Ratings Review: FRINGE - The final season
The last two and a half seasons for FRINGE have been rough. Scheduled in the FOX death night, it has done what it could, but ratings just didn't follow it to the historic low rated night for the network.FRINGE premiered on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 to an audience of just over 9 million viewers. It drew respectable ratings, and the season average, 10.0 million viewers, was above the series premiere numbers. In 2009, FOX moved the series to Thursday nights. It held its own and drew 8 million viewers for the season premiere, but the numbers began to fall and by the end of the season, FRINGE had averaged just 6.3 million viewers.
The season three premiere drew just under 6 million viewers, but half way through the season FOX moved it to Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. From then on, FRINGE would hover around the three million mark for each episode.
FRINGE may be a lucky series by getting to 100 episodes. Perhaps had JJ Abrams not been behind this series, it may not have ever made it past that mid point of season three.
After watching all this last season and the two hour finale, I am not exactly sure how I feel about it. It was different than the rest of the series. No mysteries to solve each week as the final season was set in the future, in 2036. The whole season was for the FRINGE crew to figure out how to keep humanity from falling to the Observers and ultimately, become extinct. The finale was just how they completed the task and "re-set time." Nothing earth shattering or any WOW factor the the last episode. I think it will take time for it to sink in before I know how to truly feel about this last season and final episode.
FRINGE (Fridays at 9:00 p.m., on FOX)
| Date | Viewers* | A18-49 | +/- | |
| 09/28/12 | 3.12 | 1.1 | Premiere | |
| 10/05/12 | 2.98 | 1.0 | -4.5% | |
| 10/12/12 | 2.64 | 1.0 | -11.4% | |
| 10/19/12 | Preempted | |||
| 10/26/12 | 2.55 | 0.9 | -3.4% | |
| 11/02/12 | 2.85 | 1.0 | 11.8% | |
| 11/09/12 | 2.47 | 0.9 | -13.3% | |
| 11/16/12 | 2.70 | 0.9 | 9.3% | |
| 11/23/12 | Preempted | |||
| 11/30/12 | Preempted | |||
| 12/07/12 | 2.71 | 0.9 | 0.0% | |
| 12/14/12 | 3.12 | 1.1 | 18.5% | |
| 12/21/12 | 3.02 | 1.0 | -3.2% | Fall Finale |
| 01/11/13 | 2.44 | 0.8 | -19.2% | |
| 01/18/13 | 3.28 | 1.1 | 34.4% | 2hr Finale |
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