“Fringe” Benefits From “House” Return

The Fox Television executives were hoping that the season premiere of their highest rated show, “House,” starring Hugh Laurie, would give their new J.J. Abrams SF series “Fringe” a boost in the weekly ratings, and their prayers were answered.

Thanks the the “House” lead-in, “Fringe benefited by seeing its so-so opening night ratings from last week get a major boost. A large group of “House” lovers stayed around to see what all the excitement has been over Abrams’ new show and by doing so, allowed the new series to win its timeslot for the second week in a row, but with much greater numbers than its debut a week ago.

“Fringe” turned in a much healthier performance with a 13 share in the important 18-49 adult category, which equates to about 13.3 million viewers. This is the best improvement of a new show between its premiere and second showing in the last 17 years. And, the real surprise for tabulators was the overall increase of female viewership for “Fringe” over its premiere night last week — up by 81%. Again, attributable to the “House” lead-in. However, the real test begins once it’s competition kicks-in next week. That’s when CBS premieres its own much-touted SF show “The Mentalist” and the high-rated reality show “Dancing With the Stars” returns on ABC.

Of course, it came as no surprise to anyone that the big winner of Tuesday night was the return of “House.” This powder-keg is still a monster ratings getter and garnered nearly 15 million viewers and a 16 share on Tuesday’s season premiere. And, even though those numbers are down about 28% over last years “House” season premiere, there is nothing currently on the air that can top that.