It started as a musical, made for the internet. Then it conquered iTunes, DVD, and even the stage. Now Dr. Horrible faced his ultimate challenge…competing against NCIS and Dancing With the Stars.
How did he do, and did the CW do the Doctor right? More after the jump…
A lot of people were very excited when the CW announced it was showing Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, four years after it premiered on the internet. It got a lot of promotion through social media, but in the ratings, the doc fared even worse than a typical battle with Captain Hammer. It was last in the 9 PM time slot, with a rating of 0.2, or about 570 thousand viewers. That’s about half the audience Hart of Dixie got.
While the result is disappointing, it’s still a victory for Dr. Horrible. It’s the first time anything from the internet made it all the way to traditional television since Quarterlife from MySpace in 2008. Also consider the musical has been seen millions of times on iTunes, YouTube, DVD and on the stage.
It was interesting that when the CW aired a promo for the show, it mentioned that it was from “the director of The Avengers”, as if the CW forgot about that other show about some teen who fought vampires. It also gave Felicia Day billing over Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. Simon Helberg should have also been mentioned, since he’s a big part of The Big Bang Theory.
While Dr. Horrible lives on through online media, you can still see him and sing-along in a special screening to benefit the Best Friends Animal Society and SOVA. Tickets are still available for the event being held at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood on October 27th.
