I wasn't at all unsure of 'Fringe''s popularity, as around 20,000 people rush to The Pirate Bay to download pirate copies of the show each night it's on, then it remains on top of the seeders list for at least the next 24 hours. Nielsen ratings can say what they like, but the show is popular in a big way with an audience who have grown up with the likes of 'Buffy', 'The X-Files', 'Twin Peaks', 'Star Trek', 'Smallville', 'Heroes' and 'Lost', whether they watched them first time around, or have caught up via boxsets and downloads. I am a fan of the show, and am glad it is staying on for another season, but the problems it has faced will still exist to the end of its run. Advertisers and short-sighted executives may be coming round to the idea that money can be made from properties such as 'Fringe' way after the television premiere, but they still have the power to either cut off a story in the middle, as in 'Heroes', or drag it out so long it becomes tired and incomprehensible, like 'Lost' nearly became, and 'The X-Files' inarguably did. Similarly, as much as I liked 'Lost, it could have trimmed the flab and ended on a high note with a longer season 4. Hopefully, the lesson of 'The X-Files' incredibly drawn out and tired demise were learned by the Fox network, and 'Fringe' will come to a graceful end once the current alternate universe arc is resolved. Personally, I think Peter should activate the machine and the two conflicting universes merge into one stable whole, sort of the best of both worlds, but that's merely my inner fanboy having his say. Undoubtedly, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by the ending in some way and feel the story has been naturally resolved, than watch something I enjoy stumble its way towards an untimely and unsatisfying end. The fact that this can happen simply because the creators are forced to participate in a financial, demographic and statistical sideshow each year by the networks actually makes me wonder why I bother with these shows in the first place.
I wasn't at all unsure of 'Fringe''s popularity, as around 20,000 people rush to The Pirate Bay to download pirate copies of the show each night it's on, then it remains on top of the seeders list for at least the next 24 hours. Nielsen ratings can say what they like, but the show is popular in a big way with an audience who have grown up with the likes of 'Buffy', 'The X-Files', 'Twin Peaks', 'Star Trek', 'Smallville', 'Heroes' and 'Lost', whether they watched them first time around, or have caught up via boxsets and downloads. I am a fan of the show, and am glad it is staying on for another season, but the problems it has faced will still exist to the end of its run. Advertisers and short-sighted executives may be coming round to the idea that money can be made from properties such as 'Fringe' way after the television premiere, but they still have the power to either cut off a story in the middle, as in 'Heroes', or drag it out so long it becomes tired and incomprehensible, like 'Lost' nearly became, and 'The X-Files' inarguably did. Similarly, as much as I liked 'Lost, it could have trimmed the flab and ended on a high note with a longer season 4. Hopefully, the lesson of 'The X-Files' incredibly drawn out and tired demise were learned by the Fox network, and 'Fringe' will come to a graceful end once the current alternate universe arc is resolved. Personally, I think Peter should activate the machine and the two conflicting universes merge into one stable whole, sort of the best of both worlds, but that's merely my inner fanboy having his say. Undoubtedly, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by the ending in some way and feel the story has been naturally resolved, than watch something I enjoy stumble its way towards an untimely and unsatisfying end. The fact that this can happen simply because the creators are forced to participate in a financial, demographic and statistical sideshow each year by the networks actually makes me wonder why I bother with these shows in the first place.
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