I was talking with someone at SDCC about the Heroes panel and all the love that was shared between the show and its fans. And yet the show seemed suspect to me because of how well-financed its marketing campaign is. The first thing she asked me was, “Is that show still popular?” In a nutshell, Heroes was something special when it started out and then it turned into something that, despite all the money thrown at it, lost its way.
Judging by the Nissan Cube giveaways and an elaborate carnival set to promote Heroes at Comic-Con International, I’d say Universal is very serious about promoting the heck out of its once golden property.
Having stood in a hopelessly long line for the two Dollhouse panels, it is interesting to me to consider how much less money Joss Whedon’s creation needed to spend in its SDCC campaign compared to Heroes and perhaps…how much more popular, and better, Dollhouse is than Heroes. From what I could tell, posters were all that Dollhouse needed to get the word out.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:21 am
On the other hand, Heroes still gets gets significantly higher ratings than Dollhouse, even though its ratings have dropped from what they once were. Now whether Dollhouse is better… that’s more subjective, I guess. But more people watch Heroes, and there’s really no way of denying that.
Plus, from the YouTube vids I saw, there were at least as many Buffy or Firefly questions asked at the Dollhouse panels. Maybe (and this is only a suggestion) it’s Whedon himself who draws people to his panels?
July 27th, 2009 at 6:59 am
There’s one way to generate traffic – start a debate/feud between two different fan bases where none exists.
At least, try to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. You compared the “Dollhouse” panels to the “Heroes” promotional booth area — which aren’t comparable.
From past attendance at SDCC and from the current reporting at other websites, the majority of panels probably had long lines.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Thanks for your comment, Chris. It’s true, any panel with a niche audience is going to draw long lines. From what I could tell, the line of people left out of the Dollhouse panels was big enough to have accomodated another ballroom. The back to back Dollhouse/Joss Whedon panels were in Ballroom 20, a quite sizable venue.
Heroes was in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton, a space that I’d say was comparable in size to the one for Dollhouse. There was no long line of people left outside waiting to get into Heroes. I was mailed a ticket by Universal that allowed me, as press, to automatically get into the Heroes panel. About fifteen minutes before the Heroes panel, the ballroom was packed but I did not see a long line of people left out of the show. I stood in line for Dollhouse about an hour before the show and found myself in the middle of quite a long line when it was announced they had reached capacity.
It made me think of how a whole lot of money has helped, and maybe sometimes hindered, a show like Heroes that began so quirky and fresh. Maybe it is finding its way back or maybe it’s just a credible mainstream creation. Dollhouse may prove to be a more unified vision coming from Joss Whedon as opposed to the muddled attempts by Tim Kring and company.
July 29th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Not sure that Heroes will last another season if their ratings don’t pick up. I’m pretty sure Dollhouse will not last very long, fortunate if they make the currently scheduled season if their ratings continue to be so low. FOX has no patience, and considering the kind of ratings they normally get, it’s not surprising.
Comic Con attendees love Joss Whedon. They love Supernatural, but it’s not like it’s the biggest rated show outside of the Comic Con crowd.
It surprised me to see which panels did have some long lines this year though. I tried to get into the “Unlocking Arkham Asylum” panel line an hour before it started, they had already marked the end of the line and weren’t allowing anyone else to join the line.
On the other hand, it was way too easy to get into the Focus On… panels that featured comic book greats like Gene Colan, Mike Allred, and Bill Sienkiewicz.
I really wonder if the Comic Con went back to just being about comic books, fantasy, cosplay and anime, whether it could actually go back to operating out of the El Cortez Center.