The early ratings are in for “A Short Story About Love” — but how do the numbers stack up?
Fringe posted a series low 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo, with 2,880,000 viewers.
Fringe Season 4 Ratings So Far..
4.15 — 2.9 million | 0.9 adults 18-49 (prelim)
4.14 — 3.10 million | 1.2 adults 18-49 (final)
4.13 — 3.00 million | 1.1 adults 18-49 (final)
4.12 — 3.05 million | 1.1 adults 18-49 (final)
4.11 — 3.20 million | 1.2 adults 18-49 (final)
4.10 — 3.33 million | 1.2 adults 18-49 (final)
4.09 — 3.19 million | 1.1 adults 18-49 (final)
4.08 — 2.88 million | 1.1 adults 18-49 (final)
4.07 — 2.88 million | 1.1 adults 18-49 (final)
4.06 — 3.03 million | 1.1 adults 18-49 (final)
4.05 — 3.21 million | 1.3 adults 18-49 (final)
4.04 — 3.14 million | 1.2 adults 18-49 (final)
4.03 — 3.18 million | 1.3 adults 18-49 (final)
4.02 — 3.05 million | 1.2 adults 18-49 (final)
4.01 — 3.5 million | 1.5 adults 18-49 (final)
Source: Masked Scheduler
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{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t believe this.
There was even a Twitter event for this episode. :/
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I was afraid this would be the result. Lots of other things happening to affect live viewing: Hunger Games, basketball, spring break, etc.
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holy bananas…
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WTF?
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I really did expect that, but to see it in reality is still upsetting. As a poster said above alot was happening that could have affected the ratings. Even the masked scheduler said it was probably the hunger games opening. This is still pretty unbelievable considering the huge twitter campaign (that was our biggest yet?) that was undertaken, and for how long it trended.
We will build momentum again, 8 episodes in a row will do that.Just remember that 4.08 came back very low after the xmas lowatus.
Well-loved. Like:
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“A Short Story About Love” is #4 on iTunes right now.
Well-loved. Like:
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I’m so tired of worrying about these stupid ratings. Ratings are BS nowadays and execs should know that.
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Well, I’m certainly not going anywhere for Spring Break… I don’t like crowds… That .9 really did surprise me though… I would’ve thought we would’ve stayed solid at 1.1… They could’ve waited to premiere The Hunger Games until at least the middle of May, say around the 16th? But who am I kidding? This week is gone, and we have next week to look forward to… I’m not giving up! We have to stick together Fringies!
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I am almost crying now!!!!!!
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I’M a huge scifi fan and I love Fringe its the best scifi show since Stargate SG1,and Stargate Atlantis! And I’m so sad and angry now at this Stupid stupid stupid Nielsen ratings! FRINGE has such a passionate and dedicated Fanbase all over the World and This last night Twitter Event for Fringe was so amazing,this Love for Fringe is so incredible,and Critics love Fringe,DVR numbrrs are good so if that not count for the renewal than this is a very sad fact for television these days that intelligent creativ shows are getting canceled, it is very sad to me as an European viewer because I can do nothing about the ratings!
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Im also a european viewer :/
Hot debate. What do you think?
9
same here…but there is still going to be a season 5
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I’m european too
its sad to love a show this much and not being able to help with the ratings!
=/
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This is definitely because of the Hunger Games. Tons of people I know went out tonight to see it, the hype is just as big as a Harry Potter movie or anything along those lines. The Masked Scheduler even said that too.
I think next episode we’re going to be shooting up to a 1.3. Especially that the whole timeline mystery is answered now, I think more fans will be watching live because they’ve been waiting on that one
I’m hoping for a 1.5 or above for the season finale! 
And just imagine the Live+3 numbers that will be coming in from everyone recording while they were seeing The Hunger Games, it will be a HUGE increase!!!
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I agree and hope you’re right. I went to see the Hunger Games last night at the latest showing and it was still almost sold out. I’ve seen some other low ratings too…Supernatural for instance. Hopefully the DVR numbers will be really solid.
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Oh my god…
Hopefully we can build momentum now with no more breaks.
Bloody hell, this episode didn’t deserve that rating…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I’m losing hope. I just want that Fox waits one more week to make the big decision. Maybe we can do better next week. And we deserve to know if it was because of The Hunger Games. So please, one more week.
