I wasn't a fan of Fringe when it first started, but I know I'm not alone there. The first half of its Freshman season turned off a lot of people. The characters were annoying, the overarching story seemed aimless, and the writing just wasn't that good. And those were just the immediate problems once it started; looming over the entire series from day one was that the whole thing felt like a reboot of The X-Files (which had gone off air just 6 years before after a few lackluster, if not insufferable, seasons). However, unlike The X-Files which played the skeptic angle against that of the fanatic, Fringe made denial of the weird events going on within its storyline impossible. Yet it still relied on the investigation of the supernatural and had sabotaged itself, even with the luxury of House in the slot before it, by putting up 6-8 really bad episodes as its series opener.
But it still had a chance to bounce back...
For a show whose numbers started deceptively high courtesy of a piggyback from House, Fringe ruined a good thing. It seemed like it had squandered the 9.5 million viewer average of its first 5 weeks, as weeks 6 and 7 began dropping; first to 8.91 million and then 8.6. Episode 7 was the series' first sign of promise and consequently the next week it jumped back up to 9.18 million...only to have it wasted with another subpar episode. It dropped once more to 7.7 million - and then made it's full turnaround. From episode 9 onwards the series showed off what it could be, gradually making it clear that yes, it was a bit like X-Files but that it could potentially have merit unto itself, and that Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, and John Noble had what it takes to be a successful lead trio that could someday rival the Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny dynamic. In an effort to get out from under the shadow of X-Files, it went a whole new route (SPOILER: parallel universes).
Things got weirder, and unfortunately weird doesn't fare too well in primetime spots on network television. Mysterious? That works. Just ask LOST. But weird? Viewers get turned off, and if you haven't earned the viewer loyalty, your show needs to be capable of entertaining sporadic viewership without losing the casual viewer. Fringe really can't do that, as the "Monster of the Week" format gradually gave way and pretty much disappeared entirely from Fringe's bag of tricks. Consequently, the second season of 
Fringe, despite being miles above and beyond the first season in terms of quality, dropped into an average viewership of 6.6 million per episode and finished off the season with one of the lowest rated episodes of the season. When people don't tune in for your season finale, that's a really bad sign. So when the series returned for its third season and the numbers dropped again to a 4.7 average...cancellation was inevitable.
To be fair, you could almost say Fringe was lucky to have gotten kicked to Friday night instead of canceled outright. Fox's Entertainment President Kevin Reilly claims that 45% of Fringe's viewership comes from the younger demographic that primarily watches TV on DVR, and thus the viewership of Fringe wouldn't really be affected. After the show's first episode in its new Friday slot, it looked like maybe Reilly was right. In fact, there was even a slight uptick in its viewership in its first week back on Friday. But since that first week, the show has been losing .25 million viewers weekly, and that doesn't bode well. Unless Fringe can follow in the footsteps of its supernatural successor, The X-Files, and thrive in a Friday night slot (things have really changed since The X-Files achieved this feat), Fringe is going to learn a very painful truth.
You can’t fight Friday night.
Just ask those of us who not only watch television but keep track of studios as they pick shows for seasonal line-ups, rearrange those line-ups, and then decide which shows stay and which ones go the way of (insert title of show you love(d) but has since been canceled). As fans of Firefly, Boomtown, Las Vegas, 8 Simple Rules, Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, Everybody Hates Chris, Dark Angel, Wonderfalls, Boston Public, Malcolm in the Middle, The Bernie Mac Show, Prison Break, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader (on Fox), Don’t Forget the Lyrics (on Fox), Mental, Brothers, Dollhouse, and The Good Guys can attest to, once your show goes to Friday, it’s time to kiss it goodbye. At least temporarily.
Friday night has held the “Death Slot” reputation for decades now and it doesn’t seem to be improving. Sure, a few shows have overcome the lack of viewership that makes the night so rough for programming, but it’s an incredible understatement to call them exceptions to the rule. They barely show up as blips on the radar save for two, and even those two had special circumstances. Blips include ABC’s TGIF lineup which succeeded 
not by merit of any one show in the group but by forming a block of family friendly entertainment. Or Smallville, but that’s a show that networks slated for cancellation about three seasons ago; the only reason it’s still alive and barely surviving in the Friday "Death Slot" is because its fervid fan-base and because its cast is also producing the show, making it a self-serving ambition to fight as hard as possible for as many seasons as possible until the network firmly says, “No more.”
The two shows that truly defied the Friday night harbinger include Everybody Loves Raymond and The X-Files. The former beat the odds courtesy of Bill Cosby’s helpful hand pushing the network to move the show from Friday to Monday to follow his show Cosby. Everybody Loves Raymond went on to huge success. Without Cosby, there would be no critical darling Raymond. The latter example, X-Files, went the opposite route. It wasn’t rescued by the hand of an ugly sweater wearing comedy god, it thrived in 
the spot by coming on just early enough to be a hit with a younger audience before they switched off the tube for the night and went out on the town. Also unlike Raymond, you can actually say the show succeeded on its own merits (as opposed to piggy-backing) because once it moved to better spot, similar shows attempted to repeat its pre-night on the town setup, but to no avail.
Part of me would like to say that the success of The X-Files in the Friday night spot is exactly what Fox is hoping to duplicate with Fringe’s recent transfer. After all, there’s no denying the similarity of the shows (downright mimicry for the first season of Fringe) and their obvious appeal to the same demographic. Unfortunately, the times have changed. Back in the early 90s, it was far more likely for your average 20-something to have a TV with an antenna attached. Now? Many people in Fringe’s prime demographic get most of their TV off of Hulu…or other web-based sources of questionable repute. X-Files offers hope for Fringe, as does the lack of a drop in ratings in the first night of its new slot. On the other hand, it’s one thing to start there, and it’s another altogether to get dumped there.
Think of it like this. If, like Fox intends, the show sees an increased dropped in Nielsen ratings after a few weeks, they’ll feel justified to put it on the chopping block come the end of the season. The drop only confirmed their suspicion that the show is a dud and that their slotting it for death was the right call.
But what if its ratings climb and the show proves its merit? Yeah, but it did so on Friday, so why would they ever move it away? It’s a lose-lose situation. Whether Fringe drops or climbs in ratings, it dooms itself to Friday. The only real choice is to hold steady – like it did its first night - but how long can that last? It didn't last long. The change in ratings was not only more likely, it was inevitable. The show’s fate is sealed unless fans can rally for a viewership boost in the next few days - but I'm not convinced the necessary volume of fans 
even exists to make that possible. Eternal Fridays or bust. If the fan volume exists, can they keep up the viewership momentum by forgoing social lives on Friday nights to keep the show alive? Is any show really worth that?
It would almost seem better for the show to get knocked off, and then attempt resurgence a la Jericho, Family Guy or Futurama. Granted, circumstances are different for animated shows, but Jericho returned from the grave amidst huge fan outpouring. Combine that with high DVD and Blu-ray season sales (after this year there will be three seasons available as opposed to the one that saved Family Guy’s rotund ass), and possibly highly-rated reruns on another channel, and Fox might be persuaded to restore the show. Of course, look at the reanimated corpses of Family Guy and Futurama and it's almost an argument to let dead shows stay buried in the ground.
It’s a long shot from way off, but compared to the grim fate as the show stands on Friday nights, it seems like the best option. Or hell, court FX or maybe SyFy, they just canceled Stargate: Universe, they should have a spot open in their lineup.
