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Many fans have been begging Fox to move "Fringe" out of what they are calling a death slot in the middle of Thursday programming with some of the biggest competition there is. And Fox seems to be listening. At least for a single week.

"Fringe" will get a chance to lead-out from "House" on Fox Jan. 11 with a previously unaired episode from the first season called "Unearthed," according to The Fringe Report. The mythology obviously will be a little bit off from where it left off a couple weeks ago, and even will even have an appearance by Kirk Acevedo as Agent Charlie Francis, who was killed off at the beginning of the second season and replaced for a short time by a shapeshifter from Overthere.

Unfortunately, Fox doesn't plan on keeping the "House"/"Fringe" coupling permanent. The slot, which is now opposite the struggling "Heroes" on NBC, will be occupied by "24" the following week, carrying that slot through the rest of the season.

"Fringe" itself won't return until Jan. 14, airing a few new episodes up until the Winter Olympics, and then not return until April. That will keep the show on Thursdays, despite its struggles there which has some wondering if there will be a third season for the program put together by the brain trust of the latest "Star Trek" movie J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

"Fringe" has averaged a 3.8 rating/6 share in overnights, according to The Nielsen Co., down nearly 40 percent from the 6.3/10 it averaged last season.

Thursdays is one of the busiest nights on television, with networks averaging a 5.4/9 in non-news, non-event, first-run programming. That's led by an 8.8/14 from CBS and a 7.3/12 from ABC so far this season, with Fox taking third with a 4.9/8, thanks mostly to strong outings of "Bones." The daily rating is topped only by Sunday, which has averaged a 5.5/9 while Mondays and Tuesdays have finished with a 5.3/8 and a 5.1/8 respectively.

Although popular mid-season programming has yet to premiere for networks like Fox and ABC, CBS is leading all networks so far with a 7.2/12 average, followed by ABC with a 6.3/9. Fox -- which has been getting some CW-like numbers from shows like "Dollhouse" and "Brothers" -- is averaging a 4.1/7, just behind the 4.2/7 by NBC.

NBC is looking to get a bit of a boost from "Chuck" when it returns with back-to-back episodes Jan. 10, before settling into "Heroes'" old timeslot of 8 p.m. Mondays beginning Jan. 11. That day, "Heroes" will move an hour later to 9 p.m.