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As Roco (and others in the blogosphere) have speculated, because of Fringe’s DVR figures, there’s a possibility that NetFlix may step in to pick up Fringe from Warner, who produce the show.
As you may know, they’re reportedly thinking of doing it with Terra Nova, although I think its budget (± $4 million per episode) may scare them off. However, since Fringe’s per-episode budget is currently, to my knowledge, not even half of that, it may prove much more tempting for NetFlix. Let’s hope!
Add to this, as Roco has said previously, renewal for Fringe is fairly likely due to the vacuum left by the cancellation of House and Terra Nova (and possibly Alcatraz). If they cancel Fringe, which is now stabilizing around 3 million, they don’t appear to have enough new shows to reshuffle their schedule — as far as I can tell anyway.
As others have said here, the drop is more than likely due to the hiatus and with eight in a row episodes ahead, it’s not an unreasonable hope that the figures may climb again. Fox knows this I suspect, so I’d be surprised if they don’t wait at least until next week to confirm this.
So don’t lose hope just yet! Even cancellation by Fox may not be the end of Fringe.
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Agree on Netflix, if it even comes to that. They just lost a huge collection of movies – most of their best IMO, so they’re gonna need some solid programming to fill that void.
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I refuse to lose hope on the show.!!
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Can you point me to some sourcing for your budget estimates? I can’t find anything solid and have found some pretty wide budget ranges. If it’s really as low as two million Netflix would be crazy not to grab it but I’ve read ranges of 4-8 million depending on the episode. Pilot was 10mil, etc. At 2 mil a million fans could finance it for 50 bucks each.
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We had 2.88 million viewers before and that was 1.1.
But this time it’s 2.9 million, but it’s 0.9?
How do these numbers work?
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I think it’s something like the percentage that show got in viewers when all the other shows viewers in that timeslot gets added up. Something like that :S
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Here I actually just found this on the website tvbythenumbers:
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
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I’m not losing hope or anything because of this. Wait till the DVR ratings show up. It’s spike back up to its’ average. Fringe is one of the most DVR’d shows on T.V. And considering on FB it has three million four hundred followers, I’m not going to lose sleep over the fact that people went out on a popular Friday night instead of stayed home. Look how much the other eppy’s went up in the final. At least by quite a few numbers…
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I’m not so worried anymore, because I saw that all the Friday night shows had poor ratings.
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Heard other commentators said that the DVR recording list stated Simpson’s Repeat, not Fringe.
Wondering if that will affect Fringe’s DVR number.
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I’ve always said that I wasn’t going to be really worried unless the ratings dropped below 1.0, so I’ll admit, this news is pretty unsettling to me. But, as has been mentioned, you also need to consider everything that was going on last night. And it’s not just Fringe. A lot of shows were down lower last night. And I think FOX looks at that as a general trend for the night, not simply as the show underperforming. I think that if the ratings bounce back up next week, it will be all right. I’ve actually been feeling rather confident in Fringe getting some sort of renewal lately. I just don’t think Fringe is the kind of show they would simply cancel last minute without any sort of advanced notice to the writers or the fans. I could be wrong, but that’s my opinion on it. Past years we’ve pretty much had the announcement by now that Fringe was renewed. I’m hoping they’ll continue with that and that they’ll be announcing a renewal in the next couple of weeks…
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Don’t give up yet: DVR + 7 still need to come in and i really think that will be an all-time high.
Just wait and see
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That’s terrible.
I can’t imagine Fox renews a show with 0.X ratings, so it has to go up next week.
However, Kitchen Nightmares was also very bad with 1.0 this week
and Supernatural fell to a 0.6, so let’s hope it’s just temporary.
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I am starting a survey now:
Please all Americans LIKE this comment.
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And all Non-Americans LIKE this comment.
Well-loved. Like:
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shit sorry im not AMERICAN LOLLLLL! automatic
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I fixed it for you, JM.
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this is only going to work if everyone on the site participates though, bro.
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Sure, it’s not a “scientific study”, but I think it gives an indication.
Right now it’s about 1/3 : 2/3.
Personally, I thought it was going to be more like 50:50.
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This is not good for the series.
But beyond that, the television model is outdated. The days of appointment television and watching things as they air (as opposed to DVR-ing and watching later, or downloading from a place like iTunes) is as modern as a T. Rex. On top of that, Fringe was competing with the NCAA tournament, and, need we remind, is in the graveyard line-up anyway (Friday nights). Plus, can anyone say “Hunger Games”?
