Fox aired the ‘Fringe’ Season 3 finale ‘The Day We Died’ last night and Twitter lit up with fans discussing what transpired, the questions that were answered and the many more that were raised.
In an odd twist, ‘Fringe’ ratings dropped for what should have been its most-watched episode of the season, pulling in a 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. In the previous episode, ‘Fringe’ scored a 1.3. Either one is nowhere near where the show’s producers or Fox want to see it.
Fox only has one place to look at for the live viewing ratings drop that has occurred over the second half of this season: in the mirror. The move to Friday night from Thursday worked for a couple weeks and then sharply declined after that. As Fox must surely know, most people watching ‘Fringe’ are doing so off their DVRs or streaming it from sources like Hulu, myself and several people I know included.
Fox has found success in the past with science fiction and Friday evenings. ‘The X-Files’ was a staple for the network in that slot for nearly a decade until it ran out of creative gas and lost one of its stars.
More recent attempts like ‘Firefly,’ ‘Dollhouse’ and ‘Fringe’ on Friday have struggled as viewers are no longer tethered to the television or a time slot to watch shows. There are many other on-demand options available and more appearing all the time. Realistically, is ‘Fringe’ the type of show that people who own a Nielson box are likely to watch?
To Fox’s credit, they ordered up a full season order of ‘Fringe’ for the fall despite the declining ratings telling them they shouldn’t. The television landscape, at least in our universe, is better for it.
