I can tell you this ... 4.75 million viewers for a pilot's not going to cut it.

Viewers Give Warm Welcome to Whedon's 'Dollhouse'

By Josef Adalian

Weeks of marketing and years of pent-up interest from Joss Whedon fans helped Fox's "Dollhouse" score a solid welcome Friday night.

The much-anticipated drama notched a 2.0 rating/6 share among adults 18 to 49 during its 9 p.m. Friday premiere, according to preliminary fast national data from Nielsen. It attracted 4.72 million viewers.

While "Dollhouse's" overall ratings were nothing spectacular, the show's 2.0 rating in adults 18 to 49 is a nice improvement over what Fox had been averaging in the fall with gameshow "Don't Forget the Lyrics." Most weeks last fall, "Lyrics" had been scoring between a 1.5 and a 1.7 in the demo.

"Dollhouse" also nearly doubled the ratings Fox averaged last spring with the Friday premiere of short-lived scripted drama "Canterbury's Law," which bowed to a 1.1/3. The early numbers seem to indicate that if Fox wants to program scripted series on Friday, genre fare such as "Dollhouse" is a much better option than a standard procedural.

Two other positive points: "Dollhouse" appears to have held on to its audience throughout the show, and the series built nicely on its lead-in, the relocated "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

The latter drama earned a 1.3/5, a bit below what Fox had been earning with "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" "Terminator" dipped from its most recent original telecast on Monday nights, when the show earned a 1.9/5 on Dec. 15.

Overall, "Dollhouse" ranked second in the 9 p.m. hour, just below ABC's "Supernanny" (2.2/7), but ahead of CBS' "Flashpoint" (1.9/6) and NBC's fading "Friday Night Lights" (1.1/3).

Among adults 18 to 34, "Dollhouse" earned a 1.7/6, coming within spitting distance of "Supernanny" (1.8/7) in that demographic. Fox's marketing of "Dollhouse" and "Terminator" as a pairing of "sexy sirens" paid off with men: Both dramas won their timeslot among men 18 to 34.

Fox executives will be watching the numbers closely in the coming weeks to see if "Dollhouse" can hold on to its audience. If the series can maintain its premiere numbers, Fox may have found itself a Friday night player.

The network had hoped airing the show on Fridays, rather than on Mondays as originally announced, would give it time to find and hold and audience. Mr. Whedon has indicated he's on board with the strategy.

In fact, Dollhouse helped Fox double its viewership levels among women versus Chronicles and helped the net finish in second place among adults 18-34 and in first place across key male demos for the night.

A huge disappointment. It lacked that sense of droll humor that Whedon usually uses, and the characters were very flat and lacking. None of it had me on the edge of my seat, and the premise is not just a tad confusing, but confusing all around. Thank god that Eliza Dushku is extremely easy on the eyes, or I would have stopped watching around the thirty-minute mark.

When it gets cancelled, I have a feeling that this time around only Joss will be hoping for its return.

I made it about halfway through before I went to do something more worthwhile. Could've been interesting, but good god, for someone whose character is going to be someone different every week, Dushku is a seriously terrible actress. Least convincing hostage negotiator ever committed to film, easily.

I made it about halfway through before I went to do something more worthwhile. Could've been interesting, but good god, for someone whose character is going to be someone different every week, Dushku is a seriously terrible actress. Least convincing hostage negotiator ever committed to film, easily.

Good episode tonight. Great development of the plot-line of the agent trying to track down the Dollhouse.
Awful, terrible accent by Dushku tonight though.

With Firefly I loved the day-to-day plotlines and didn't care much for the big-picture stuff with River. With Dollhouse I hate the day-to-day stuff with Eliza Dushku muddling her way through another character, but I love the big-picture stuff with the Dollhouse that is developing.


Very nice little twist at the end there.