The series premiered in North America on September 9, 2008, on the Fox network. The series has completed its third season and has been renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on September 23, 2011.
Premise
Fringe follows the casework of the Fringe Division, a Joint Federal Task Force supported primarily by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which includes Agent Olivia Dunham; Dr. Walter Bishop, the archetypal mad scientist; and Peter Bishop, Walter's estranged son and jack-of-all-trades. They are supported by Phillip Broyles, the force's director, and Agent Astrid Farnsworth, who assists Walter in laboratory research. The Fringe Division investigates cases relating to fringe science, ranging from transhumanist experiments gone wrong to the prospect of a destructive technological singularity to a possible collision of two parallel universes. The Fringe Division's work often intersects with advanced biotechnology developed by a company called Massive Dynamic, founded by Walter's former partner, Dr. William Bell and run by their common friend, Nina Sharp. The team is also watched silently by a group of bald, pale men who are called "Observers".
Season 1 introduces the Fringe Division as they investigate cases that form "the Pattern", many orchestrated by an international network of rogue scientists, known as ZFT (Zerstörung durch Fortschritte der Technologie, or in English, Destruction through Advancement of Technology), who are preparing for a doomsday event. Olivia comes to learn she was a child test subject for Walter years ago for a nootropic drug, Cortexiphan, giving her weak psionic abilities. Walter also struggles with adjusting to normal life in Peter's care after living seventeen years in a mental institution, and hides a secret about Peter's past from him.
In Season 2, the occurrences are found to be in conjunction with activities of a parallel universe, which is plagued by singularities occurring at weakened points of the fabric between worlds. The Fringe team deals with more cases that are leading to a "great storm" as the parallel universe appears to be at war with the prime one, engineered by human-machine hybrid shapeshifters from the parallel universe. Walter is forced to tell Peter that he is from the parallel universe, a replacement for his own Peter that died from a genetic disease, and that it is his prior experiments that caused the singularities in the parallel universe.
Season 3 presents episodes that alternate between the two universes. "Walternate", Walter's doppelgänger in the parallel universe, is the U.S. Secretary of Defense and has set events in motion to assemble a doomsday device that reacts only to Peter's biology. He also sent his Olivia, "Fauxlivia", to the prime universe in Olivia's place, to engage the Fringe Division and assemble the prime universe's version of the device, while he studies Olivia's Cortexiphan-induced powers. By happenstance, Fauxlivia becomes pregnant with Peter's child before being outed and extracted to the parallel universe. Walternate orchestrated acceleration of the pregnancy to gain a sample of the baby's blood, which he uses to activate the machine. Peter, with Olivia's help, enters the prime version of the machine, and experiences a vision of the future where the parallel universe has been destroyed and the same fate threatens the prime one. Recovering in the present, Peter alters his plan and uses the machine to merge the two rooms, creating a bridge where inhabitants of both universes can solve their dilemma, before disappearing and being forgotten by both Walters and Olivias.
Season 4 has been stated by executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman to start with the fact that "Peter no longer exists", and will "very much see the consequences of what happened in Seasons 1, 2 and 3". These consequences may include changes in past; Pinkner and Wyman note that though Peter was the impetus for Walter to cross over starting the chain of events, in this alternate history, Walter and William likely would have found their own way to cross, leading to the same events but with some events that "may have happened differently". Though despite the apparent disappearance of his character, Joshua Jackson remains as the show's lead actor and committed to a full fourth season.[8] Jackson stated that Peter will be back on the show, but "will be different than he was before". This fact was played with at the 2011 San Diego Comic Convention where the Fringe cast appeared for a panel; a teaser video showed fake auditions for the open role of Peter, and included cameo appearances by Michael Emerson, Zachary Quinto, Jorge Garcia, and Jeff Probst and concluded with Jackson himself dressed as an Observer.
The parallel universe
One of Fringe's location titles, using block letters that float in the foreground. In this example, from "Olivia", the show takes place in the parallel universe's version of Manhattan, the borough's name is actually spelled as "Manhatan", reflected in this location identifier.
