Comments on: Fringe: You Just Gotta Believe

By: Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:23:01 +0000

If FOX does decide to cancel Fringe, has anyone heard whether another network, cable or otherwise is interested in picking it up? ABC might look to secure it since FlashFoward doesn’t appear to be holding its audience based on the sheer boredom of that show. Maybe TNT will snatch it up. They wisely picked up ‘Southland’. That could work. Or, maybe Syfy…one can hope.

By: Holly

Holly — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:14:41 +0000

@Person,
What three shows? Dollhouse, Brothers and….’Til Death (well, maybe)? Do you really think the cancelation of those low-rated Friday shows have any bearing on Fringe’s chances?

By: Stu

Stu — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:09:56 +0000

Move the show OFF Thursday nights!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The suits are retarded with their “let’s move all our best to Thursday” and ultimately see everyone’s ratings take a hit…

Makes zero sense imo

We can’t even watch and dvr all we want to watch on Thur., that’s ridicules!!

By: person

person — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:17:24 +0000

They’re already cancelling three shows.
They can’t cancel Fringe too, FOX simply don’t have anything to put in these slots.
Fringe IS THE BEST! it WILL BE RENEWED!

By: ap

ap — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:40:00 +0000

I really enjoyed the “Fringe will be back in 90 seconds” commercial breaks for season one. It kept the crispness of the show in detail. I miss it.

By: jj

jj — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:28:08 +0000

Kill the show already. It’s already been running too long. It would never had taken off last year if Fox didn’t give it the coveted spot behind AI.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:52:51 +0000

In my opinion the only bubble series in terms of 2010-2011 are

Fringe
Lie to Me
Human Target
Past Life

Everything else is either a lock for 2010-2011 or dead. Among these four bubble series, Past Life will likely be axed as a result of airing against Grey’s, CSI, and Office/30 Rock. Human Target will benefit from the Idol boost. As for sophomore Fringe and Lie to Me, Fringe taking a break could help or hurt the series. WHile its good FOX will air repeat free in the 9pm thursday slot, Fringe fans may or may not return April. Its 50/50. As for Lie to Me, it all depends where FOX airs the show when it returns, if they air it Post Idol when Huma Target finishes it could return, if they air it fridays at 8 (free slot) then it will likely die.

By: Richard Steven Hack

Richard Steven Hack — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:38:11 +0000

I have to agree with those who say season 2 of Fringe isn’t living up to expectations we had from season one. They’ve ignored a LOT of stuff thrown up in season one and done very little with the alternate universe stuff (other than the “body snatchers” guys which just isn’t good enough).

As I’ve said before, producers seem to have a “season two death wish” in that they ALWAYS slow down the pace of the overall concept. I really think producers and writers run out of ideas by end of season one of anything or they’re just too damn tired to make it through season two.

By: NewModelHuman

NewModelHuman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:23:03 +0000

Hasn’t Supernatural been on for like 100 years by now? Would the fans really bail out just to watch Fringe?

By: Mikie

Mikie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:50:29 +0000

Ryan: im agree with you on the supernatural and fringe. hope fringe gets cancelled. so supernatural will get good numbers and go above 3 million again

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:53:37 +0000

They Could be going with another approach i have seen some networks use.

Fringe has a nitch group of ppl that watch. They enjoy supernatural/SCI-FI alot of those fans could care less about Grey’s etc. So i think they half conceded, the time slot but pull in ratings they know they can get from a show that has a different appeal.

It’s same thing CW does on thursdays

They put smallville and supernatural up against Grey’s etc. I says Supernatural could steal more of the Fringe audience then Grey’s.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:08:14 +0000

DipStickLick, I agree 100%. The show just isn’t interesting. The promos for it don’t help it either. Just boring all around.

By: DipStickLick

DipStickLick — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:49:02 +0000

It’s worth pointing out that a lot of fans who post here, who seem to be big fans of the show since S1, have been complaining about the low quality of S2 and that they are not bothering with the show anymore. So all the talk of the timeslot being the reason for the bad ratings may only be half true. If the show isn’t living up to what the fans want of it then it doesn’t matter what time it airs, the ratings will not improve. I myself think it’s more about the show being low quality than the time it airs.

By: whatever

whatever — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:32:29 +0000

if the show doesn’t pick up in the second half of the season I couldn’t care less if it get canceled. So far season 2 is a yawnfest.

