Fox renews 'Dollhouse' axes 'Sarah Connor Chronicles'

The Fox network is just a step away from shaking up its Friday lineup for the 2009-10 season, canning one show and considering a move to a new night for a second.

Let's hit the good news first. Airlock Alpha has learned that Fox is looking to give its struggling "Dollhouse" a second season, to see if it can grow some legs on a new night. Fox had originally intended "Dollhouse" to air Mondays with "24," but Fox instead decided to move "House" to that spot to replace "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," and to create sort of a genre theme night on Fridays.

The audience for "Dollhouse" are not exactly where Fox had hoped they would be, however, critical reaction to later episodes following its February premiere has grown more positive toward the series as it has had the chance to flesh itself out. Showrunner Joss Whedon had said ahead of its premiere that he had gone back to retool certain aspects of the show, including using a new premiere episode than what was originally planned, eventually canning what would have been the premiere.

The move seems to be an easy one for Fox. While the audience hasn't been as large as expected, it has instead remained stable. It's not a number that Fox uses, but "Dollhouse" carries a BlipNetwork Stability Index Rating of 92.0, better than every other network genre show currently on television outside of "Reaper" on The CW, which has a 94.7. A Stability Index Rating is the comparison of the show's highest overnight rating and its average overnight rating to see how much of its overall audience a show has retained.

Other factors in favor of the show continuing is that it's not as expensive as other Fox shows. Much of its upfront costs, including the construction of the elaborate set that is the dollhouse itself, were covered by funds that normally would've paid for a pilot (no pilot was made for "Dollhouse"). Also, while Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions and star Eliza Dushku's Boston Diva Productions are tied to the series, 20th Century Fox Television is still the primary production company involved, which means its licensing fee is not as steep as it would be if the show was produced by another studio.

That, along with ratings, is one of the aspects killing "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." That show is set to end its second season April 10 after a 22-episode run, but its sophomore season has been nothing but a complete struggle.

After a so-so debut on Mondays and never finding its grip after that with audiences, Fox teetered on canceling the show until surprisingly deciding to give it a full-season pickup and moving it to Fridays as a lead-in to "Dollhouse." Rumors were that Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show, slashed its licensing fee to prompt a pickup as a way to help it promote its upcoming "Terminator: Salvation," which premieres May 21.

Once "Salvation" premieres, it seems Warner Bros. will have little use to keep "Sarah Connor" on the air, and likely will not continue to provide a licensing fee discount for a third season. That almost assuredly will allow Fox to make the move it normally would've done before New Year's, and that's cancel the show.

Last year, "Sarah Connor" had the worst Stability Index Rating of all network genre shows, mostly from its inflated series premiere following the National Football League playoffs. This year, it's Stability Index Rating is stronger, but out of 14 network genre show tracked by Airlock Alpha this season, "Sarah Connor" is ranked 13th. Only "Life On Mars" had a worse Stability Index Rating, mostly from its freefall following its move from Thursdays against "Eleventh Hour" to Wednesdays following "Lost."

Of course, none of this has been confirmed by Fox, so it should be treated as any rumor would, meaning information can change, or could even be wrong.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. "Dollhouse" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.

Source: airlockalpha.com


I had a feeling this would happen, of course as the article says nothing is set in stone yet as these rumors have been circling around for a while. We'll have to wait for the official word from FOX at the end of May.

Personally, I'm really hoping they give Sarah Connor Chronicles another shot as well, because it is a really great show.

And it still has a lot of unrealized potential, but like Dollhouse it needs to be in a better time slot, and a better night in terms of it's schedule.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the survival of both. And let's face it. It's not like FOX has something better to replace it with.

DWTS: Week 5 Viennese Waltz and Paso Doble

Since the above two aforementioned dances have always been my favourite I was really looking forward to tonight.

Chuck & Julianne kicked things off with their Viennese Waltz. Which was fairly well done. Chuck is definitely improving in his leadership role when he dances so that's nice to see.

With that said I really wish he received the Paso Doble instead. It would have given him a chance to show some confidence and some stronger emotions.

He's still got a long way to go in that respect. But not bad overall. The score wasn't too bad either 23/30.

Lawrence & Edyta were next with the Paso Doble. Which I thought was good, but not great. It lacked all the passion associated with the dance. I do think he looked much more natural out on the dance floor then he has since the beginning.

Definitely one of the better if not the best dances he's done. But I'm not sure whether it'll be enough to keep him in the competition. With a luckluster score of 20/30 he will certainly need the votes.

Mark & Shawn followed up with a very pretty Viennese Waltz. I actually had a feeling she would do well with this particular style, and I was right. She has a knack when it comes to poise and elegance (the top 2 elements needed for this dance).

The scores didn't completely reflect my feelings however, the judges only give them a 26/30. Which is nothing to cry about, but I thought they deserved something a little higher (at least that's one point higher then last week).

Tony & Melissa danced their Paso Doble. Which the judges thought contained a lot of mistakes. Since I'm neither a professional dancer nor a judge I'll just have to take their word on her supposed errors.

I didn't see anything wrong with it. In fact I thought she did quite well actually. She showed plenty of emotion and even when she messed up she kept it together. As Tony said it's much harder to continue on once you know you've made a mistake.

And we've had plenty of past examples with competitors who have made mistakes where the dances completely fell apart. So I give her huge credit for her recovery. 25/30 is nothing to sneeze at either.

David & Kym did the Viennese Waltz. He did an alright job, but it was nothing spectacular. The story they worked out for the dance was good but it didn't move me the same way that Shawn & Mark or even Gille & Cheryl did. With 22/30 he could also be in danger of heading home.

