The ratings for Dollhouse continue to plummet, but series creator Joss Whedon promises the show improves with episode 6.

The ratings for the fourth episode of the new Joss Whedon series, Dollhouse, have hit the Internet, and it just gets worse with each passing week.  An anemic 3.5 million tuned in to the show, while 8.4 million were watching a 20/20 special about Siegfried and Roy’s last performance.  Apparently white tigers and their magician owners are far more interesting than a sci-fi show on a Friday night.

Mr. Whedon is promising that the show improves with the sixth episode as that was when he finally convinced the network executives to step meddling with the show’s storyline.  Both he and Eliza Dushku, the star of the series, are telling this to anyone that will listen, but if the show continues its downward trajectory, it may not matter.

With the exception of the X-Files, Friday nights have always been a graveyard for sci-fi shows on Fox.  Honestly, it’s been a graveyard for just about any show on Fox, and it’s almost like that’s where they send shows to die.  Think of it like the end of Old Yeller where they go out behind the house to end the dog’s life… Friday night is the back of the house.

I admit I haven’t had time to watch episode 4 yet as I had to work that night, but it is on my DVR to be watched in the next day or two, but I’m starting to get to that “why bother?” point with the show.  Don’t get me wrong, I still like the show, but unless something miraculous happens, it is just about a certainity that this show is going to get axed by the end of this season.  And this is always a bad time for a show because the viewers almost know it’s a sure thing, and while you still like to watch it, you wonder if you should bother investing your time in it.  The catch-22 being, if you don’t watch, you could be helping to speed the process of the inevitable.

Sometimes it’s tricky being a TV viewer, and this is one of those times.