Dollhouse

Okay. You know during the first season I never blogged here saying the show was cancelled or at risk of cancellation? You know I kept saying the execs wanted it alive still, and not to worry too much? You know on Whedonesque when I posted saying just because the network won’t air episode 13 didn’t mean it was done? You know when I said online a few days before renewal it was looking positive for renewal?

I didn’t guess those things. Here’s the polar opposite.

Dollhouse is at real, serious risk of being pulled off air within the next few weeks due to low ratings. I have my own thoughts about the low ratings – I don’t think they’re down to the show but due to other factors – but the problem is it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is the numbers are way down on the networks projections.

As a result, I’ve heard from multiple people over the weekend the show may get pulled off air. And I don’t mean ‘Internet ratings experts’.

This is unacceptable to me. I want to know how (or if) Topher destroyed society, I want to know why Sierra ended up in the Dollhouse (and I need to see Priya tackle that)… I want to see what Doctor Clare Saunders does when she returns from outside the Dollhouse, I want to see Felicia Day and Adair Tishler reach Safe Haven… We’re two episodes in. And I’m sending up the alert flare.

First of all, I need help. I need to assemble a team (a theme of season two, by the way). Please head over to this forum or email me ( kevin.beaumont@gmail.com ). Read the forum to see what I need to pin something together.

There’s going to be a few days before everything comes together. But it will. I want more Dollhouse.

From Imdb.com :

Given Friday night’s disastrous ratings, it seems almost inevitable that show will be canceled. Which makes this Friday’s broadcast ("Belle Chose") all the more important.

So I think that this Friday, all Dollhouse fans should do the following.

1.) If you have a Nielsen box, by all means, we watch the episode live.

2.) If you don’t have a Nielsen box, then DVR the episode. I read somewhere that only 20% of people watch DVR recordings with commercials, so if we watch the DVR Dollhouse and (just this Friday) sit through the commercials, it’ll look even more impressive to advertisers and Fox in general.

3.) Stream the episode online on both Fox.com and Hulu.com. You can even have it on mute in the background. Fox takes these numbers into great account.

4.) Purchase the episode on iTunes. It’s only a $1.99. If Dollhouse shoots to iTunes TV top ten (and even tops it), it will receive a lot of media attention. Again, you don’t have to do this every week. But those two dollars will go a long way in keeping the show on the air. And monetary compensation can offset some of the losses of advertiser revenue.

5.) Send the Fox.com and Hulu.com episode link to FIVE friends and ask them to stream it for you. If every Dollhouse fan does this, it will generate some impressive numbers.