How to Kill A Series
Y'all may or may not be aware that I'm a Fringe fan.
I freaking love that show, especially since it's the only science fiction show on at the moment. (I guess Terra Nova counts, but I have heard that it's only mediocre and haven't watched it at all.)
The only other sci-fi show would be, of course, Doctor Who.
No BSG, Star Trek, Dollhouse, Firefly....nothing to fill the gap.
And FOX seems determined to kill it, and perhaps put something inane, like a second "Survivor" in its slot.
First, FOX moved Fringe from Thursday (after Bones) to the "killer" time slot, Friday at 8pm.
Guess what?
Fringe survived. It survived well.
And then Sprint decided to sponsor the show. (Yay Sprint!!)
SO it lasted until now, season 4.
But FOX has done even more to try and kill it.
First, ALL of the FOX shows are on an 8-day delay unless you are a DISH subscriber.
Which means that fans of shows (Bones, Fringe, House, American Horror Story (on FX), etc) on the FOX networks have to wait an extra amount of time to see shows.
Thankfully, the other networks aren't doing this.
But there's been a mid-season break for Fringe for several weeks now, which is obnoxious.
(The last aired episode was in mid-November.)
The next will air in mid-January, which means a 2-month break.
2 months!
And they didn't even wait until the 10th-12th episode, either. It was at #7, which seems to indicate (to this frustrated viewer, anyway) that there may be plans to only do a 13-ep season. Which would be FINE, BTB, if they TOLD US ABOUT IT. And then confirmed another few seasons of it as a result of doing 13-, instead of 22-ep seasons. (For comparison, DW broke last season after ep 7, too.)
Fringe also has a remarkably high rating on IMDb, an 8.6, putting it square with Supernatural (also at 8.6), higher than Bones (8.2) AND HIGHER THAN BUFFY (8.3). (I don't necessarily agree with these ratings, but they do seem indicative of the general popularity/"goodness" of a show.)
So why can't Fringe execs see how good this is? They pretty much have a captive audience (the scifi geek crowd) and if they play their cards right, could also get the fantasy geek crowd (i.e. those who are watching Grimm instead), the medical procedurals/crime procedurals (that's what Fringe presents itself as, anyway), and the horror crowd (have you seen how Walter fondles the corpses?).
Instead FOX seems willing to let it fade quietly into the night.
Anyway.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows got some very good ratings...I'm excited to see it. :)