Much of the story arc for Fringe involves a parallel universe that mostly mirrors the prime universe, but with numerous historical idiosyncrasies. The producers were strongly interested in "world building", and the parallel universe plot device allowed them to create a very similar world with a large amount of detail to fill in the texture of the world. A parallel universe would also allow them to show "how small choices that you make define you as a person and can change your life in large ways down the line", according to co-director Jeff Pinkner. However, the producers also realize the concept of the parallel universe could be confusing to viewers and have introduced elements of the world in small pieces over the course of the first two seasons before the larger reveal in the second season finale and third season. J.H. Wyman stated that he would often pass the story ideas for the parallel universe by his father to see if it made sense, and would rework the script if his father found it confusing. Such world building also gave them a risky opportunity to create stories that focused solely on characters from the parallel universe with nearly no ties to the main characters; as stated by Wyman, they would be able to "make two shows about one show", a concept that the network executives embraced.
Glyph code
Prior to commercial breaks, a brief image of a glyph is shown. Abrams revealed in an interview that the glyphs had a hidden meaning. "It's something that we're doing for people who care to figure it out and follow it, but it's not something that a viewer has to consider when they watch the show." Abrams also revealed that the seemingly unrelated frogs which have the Greek letter Phi imprinted on their back appeared in promos for the show have significance within the context of the series, saying "it's part of the code of the show." The glyph code was cracked by an editor at the technology site Ars Technica, who discovered it to be a simple substitution cipher used to spell out a single thematic word for each episode. Whether there is a further second-order code to be solved remains to be seen. Additionally, the glyphs are representative of some of the means by which Walter solves a case (the Moth/Butterfly from "Johari Window", the Seahorse strain of DNA from "The Bishop Revival"). In "Jacksonville", behind Walter as he speaks to Olivia about her treatment is the daycare wall where the nootropic Cortexiphan was used as a trial, each of the Glyphs are clearly visible. An episode-by-episode key to the various glyphs was made available on Fringepedia.
Opening sequence
The show's standard opening sequence interplays images of the glyph symbols alongside words representing fringe science topics, such as "teleportation" and "dark matter". Within the third season, with episodes that took place primarily in the parallel universe, a new set of titles was used, following a similar format, though tinted red instead of blue and using alternate fringe science concepts like "hypnosis" and "neuroscience". The difference in color has led some fans to call the prime universe the Blue one in contrast to the Red parallel one. In the third season episode "Entrada", the titles used a mix of both the blue- and red-tinted versions, given the episode taking place equally in both universes.In the show's two flashback episodes, "Peter" and "Subject 13", a variation on the sequence, using retro graphics akin to 1980s technology and phrases like "personal computing" and "genetic engineering", was used, while for the dystopian future third season episode "The Day We Died", a black-toned theme, with more dire phrases like "hope" and "water" was introduced. The fourth season premiere, "Neither Here Nor There" introduced an amber-toned title sequence with additional new terms.
Fringe characters
The cast and crew of Fringe at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. From left to right: Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth), Blair Brown (Nina Sharp), Lance Reddick (Phillip Broyles), John Noble (Walter Bishop), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop), Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham), and producers J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner
Main characters
Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham (season 1–present), a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent assigned to investigate the spread of unexplained phenomena. Torv also plays Olivia's counterpart in the parallel universe, dubbed by the characters of the prime universe as "Fauxlivia".
Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop (season 1–present), a jack-of-all-trades who is brought in as a civilian consultant by Olivia to work with his estranged father, Walter. Peter is actually Walternate's son from the parallel universe, abducted by Walter shortly after his own Peter's death at a young age.
John Noble as Doctor Walter Bishop (season 1–present), a former government researcher in the field of fringe science who was seen as a mad scientist and institutionalized after a lab accident in which his assistant was killed. Noble acts as the parallel universe's Walter, named "Walternate" by the characters in the prime universe. Walternate rose to power as the U.S. Secretary of Defense and instituted the war against the prime universe after the abduction of his son Peter.
