Producers: Fringe Won’t Die in Friday Night Graveyard

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I don't think a fourth season of Fringe is in much doubt. Whether or not it'll be a full season, or a fully-supported season will depend entirely on how it performs on Fridays. But I don't see this series being shut down after three seasons ... unless the rest of Season 3 goes completely off the rails in terms of quality.

 

Fox could always bring Fringe back as a midseason replacement instead of outright cancelling it. Hopefully the move won't kill it completely.

 

It will only kill it if its fanbase is stupid enough to assume "Oh, it's on Friday. All shows ever shown on Friday die. Oh, I may as well stop watching it then."

Fringe has an established fanbase. Therefore it will move over. Plus, the millions of people who spent their Fridays watching stuff like Medium and Ghost Whisperer (two shows that, oh yeah, died instantly on Friday...) are gonna be looking for new stuff to watch. And Fox can't be ignoring the DVR ratings.

I think it's safe. And I hope it survives long on Friday because maybe it might help remove the boogeyman factor. I mean, Saturdays have been abandoned. Sundays are nights people are wanting to avoid now. The OP quotes the producers saying Fringe fans didn't want Thursdays. Friday has the "death slot" spectre over its head. Pretty soon, if this keeps up, Tuesday will be the only night of the week airing new network programming...

Alex

 

Five seasons of Ghost Whisperer on Friday is an instant death?

 

I'm surprised Fringe managed to do as well as it did on the super-competitive thursday night.

 

The big EVENT episode this week will be a serious indicator as to the shows survival. The producers sent out screener copies about a week ago and the critical buzz for it is huge with everyone saying not only is it the best of the season, but a game-changer that matches the best of the show fullstop. If that buzz can translate with the viewers, and the strength of the episode pull in a few more Friday TV-people then the show has a real chance.

I genuinely adore this show, even with all its faults and I think it has 2.5 more decent seasons of storytelling left in it. Given Alias and Lost got to finis their stories (however convoluted and contrived people may have felt they were/became) I think it only fair that the far more straightforward and, honestly, fun show out of the JJ-stables should be allowed to reach a natural completion also.


Hugo - eagerly awaits the season 3 dvd's when he can catch up on the show

 

It's annoying that they put it up against Supernatural, but I guess this was supposed to be Supernatural's last season anyway.

 

The problem with Friday nights is not that you lose the fanbase, but you lose the casual viewer. The shows demographic, unlike Ghost Whisperer mentioned above, is a younger, hipper audience. Once you move the show to Friday's much of that audience has better things to do on that particular night of the week.

 

The producers can say whatever bullshit they want, IT DOESN'T MATTER!

Are the producers really that fucking stupid? I mean REALLY?!

This is FOX, it's a TV network, they will pretend to be your friends until they are sick of you and never talk to you again. They never told the Futurama people they were canceled, they just stopped answering phone calls. Back to You was going to go to ABC, but Fox sweat talked them into moving to Fox. They never delivered and the producers came out and talked about how much they hate Fox.

Fans wanted Fringe to move to the wide open Wednesday night or Monday after House, not the death slot on Friday.

 

That's why they take DVR ratings into account these days.

I rely more on what the producers said in the quote above. I can believe that they have the network's support; FOX's current leadership is far more supportive of its borderline shows than its predecessors have been. It's a mistake to think that the cancellation of past shows like Futurama has any bearing here, because the people who ran the network then don't work there anymore. The only valid comparisons are to the actions of the current executives -- the ones who gave Dollhouse a second season and aired all of it even though the ratings didn't warrant it.

And as they say, the expectations are lower on Fridays, so they don't have to perform as well to get renewed as they would on another night. Any intrinsic problems with Friday as an airdate are already being taken into consideration.

 

In the alternate universe, Fringe went on for ten seasons and most fans agreed that it should have ended after season seven.

 

That touches on another concern. I really love this series but I don't want to see it dragged out so long that it loses its "oomph". I would love to see a nice five season arc and have the show end with a bang, the way Supernatural should have ended.

So, far the producers have done everything right. All the little hooks in the first season were addressed in the second and we are seeing the payoff in the third.

Well except for the boyfriend of Olivia's living in her head, but the actor moved on, correct?

 

^ He's on Human Target.

 

I'm not going to look for it right now (I'm in class), but there was in fact a statement from a FOX executive when the move was first announced that the majority of Fringe's viewership figures are time-shifted.

For another example, if I recall correctly, the ratings for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles warranted a second season, yet the current FOX executives gave that show a second chance as well. These current executives do indeed seem more willing to try to give a show a chance to build an audience, unlike some of their predecessors.

 

Fringe audience isn't going up, it's gone way down.

Fox doesn't need Fringe, T:TSCC filled in a lame time slot.

 

The relatively low ratings indicate that Fringe has no significant casual viewers. If Fringe takes its audience to Friday nights, then the ratings that will get it canceled on Thursdays will keep it safe indefinitely. Fringe had its shot at a plum spot after a big hit. This is the best chance the show has for survival. The Fox executives are doing their best to save the show, either for its own sake or for Anna Torv. People should be rejoicing. Fringe is not a very successful show, either artistically or commercially, but this move is about as close to guaranteed survival as can be expected.

 

I hope not either, this has become my favorite show, and truthfully, Thursday works just fine for me.

Pisser that the article didn't say what time it's going to be on.

 

9 PM Eastern after Hell's Kitchen.

No, the best way for survival would have been never moving it to Thursday in the first place.

 

It didn't keep enough of the ratings of its lead (American Idol, I think it was.) If it hadn't been moved, it would have been canceled. The assumption is that Fringe only lost its audience on Thursdays due to heavy competition. But that's a difficult assumption to accept.

Also, it's not really possible to include changing the past as a programming strategy.