By: Isabela

Isabela — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:54:43 +0000

I believe. I do. Man, I love this show, I gotta believe, every day and every time.

By: Taylor

Taylor — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:22:25 +0000

Just becase a show is moving to anther day, doesn’t make the shows plot better or worse. It is still going to be the same, regardless of its time slot. I love Glee.

By: Don

Don — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:11:40 +0000

I Guess I have to believe. If this is FOX’s way to counterprogram…SO BE IT!!! I am not happy with it. If they do renew please move it next season.

Otherwise I am sticking to the show.

By: holl

holl — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:50:01 +0000

Sci-fy wants to pick up dollhouse !!!!!!

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:56:57 +0000

And for those that don’t want to do the maths if Fringe is average $3 million an episode that’s $72 million over the course of a 24 episode season but if its episode average is closer to $4 million its closing in on a $100 million budget over the course of a 24 episode season. Of course these numbers also assume that Fox’s license fee for the show is equal to the average episode budget, which may not be the case.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:50:46 +0000

For people who question how much Fringe costs remember that the pilot episode was reportedly made for around $10 million, this is not a cheap show by any stretch of the imagination. The cost of that pilot and season one as a whole is why Fringe was given both a House lead-in and then an American Idol lead-in last season, Fox needed it to score big to earn back what they were spending. I would imagine the large cost of the show was also a big motivating factor in moving the show to Thursday nights, where Fox is able to take advantage of higher HUT and pick up better ad rates.

I’m not suggesting that Fringe is averaging $10 million an episode or even anything close to that but its hard to imagine them producing this for less than $3 million an episode at the very least and I suspect that it actually works out as more than that.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:46:33 +0000

tvmegafan, I really don’t think that FOX put Fringe on Thursdays to kill it. They decided that they wanted to throw their hat into the ring and try to get a piece of the Thursday ratings pie. Granted it didn’t work, and I don’t see how it can rebound after the fact. It was a risk, that didn’t pay off. The genre of serialized shows (especially sci-fi shows) usually don’t recover from bad ratings no matter what the networks do to try to save them.

By: tvmegafan

tvmegafan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:28:26 +0000

How could FOX treat Fringe like some low budget, poorly written crap…its far from that, its superior, its amazing, one of the best shows on TV, how could they just destroy it? Why in the world did they put it on thursdays to begin with? I dont think Ill ever know, theyre just completely stupid. SAVE FRINGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: entertainmenttodayandbeyond

entertainmenttodayandbeyond — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:01:40 +0000

Michael J says:
November 25, 2009 at 5:06 am
With a few exceptions, most of Season 2’s episodes really aren’t grabbing my attention. Season 1 had a great underlying mythology (”the Pattern”) and the story arcs fit very nicely into that mythology. This season Fringe is becoming more like the X-Files; there is no real solid underlying mythology and the story arcs are for the most part the monster of the week.

In many ways I agree with this. I stil enjoy Fringe but the writers have not built on that cliffhanger of season 1.

Chuck

By: Mumbo

Mumbo — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:59:09 +0000

*Oh I almost forgot.

Not a whole lot of people are watching Fringe right now, but one especially important person is:

By: Mumbo

Mumbo — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:48:46 +0000

“I’m not saying it’s cheap, but it looks no more expensive than say NCIS:LA or any other police procedural.”

Well yeah, but most other procedurals get a lot higher returns than Fringe.

Fringe has high production values, special effects, and all that involved, so while I doubt it costs as much as, say, Trauma, it still can’t be that cheap.

I would imagine expense-wise it’s toward the top of the middle area of hour-long dramas, but that’s just a guess. It’s more expensive than a 2.0 rating justifies, I can almost guarantee that.

By: IWearCandyShoes

IWearCandyShoes — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:27:00 +0000

The expensive talk, I think, isn’t really about the actual cash amount it takes to make each show. It’s perhaps more about the amount of cash it takes to make each episode vs. the profit each show brings in?

If an episode costs $1,000,000 to film but with dreadful ratings only brings in a tiny profit it might be considered too expensive in relation to the cost to film. If a $1,000,000 episode brings in $2,000,000 profit then the cost isn’t considered too expensive due to the large profit. It’s relative….I think

By: vsaint

vsaint — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:10:06 +0000

Do people actually have any #’s to say Fringe is an expensive show?
I just want to be clear, it moved from NY, because the government tax exceptions ran out last year. So they moved to Vancouver, where there’s tax exemptions as well and lower cdn dollar.
I’m not saying it’s cheap, but it looks no more expensive than say NCIS:LA or any other police procedural.

