
Someone call Leonard Nimoy: "Fringe" is free-falling right before Fox's eyes.
The second episode coming out of the Season 2 premiere hit a new low for "Fringe" Thursday, earning a 3.6 rating/6 share, according to Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co. That's down a whopping 23 percent from its already anemic season premiere, and could now be an early target for the ax.
It's not clear what might have hurt "Fringe" this week, except for the fact that ABC got huge ratings from its season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" which pulled in more than triple the audience that tuned in for "Fringe" with an 11.0/17, according to Zap2it. However, it can't really blame its "Bones" lead-in. That show earned a 5.5/9, 52 percent more than "Fringe."
The J.J. Abrams show really has its work cut out for it on Thursdays on Fox. Not only will it have to go head-to-head with "Grey's Anatomy," but it also is finding itself struggling against NBC's comedy block, which includes "The Office" and "Community." With a 4.4/7, "The Office" is NBC's biggest comedy right now, and only experience an 8 percent audience dropoff from its season premiere last week.
ABC also had a good start with its new genre drama "FlashForward" from former "Star Trek: Enterprise" co-creator Brannon Braga and "The Dark Knight's" David S. Goyer. The series premiere earned a not-too-shabby 7.7/13, which right now puts it on track to be the week's best-rated network genre program, but was by far ABC's lowest-rated show of the night, grabbing just 71 percent of "Grey's Anatomy's" total audience.
"FlashForward" is, however, boasting the fourth highest ratings on the network in terms of scripted programs behind the two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" and the series premiere of "Modern Family."
In the meantime, both "Vampire Diaries" and "Supernatural" remained steady, earning a 2.4/4 and a 1.7/3 respectively for The CW. "Supernatural's" audience dropped 10.5 percent from the previous week while "Vampire Diaries" dipped only 4 percent.
For the night, ABC won the night with a 9.8/16 thanks to "Grey's Anatomy," while Fox finished third with a 4.6/7.
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
About the Author:
Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha and the entire BlipNetwork. He owns Quantum Global Media Inc., the parent corporation of the BlipNetwork. He's a print journalist by day, and lives in Tampa, Fla.