After two solid weeks in its new Friday time slot, one of our favorite shows “Fringe” is slipping a bit in the ratings.
The first two Friday installments won their time slots. But the last two weeks, the series has taken a dip, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Last Friday’s segment was the lowest rated episode of the series with a 3.7 million total viewers and a 1.4 in the key adult 18-49 demo.
Once again, we plead with you to at least leave your TV sets on, tuned to Fox on Friday nights if you can’t watch “Fringe” live.
And ask your family, friends, neighbors and random people you come across in daily activities to do the same!
The Death Slot, it’s a powerful tool in the hands of Fox. But it is only a tool of evil in evil hands. You must rise up, you must support your beloved Sci-fi shows. Save Fringe before you have to start a “Save Fringe” campaign. Do what your evil enemy does not expect: Watch the show live.
I’m confused. If my DVR is recording Fringe isn’t it already on the right channel? Why the hell doesn’t that count as a view? And if that doesn’t count as a view then why doesn’t my actual viewing of the recording count as a view? Is it because when I watch it the next night or later the same night I fast forward through the commercials?
I love Fringe like I loved SGU and Caprica but I’m not sure that I am willing to bend to the will of these networks who just don’t get it.
I haven’t watched anything “live” since my first Tivo in 1999. The closest I come is starting to watch it while it’s still recording. I even delay football games so I can fast forward through the commercials and half time show.
If the whole idea of watching it live is so that I see the commercials then why are the manufacturers of the DVR units allowed to put in the fast forwarding?
If the networks refuse to change their practices then frak ’em. There’s lots of podcasts, books, movies, grandchildren and photography I can fill my time with.
@AndyMac – Unfortunately, the system is the way it is and we have to work within it if we want out shows to survive. I may be wrong but I think it only counts as a view when you’re actually watching. So you need to have your DVR/receiver/TV tuned in to the correct channel for it to count.
There was an excellent article on ratings written by Craig Engler from Syfy a month or so ago. DVR views are allowed to count because they concede that even when you’re watching “live” you may not see the commercials (because of bathroom breaks, trips to the kitchen, etc). Try to find it if you get a chance.
If DVR views are counted and the ratings still dropped then I don’t know what to do about it. I, too, DVR shows for the duel purpose of skipping the commercials and to watch shows when there isn’t so much commotion and noise around. Even if I were to watch it live I’d still have to pause it a couple of times what with interruptions and all.
But if I have to watch it live then I will. This is my favorite show on TV now and I’d hate for it to be canceled.
The hard truth is that until these network and cable execs get with it, and find another way to monetize TV, nothing will change. TV makes money, and is funded by commercials ( with the obvious exceptions of HBO, Starz, etc …). Within this system, the networks won’t care about DVR numbers, because the advertisers wont because their ads will not be seen.
As Will stated the article on Sfyf wire from Craig Egler was very enlightening and really gave an in depth explanation of how the rating system works. The biggest bang for the buck is watching live and while time shifted shows count, they don’t carry the same weight.
Personally, I think Fringe is worth sitting through a few commercials. I do DVR most of my watching but the shows I really care about, which boils down to Fringe and Chuck, I park myself in front of the screen and watch live.
I was also inspired by another slicer and he had a great idea, I got on the twitter feeds of the advertisers for Fringe and thanked them for sponsoring the show. I got more than a couple of responses back thanking me for the feedback. Just something to think about.
With “Supernatural” (another genre favorite) on during the same time as “Fringe”, what did you expect? I already saw this coming when they announced that it was moving to Fridays. But what can you do? The reason for the move was “American Idol” being on Thursdays. And “American Idol” will *shudder* never go away.
I haven’t found the article yet but what if I watch Fringe time-shifted but I don’t fast forward through the commercials? Does that count as a full view? If they know I am watching it at a different time then surely they must know if I did or did not watch commercials. I know my old Tivo can tell how long I had spent watching a program. Surely my DirecTV HD DVR can do the same. So if it took me 60 minutes to watch a 60 minute program they would know I didn’t fast forward through it. So it should count even if I watch it later that evening or the next day, right?
And how do they know I’m not watching live just because the DVR is recording? I might have it set up so that if I’m not in front of the TV in time it’s still recorded but I’m watching it live most of the time. The system is pretty screwed up.
After more than 10 years of time-shifting I just don’t want to have to schedule my life around the networks. I *might* watch the commercials if that’s what it takes but I will not be sitting in front of my TV at a certain time just to watch TV. I may not have much of a life but it’s still more important to me than TV.
It was Valentine’s Day weekend. A dip on THIS particular Friday isn’t THAT big a deal as people would rather be wining and dining on THIS particular friday night. There may also be a dip this weekend as some people may be traveling over President’s Day weekend. I think the DVR numbers holding strong is the real big deal. Especially since Neilsen seems to be taking a stronger position with those numbers.
Here’s the article about ratings that I mentioned.
http://blastr.com/2011/01/the-truth-about-tv-ratings-online-viewing-and-sci-fi-shows.php
I too park myself in front of the TV for my favorite shows. I don’t understand why everyone is so anti-commercial.
Will, thanks for the link. It was almost very informative :).
I’m so anti-commercial because they are everywhere now. TV, the walls at the ballparks, billboards, banner ads on the web, in my iPhone apps, etc.
But that’s now the real reason I use my DVR. I use my DVR because it’s not convenient for me to have to remember when stuff is on TV while I’m doing all the other stuff in my life. I shouldn’t have to sit in front of the TV at 7pm to watch Chuck. I should be able to do it at 7:23 or even the next night if I’m doing something on Monday.
If watching ads is the only way to support these shows I might do it but the technology exists to know that I watched the show and I’m pretty sure they can know if I watched with or without ads. So I should be able to watch this show on MY schedule and still have it count towards ratings.