By: Mr.Floppy

Mr.Floppy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:33:48 +0000

Fringe is sooooooo boring and pointless…
If they want to be like The X-Fles and only to do a couple of mythological episodes (wich in Fringe are boring too) by season, they better start doing GOOD standalones.

By: bill

bill — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:21:08 +0000

Others seem to see what I’m talking about. Fox will win November sweep for the first time ever. The world series helps, but the fact Fox does not have a ratings black hole on any night (aside from friday where every network is challenged) helps more.

Read on: http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/11/fox-projected-to-win-november-sweeps-for-first-time.html

By: R.J. Sheedy

R.J. Sheedy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:53:30 +0000

Til Death Hasn’t Been Cancelled Yet!!!

By: Tommy

Tommy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:31:17 +0000

Mumbo I agree with you, I’m sure FOX was thinking that Fringe needs to be able to hold it’s own in a tough timeslot to justify it’s high price tag. Yes the show would do well post Idol, but it shouldn’t need such a plum timeslot to succeed. The post Idol slot has always been used to launch new shows. FOX gave Fringe a big vote of confidence when they put it on Thursdays at 9. It didn’t work out for them, but that says more about Fringe then it does about how FOX has treated it. I wouldn’t think that Fringe shares much of an audience with Grey’s or CSI, it might share some of the audience with The Office, but that still wouldn’t explain why the ratings are so low.

By: Mumbo

Mumbo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:53:26 +0000

Enough with the flimsy “time period improvement” excuse. It’s only an improvement over Kitchen Nightmares by a tick or two (and that show didn’t have a solid lead-in in Bones, either) and a huge step down from Hell’s Kitchen in the timeslot, so it’s not an improvement at all. Fringe fans are lucky Fox seems committed to keeping Hell’s Kitchen a summer show.

If any other show was in this exact same predicament everyone would be calling for its cancellation.

Fringe will play out it’s entire second season, there’s no doubt about that, but then it’s done. They promote the show plenty, it’s just people aren’t watching. No good excuse for numbers this bad. It’s doing worse than Heroes, even.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:35:49 +0000

What they need to do is more viral marketing. I’m thinking The Observer making out with Adam Lambert, while pouring Tabasco Sauce over him. That would cause a media firestorm and reignite viewship.

By: giokk76

giokk76 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:09:25 +0000

i dont see the show getting a third season with this horrible numbers. tru calling had 5-6 million in 2004, same night, same time slot, different competition (friends, stronger CSI, will and grace) different treatment: fox cancelled it after 6 episodes and never showed the rest.
maybe if the show can pull 6-7 million and 2.7/7, there’s a change, but if it keeps on this line or drop, it’s over.

By: IWearCandyShoes

IWearCandyShoes — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:43:23 +0000

Originally Posted by Michael J
“This season Fringe is becoming more like the X-Files; there is no real solid underlying mythology and the story arcs are for the most part the monster of the week.”

No real solid underlying mythology in The X Files? Are you serious? You must not have seen much of that show either.

Fox should cancel Fringe. It’s an embarrassment to Science Fiction TV.

By: Riff Rafferty

Riff Rafferty — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:39:17 +0000

Unless every single one of FOX’s four new midseason replacements tanks like Joss Whedon’s business, the visitors of time slot unimprovement “Fringe” will be visiting FOX’s axe come May. Thanks for asking. Glad to be of help.

By: Devdog

Devdog — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:40:34 +0000

Originally Posted by Michael J
“With a few exceptions, most of Season 2’s episodes really aren’t grabbing my attention. Season 1 had a great underlying mythology (”the Pattern”) and the story arcs fit very nicely into that mythology. This season Fringe is becoming more like the X-Files; there is no real solid underlying mythology and the story arcs are for the most part the monster of the week.”

Umm, have you actually been watching the show? The Pattern is the overarching story for the entire series, and they’re starting to discover that the Pattern has to do with events from the alternate universe. I don’t think this season has been weak at all. It’s advancing the overall story quite nicely.

By: randy

randy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:35:26 +0000

I notice a distinct change in the tone of the reporting on Fringe. I would like to think my comments had something to do with that, but I know that’s not the case.

Again – it’s simple: Fringe has improved the time period for Fox compared to last year. It’s a brutally competitive time period to boot. By that measure alone Fringe is a success on Thursday nights.

