Be it the night of the day it came on, Friday, or the NCAA Tournament, or the release of the blockbuster movie Hunger Games, Fringe on Fox clocked in with what EW.com is calling its season low ratings result: a 0.9 rating. But while some may be ready to commit the sci-fi series to the cancellation bin already, I think it suffered from losing its viewing base to The Hunger Games.
Remember Fringe pulls from the same WonderCon / Comic Con group who came to see Hunger Games previews and followed its progress toward a movie. The same people who reacted to interviews like this one with John Noble:
And to prove my point, look at how the other Friday shows Shark Tank and Supernatural (1.5) and (0.6) performed – both down in the ratings too. Only the female eye-candy offered by CW’s Nikita caused it to increase in ratings as the other shows were suffering for the overlapping reasons of the NCAAs and The Hunger Games.
Also, viewers of Friday’s Fringe (including me) believed it was a little slower and more “X-Files” that shows in the past. Hopefully that doesn’t set the tone for Fringe 2012.
Bill Carroll