AirLockAlpha.com

Fans hoping to convince the Fox network it should give Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" a second season had a significant setback Friday when the show turned in its worst viewing audience of the year despite publicity that the much talked about villain Alpha would be revealed.

"Dollhouse" earned a 1.9 rating/3 share, actually finishing behind the numbers "Smallville" earned this week on The CW, according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research. That was down 5 percent from its audience last week, and is now 32 percent off its series premiere audience, which itself was lower than expectations.

"Dollhouse" also lost just under 10 percent of the audience gathered by its lead-in, "Prison Break," and is most likely heading to cancellation barring a big save for its season finale next week.

It was mostly an average week for genre programs overall with most shows airing new episodes pretty much remaining steady from previous weeks. The bigger disappointments were "Heroes" and "Chuck," both which were serving up season finales. "Heroes" ticked up just 2.5 percent while "Chuck" remained flat from the previous week, despite a highly-publicized push by "Chuck" fans to get viewers to the show.

"Lost" was up slightly from its audience two weeks ago, but is still off 19 percent from its season premiere, and "Fringe" shed about 3 percent of its audience compared to the week before.

"Smallville" has really been struggling as of late, pulling in audiences at about the 2.0 household rating, which is down 31 percent from its premiere, and has represented a significant decline since The CW decided to give the show a ninth season. "Reaper" also made a case for its cancellation, losing 25 percent of its already anemic audience -- in just one week.

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.