Still, this does not cast a good light on a show that has such good critical acclaim and a loyal fan base.
Well-loved. Like:
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Normally I’d be tearing my hair out over this, but I’m only mildly displeased. Though basketball and The Hunger Games were certainly a large factor, this episode was terrible and the ratings reflect this. If they keep pumping out this garbage, I’m not sure I even want another season.
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So in other news, the hunger games was waaaay better than last nights episode…
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Personally, I don’t think so. To their credit, they stayed really true to the book. But, that made the movie kind of flat and boring to me. There were really no surprises.
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i hate katniss in the book, so major kudos to jennifer lawrence for making me actually give a damn. My only real issue was the terrible shaky-cam. other than that i actually liked it more than the book.
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I liked Katniss in the book … except in the end of the last book. What a stupid ending!
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omg yes.
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Nothing more than a gut feeling, but I think they will renew the show for at least one more season, announce it as the last (whether it be at 22 episodes or 13).
Chuck was getting the same numbers as Fringe, and I had the same gut feeling. Turns out I was right. Hopefully I am right again.
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Must admit when I first saw these numbers, I was completely surprised and disappointed especially in light of the beautiful episode of the other night.
but my disappointment turned to dismay when I saw what Fringe was up against.
The NCAA Basketball Championships and Hunger Games.
Firstly I’m and Australian from NSW, and over here we have a game called Rugby League, its centerpiece is what we call ‘The State of Origin” over 3 matches, and let me tell you when it comes on Good Luck to any other programe that it is up against. the numbers for that program will surely go down dramaically.
As Basketball is one of your sports you seem to follow religously, it was only going to spell trouble for any programme not only fringe on Friday night.
Also not very good programming to bring a show out of hiatus only to put it up against one of the most followed and watched sports in the USA on the same night. Hopefully Fox takes this into account when making the final decision on whether to renew the show or not.
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Te hunger games came out. SOOOOO many people couldn’t stay home.
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Prior to this episode I was really optimistic about a fifth season. But, this rating has crushed my hopes!! I guess the real test comes next week, hopefully it bounces back up. If it stays at this level I think we can say good bye to Fringe
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No, we can’t and we won’t give up. Trust me on this one
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The title of this Fringe Bloggers Entry should be- Fringe: 4.15 A Short Story About Low Ratings. He he, ho ho, har har.
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Hopefully PB you looked at what might have been the cause of the drop before you made your comment.
As said previously any sporting event that is as religiously followed as basketball (especially in the USA) will always lead to a drop in other program ratings, as i gather there are more Basketball Fans than Fringe Fans.
Just look at Fringe’s lead-in, Kitchen Nightmares, one week it was a 1.5 rating, this week it’s at 1. So from this do we deduce that Fox will cancel Kitchen Nightmares on account of one night’s ratings.
No, I think the Fox Exect’s are intelligent enough to see why there was a sudden drop in ratings and act accordingly and factor that in the final decision when it comes to deciding Fringe’s Fate
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Uh yeah, David I did. Mine was a “play on words,’ not some pithy tongue in cheek way of suggesting that Fringe is doomed.
And who said anything about cancellation of anything? Why you gotta be droppin’ the c word all serious like, keep the faith brother.
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Sad. I still say the whole ratings system is hosed.
Beyond that I am simply depressed at where TV is going. The mindless reality TV programs seem to keep on coming and the shows with story, heart, and intelligence struggle to survive.
Maybe Fox will give us Season 5 and renew my faith in TV.
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Americans please watch the show on fridays. I’m from asia so viewership doesnt count.
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Hunting Games. As simple an explanation as that.
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Hunger Games. As simple an explanation as that.
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I am wondering about DVR numbers. I heard, as previously stated in these comments above, that many people’s dvr’s did not record the show because the Simpsons repeat was listed instead of Fringe. This will definitely hurt dvr numbers and could have possibly hurt the live ratings. This might be so because the live ratings include people who dvr the show and watch it by 3 am after the show has aired. If nobodys dvr recorded it this would not be possible and could have definitely hurt the ratings. I hope Fox can fix this or adjust it somehow.
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No adjustments for Fringe. That sucks.
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