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Fringe ended its third season last night in a ho-hum fashion. (Knowing their show is coming back, fans probably didn’t feel any urgency to see the finale right away.) It drew a 1.2 rating in 18-49, down a tenth from last week, despite its lead-in, Kitchen Nightmares (1.6), being up a big 23%. Nice bump for Gordon Ramsey after his appearance on American Idol Thursday night. Fox finished tied with CBS and ABC for the night in 18-49, while CBS won in total viewers. CBS’ Achilles’ heel once again was the 8 PM slot, which claimed another casualty: once solid Canadian cop drama Flashpoint, which returned with a 1.1 demo rating. CSI: NY (1.5) was down two tenths, followed by Blue Bloods (1.5). down a tenth and last in the 10 PM hour behind NBC’s Dateline (1.9) and ABC’s 20/20 (1.7). Friday Night Lights (0.8) was up a tenth, while Shark Tank (1.2), Smallville and Supernatural were steady.
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It probably had a lot to do with ‘Thor’ being in theaters last night. Same market.
Yeah. That’s probably it…
Besides, why even mention Kitchen Nightmares being up, as if the two shows share any demographic?
And Ramon is right on the money.. I was at Thor Imax 3D and Tivo’d Fringe.
Wow, you seriously want to justify the consistently low ratings with, “Knowing their show is coming back, fans probably didn’t feel any urgency to see the finale right away”? Really? If you’re a true fan of a show, nothing will stop you from watching the SEASON FINALE! Movies have multiple show times each day; poor excuse. How about this for reality: The fan base has declined! Fox made a huge mistake by jumping the gun and renewing this show for another full season. What a waste of an hour of prime time programming, not to mention money. Guess they can always cut the season short if the show becomes even more of a liability. Here’s hoping.
Hey TotalDenial: Have you been watching Fringe this season? Did you SEE the season finale? If not, you missed one of the greatest MINDFUCK cliffhangers EVER.
Heh, “…a waste of an hour of prime time programming” indeed. Yeah, I’m grateful for the renewal and I KNOW that as an avid viewer, J.J. Abrams & company will serving up some riveting drama this fall.
You, on the other hand, can check out the local roller derby schedule. We won’t wait up for you…
There are so few Fringe fans, you probably all know each other by name. C’mon you’ve seen the ratings. Did you even need to ask TotalDenial if they’d seen the finale? Most people probably haven’t, nor did they know when it was on so they could even avoid it on purpose. Fox is making a mistake if they think this show is ever going to become the X-Files. I really think they have that in mind on some level. I watched The X-Files, I loved the X-Files, this, my friend, is no X-Files. I gave it a shot, I just couldn’t keep suffering through it. At this point it’s too dense to get many new fans. It must serve a purpose or they wouldn’t keep it on. I assume they think they can’t do better on Fridays. Maybe they’re right.
If a Fox show with more fans loses out because of Fringe, it’d be a terrible injustice. They’ve got a few useful ones on the bubble that are being strung along. It’s patently unfair, not to mention bad business, when a low-rated series as inaccessible to new fans as Fringe is given a chance over one that could build if promoted properly. Watch your show on Fridays and be grateful it’s cheap enough to make for the time being. There’s a point where it’s not about the show even being good. It’s about being profitable. A great show that costs too much is a dead show. The quality of Fringe is irrelevant to this discussion. Don’t get defensive with people for questioning the use of the time slot by acting like people don’t enjoy good tv. It takes a lot of nerve to decide you’re the certifier of good television. Network tv may not be what it once was, but primetime is still valuable real estate. At some point, Fringe won’t be able to make the mortgage payments. In the mean time, how many other shows will suffer because the extra slot or the resources were unavailable for them?
LOVED THE FRINGE FINAL! So pissed it isn’t getting better ratings! What’s up with people!?!
The problem with Fringe is that is like Lost was. There are very few freestanding episodes. Everything follows a very inricate plotline. So you can’t get new viewers because they get confused if they try to jump in now. So the viewers you have now are going to remain constant unless someone goes back watches from the beginning. X Files was good about doing some overall story arc stuff but then peppering in free standing eps.
That said, I am a big fan of the show and I thought last week was the finale. Imagine my surprise. I had to watch the finale on the internet today.
Fringe and Thor have the same audience?! Dorks? lol. jkkk
I didn’t even know Flashpoint was even returning.
That’s because you’re like the rest of us, and didn’t care.
The problem was my Direct TV receiver broke and I couldn’t watch the show. It would have made a difference.
FP does not belong at 8/7.
Flashpoint is just filler because other crap shows were cancelled almost right out of the gate. It’s already been killed once – no reason to think this is a resurrection.
It’s the stand-alone episodes that I think stall the development of the Fringe main story arc. The producers know that like Lost, they have a core audience that though not as sizable as Lost, equally as devoted, and they’re willing to go on that sci-fi ride. And more than ever, people watch from their DVRs, which makes the Neilson system an outmoded method of finding out who’s watching anything.
Why don’t more people watch Friday Night Lights? Such a good show almost anyone who went to high school can relate to.