The discussion about renewing Fringe for a fifth season kicked off this week at the Television Critics
Association press tour, where J.J. Abrams and Fox's entertainment president Kevin
Reilly were asked if the show would be back next season:
“I would like to have one more season to wrap things up,” show executive producer J.J. Abrams said after his panel promoting
Alcatraz.
“But then that’s what any producer would say.”
“I’m hopeful,” Abrams said.
“There’s some
stuff
coming up this season that’s so great. Maybe it’s dumb optimism that the
good work [of the Fringe showrunners Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman] will be rewarded. And if not on Fox,” he added,
“maybe somewhere else.”
Moving a show to another network rarely happens, so what are Fringe's chances on Fox? Fox's entertainment president Kevin
Reilly had this to say:
“Fringe has been a point of pride. I share the passion for
the show the fans have. I love that Fox, after letting down genre fans
over the years [came through with Fringe]. I love that fans stuck with it after it moved to Friday. It has vastly improved our Friday night."
However, the situation is not all milkshakes and red vines
, as Reilly explained the problem:
"The hesitation in my voice is that it’s an expensive show. 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."
While that doesn't sound very hopeful, Reilly added:
“Please
don’t start the letter-writing campaign. I can’t take it. I hope we get some credit with the fans for seeing through a great show
that they’ve enjoyed,” Reilly says.
“I’m not now quietly doing the soft
cancel here. I’m just telling you where it stands. I know (the
producers and the studio) want to keep it going.”
So where exactly does it stand?
"We need to figure out if there’s a [deal with studio
Warner Bros. that] will make sense or will this be it." Reilly said.
According to MSNBC, fans can relax, because Warner Bros boss Peter Roth told then that talk of cancellation is premature:
"We have no plans to give viewers closure this season because we expect the series to continue."
Fringe star Joshua Jackson agrees that
the show should get a proper finish:
"The important thing to me is that our writers
are given a chance to finish the show because it’s a serialized show.”
The head writers of the the show, executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman say that no matter what happens,
the show will ultimately get a satisfying conclusion:
“The answer to that question is the same every year,” Pinkner started
when asked if and when they’d need a heads up to wrap things up.
“Worst
case scenario, if this were the last aired season of Fringe — and as
we’ve said before, there are other outlets where we could continue our
stories, be they graphic novels or webisodes — we know what the end of
this season is going to be, and it can function as a series finale.”
What's the most important thing you can do as a fan to help? Watch live, tell your friends to watch live, tweet about Fringe using the #fringe hashtag, and of course WATCH LIVE. But most of all, don't worry, enjoy these next 7 weeks in a row of Fringe, and know that Fringe won't leave you hanging!
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