Entertainment Weekly Explains 'Fringe's DVR Gain

Oct 17, 2011 06:48 PM ET
 DVR boosts 'New Girl' ratings to tie '2 Broke Girls'
by James Hibberd

 Zooey Deschanel has caught up to those CBS waitresses.

With the second week of DVR data in, Fox’s New Girl has managed to tie CBS’ 2 Broke Girls season-to-date as the two highest-rated new comedies. One might say this is a bit more impressive for New Girl since it builds from Glee lead-in whereas Broke Girls had that big boost from Two and a Half Men for its debut. Or you could argue that New Girl has the advantage because Broke has aired four episodes (and ratings for new shows tend to dip a little each week) and New Girl has only aired three (since Fox has sent Deschanel away until November … perhaps in search of her show’s missing The). Either way, both are now tied with a 5.5 adult demo average.

 Here’s who else really benefited from DVR playback (unlike above, this is just for the second week): ABC’s Modern Family had the biggest raw gain during the second week of the season, its overnight rating leaping from a 5.7 to a 7.9 … that’s like Modern Family taking some modestly performing other show and eating it. ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (3.6 to 5.1) and Two and a Half Men (7.4 to 8.9) also posted steep gains.

 If you look at which shows had biggest gains on a percentage basis — in other words, which enjoyed the biggest increase compared to their debuts rather which ones had the largest raw increase — Fox’s Fringe is at the top of the list. Literally a minority of the show’s viewers actually watch this show the first night it airs (Fridays) — the second week got a 67 percent bump, from a 1.2 to a 2.0.

 Read the entire Entertainment Weekly article here.

Who Is Controlling The Transmission Or: What Else Can You Call A Fringe?

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits!

- Opening voiceover for The Outer Limits

(Much of what you are about to experience is a continuation of the thoughts expressed here.)

It was the night of September 16th, 1963. I still had a month to go before my 8th birthday and my young mind was terribly excited about what was scheduled to broadcast on the television that evening. Even at this age, I found I had an appetite for the fantastic and the imaginative (which has not left me to this day).

What I would never have imagined that night, however, is that I would continue to be haunted by not only this particular episode of this particular program, but that many of its episodes would become the warp and woof of the sci-fi department in my brain.

It was, of course, the premiere of The Outer Limits.

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Fringe: Here Is Peter Bishop (Interviews)

Here is the latest in the Where Is Peter Bishop? video series, featuring interviews with Lance Reddick, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, John Noble, and Jasika Nicole.

There's a few new clips in this video, so you may not want to watch if you are avoiding spoilers. Three more days!

Second FOX Promo Vid for Episode 405, "Novation"

This is the second promo video for episode 405, titled "Novation," that will air this Friday, October 28. Please watch it live!

Fringe Repeat: "Neither Here Nor There"

Tonight's episode of Fringe is a repeat of the Fringe season 4 premier episode "Neither Here Nor There".

As we mentioned previously, after this week's baseball/sweeps break, we will have four new Fringe episodes, with the Fringe "Fall Season Finale" on November 18th.

There will not be a "Watch Fringe Live And Win" contest tonight, but the FringeTelevision chat room will be open if you would like to chat about tonight's episode.

You can also continue the discussion on "Neither Here Nor There" in the Fringe episode post.

Fringe Friday Flashback: Science Of Fringe

If you haven't been following Fringe online since the very beginning, there may be a few interesting Fringe stories that you may have missed. Every week on Fringe Friday Flashback, we will look back and some interesting posts from the past that might be worth a second look.



Back in August 2008, even before the first Fringe episode aired, the Fox promotional machine was running at full throttle. "Science Of Fringe" was a short series of videos that explained various fields of Fringe science: Neuroimaging, Telekinesis, Paranormal, and Nanotechnology.

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Networks Rethink the Ratings Game As DVR Usage Spreads

Networks Rethink the Ratings Game As DVR Usage Spreads
 Oct 20, 2011 09:23 AM ET
 by Michael Schneider

What a difference seven days makes. Many primetime shows are seeing their ratings skyrocket when a week's worth of DVR usage is included — and network execs are scrambling to figure out how to adjust to a time-shifting world.

Now that DVR penetration has reached around 42% of viewers, it's having a real impact on viewership — and making the initial next-day ratings that everyone reports (which includes live viewing, plus only that night's DVR usage) increasingly irrelevant.

For example, when season four of FX's Sons of Anarchy debuted September 6, it attracted 4.9 million viewers, a good number, but not a network record. By the time seven days of DVR usage was counted, that number had climbed to 6.5 million viewers — making it the most-watched program in FX history.

 "The numbers are so far apart that it's not even funny," says FX president John Landgraf.

The fact that nearly half of all TV viewers now own a DVR is making some of TV's top-rated shows even more top-rated when all is said and done. ABC's Modern Family leads the DVR pack, enjoying massive audience boosts once the final time-shifted ratings are in. Thanks to DVRs, the comedy's second episode, which initially aired September 28, eventually added a staggering 4.5 million more viewers to its total.