Lance Reddick as Phillip Broyles (season 1–present), a Homeland Security agent and Senior-Agent-In-Charge (SAIC) who runs the Fringe Division. Reddick also performs the role of the parallel universe Broyles, who finds sympathy for Olivia and sacrifices himself during season 3 to allow her to escape the parallel universe.
Jasika Nicole as Astrid Farnsworth (season 1–present), an FBI Junior Agent and assistant to Olivia and Walter. Nicole also plays the parallel universe Astrid character, who has symptoms similar to Asperger syndrome as tribute to Nicole's sister who has the disorder.
Blair Brown as Nina Sharp (season 1–present), the Chief Operating Officer of Massive Dynamic, a leading firm in science and technology research and longtime friend of Walter and William.
Kirk Acevedo as Charlie Francis (season 1–season 2, episodes 1–4, 11; recurring afterward), FBI Senior Agent, Olivia's colleague and close friend, and the second-in-command of the Fringe Division before his demise. Though Charlie was killed early in the second season, Acevedo reprises the parallel universe version of Charlie.
Mark Valley as John Scott (season 1, episodes 1–13), Olivia's former FBI partner and secret lover, and whose death in "Pilot" leads Olivia to join the Fringe division.
Seth Gabel as Lincoln Lee (recurring season 2–3; starring season 4), an agent of the parallel universe Fringe Division. The prime universe version of Lincoln, also played by Gabel, appeared in the episode "Stowaway" as a special agent stationed at the FBI building in Hartford, Connecticut.
Recurring characters
Leonard Nimoy portrays William Bell, Walter's associate, both as a live action character in Seasons 1 and 2, and voicing an animated Bell in Season 3.
Michael Cerveris as The Observer (season 1–present), one of several "Observers", a traveling chronicler and enforcer of extraordinary events. He appears in one form or another, usually in an Alfred Hitchcock-like cameo, in each episode. He is referred to as "September" by other Observers.
Ari Graynor as Rachel Dunham (season 1–present), Olivia's sister.
Lily Pilblad as Ella Blake (season 1–present), Olivia's niece, the daughter of Rachel. Emily Meade portrays the future Ella.
Leonard Nimoy as William Bell (season 1–3), Walter's former lab partner, the founder of Massive Dynamic, apparently killed in the season 2 finale. Nimoy, who had retired from acting after season 2, agreed to provide the voice of Bell, allowing for the character's reappearance via way of an animated character in season 3.
Michael Gaston as Sanford Harris (season 1), an old nemesis of Olivia's assigned to assess Fringe Division.
Jared Harris as David Robert Jones (season 1), leader of the ZFT cult, and killed in the season 1 finale.
Chance Kelly as Mitchell Loeb (season 1), an FBI agent and mole working for ZFT.
Ryan McDonald as Brandon Fayette (season 2–present), a scientist at Massive Dynamic. In the parallel universe, Brandon works directly for Secretary of Defense Bishop, overseeing many of his less ethical projects.
Kevin Corrigan as Sam Weiss (season 2–present), Olivia's Yoda-like amateur psychologist and manager of a Boston-area bowling alley; his family line maintain knowledge of the "First People", a race of intelligent beings believed to have created the doomsday device.
Sebastian Roché as Thomas Jerome Newton (season 2–3), the leader of the shapeshifters, human/machine hybrids and undercover agents from the parallel universe. The character commits suicide during season 3.
Michelle Krusiec as Nadine Park, a character to be introduced in the fourth season.
Development
Conception
Co-created by J. J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Fringe is produced by Bad Robot in association with Warner Bros. Television, as part of a commitment that Abrams previously made with the studio. At the time, Abrams was working with Orci and Kurtzman on the Star Trek film, and used them to brainstorm ideas for the show.
