Did FOX Go Overboard Chastising Dollhouse Fansite?

Full disclosure: We’ve participated in a few interviews and events courtesy of FOX in the past year. Our contacts at FOX Publicity have been pretty accommodating and friendly; however, we don’t work directly with the person involved in this story.

It seems Dollhouse fansite Dollverse has ended up on FOX’s bad side after publishing that the as-yet-unaired thirteenth episode, “Epitaph One”, will air overseas as part of a different distribution package than what was agreed upon in the U.S. Not exactly earth-shattering news. So what has FOX Director of Publicity Todd Adair so upset? It seems he misread the original post and thought the site was confirming that “Epitaph One ” would air in the U.S. this summer. Sure, the post’s author is a little unclear that they meant that the “unaired 13th episode of Dollhouse WILL now air” … overseas. Within context, most readers can figure it out, but it could be clearer at first glance. I’m not sure this is the best way to handle the issue, though:

From: Todd Adair
CC: “Shari Rosenblum” ,
“Cait Hood”
Subject: Dollhouse
Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 13:08:32 -0700

Once again you have incorrect information posted on your Dollverse site. FOX has not announced that it will be airing “Epitaph One” and for you to state on the site that it will air (and should be airing this summer) is false. This is yet another instance of you posting information that in no way helps the show. You also posted an incorrect airdate schedule for the remaining season one episode stated as fact that “Epitaph One” would air on May 15, then May 22 – which was never announced by the network – as we never licensed that episode for air.

Moving forward do not make any further announcements on your site regarding network scheduling unless you receive notification from the network that scheduling is confirmed – you are doing a great disservice to the show and your own site. Clearing up your misperceptions of the show has become very time consuming and frankly takes away valuable time that could be spent actively marketing the series in the proper way.

Todd

Todd Adair
Director, Publicity, FOX Broadcasting Co.

Obviously posting accurate information is in the best interests of everyone, and it would appear that FOX has had to contact Dollverse about their information in the past, but the tone of this email is a lot pissier than one would expect from an executive of this caliber. Of course, Mr. Adair probably didn’t expect Dollverse owner Kevin to post about the incident and turn it into a commentary on how to work with fansites, either. The media fallout from this is not going to be pretty. Then again, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?