Last year, a promising new show was sent seemingly to its death when FOX executives decided to air new episodes on Friday night. Friday nights are known as the place where television shows go to die. In this case, every show that was scheduled on a Friday night eventually was cancelled. For 10 years, a new show had never survived a Friday time-slot, 10 long years of cancellations. This was the case until Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” was scheduled for Friday nights.
A couple of years ago, “Dollhouse” would’ve had a much tougher time staying on the air. The show debuted to decent ratings, helping FOX to double its Friday night viewers and finish second among adults 18-34 and first among the key male demographic for the night.
As the season progressed, the ratings lowered and the future of “Dollhouse” was murky. Dedicated Whedon fans were planning campaigns to save the show. Other fans were bracing for what seemed to be the inevitable, “Dollhouse” joining the ranks of other shows that couldn’t make it on Friday nights.
However, on May 15, news broke that FOX had renewed “Dollhouse” for a second season. Television critics were puzzled by the decision to renew the show considering the ratings were on-par, or worse, with The CW. FOX had an explanation, though.
“Dollhouse” was saved by its DVR numbers. In this new age of DVR and internet streaming, the ratings from the live broadcast are not as significant as they once were. This isn’t to say those ratings aren’t important anymore because they are, but the ratings from the live broadcast are no longer make-or-break. A show can perform poorly in overnight demographics and ratings but then see a boost in their ratings when DVR numbers are released. Individual episode downloads on iTunes are also being monitored by executives.
“Dollhouse” performed remarkably well when its DVR numbers were released. The show’s ratings averaged a 40% bump from live-plus-same-day to live-plus-7. The show’s online streaming was strong (the show is currently available to watch on hulu.com for free). FOX also anticipated strong sales when the series would be available on DVD. All of these elements, plus a budget cut and production company 20th Century Fox shouldering most of the existing budget, combined to save “Dollhouse.”
DVR numbers won’t always be a show’s saving grace, however.
When “Dollhouse” returned this fall, the overnight ratings were dreadful. The show could barely break a 1.0 in their key demographic, averaging a .8. The average overall viewership is 2.5 million. Fans began to strategize campaigns to save the show once again; however, when things looked most bleak, the DVR numbers painted a more hopeful picture.
The premiere episode’s ratings increased 50 percent when DVR ratings were released. The overall DVR numbers were enough to convince FOX executives to run all 13 ordered episodes. The show finishing out its scheduled run looked bleak; however, while DVR numbers have saved “Dollhouse” from immediate cancellation, the future of the show remains in doubt.
FOX has decided to not air “Dollhouse” during November sweeps and instead air back-to-back episodes throughout this upcoming December. FOX essentially plans to “burn the episodes off.”
“Heroes” is another show that once looked like it was dead-in-the-water before DVR numbers put a positive spin on its poor numbers. Every week, the show recorded a series-low in the ratings. If it was low one week, the ratings would decrease the following week. “Heroes” gained 50% when DVR numbers were released. A bleak 2.7 demo rating suddenly became 3.7, a good thing for a show whose production costs are huge for a weekly television series. A single episode costs four million dollars to produce.
The pre-DVR numbers made the once critically-revered “Heroes” look as if it would finally be cancelled after two horrific seasons. But the show is still not safe, which reveals that DVR numbers aren’t a show’s saving grace and, seemingly, prolong the inevitable.
Other shows aided by DVR include “Melrose Place” and “Smallville,” but those shows are not expected to last beyond their current television season.
The reason for this, it seems, is that overnight numbers are still the most important, for various reasons, which first and foremost include advertisers, but DVR numbers are important enough to warrant renewal for a struggling series like “Dollhouse” because there’s potential to profit off of iTunes downloads, DVD sales, and other similar outlets.
But if DVR numbers are good enough to give a show another six to thirteen episodes, then that’s good enough. For now.
Chris Monigle is a fifth-year student majoring in Literature. He can be reached at CM660983@wcupa.edu.