Gilles and Cheryl for the second week in a row the french actor was in a league of his own this time with the Paso Doble. I've said in the past that nothing could rival the intensity, passion and aggression of Mel and Max's 5th season Paso, but I think after tonight we may have found an equal. The man has superb lines when he moves.

With a near perfect score of 29/30 Gilles continues to be one of the top contenders who could end up taking it all in the end. Show of hands for those who wouldn't have minded if Gilles did the entire routine without his vest :D.

Steve-O & Lacey I was so glad to see him do better tonight I knew he could do it. I hope the audiance saves him again I would like to see him around for a little while longer. He gives this season some much needed entertainment.

Like Carrie Anne I'm not really a fan of shtick (the whole mime routine) when it comes to dance (especially the Viennese Waltz) but it worked really well. Earning them a score of 18/30.

Ty & Chelsie I was so disppoined with his score (21/30) tonight because I actually thought his performance wasn't as bad as the judges made it out to be.

Yes, he was stiff but that's kind of what the Paso Doble is all about anyway. I really hope the audiance doesn't decide to send him home based on this dance alone. He deserves to prove himself with a different dance.

Derek & 'Lil Kim danced the best Viennese Waltz of the night. And I think a lot of it can be attributed to their wonderful chemistry (as the judges themselves pointed out).

Not to mention Derek's flawless choreography once again. Frankly I was surprised they only got a 26/30.

I thought their total score would be much higher. But I'm not too worried I don't think those two are in any danger tomorrow night.

Chocolate makes you smarter

I always knew, the whole "chocolate is bad for you" bit was a crock!. And now there's proof.

Mental arithmetic became easier after volunteers had been given large amounts of compounds found in chocolate, called flavanols, in a hot cocoa drink.

They were also less likely to feel tired or mentally drained, the findings, presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference in Brighton show.

Prof David Kennedy, director of the brain, performance and nutrition research centre at Northumbria University, and a co-author of the study, said that chocolate could be beneficial for mentally challenging tasks.

The findings suggest students who binge on chocolate when revising for exams may gain a real benefit from doing so.

"For things that are difficult to do, mentally demanding things that maybe crop up in your work it could help," Prof Kennedy said.

The flavanols, part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols, work by increasing the flow of blood into the brain.

For the study 30 volunteers were asked to count backwards in groups of three from a random number between 800 and 999 generated by a computer.

The findings show that they could do the calculations more quickly and more accurately after they had been given the drink.

However, the same was not true when the group was asked to count backwards in groups of seven, which the researchers described as a more complex task, requiring a slightly different part of the brain.

The findings also show that the volunteers did not get as tired doing the calculations if they had been given the cocoa drink, despite being asked to do them over and over for an hour.

The researchers gave the volunteers a total of 500mg of flavanol.

Although the amount was too great to be found naturally in the diet, researchers said that people should ensure that they have lots of flavanols, also found in fruit and vegetables, on a regular basis.

Emma Wightman, one of the study's lead researchers, said: "You can get bars of chocolate that have 100mg of flavanol, and we are also going to look at the effect of lower doses of flavanol on the brain."

Dark chocolate contains higher quantaties of the chemical than plain or milk chocolate.

Prof Kennedy added: "The amount that you are giving is more than in the diet but there is quite a lot of evidence that general amounts are protective against declining function and that kind of thing.

"The more fruit and vegetables and things that are high in polyphenols the better that is for your brain in the long run."

I can't say I'm fully convinced. I ate (and drank) a lot of chocolate in school, and I never did any better in math.

Although I ate a lot of the milk variety, guess I should have gone with dark.

Source: telegraph.co.uk via neatorama.com

Song of the Moment: Fisher-Any Way

More songs from this great band can be found on their official website

Can't wait to hear the new album in May!.

Browsing boosts work productivity

Looks like surfing the net at work is not such a distraction after all.

Surfing the net at work for pleasure actually increases our concentration levels and helps make a more productive workforce, according to a new University of Melbourne study.

Dr Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in ‘Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing’ (WILB) are more productive than those who don’t.

“People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t,” he says.

“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.”

According to the study of 300 workers, 70% of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB. Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites. Playing online games was the fifth most popular, while watching YouTube movies was seventh.

The attraction of WILB, according to Dr Coker, can be attributed to people’s imperfect concentration. “People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration. Think back to when you were in class listening to a lecture – after about 20 minutes your concentration probably went right down, yet after a break your concentration was restored.

“It’s the same in the work place. Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work, and as a result, increased productivity.”

However Dr Coker says that it is important such browsing is done in moderation, as internet addiction can have the reverse effect. “Approximately 14% of internet users in Australia show signs of Internet Addiction – they don’t take breaks at appropriate times, they spend more than a ‘normal’ amount of time online, and can get irritable if they are interrupted while surfing.”

“WILB is not as helpful for this group of people - those who behave with internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without.”

Source: http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/news/5750/ via neatorama.com

Innovative yet weird

April Fools with TSCC and Dollhouse

It seems that when it comes to April Fools not even t.v. stars can escape the pranks.

The lovely people at FOX tried to prank the main cast of Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I thought it started out well, but kind of fizzled out in the end, and just became incredibly lame. I agree with Thomas who's idea was this?.



MAJOR DOLLHOUSE SPOILER ALERT



Hmmm....FOX has a weird definition of the word "prank". Personally I think this works better:



Even Bones got it right:



Note to the folks at FOX, sometimes classic works best ;D.