Fringe - TV Guide: Ask Matt Apr 9 '12

Source: TV Guide [follow link for complete column]



TV GUIDE: Ask Matt: Cougar Town, Dancing With the Stars, Friday TV Logjam, Bubble Shows and More


Apr 9, 2012
by Matt Roush

Send questions to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow on Twitter!

... Question: I've found myself with a problem: too many Friday night programs to keep up with. I thought Fridays were a "bad" night for TV and only bad programs were sent there to fade away. Yet, there I am wanting to watch Nikita, Supernatural, Grimm, Fringe, Blue Bloods, Fairly Legal, In Plain Sight, Who Do You Think You Are? and now The Finder. And with the Sacramento CBS affiliate running with an earlier prime time, the 9 pm time slot is super full. It's the only night of the week that my DVR can't record all of the programs I want to watch, and using On-Demand and iTunes is the only way I can keep up — no other night of TV has this many programs I enjoy. So what's the deal: Are Fridays making a comeback? Is it only because there is no reality TV on Fridays? Or am I just an odd case with my program preferences — wait, don't answer that one. (Ha!) Would appreciate your insight and thoughts.

— Joe H



Matt Roush: For a while now, I've been referring to Fridays as "cult night," where shows that attract a small but intensely passionate following have been scheduled so as to do the least damage to the rest of the week's lineup. That's the reasoning for shows like Fringe and Grimm airing in the same time period on this night (opposite Supernatural, which is a natural for Fridays as well). Airing on any other night, they would probably be long gone — except on The CW, where ratings are so low across the board it's often hard to know where they set the bar — but shows designated for Fridays tend to be given a fairly long leash to satisfy the niche viewer. Expectations aren't so high, which can turn out to be a blessing. CBS is an exception to this rule, because they have a core loyal audience that is as likely to watch TV on Fridays as on any other night, and Blue Bloods is a success by almost any measure (except maybe in demographics). It's gratifying to see so much interesting TV on Fridays, including on cable — and viewers who find themselves overbooked on Fridays can take some comfort in the fact that they're probably not settling for the same old same old you can find nearly every other night of the week.