Fringe gets a lot of DVR viewership. Fox has to be pleased with that even if right now they’re not sure what to do with those numbers. If they cancel Fringe, what do they put on in its place that would get a similar rating? Who knows.

Until Fox says something that hints at the future of the show, just leave it alone and report the numbers.

By: squiggleslash

squiggleslash — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:10:22 +0000

Isn’t it time you updated the title bar tag for this article? We already know the answers with Dollhouse, Brothers and ‘Til Death!

By: JaySin420

JaySin420 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:37:34 +0000

I think Jordan is totally on point, I can’t even add anything to that so happy thanksgiving.

By: UH

UH — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:33:06 +0000

The picture you used for this post is interesting , with Olivia almost disappeared .. Is it random or does it mean something ?

By: The_GodfatherSJP

The_GodfatherSJP — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:32:16 +0000

Has anyone else besides me noticed that Fringe routinely leads the DVR playback audience, not in percent gain, but rather in raw numbers, gaining 0.8/0.9 in the 18-49 ratings?

Yes, I know advertisers don’t care. The point is that if the DVR audience is that large, it strongly implies Fringe would do a lot better in a less competitive timeslot. Surely FOX sees this as well.

By: Lucky

Lucky — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:58:35 +0000

Dont kill Fringe, move it! The US has some really weird scheduling! Thursdays is swamped with so many high rated shows as is Tuesday and then for the rest of the week virtually nothing! What is up with that?! Fringe is a prime example of poor network management! You analyse your audience, then its competition and then decide where to put a show. Thursdays 9pm is just not feesable if you’re Fringe or Supernatural for that matter!

By: Winston Smith (TruthMin)

Winston Smith (TruthMin) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:55:52 +0000

In all likelihood Season 2 will end and that will be it.

Thursdays at 9pm should have been used by FOX solely as a testing ground for brand new shows – just rotate them until they found one that worked, and left FRINGE on Tuesdays at 9pm. But you cant go back in time and change things.

Realistically its epitaph has already been written. Hopefully they will either end it in a memorable way or sell it NBC – that godawful network keeps HEROES on with only 5 million viewers (a million less than FRINGE) and a demo only slightly better than FRINGE.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:43:38 +0000

Can we play Bingo with Fringe now?

By: Michael J

Michael J — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:42:25 +0000

Maybe some fans will start an online petition to save Fringe.

By: Kaykordeath

Kaykordeath — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:40:56 +0000

Just because Thursday is a tough time slot, doesn’t mean that moving Fringe is the answer. To move it somewhere, they’d have to move something ELSE to that Thursday slot. And just because there are shows that each of us, as individuals, would like to see go there to die/get killed, FOX clearly has to look at the big picture.

It seems to be FOX has been supporting Fringe as best they can, thinking it is the strongest show they have for the slot. If they had a purposefully weak show, I’m sure they’d just as soon not have a weak show at all than keep a weak show because of a need to fill a slot to get beaten…

By: Winston Smith (TruthMin)

Winston Smith (TruthMin) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:38:05 +0000

There are number of factors at work.

1) Does FOX really want the show to continue?

2) What is its cost structure since moving production to Canada? Is it profitable enough? It does have a small core cast of likely low priced actors.

3) How Past Life performs in its place – if it implodes, that would help FRINGE’s case. Another FOX show imploding would help even more.

4) Sell it to NBC – they need something to replace the dying HEROES.

5) Maybe FRINGE will stay on the air in the alternate universe where William Bell is hiding and a syndication deal with the alternate universe version of FOX will be made; since in that universe the ratings are much higher since they left it in its old Tuesday time slot. At least thats what August told me before he died.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:29:10 +0000

Rich, Fox doesn’t appear to be in a position where they’d need to bring Fringe of all things back to fill holes in the schedule – its too expensive if nothing else. As things stand my guess is that Fox axes Dollhouse, Brothers, ‘Til Death, Past Life and one of Lie To Me or Fringe and assuming Human Target hits 24 will end its run this year.

That gives them 5 or so hours to fill over the course of next season, an hour of that will likely be via repeats on Friday and four new hours is (I think) on par with what they debuted this year.

By: Samuel

Samuel — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:28:49 +0000

I want to believe.

If they renewed Dollhouse for a second season, against all odds, who knows, everything is possible.

So… I want to believe.