Bloody FOX!
As a devoted television fan I'm used to waiting with baited breath for my shows to be cancelled or renewed. Last year I was fortunate enough not to lose a single show I cared about. This year I won't be so lucky.
Fox has just announced its midseason schedule and the biggest news... okay the biggest news is that American Idol is going to squash everything on Wednesday and Thursday night instead of Tuesday night, but the second biggest news is that Fringe is moving to Fridays at 9.
Now I'm a relatively new Fringe fan. I refused to watch the first season because I didn't want to get sucked into another J.J. Abrahms show only to find out that the writers have no clue what they're doing (yes I watched Lost for six years, yes I only loved the first season but felt compelled to keep going in case it magically made sense, and yes I was bitter about the stupid ending), but my parents are loyal viewers and during the second season I saw a few episodes and tried to watch. Now that Supernatural has switched timeslots and I've given up Grey's Anatomy, I've taken to watching Fringe full time, and you know what? It's amazing. The acting is good, for now the plotting makes sense, and the whole alternate worlds idea has been working beautifully for them. I'm involved now and they're moving it to Friday to die.
Why? Word is FOX needs three hours in its schedule for next year so it can import X-Factor. The last thing we need on this side of the pond is another stupid reality show though and we need it even less when it replaces smart sci-fi.
This is coupled with what I already knew, that Human Target won't make it to year three. It's essentially being burned off, after returning to a 1.8 demo. In one fell swoop FOX has brought two of my top 5 shows currently airing (on network TV) one step closer to cancellation.
If this is the last season for Supernatural as well then I'll lose three. That pretty much leaves me with the unevenly written Glee and The Big Bang Theory.
Surprisingly I didn't even pick up a single new show this year so I don't have replacements. More and more of my viewership will be going to cable shows at this rate, some of those not even airing in Canada. No wonder people turn to the Internet!
All you can do is enjoy what you have though, so I'm going to hope Fringe is wrapped up well and that if I'm lucky it will get a comic series, but not one that sucks like Buffy season eight. And I'm going to hope that Human Target at least leaves Jackie Earle Haley with offers for some awesome roles in both movies and television because the dude is awesome.
As for 2011 and beyond? I'll content myself with White Collar, Dexter, British imports Doctor Who, Sherlock, Garrow's Law, and Being Human, and, of course, the awesome that is Game of Thrones.