Abrams's inspiration for Fringe came from a range of sources, including the writings of Michael Crichton, the film Altered States, films by David Cronenberg, and the television series The X-Files and The Twilight Zone. Orci stated that Fringe is a "new kind of storytelling", combining procedural shows such as Law & Order, and an "extremely serialized and very culty" series like Lost. The procedural aspect was chosen as, at the time of its premiere, six of the ten top shows were procedural in nature; Orci stated that "you have to be a fool not to go study what it is that they're doing". Though the team saw this as a way of presenting "mystery of the week"-type episodes, they wanted to focus more on how these stories were told in unpredictable ways rather than the actual mystery, recognizing that most of their target audience has seen such mysteries before through previous shows and films. Instead, they wanted their storytelling to be original and unexpected, and, as claimed by Kurtzman, one of the most challenging aspects of developing the individual episodes.
In considering the serialization aspect, Abrams recognized the difficulties that his earlier serialized shows, such as Lost and Alias, had in attracting and maintaining viewers that had not seen these shows from the start or who missed episodes sporadically, and sought to rectify that for Fringe, creating, as stated by David Itzkoff of the New York Times, "a show that suggested complexity but was comprehensible in any given episode". One method was by introducing over-arching themes that individual episodes could be tied to, such as "The Pattern" in Season 1, providing information repeatedly about the larger plot over the course of several episodes or seasons. Abrams also created characters whose alliances to the larger narrative were clear, avoiding a similar problem that had occurred during the first and second seasons of Alias. A final step taken was to script out all of the major long-running plot elements, including the show's finale, prior to full-time production. Abrams contrasted this to the process used in Lost, where ideas like character flashbacks and the hatch from the second season were introduced haphazardly and made difficulties in defining when they should be presented to the viewers. Instead, with Fringe, they were able to create "clearly defined goalposts" (in Itzkoff's words) that could be altered as necessary with network and seasonal changes but always provided a clear target for the over-arching plot. These approaches also allowed the team to introduce unique plot elements to be introduced in time that would have altered the show's fate if known at the start. Abrams stated that "There are certain details that are hugely important that I believe, if shared, will destroy any chance of actually getting on the air." Abrams noted that they are able to benefit from "how open Fox as a network has been to a show that is embracing the weirdness and the long-term stories that we want to tell". During the third season, executive producer Jeff Pinkner noted that "We have six to eight seasons worth of material. We see it as having certain chapters that would enrich the overall story, but aren't necessary to tell the overall story. God willing, the network allows us the time to tell our complete story."
The show's main characters, Olivia, Peter, and Walter, were core of the concept for Fringe. They recognized early that "the idea that telling a father-son story and a relationship story was a really compelling one and a very accessible one", according to Kurtzman. They were able to provide the characters with backstories that, like with other long-term plot elements, could be alluded to over several episodes and seasons. The characters would also contrast with the typical procedural genre show; instead of having clearly defined roles episode to episode, and instead "have an emotional memory and an emotional investment", as stated by Orci. This also allowed for, as necessary, characters to be removed or introduced to the show and have a larger impact on the other characters.
Production
Jeff Pinkner was selected to act as the head show runner and executive producer. Abrams noted that he trusts Pinkner after working together with him on Alias and Lost. In season two, J.H. Wyman was brought on as executive producer and showrunner with Jeff Pinkner. Michael Giacchino, Abrams' frequent collaborator, composed the music for the pilot of Fringe, before handing over duties to his assistants Chad Seiter and Chris Tilton; Giacchino retains an on-screen credit. Abrams himself wrote the series theme music.
The two-hour pilot episode, filmed in Toronto, Canada, cost a total of $10 million to create.A basement of an old church was used for Walter's lab set in the pilot, and this set was replicated at other film sites in New York and Vancouver when the show moved. John Noble called his character's lab "the heart and soul of Fringe", so consequently, "That has to remain constant." A cow used in the pilot episode had to be recast when production of Season 1 was moved to New York, due to livestock restrictions preventing it from being brought from Canada to the United States.Other locations used in the first season included other universities to stage for the Harvard University campus, where Walter's lab is located. These included Pratt Institute and Yale University, including its Old Campus (particularly Phelps Hall and Durfee Hall), Branford College, and the exterior of Yale Law School, University of Toronto's University College, Brooklyn College, and Bahen Centre for Information Technology.