Where the live-plus-seven ratings have the most impact so far is making a mess of network bragging rights. In the adults 18-49 demographic, NBC's Sunday Night Football was originally the No. 1 show for the week ending October 2, posting a 7.7 rating. But once the DVR numbers came in, Sunday Night Football was virtually unchanged (up 1 percent to 7.8), while CBS' Two and a Half Men (8.9, up 20 percent from 7.4) and ABC's Modern Family (7.9, up 39 percent from 5.7) leapt in front.

 In another example, CBS' Two Broke Girls was the top-rated new sitcom among adults 18-49 prior to the latest DVR data — but now that more extensive live-plus-seven numbers have come in, Fox's New Girl was the bigger beneficiary. As a result, both shows are tied for first.

 "Part of the problem is when you report live-plus-same-day and single airing ratings, you convey the impression that the scale of a show is 'x' when in reality the scale of that show is 'y,'" Landgraf says.

 Meanwhile, the DVR revolution is also giving hope to lower-rated shows, as their so-so numbers wind up looking a lot better once time-shifting is included. ABC's Grey's Anatomy averaged a rather disappointing 3.6 rating among adults 18-49 in week two of the fall TV season. But the show got a hefty 41.7% boost thanks to seven days of DVR usage, bringing its final rating up to a much stronger 5.1.

Read the entire tvguide.com article here.

10 Bubble Shows-Which Will Survive?

Today's News: Our Take 10 Bubble Shows — Which Will Survive?
 Oct 19, 2011 10:01 PM ET
 by Adam Bryant and Denise Martin


  We're mere weeks into the new TV season, and already the freshman class has provided some bona fide hits (hello, girls both New and 2 Broke!) But while some shows started strong, several others faltered out of the gate (RIP, The Playboy Club, Free Agents, How to Be a Gentleman and Charlie's Angels!) Which shows will be next? These 11 are in the most danger, due to low ratings, poor performances among younger viewers and other typical bad signs. Is your favorite show on the list?

 4. Fringe (Fox) Fridays at 9/8c The Good News: Well...on Fridays, the bar is still very low! In its most recent outing, Fringe delivered a 1.2 rating/4 share in the demo, which isn't that far from Friday-night leader CSI: NY (1.7/5). And Fox President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly is a fan. "It was one of the great victories for us last season," Reilly said in August. "We were cheering the Friday night victory for Fringe... I don't expect explosive growth [this fall]..." The Bad News: Hmm, what's the opposite of explosive growth? Because that's what seems instead to have happened to Fringe. Viewership has dropped significantly between the Season 3 finale (5.83 million) — which ended on a mind-boggling, Peter-"killing" cliffhanger! -- and the most recent Season 4 numbers (3.16 million). Was the latest twist too much for even Fringe's most die-hard fans?

 Read the entire tvguide.com article here.

Fringe: Witness The Return (Of Peter!)

Here is the Ari Margolis produced trailer for the next Fringe episode "Novation", which airs NEXT Friday, October 28 at 9:00PM on FOX.

Check out FringeFiles.com for screenshots of this video - there are lots of interesting things at the end!

Beyond The Fringe Comic #2: Chapter A

DC Comics has released the third chapter in the "Beyond The Fringe" direct-to-digital comic series.

Beyond The Fringe #2: Chapter A was written by Joshua Jackson, is available now for $0.99 via Comixology.com.

Here is the official description:

Peter And The Machine: Chapter 2

Peter's desperate time-traveling adventure continues! From the lythical land of Hy-Brasil, to the rolling hills of Mohawk Valley, and on to Tibet - Peter moves through space and time in search of the machine's pieces in his heroic attempt to save the world.

Order "Beyond The Fringe" here

Anna Torv Interview at the Scream Awards

Anna Torv comments on being nominated for a Spike TV "Scream Award" at last night's ceremony.

DVR ratings: 'Fringe' increases its audience by 66%

Matt Carter

TV Examiner

October 17, 2011

 

Now, we really understand how crazy the dilemma must be for Fox when it comes to whether or not to keep "Fringe" -- the show does succeed in the ratings to an extent for a Friday show, but very few people actually bother to watch it live.

For the second week of the season, the drama (which airs in the TV dungeon that is Friday night) brought in a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic -- up a whopping 66% from the 1.2 it registered during the live viewing. This increase of 66% is far and away the best percentage on TV -- and it's not even close. Another show airing in the same timeslot -- "Supernatural" -- is in second place with a 57% gain up to a 1.1 rating.
Will this be enough to actually save the show? That's where it gets difficult, since the people who DVR the show are not actually helping the advertisers in any way. It's really once again an issue of the timeslot, and Fox wanting to keep the show around to please sci-fi fans.
Do you watch "Fringe" live, or do you prefer to DVR it?

Check this examiner.com article out here.