The Futon Critic is reporting Fringe is expected to go on hiatus beginning February 11, and FOX will launch midseason drama Past Life in its place. TFC reports its expected that two episodes of Past Life will air on Thursday February 11, and it is expected to fill the Thursday 9pm slot for five of the following six weeks (the off week for a Thursday edition of American Idol).
FOX will hopefully announce its full mid-season schedule before Thanksgiving and give our wannabe scheduling aficionados a break for the holiday.
Lame.
Yeah, this sucks a bit. 7 weeks sounds so long.
Well, is this a positive or a negative sign for “Fringe”? Or is it neither and this is the way FOX had intended to do it all along?
I’d say “this” news is probably neither. It might not be good news for Fringe, but I’m guessing that Past Life having its order cut from 13 to seven episodes is worse news for Past Life than it is for Fringe!
When Past Life gets crushed it will be good news for Fringe
7 weeks ? It will definitively kills this show
Expected move by FOX.
Also don’t forget, Fox did this last season with Fringe as well. Except that it was 2 hour episodes of Idol instead of another show taking its slot for 7 weeks. Last season Fringe aired thru sometime in February and then wasn’t back until April and aired their last set of episodes without a repeat. So I don’t really think this means anything either way like Robert said and if Past Life does worse than Fringe, it should help Fringe out.
I wonder if FOX will just try to stretch the Tuesday Idol for 2 hours every week or if there is a possibility that Lie to Me could move to Tuesdays @ 9 for at least whatever episodes they have remaining.
How many episodes did Fox order of Fringe this year? It’s significant to me that Fringe is being replaced during the sweeps month of February.
CSM, TFC’s write-up indicates that after awhile Tuesday will go back to 1 hour of Idol (that might not be until March though), and that FOX *wouldn’t* likely put a scripted drama at 9pm Tuesdays. I think we’ll know for sure soon enough.
Carol: FOX ordered a full season of Fringe – 22 episodes
I don’t know why posters are saying that if PL fails, it helps out Fringe.
To me, that’s just another Dollhouse/TSCC argument…
Fringe got 22 episodes unlike season 1 which only had 20.
I don’t think this is going to affect Fringe at all. As long as it stays on Thursday’s it’s still going to get around 5.5-6M viewers and get around 1.7 to 1.9 in the demos.
Past Life on the other hand is going to get hammered, especially since it’s a new and unproven show.
@Carol
I do believe it was a full season, so 22 but who knows if they cut the order
Don,
PL may not have great retention out of AI, but if it does even just a 3.0, that’ll look spectacular compared to sub 2.0 rating for Fringe with Idol.
I always knew Past Life wouldnt get the post Tuesday Idol slot, but I had thought Fringe would. Now Past Life will likely die airing after Fringe but atleast it only has 7 episodes. And yes Fringe still has a 22 episode order.
That should be “without Idol.”
Airing repeat free may help Fringe in the long run. With Past Life airing thursdays at 9, then Hell’s Kitchen will likely air Tuesdays at 9 post American Idol
Think the Fringe hiatus on the 11th has anything to do with Lost returning the week prior?
Andrew – I dont think that has anything to do with it. Lost airs Tuesdays at 9 and Fringe airs Thursdays at 9 so both series are basically out of eachothers way. Fringe is getting the hiatus so Past Life’s 7 episodes can get exposure while Fringe can run repeat free from April-May.
Andrew – Lost is on Tuesday while Fringe is on Thursdays…