Filming of the Fringe episode "6B" in December 2010 at the Vancouver Film School building at Hastings and Cambie streets in Vancouver, staged as New York City
On February 21, 2009, it was reported that in the event that Fringe would be renewed for a second season, the show would move production to Vancouver from New York City as a cost-cutting measure. Executive producer Jeff Pinkner explained:
"We want to stay in New York, New York has been incredibly good to us. It feels like we're being kicked out of the city. I know we're not, but they're making it impossible for us to afford doing the show... Our New York crew is spectacular, they've worked their [butts] off to make the show look great. But it looks like New York is not renewing a tax credit that makes it possible to make our budget in New York. So it looks like, out of necessity, we'll have to leave New York, which is not anything we are welcoming.
Upon productions moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for season 2, the University of British Columbia now stands in for Harvard. The area around New Westminster often serves as filming locations for Fringe stories that take place in the parallel universe.
Casting
The first actors cast were Kirk Acevedo and Mark Valley, who portrayed FBI agents Charlie Francis and John Scott, respectively.[51][52] John Noble and Lance Reddick, who play Dr. Walter Bishop and Homeland Security agent Phillip Broyles joined the cast later on. Casting of Anna Torv, Blair Brown, and Jasika Nicole, who play Olivia Dunham, Massive Dynamic employee Nina Sharp, and Astrid Farnsworth, a federal agent and assistant to Olivia Dunham, respectively, followed; while Joshua Jackson, who plays Peter Bishop, was the last main character to be cast. Jackson auditioned for James T. Kirk in Abrams' Star Trek and believed this is what impressed the producer to cast him in his television project.
On April 8, 2009, it was announced that Leonard Nimoy would appear as Walter Bishop's former lab partner, Dr. William Bell in the first season's finale, which explores the existence of an ominous parallel universe. This choice led one reviewer to question if Fringe's plot might be an homage to the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", which explored the concept of an alternate reality referred to as a "mirror universe", and an evil version of Spock distinguished by a goatee. Nimoy returned as Dr. Bell for an extended arc, and according to Orci, Bell is "the beginning of the answers to even bigger questions." Nimoy reprised his role in the second season finale, where his character and Walter met for a "showdown". Nimoy's character is apparently dead after the season finale, having used himself to help Walter, Peter and the Alternate Olivia back to our universe. As he had retired from acting, it was thought unlikely that his character would return. In February 2011 however, he announced his definite plan to return to Fringe and reprise his role as William Bell. He returned to voice the character in the animated segments of the April 2011 episode "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide".
Home video releases
The pilot episode was leaked via BitTorrent, three months before the series premiere; similar to leaked fellow Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.[65] The series has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.
The first season of Fringe was released as a widescreen region 1 DVD box set on September 8, 2009. In addition to all the episodes that had been aired, DVD extras included three commentary tracks, unaired scenes, gag reels and behind the scenes features. A "Fringe Pattern Analysis" was included on the Blu-ray version as an exclusive. The same set was released on September 28, 2009 in region 2 and on September 30, 2009 in region 4.
The second season featured four commentary tracks, a gag reel, deleted scenes, behind the scenes videos and included the episode "Unearthed", an episode produced for the first season, which aired out of schedule during the second season. It was released in region 1 on September 14, 2010, on September 27, 2010 in region 2 and on November 10, 2010 in region 4.
The third season was released on September 6, 2011 in region 1, and is scheduled for release on September 26, 2011 in region 2 and on October 26, 2011 in region 4.
Other media
Games
An alternate reality game, centered on the fictional Massive Dynamic corporation, was introduced during the pilot and featured "strange symbols paired with glowing dots" appearing throughout the episode and an "advertisement" for the company shown at the end with a web address for the game.
