“Fringe” Future Not Yet Decided

The fate of Fringe is still up in the air.

Fox’s Peter Roth says the network still has not decided if the show will come back for a fifth season or if the current season will be the last.

“It’s too soon to tell,” Roth says when asked about the future of the show.  The ratings have taken a dip in recent weeks and that could determine whether or not we’ll get a fifth season or how long a fifth season might be.

Roth says part of the decision depends on the DVR numbers.  The DVR numbers helped boost the show’s ratings last year and encouraged Fox to give the show a fourth season.

This season-to-date, Fringe is averaging a 54-percent bump in the demo once everyone’s DVRs are cleared, and a 50-percent gain in total audience (a surge only edged out by Chuck)

“This is a show on Friday nights that audiences love to DVR, and as such we shoot up anywhere from 40 to 63 percent, when you calculate the Live+7,” Roth points out. “Hopefully that will be good enough for us to continue.”

However, TV analyst Robert Seidman says the show may have a more difficult case to make for a fifth season.  Seidman says part of the interest in a fourth season for the show was to reach 88 episodes for the series’ run–a better number for syndicating the series.  The show should reach that number this year and that could make or break the show coming back.

Even the temptation to order a 13-episode fifth and final season for Fringe — if only to get the show past the 100-episode mark — might not be enticing enough for either party. As Seidman notes, “Serialized shows don’t do well in syndication.”

However, Seidman says that fans shouldn’t lose hope yet, pointing out the January 13th return episode features the return of a villain to the show.