While Joss Whedon has expressed a distinct lack of optimism when it comes to the fate of his series, “Dollhouse,” he does believe the show could survive into a second season. But part of that will be how comptable the series is with it’s new lead-in show, “Prison Break.”
After a break tonight, “Dollhouse” will return next week, following the final episodes of Fox’s “Prison Break.”
“The question is, with a different lead-in, will anything change?” Whedon said. “Will Prison Break be a worse match for us because it’s such a different show? Or will it be better because more people watch it? Do more people watch it? I don’t know what the numbers on Prison Break are. So there are a lot of X factors.”
Fans may be wondering if Fox is happy with the numbers “Dollhouse” is posting ratings-wise and if there’s a “magic number” the show needs to hit for a renewal. Whedon said he’s not sure there is a magic number for the show–or at least Fox hasn’t told him one.
“They haven’t said anything about a number, and they haven’t said anything about a date. What they have said is “We get it. We get that the numbers are soft, but it’s not a Nielsen world. The DVR numbers are good, and the show’s getting better, and the demographic is good, and we all have a crush on [star and producer] Eliza [Dushku].” So they’re basically fans,” he said. “Obviously, there has to be a number we reach that is viable for them economically, or it would be senseless for them, unless they were insane fans like me. But they get it. They get the show, and they get what works. So they’re anxious for it to stay at a level where they can justify throwing down some more. Hopefully that’ll happen.”
Whedon did say that he crafted the season finale to be a series finale, if necessary. He said that the on-going storylines will be given closure, though that doesn’t mean everything will be neatly wrapped up and leave the series scrambling for a second season should Fox be inclined to give “Dollhouse” one.
“The trick is to do something that has a sense of closure and only asks questions, which is what we did. It does have a total sense of closure and a ridiculous number of cliffhangers at the same time in its own way, in a way that’s very hard to describe. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done,” said Whedon.
So, it looks like we’ll have to wait and see what happens. We’ll all know the answer on May 18 when Fox announces its new schedule.
Quoted from above “What they have said is “We get it. We get that the numbers are soft, but it’s not a Nielsen world. The DVR numbers are good, and the show’s getting better, and the demographic is good…'”
Is it wrong that this gives me hope, not only for Dollhouse, but for Terminator as well?
(And denial is ONLY a river in Egypt)