I've mentioned here before a few times now how I'm worried about Joss Whedon's new show Dollhouse. The show has been wracked with production problems, work stoppages and numerous rewrites. Well, it appears I'm not the only one who is worried. The Sci-fi Wire has an article up right now called Is Dollhouse Doomed? 7 Trouble Signs.
Breaking down the biggest issues that have plagued the series thus far, the article makes a strong argument that the show may very well be doomed, as it's following many of the same paths that ended Firefly so quickly. Also, the time slot given to the show is a sort of kiss of death.
5. Friday night Death Slot. On Nov. 10, Fox announced that Dollhouse would debut on Friday nights (starting in February), following the ratings-challenged Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Friday night has traditionally meant cancellation for shows of the sci-fi persuasion, The X-Files being the lone exception. We're talking Sliders, Dark Angel and the infamous Firefly. The term "Friday Night Death Slot" even has its own page on Wikipedia. I'm pretty sure Fox has seen it. Contrary to popular belief, TV watchers sometimes have dates on Friday nights: "Moving a brand-new show to a horrible time and night, and moving a highly rated, already established show to a great timeslot, is just insulting," one person posted on YouTube.
In aninterview with SCI FI Wire, Dushku dismisses the death slot sentence. "Dude, we're in the age of DVR," she said. "People watch what they want to watch."
"I suppose you can talk yourself into saying that Fox has enough faith in the show to pull in ratings in the Time Slot of Death," another fan wrote. "But you can also say that Fox has already written off the show and isn't even going to bother."
I really hope that we're all wrong here and that the show will do well, but fans everywhere are scared right now. Fox has done this to us before. Is it really only a matter of time before we're lamenting the loss of yet another Whedon property to the idiots at Fox television? I sure hope not.
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