a broken system
There has to be a way to measure the viewership of a TV show other than Nielsen ratings, which I think are tremendously broken and inaccurate, especially for a show with a potentially narrower appeal than the typical Nielsen household.
Maybe Dollhouse just isn't popular among Nielsen families but is actually being watched by millions of people. Maybe half the 7 million people who watched Medium on Friday recorded Dollhouse and watched it later. Or maybe there's some overlap between the Dateline and Dollhouse audiences.
The ratings just cannot pick up those viewers at all. They will be missed entirely, and I'm not convinced that they represent a statistically insignificant portion of the audience.
Obviously Hulu and iTunes can produce more accurate readings, since they have a reliable system in place to measure exact numbers. And those are money makers for the networks, so the numbers should be meaningful. I would argue more meaningful at least partly because Nielsen ratings aren't as accurate. But in the case of iTunes and Amazon, there's actually a direct revenue model. In TV advertising, even if two million people see the ads, that doesn't necessarily translate into revenue. So even if the iTunes and Amazon viewers aren't nearly as great in number as the live TV viewers, they should be considered more valuable to the network.
However, I also want to know what kind of crazy drugs the morons at Fox must be on to renew a show thinking its ratings might improve and then give it a terrible lead-in and minimal promotion. Did they think Dollhouse would just magically gain viewers without anyone knowing about it?
So yes, if they cancel it, I will be absolutely furious at Fox. Not because they would have cancelled a low-rated show - that I understand, as much as I think the ratings they swear by don't tell the whole story. That part is just an unfortunate effect of a broken system.
But I will be angry at them for not making an effort to get the show better ratings. Why not put Fringe on before it? I bet there's a decent audience overlap there. Hell, why not put it on after some popular reality show and hope people just leave their TVs on?
Fox gets the blame if this now great show dies. And Joss Whedon will surely hear a whole lot of "I told you so" if that happens.
Maybe Dollhouse just isn't popular among Nielsen families but is actually being watched by millions of people. Maybe half the 7 million people who watched Medium on Friday recorded Dollhouse and watched it later. Or maybe there's some overlap between the Dateline and Dollhouse audiences.
The ratings just cannot pick up those viewers at all. They will be missed entirely, and I'm not convinced that they represent a statistically insignificant portion of the audience.
Obviously Hulu and iTunes can produce more accurate readings, since they have a reliable system in place to measure exact numbers. And those are money makers for the networks, so the numbers should be meaningful. I would argue more meaningful at least partly because Nielsen ratings aren't as accurate. But in the case of iTunes and Amazon, there's actually a direct revenue model. In TV advertising, even if two million people see the ads, that doesn't necessarily translate into revenue. So even if the iTunes and Amazon viewers aren't nearly as great in number as the live TV viewers, they should be considered more valuable to the network.
However, I also want to know what kind of crazy drugs the morons at Fox must be on to renew a show thinking its ratings might improve and then give it a terrible lead-in and minimal promotion. Did they think Dollhouse would just magically gain viewers without anyone knowing about it?
So yes, if they cancel it, I will be absolutely furious at Fox. Not because they would have cancelled a low-rated show - that I understand, as much as I think the ratings they swear by don't tell the whole story. That part is just an unfortunate effect of a broken system.
But I will be angry at them for not making an effort to get the show better ratings. Why not put Fringe on before it? I bet there's a decent audience overlap there. Hell, why not put it on after some popular reality show and hope people just leave their TVs on?
Fox gets the blame if this now great show dies. And Joss Whedon will surely hear a whole lot of "I told you so" if that happens.