TV Ratings (Friday 11th March) FRINGE steady

[Jax]

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 10.60 million, NBC: 5.81, ABC: 4.74, Fox: 3.95, CW: 1.44

-Adults 18-49:
CBS: 1.8 rating/6 share, Fox: 1.6/5, NBC: 1.4/5, ABC: 1.4/4, CW: 0.5/2

CBS

The Defenders (season/series finale) - 9.03 million & 1.5/5

CSI: NY - 11.04 million & 2.0/6

Blue Bloods - 11.75 million & 1.9/6

NBC

Who Do You Think You Are? (repeat) - 3.94 million & 0.9/3

Dateline (2 hour) - 6.74 million & 1.7/5

ABC

Supernanny - 4.01 million & 1.4/4

Primetime: What Would You Do? - 4.35 million & 1.4/4

20/20 - 5.88 million & 1.6/5

FOX

Kitchen Nightmares - 4.13 million & 1.7/6

Fringe - 3.76 million & 1.5/5

CW

Smallville (repeat) - 1.56 million & 0.5/2

Supernatural (repeat) - 1.32 million & 0.5/2

---------------------------------------------------

The Defenders won't be back but expect CSI:NY and Blue Bloods to return next season. CSI:NY spent most of the season on the bubble but its picked up some steam since midseason and if you crack 2.0 in the demo on fridays you are kept...CSI:NY's good fortune is bad news for The Good Wife who was being eyed up for a friday move but thats unlikely to happen now.

Fringe may be helping FOX to their best fridays in years but its not enough IMO especially as when Supernatural was on repeat the younger demo went to CSI:NY and not Fringe. Fringe is so close 0.2 away in the demo to probably being safe and I believe the 8pm slot would boost its ratings but its going to suffer from Firefly/Dollhouse 9pm syndrome and face the axe.

I tell you now...If FOX does cancel Fringe then its friday night demo will hit rock bottom again next season.

 

[Christopher]

^Odd that you say it's holding steady and giving them their best time-slot ratings in years, but are still talking as though it's doomed. Gave me whiplash there. If Fringe is giving them a stronger Friday than before, surely they would take that into account. That sounds to me like an affirmation that their decision to move it there was the right one.

 

[Jax]

The problem is FOX could produce a low reality show to get crappier ratings but possibly close enough to Fringe's to make a decent profit because reality is cheap to make. Also Fox does not own FRINGE, WB & Bad Robot do so any 4th season needs them to sweeten the deal for FOX.

 

[Jetfire]

Something that bugs me is...why NBC showed The Cape finale online FRI at Midnight and not just air it FRI instead of a repeat? Would it have hurt them that much??? Some have speculated that if the online numbers are good...then The Cape may live on...but I think that is wishful thinking by fans.

[edit] And The Cape finale was pretty open ended...like there could be more...that is wishful thinking too.

 

[watermelony2k]

I think the Fox president was quoted saying that if Fringe could maintain a 1.5 it would not be cancelled. You know, at this point I would be even happy with just one more season just to wrap things up.

 

[gh4chiefs]

The Defenders won't be back

Out of all the shows that won't be back, this is the one that puzzles me the most as to why it didn't catch on with the viewers. When I talk to people about some of the bubble/likely to be cancelled shows, their reactions match the ratings. When I talk about Shat My Dad Says people are "meh" and that's reflected in the ratings. When I talk about Detriot 1-8-7 people are like "What show is that?" again reflected in the ratings. No surprises there.

But without exception, people I talk to about The Defenders, are "Yeah I watch that show and its good." A friend of mine who really doesn't watch much TV and doesn't seem to like much of anything on TV commented out of the blue one day about it being a good show. It's an entertaining show, just don't know why it didn't catch on. Really thought it would be solid hit for CBS.

At least the final episode went out on a fun note.

 

[bigdaddy]

I think the Fox president was quoted saying that if Fringe could maintain a 1.5 it would not be cancelled. You know, at this point I would be even happy with just one more season just to wrap things up.

What Fox sas and what they do is never the same. They have said 100 different things on the mater.

 

[Jax]

I think the Fox president was quoted saying that if Fringe could maintain a 1.5 it would not be cancelled.

He made several comments going from 1.9 to 1.5 about what they were looking. I believe Fringe needs an increase or its doomed.

 

[Starbreaker]

These demo numbers mean little in the long run. There's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes other than "oh... 1.5 = cancelled!!!!!"

 

[Jax]

^ Like I've also stated, WB/Bad Robot need to make FOX a good deal to air a 4th season but the ratings still come into play because lower they are more FOX will want in return to air episodes and in the end WB/Bad Robot will have a limit on how much they are willing to offer to protect their own profit margins.

