethings success when 9/10 that isn't the case.

Well, I've seen just about every major thing Whedon's worked on, and I've seen a lot of Nathan FIllion's work, and I couldn't disagree with you more. For me, Firefly/Serenity was the best thing either of them worked on. It's rather remarkable to me that you claim to be a fan of both of them, and yet it sounds as if you absolutely refuse to give Firefly a decent chance. To each their own, I guess.

Actually, the only thing that either man has worked on that I would put in the same league with Firefly isn't even in the same medium, it's Whedon's run on the "Astonishing X-Men" comic book.

As I believe I admitted before, I don't count myself among the "Whedonites". However, I am a Nathan Fillion fan, & so I know compared to what I did see of "Firely" that he is deserving & capable of (& has done) better.

As far as Whedon, I gotta wonder if this isn't as much his fault as the network's, if not moreso. It seems to me he thinks differently than the average person, which is why his fanbase has the loyalty it does; His shows won't be just like "Friends" or half the other near-identical shows on TV. However, you can also use that as the reason his shows don't have the others' relatability, &/or trait of being easy to follow, etc.

Dollhouse has been scheduled for a 3rd season.

Hmmm? Weird and I saw it's listing to be cancel after this season

You do that kind of stuff on April 1st, not November 1st.

That kind of statement needs a citation to back it up.

Methinks you mean Dollhouse has been cancelled due to a turd season (ratings wise)

Don't cancell it until the Summer Glau episodes air!!!!

Have to laugh at this; Just got done tossing the TV listings that come with the local paper. (Ended yesterday.) Eliza was on the cover, with "Dollhouse" in big letters, & the air time in smaller.

Inside, the article talked about Summer's character (including parts of an interview), which it said would air Friday night & next week.

the rest of the episodes are supposed to start airing in December.

According to tvrage it is Dec04 when the "back-to-back" eps will be airing. Not sure if this means they'll be showing 2eps per Friday or just that from Dec04 onwards each Friday will bring us a new Dollhouse ep. Either way it is ~34 days and counting.

Articles I've read say "Dollhouse" all night.

All night => mammoth multi showings in one evening ?! That'd rock

I just finished watching the first 4 episodes of this season, and I've gotta say, Dichen Lachman has impressed me even more this year than the first. I kind of thought last season that her parts were 'meatier' than most of Eliza's, and this season it's even more so. She has displayed great acting range, and each week her characters have been very believable.
... She's also kinda hot ...

I meant when Fox has control of what all affiliates are showing, in place of "Till Death" (which will come from watching much of that show), & the other show with Strahan (who has more talent than I have seen in some of "Dollhouse" cast; it's just not acting).

Personally, I haven't watched much of Season 2, & none of it on TV during airtime. I missed Ep1, & just as I was catching-up, I read the reports it was ending, & figured, Why bother?