Comics
On August 27, 2008, a prequel comic book (leading right up to the moment in the pilot where Olivia 'first' meets Walter) written by Zack Whedon, the series was released by DC Comics under its WildStorm imprint. This was to be the first issue of a monthly 6-issue limited series but the others were delayed until January 2009, when monthly publication resumed, with the sixth and final issue scheduled for release on June 17. The Vice President of WildStorm, Hank Kanalz, explained the publication hiatus: "The writers of the show want to make sure the comic book is integrated into the mythology of the Fringe world, so we have decided to refocus the direction of the comic book. Unfortunately, this means that we will have some delays, but will be back in January."
On June 23, 2010, the first issue of Tales From the Fringe, the second six-part monthly series, was released, while the final issue was released on November 24, 2010.
Reception
One of many marketing posters used to promote the series featuring a twist on a common image. Pictured is a leaf with an embedded isosceles triangle.
Early reception through the first season for Fringe was generally lukewarm. The pilot episode was watched by 9.13 million viewers, garnering 3.2/9 Nielsen ratings among adults 18–49, with ratings improving over the course of the episode. Ratings improved greatly for the second episode, "The Same Old Story" which 13.27 million people watched, making it the fifth most watched show of the week. As of October 2008, the show had achieved the first place in the 18–49 demographic among new shows. As a whole, the series was well received by the critics. Barry Garron at Hollywood Reporter found it promising because "it is reminiscent of battle-of-the-sexes charm." Robert Bianco, USA Today, said, "What Abrams brings to Fringe is a director's eye for plot and pace, a fan's love of sci-fi excitement, and a story-teller's gift for investing absurd events with real emotions and relatable characters." Travis Fickett of IGN gave it 7.6 out of 10, calling it "a lackluster pilot that promises to be a pretty good series."While Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle remarked that it was "boundlessly ambitious", Chicago Sun-Times's Misha Davenport called it an "update of The X-Files with the addition of terrorism and the office of Homeland Security."
In its 2008 Year in Review, Television Without Pity declared Fringe one of the year's biggest TV disappointments, commenting that the show is "entertaining" and "the cast is largely strong" but the character development is insufficient. The show's main character, Olivia Dunham is "wooden and distant, and after half a season, we still haven't gotten to know her." The untrustworthy Nina Sharp is well-acted but "one-note and lazily written" and Lance Reddick's character is also "under-developed". [88]
The Daily Herald comments that Fringe is promising and "it may yet develop into a worthwhile program" but has "largely been spinning its wheels".[89] Meanwhile, in other articles recounting the best and worst of 2008, The New York Times stated that Fringe "is the best of a rash of new series that toy with the paranormal." The author goes on to praise the cast saying that "Much credit belongs to Anna Torv who stars as an F.B.I. agent investigating bizarre murders that all appear to be linked to a powerful and mysterious multinational corporation" and "Ms. Torv is backed up ably by John Noble as a crazy but brilliant fringe scientist and his level-headed but skeptical son, played by Joshua Jackson.
U.S. Nielsen ratings
The following is a table of seasonal U.S. rankings (based on total viewers per episode including reruns) of Fringe on Fox.
Season Timeslot (ET) Episodes Premiered Ended Rank Viewers
(in millions)
Date Premiere
viewers
(in millions) Date Finale
viewers
(in millions)
Season 1 Tuesday 9:00 pm 20 September 9, 2008 9.13[98] May 12, 2009 9.28[99] #43 9.96
Season 2 Thursday 9:00 pm 23 September 17, 2009 7.98[101] May 20, 2010 5.68[102] #79 6.25
Season 3 Thursday 9:00 pm (2010)
Friday 9:00 pm (2011) 22 September 23, 2010 5.83 May 6, 2011 3.29 #99 5.83
Fringe premiered in the 2008 United States television season at a regular timeslot of 9:00 pm Eastern on Tuesdays. During Season 1, Fringe was part of a Fox initiative known as "Remote-Free TV". Episodes of Fringe were longer than standard dramas on current network television. The show ran with half the commercials, adding about six minutes to the show's runtime. When the show went to a commercial, a short bumper aired informing the viewer of roughly how much time commercials will consume before the program resumed. The series was subsequently moved to 9:00 pm on Thursday nights during its second and third season starting in the 2009 season.
