It’s well established that we don’t talk enough about “Fringe” here. The FOX sci-fi series has grown from “marginal ‘X-Files’ knockoff” to “worthy ‘X-Files’ successor” over its three seasons, building a passionate and nerdy fan base along the way. Its recent move from Thursday to Friday nights had those fans scared that the show was teetering on the edge of cancellation, but the ratings suggest otherwise:
For the second week in a row, the sci-fi series has come out on top in its timeslot in the ratings that count, 18-49 adults. Fringe earned a 1.9/6 rating, with 4.57 million total viewers, leading Fox to a win for the night. It even bested its lead-in, Kitchen Nightmares.
While other shows had more total viewers, advertisers most covet the younger 18-49 crowd, and only NBC’s Dateline NBC at 10 p.m. ET could match Fringe‘s rating for the night.
When it comes to the DVR ratings, things get even brighter for the series. Numbers from the first Fringe Friday outing rose an additional 42 percent, driving the 18-49 rating from a 1.9 to a 2.7. [blastr]
I still think it makes sense to put shows with sci-fi/genre appeal on Friday nights. “Battlestar Galactica” did fine on that night, and there’s always gonna be an army of dorks with no social lives sitting around on Fridays, so you may as well cater to them. The only reason Friday has a reputation as the “death slot” is because Joss Whedon’s shows go there. And only the loudest, most annoying nerds watch Joss Whedon shows. The rest of America gets tired of watching skinny girls who can’t act beat up guys twice their size.