 

[mswood]

And remember here is the time the ratings typically start a significant drop.

First this was the last week before Daylights savings time. This has a significant impact on shows. Then you have March Madness just getting ready to kick into gear. Both of htose should have some impact on ratings. Then after that, you have a break for reruns and then the final push, and most shows (save perhaps a bump for the last episode of the season) typically face there worst ratings of the year between mid March and mid May.

It would be extremely unlikely (though of course not impossible) for Fringe to not start to fall.

As to why would Fox kill a show thats doing historically better then they have in that period for a while. Well thats fairly simple. And has three parts to the answer.

1. Pilots. Its exceptionally likely that one or two pilots will be picked up bare minimum from the near dozen that Fox has ordered. Not to mention the possible Bones spinoff that keeps getting mentioned.

2. Its schedule is already near full. We know House, Glee, Idol (in Spring 3 hours), X-Factor in Fall (2 or 3 hours), Bones, An hour of half hour comedies, the Full sunday animation block and the Dinosaur hour long (can't think of the title). Since Sunday is off the table, that leaves Fox 10 hours to schedule and we know that 8 is already filled. We also know that Hell's Kitchen has been picked up for two cycles (and based on the ratings and cost, its very likely that Kitchen Nightmares will also get picked up), so thats 2 hours of reality shows that can be scheduled or used to bridge rerun periods, or plug holes in case anything bombs.

3. It's not made by Fox. This is huge, most shows make their bread and butter for their parent companies not off of their broadcast but off the long term stripping that can happen (of course most don't get there, but the rewards when you do can be vast) then other things like Home Markets (both US and WW), and overseas broadcast. Fringe in only helps Fox solely of its Original broadcast and one Rerun.

So with only two real hours left, and numerous Fox produced shows waiting for their pilots to be shot and screened, Fringe isn't looking good. Even if its numbers are strong. Basically Warners (and they can if they see a long term prospect for the show) will need to charge a exceptionally low license fees to Fox. And even with that Fox might have strong enough pilots that they don't need it even if Warners literally gave them the show for free to broadcast.

 

[Jax]

The only thing FOX might think about is totally funding a show produced by them for a very low rated night could just be not worth it...Reality is cheap but is more limited in making money off via other sources like DVD's for example compared to scripted drama.

then again FOX could use 9pm fridays for repeats

 

[cal_guy]

The concept that "owning the show" is major factor in canceling a show is a myth. The first thing that you must realize is that the studio doesn't actually own a show outright, they share it with the creators who may have varying interest depending on the agreement with the studio. As such the studio must negotiate the best deal with the network regardless if it's a corporate sibling or a third party. It's basically a risk/reward situation.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Fringe has become such an uninteresting mess they just need to can it and be done with it.

 

[Jax]

^ Ok well the rest of us will enjoy it without you

 

[Skywalker]

What's with the constant Fringe plugging every week, anyway? It isn't even the best show in its own timeslot.

 

[bigdaddy]

The concept that "owning the show" is major factor in canceling a show is a myth. The first thing that you must realize is that the studio doesn't actually own a show outright, they share it with the creators who may have varying interest depending on the agreement with the studio. As such the studio must negotiate the best deal with the network regardless if it's a corporate sibling or a third party. It's basically a risk/reward situation.

The show's creators almost always get fucked with their clothing on when it comes to their own shows.

If Fox made the show than we would get a fourth season without a doubt. The writers and creators of the shows get about 10 cents from a DVD sale, when the studio makes $20.

 

[Christopher]

http://www.fringetelevision.com/2011/03/fringe-execs-positive-about-renewal.html

The executive producers of Fringe have claimed that they are feeling positive about the show's chances of renewal.

Jeff Pinkner told The Daily Beast that Fox continues to support the sci-fi drama, despite moving it to an unpopular Friday night slot.

"Creatively, Fox has been unbelievably supportive," he insisted. "We have exceeded their expectations on Friday nights."

He added: "Having said that, who knows what the future brings? But, all the signs we're getting are incredibly positive… that we have several seasons of storytelling left."

Naturally one must make allowances for spin, but "exceeded their expectations" is promising.

 

[Jax]

What's with the constant Fringe plugging every week, anyway? It isn't even the best show in its own timeslot.

My thread my rules

The only reason I don't combine friday with the thursday thread like before this midseason is Fringe

 

[bigdaddy]

Several seasons of storytelling left?



Funny!

More like several EPISODES.