Ratings are in for the premiere of the highly anticipated "Dollhouse" and more than a fair share of Joss Whedon fans tuned in Friday to watch the first episode.

According to preliminary fast national data from Nielsen, "Dollhouse" attracted 4.72 million viewers. While the overall ratings were far from spectacular, notching a 2.0 rating/6 share among adults 18 to 49, ranking No. 2 in its time period among adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 and No. 1 among male demos, the segment was a nice improvement over what Fox had been averaging in the fall with gameshow "Don't Forget the Lyrics." Most weeks last fall, "Lyrics" had been scoring between a 1.5 and a 1.7 in the demo.

The series debut of "Dollhouse" also out-delivered Fox’s prior season average in the Friday 9p.m. hour by +25% among adults 18-49 (2.0/6 vs. 1.6/5) and by +21% among adults 18-34 (1.7/6 vs. 1.4/5).

Unfortunately for "Dollhouse" lead-in program, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," audiences were far from impressive, the show rounding up around only 3.7 million viewers. 

Brought forth by Joss Whedon, the brains behind "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" "Angel" and "Firefly," "Dollhouse" stars actress Eliza Dushku as Echo, a woman who finds herself in some sort of undefined trouble and chooses to have her personalities wiped clean so she can be imprinted with any number of new personas to serve various purposes for the future clients of her future boss.

In the first episode, we witness Echo switching from being the perfect date to a hostage negotiator, as she helps saving a little girl, and recover the ransom.

As the first season unfolds, it becomes obvious that in Echo’s case, the mind-wipes aren’t 100 percent accurate and she retains fragments of the various personas downloaded into her brain, making her more self-aware. She engages in a peculiar relationship with a fellow doll called “Sierra,” played by Dichen Lachman, who though not as aware as Echo, feels strangely attracted to her.