As part of a reorganization of its 2010 midseason line up to capture more market for American Idol, the Fox network shifted Fringe to 9:00 pm on Fridays. This timeslot, commonly considered the "Friday night death slot" for several previous Fox shows due to cancellation shortly following the move to that slot, have left critics considering the show's fate. While The X-Files originally premiered during this slot and would continue to be a highly successful season, critics were unsure if Fringe could duplicate this performance. In this slot, the show competed with Supernatural, a series that attracts similar types of viewers. Fox's Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, in response to these concerns, stated that 45% of Fringe's viewership is from time shifting recording through digital video receivers, and does not expect the viewership numbers to change significantly with the change to Friday. Reilly further postulated that "If it does anywhere near what it did on Thursdays, we can glue that show to the schedule because it can be a big win for us". actually deliver like The X-Files did". Series creator Abrams was less optimisic of the move to Friday nights, aware that the show's likelihood to be renewed for a fourth season would be highly dependent on the number of niche viewers that continue to watch the show. Abrams did affirm that moving to Friday nights allows them to take more creative freedoms to maintain viewership in the new timeslot, but feels that if the show was not renewed for another season, they would be "hard pressed" to resolve the story by the end of the third season.was renewed for a fourth season in March 2011. The move was unexpected based on these ratings, given the past performance of shows with similar viewership numbers in the Friday night slot, but several critics attribute it to the strong fanbase that the show has garnered, which contributes in part to consistently higher time-shifted viewership. Fox's Reilly stated that:
Fringe has truly hit a creative stride and has distinguished itself as one of television's most original programs. The series' ingenious producers, amazingly talented cast and crew, as well as some of the most passionate and loyal fans on the planet, made this fourth-season pickup possible. When we moved the show to Fridays, we asked the fans to follow and they did. We're thrilled to bring it back for another full season and keep it part of the Fox family.
International broadcast
Canada
Fringe premiered in Canada on CTV simultaneous to its U.S. premiere and was the most watched program in Canada that week. The show would fluctuate between airing on CTV and A during its first two seasons. Beginning with the third season Fringe is broadcast on Citytv in Canada.
Australia
A version of the show (edited for time) premiered on the Nine Network in Australia on September 17, 2008. In the season one episode "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones", the scene in the introduction where the doctors discover a parasite on Detective Loeb's heart was censored and just went straight to the opening credits. Nine Network later dropped the show from its primetime schedule temporarily; the show returned during the December to January non-ratings period.
Fringe now airs on Nine's second digital channel GO! and is one of the most popular shows aired on GO! on Wednesday nights at 8:30 pm.
It is also currently running an on-demand run on FetchTV.
Other
In 2008, Fringe also premiered on Ireland's TV3 (October 1), Sweden's Kanal 5 (October 2), and the United Kingdom's Sky1 (October 5).
In 2009, Fringe made additional debuts on Norway's TVNorge (January 1), Finland's MTV3 (January 5), South Africa's M-Net (January 8), Italy's Mediaset Premium (January 31), Portugal's RTP2 (February 5), Hungary's RTL Klub (March 13), Germany's ProSieben (March 16), Brazil's SBT (June 1), France's TF1 (June 10) and NET 5 in the Netherlands (September 6).
In 2010, Fringe debuted on TV3 in Catalonia (October 7), on TVN in Poland, on HRT 2 in Croatia (November 4), and on Star Channel in Greece (Seasons 1 & 2).
In 2011, Fringe debuted on POP TV in Slovenia, starting March 16. Immediately after the end of the first season, the second started, on April 25.
Fringe screens on TV2 in New Zealand. One episode of season 2 (which features a building hit by what initially looks like an earthquake) was played out of sequence due to being scheduled shortly after the Christchurch earthquake.
Awards and nominations
Fringe and its cast and crew have been nominated and won several awards including Emmys, Saturn Awards, Golden Reel Awards, Satellite Awards, and Writers Guild of America Awards.
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