FOX's "Fringe" takes break, "Past Life" gets slot in February
David
EXCLUSIVE: "FRINGE" TO GET SEVEN WEEK HIATUS
By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- FOX will give "Fringe" a break
when its midseason schedule rolls out next year, sources have
confirmed to the site exclusively.
While exact dates are still being finalized, the seven week hiatus is
expected to begin on February 11. In its place, FOX plans to launch
the midseason drama "Past Life."
It's believed the newcomer will bow with back-to-back episodes on
February 11 while the remaining installments will fill the Thursday,
9:00/8:00c hour for five of the next six weeks. (A Thursday edition of
"American Idol" will bump the series the other week.)
"Fringe" would then return on April 1 with the remaining seven
episodes of its second season. It's understood the hiatus is designed
to ensure the series will run repeat free in 2010.
As for "Past Life," FOX announced at its upfront back in May the
series would follow "American Idol" on Tuesday nights. The network
subsequently rolled back the show's 13-episode commitment to seven
episodes, making the shift to Thursdays not much of a surprise. It's
not clear what will be paired with "Idol" on Tuesdays however it most
likely won't be scripted programming.
The news comes as FOX gets ready to announce its midseason schedule.
Originally pegged to be announced this week, it now appears the
network will hold off until after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Jim Gysin
David sent the following on 11/24/2009 12:30 PM:
> http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=8399
>
> EXCLUSIVE: "FRINGE" TO GET SEVEN WEEK HIATUS
> By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)
[Snip]
> "Fringe" would then return on April 1 with the remaining seven
> episodes of its second season. It's understood the hiatus is designed
> to ensure the series will run repeat free in 2010.
I assume that this "no reruns" business (which is becoming more common)
is intended to drum up DVD sales, but I can't help but wonder if it also
limits exposure to the show in the first place. Heck, NCIS is rerun
something like 3,917 times a day on USA, and I'm pretty sure that that
has something to do with the show's success when it comes to the ratings
for new eps.
--
Jim Gysin
Waukesha, WI
rwgibson13
Ditto for Law&Order waaaay back when older episodes were rerun
constantly on A&E. I don't think it was a coincidence that ratings
for the new NBC episodes spiked during that time period...
The difference between L&O, NCIS and shows like Fringe and LOST is, of
course, the ongoing nature of the plotlines of the latter as opposed
to the episodic nature of the former. On NCIS, you'll get some plot
threads that pick up during specific parts of the season (usually
early, then in a season finale), but you pretty much don't have to
watch all of the episodes in order to follow the subplot. By replacing
the reruns of serials with "new" shows, the networks don't get stuck
with the low ratings that serial reruns generate. As a regular in the
LOST newsgroup, I'm sure you were around for all the griping and
moaning and groaning over reruns and the long gaps between the new
episodes and old ones :-)
Besides, I'm not exactly sure that showing rerun episodes of serials
on other networks is a huge ratings bonanza in the same way that, say,
CSI and L&O and NCIS are.
That said, I am kind of wondering why Fringe hasn't yet generated a
secondary market for reruns on other networks like LOST did...
RWG (heck, along with the occassional LOST rerun on scifi channel, I
even saw one or two on G4 a couple of weeks ago)
David
<rwgib...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Nov 29, 10:33�pm, Jim Gysin <jimgy...@geemail.com> wrote:
>> I assume that this "no reruns" business (which is becoming more common)
>> is intended to drum up DVD sales, but I can't help but wonder if it also
>> limits exposure to the show in the first place. �Heck, NCIS is rerun
>> something like 3,917 times a day on USA, and I'm pretty sure that that
>> has something to do with the show's success when it comes to the ratings
>> for new eps.
>
>Ditto for Law&Order waaaay back when older episodes were rerun
>constantly on A&E. I don't think it was a coincidence that ratings
>for the new NBC episodes spiked during that time period...
>
>The difference between L&O, NCIS and shows like Fringe and LOST is, of
>course, the ongoing nature of the plotlines of the latter as opposed
>to the episodic nature of the former.
Also, "NCIS" and "Law & Order" are older-skewing shows. Young people
have stopped watching reruns.
rwgibson13
In the case of L&O, they've stopped watching the new episodes too :-)
RWG (it's been on life support for years)
Jim Gysin
rwgibson13 sent the following on 11/29/2009 11:10 PM:
> On Nov 29, 10:33 pm, Jim Gysin <jimgy...@geemail.com> wrote:
>> David sent the following on 11/24/2009 12:30 PM:
>>
>>> http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=8399
>>> EXCLUSIVE: "FRINGE" TO GET SEVEN WEEK HIATUS
>>> By Brian Ford Sullivan (TFC)
>> [Snip]
>>
>>> "Fringe" would then return on April 1 with the remaining seven
>>> episodes of its second season. It's understood the hiatus is designed
>>> to ensure the series will run repeat free in 2010.
>> I assume that this "no reruns" business (which is becoming more common)
>> is intended to drum up DVD sales, but I can't help but wonder if it also
>> limits exposure to the show in the first place. Heck, NCIS is rerun
>> something like 3,917 times a day on USA, and I'm pretty sure that that
>> has something to do with the show's success when it comes to the ratings
>> for new eps.
>
> Ditto for Law&Order waaaay back when older episodes were rerun
> constantly on A&E. I don't think it was a coincidence that ratings
> for the new NBC episodes spiked during that time period...
>
> The difference between L&O, NCIS and shows like Fringe and LOST is, of
> course, the ongoing nature of the plotlines of the latter as opposed
> to the episodic nature of the former. On NCIS, you'll get some plot
> threads that pick up during specific parts of the season (usually
> early, then in a season finale), but you pretty much don't have to
> watch all of the episodes in order to follow the subplot.
They could easily run each season a second time in the proper
chronological order--especially when a season is strike-shortened or
only sixteen episodes in length to begin with (as in the case of LOST).
> By replacing
> the reruns of serials with "new" shows, the networks don't get stuck
> with the low ratings that serial reruns generate.
Are they really all that low?
> As a regular in the
> LOST newsgroup, I'm sure you were around for all the griping and
> moaning and groaning over reruns and the long gaps between the new
> episodes and old ones :-)
But they weren't rerunning *everything*. Instead, they would air eps
one through, say, nine and then rerun eps one through five, or some such
thing. They they would skip back to original airings of eps 10-16. It
never made any sense. Run the whole season, then rerun the whole
season. Don't bounce back and forth.
> Besides, I'm not exactly sure that showing rerun episodes of serials
> on other networks is a huge ratings bonanza in the same way that, say,
> CSI and L&O and NCIS are.
There aren't all that many serials out there, really.
> That said, I am kind of wondering why Fringe hasn't yet generated a
> secondary market for reruns on other networks like LOST did...
Again, I can only assume that they want to cash in as much as possible
on DVD purchases before rerunning anything in syndication, but I think
that they're limiting their potential DVD market by only airing the eps
once to begin with.
> RWG (heck, along with the occassional LOST rerun on scifi channel, I
> even saw one or two on G4 a couple of weeks ago)
How recent are the LOST reruns that you're seeing?
Jim Gysin
David sent the following on 11/30/2009 12:15 AM:
Nonsense. That's like saying that young people have stopped watching
DVD sets.