Dollhouse viewers can rest slightly easier today with the assurance that all of the 13 episodes currently ordered for Season 2 will indeed be aired. For the last few weeks rumours have been floating around that, due to the rather less than impressive ratings the first few episodes of the second season received, Fox may yank the show off the air completely.
Luckily, that won’t be the case. Preston Beckman, head honcho of scheduling at Fox, said: “We’re going to run all the episodes. We’re not saying we’re happy with those numbers, or accept them, but we don’t have to overreact. During [November] sweeps we might have to jack up the numbers a little [with other programming], but we plan on completing the order for this show.”
Hmm. “Completing the order for this show” does seem to suggest that a full-length second season probably isn’t on the cards, and that the show will draw to a close after just 26 episodes. Even Joss Whedon himself seems slightly resigned to the fact that they may have to wrap up the show shortly:
“We’ll definitely have closure, but will leave some doors open,” said Whedon, who’s currently shooting the eighth episode. “When we got our first numbers, which were bad, the first thing [Fox president of entertainment] Kevin Reilly said was, ‘You’ll have all 13,’ which was great. They’re not going to pull the rug out from under us.”
Still, at least this does mean that the writers have an opportunity to resolve some issues. I’m going to try and stay optimistic, but I think Dollhouse fans may have to begin preparing themselves for bad news.