So, Did Viewers Welcome Themselves to Dollhouse?

New Joss Whedon series shows some spunk among young adults in Friday premiere; 20/20 outdraws Ghost Whisperer as night's most-watched show

Friday TV's Big Gamble: Fox bet it could win back sci-fi fans from cable with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Joss Whedon's new Dollhouse.

Did It Pay Off? No and sort of. In its Friday debut, Terminator (3.7 million, per Nielsen estimates as reported by MediaWeek) bombed. Fox scored more viewers last week with the far cheaper Cops (4 million), and did just as poorly in the 18-49 demo (fourth place). At 9 p.m., Dollhouse showed some spunk. While the premiere drew about the same-size audience as last week's America's Most Wanted (4.7 million), it finished second in the hour in the demo (up from AMW's previous fourth-place finish).

Etc.: 20/20 (11 million) upset Ghost Whisperer (10.4 million) as the night's most-watched show. Friday Night Lights (3.5 million) looked plain lonely.