Fox Boss Says Fringe is a Money Pit, Season 5 Is In Doubt
Ouch, Fringe fans. We done got a bucket of ice water thrown in our collective face.
Reality reared its ugly ass over the weekend at Fox's executive panel during the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour. Fox network president Kevin Reilly fielded the normal questions about shows from reporters, and when the subject of Fringe came up, the truth we don't want to hear came out.
When asked about the future of the sci-fi series, Reilly was less than non-committal. "The hesitation in my voice is that it's an expensive show," he said. "We lose a lot of money on the show. But with that rating on that night it’s almost impossible for us to make money on it. We’re not in the business of losing money..."
We all know what happens to shows that don't make money: They get canceled.
Reilly's words foretell the show's future: Unless things change, Fringe will almost end with Season 4, which returns this Friday. But he's not shutting the door entirely, and said that budgets could be reconfigured to make things more palatable. And there's always the long-shot possibility that Fringe could find a home somewhere else, though I don't know who would want to take on a show that only pulls in just over 3 million viewers.
Reilly's comments may anger some of you, but before you go on a Fox-bashing rant, remember this: Fox HAS stuck by the show and extended its life well beyond what it deserves from a business standpoint. By ratings standards, the show should have been canceled after Season 3, if not Season 2. While your first instinct may be to start a "Kevin Reilly Sux" Facebook group, get mad at him because he allowed Mobbed to happen, not because he's thinking about canceling a show that's killing his bank account. Every time a new episode of Fringe hits the airwaves, I thank my lucky stars.
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I really hope they give it a half season 5 (like Chuck got) to tie up loose ends.
I'd hate to see this show die before it's story is told. But then again, FOX has almost always disappointed me in it's cancellations of shows before their time.
It's really the fault of the bubble-headed TV audience who'd rather watch a bunch of morons fight each other and get drunk rather than good, quality entertainment. This is what the American public has been reduced to...RUBBLE.
thank you so very much
You know the channels must give us an insurance that they are gonna finish a series in a right way instead of wasting hours and in the end give me a middle FINGER!
Make you root for something, sabotage it, tell you in your fears everything is ALLRIGHT so they take it away and leave you disoriented, emotionally numb and in deepest despair.
They dont do it with any show, but it seems their target audince is well defined.
Did I went overboard Or am I close ?
If Fringe HAS to end, I prefer it be done with the writers/producers best efforts at closure, or a set up for an afterlife.
I despise reality TV, so without Fringe :( might as well toss out the cable box!
FOX has always had a Love-Hate-Hate relationship with me ... lots of foreplay then a less than stellar climax.
I feel sick..I love TV-shows but I really really hate TV! Today people watch what they wanna watch whenever the feel like it, legal or illegal. TV is so out of date and they will loose in the end. I mean, even my 7 year old sister knows how to see her shows when she feel like it, not when TV tells her.
i've seen have a season today!!!
TV - Fringe - Community + Work It x The bachelor= Apocalypse 2012.
So no tears here, for once I agree with fox execs!
Cancel Terra Nova if you want to save money...
You bunch of chimps in suits.
They should have moved it to Monday night (for ex.) and given it a fair last chance, instead of sabotaging it. I haven't been this upset with tv since the series finale of Lost.
I honestly believe Fox organizes their schedule around their horrible (but incessantly popular) reality shows. Others have said it and they're right. American Idol and SYTYCD take precedence over actual television (I consider reality programs to be abominations).
And how Reilly could say, "We're not in the business of losing money..." while keeping a straight face is beyond me. I seem to recall a certain show where its epic failure was only matched by its gargantuan budget. What did you call it? - The "dumb-ass dinosaur disaster" (I like that). One season of Terra Nova probably cost the same amount as four seasons of Fringe.
I remember like it was yesterday the tidal wave of emotions I felt after the finale of Lost - anger, frustration, disappointment, malice, more anger - Yep. That about sums up how I'm feeling right now.
On a separate note, I'd love to see Fox move House to another night and pair Terra Nova with Fringe on Mondays. I think the two shows could feed off of one another's audiences.
@topic I have to say that Fringe has sort of disappointed me this season. It's just not building up the suspense the previous sessions did. I mean: What was at stake? The fate of the entire universe, two universes even and now? Not even the fate of ONE man, just the memory of one man. So right now I wouldn't miss Fringe too much but I still hope they let the producers wrap things up properly at the very least.
Maybe if you ever actually ran a complete season.. you know, a new episode each week until the season is over -- maybe even play last week's immediately before the new episode so people can catch up if they miss one -- then people will watch it.
Instead, you tick off the loyal viewers, make countless number of 'on the fence' viewers jump ship, and make it impossible for new viewers to start watching.
And you wonder why it's not pulling in massive viewers and profits? It's not rocket science. Imagine if every time you went to the movies, you saw 15-20 minutes of the feature, then it skipped over to the movie playing on the screen beside you, then back to the first 15 minutes of this movie, then continued on eventually, etc.. how are you expected to watch it? Sheesh.
The least they could do, is maybe extend it to a fifth season with 10 to 13 episodes to give it a proper farewell. Please!!! Don't do a SGU style of ending where we viewers keep wondering about the fate of those marvelous characters!
There's a reason that DVD sets started out with shows that were long over, and now in some cases are available when only half a season has aired.
You kill the show just because it doesn't bring you some $$$......i know it's been filmed in vancouver sometimes because it costs little less than shooting in US....
Don't you even think that there are royal viewers for Fringe all over the world???? I have been watching for 4 years....and waiting every week to watch Fringe.....and you don't even give a chance to wrap the show up???? WTF.....Screw you Reilly!!!!