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Friday fizzle:
Fox yanks 'Dollhouse'

Low-rated sci fi drama pulled for November sweeps

By Toni Fitzgerald
Oct 26, 2009

Little wonder Fox is pulling "Dollhouse" off the air during the November sweeps. Joss Whedon's sci fi drama is getting pounded by just about everything.

"Dollhouse" finished a distant fifth in its timeslot Friday at 9 p.m., just a few tenths ahead of a rerun of "America's Next Top Model" on the CW, averaging a 0.8 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights.

That was half the 1.6 for Univision's telenovela "Sortilegio" in the same timeslot, and barely a third of the 2.2 that "Medium," the night's No. 1 show, averaged on CBS.

"Dollhouse" may have had a chance to stay on the air if the rest of Fox's schedule wasn't performing so well.

With the network having a decent shot at winning November sweeps if baseball produces strong ratings, "Dollhouse" would have pulled the network's weekly average down. The drama is one of the network's lowest-rated shows, along with Friday night mates "Brothers" and "'Til Death."

Instead, Fox will air reruns of "Bones" and "House" on Fridays next month, which will likely draw better ratings. The network has indicated that "Dollhouse" will return to finish out its 13-episode run once sweeps are done.

***

Meanwhile, CBS finished first easily Friday in primetime, averaging a 2.0 rating and 7 share. Second-place NBC averaged a 1.6/5, followed by ABC and Univision tied for third at 1.3/4 and Fox and the CW tied for fifth at 0.8/3.

As a reminder, fast nationals measure timeslot data and not actual program data, and they do not account for time zone differences.

At 8 p.m., CBS's "Ghost Whisperer" led with a 2.1, followed by NBC's "Law & Order" at 1.5. ABC's "Supernanny," CW's "Smallville" and Univision's El Nombre del Amor" tied for third at 1.1, followed by Fox's "Brothers" (0.8) and "Death" (0.7) in sixth.

At 9 p.m., "Medium" led for CBS with a 2.2, followed by NBC's "Dateline NBC" in second at 1.8. Univision's "Sortilegio" was third at 1.6, ABC's "Ugly Betty" fourth at 1.2, Fox's "Dollhouse" fifth at 0.8 and CW's "Model" rerun sixth at 0.5.

At 10 p.m., CBS's "Numb3rs" led with a 1.8, followed by ABC's "20/20" at 1.6, NBC's "The Jay Leno Show" at 1.4 and Univision at 1.2.

CBS also won the night among households, averaging a 5.2/9. NBC was a close second at 4.9/9, followed by ABC at 3.2/6, Fox and Univision at 1.3/4 and the CW at 1.2/2.

Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.	© 2009 Media Life Magazine

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