The Fox network announced Thursday night that it would renew the series “Fringe” for a final, shortened season of 13 episodes — thereby establishing a new precedent for what constitutes success in television.
In this case, it is a show that regularly attracts only about three million viewers when it is broadcast on Friday nights, a figure that until recently would have gotten a show canceled in about two weeks.
But “Fringe,” a drama about an F.B.I. team that investigates episodes of “fringe science,” has certain advantages those other shows never had, beginning with the increases in audiences it gains when recorded playback is included. It has
often ranked first among all shows in television in percentage of audience increase when seven days’ worth of playback is included.
That still doesn’t add up to an especially impressive audience. But “Fringe” has been relegated to what is now a remote outpost of prime time — Friday nights. Few or no network shows are attracting substantial audiences on Fridays, so ratings tend to be judged on a curve: sometimes small audiences are enough on Fridays.
In this case, the show’s studio, Warner Brothers, also had a strong incentive to make a deal to get the final 13 episodes made. That will give the series a total of exactly 100, a number considered essential for aftermarket sales. In the past, when a studio has needed an additional batch of episodes to finish off a run that would set up later syndication or cable sales, it has been willing to cut its license fees or make deals about other programming.
No details have yet leaked about what deal Warner made to induce Fox to order one last season, but Fox executives had been open with their demand that the show’s financial arrangements had to change because the network was losing money on the series.
Kevin Reilly, the president of Fox Entertainment, had previously declared his own personal passion for the series. He released a statement on Thursday, saying, “Bringing it back for a final 13 allows us to provide the climactic conclusion that its passionate and loyal fans deserve.”
Bill Carter writes about the television industry. Follow @wjcarter on Twitter.
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