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Fan fury at Nine

Fringe fans got a bit of a rude shock last night when they found their show had vanished, and vented their anger via the internet.

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Fans of Fringe who were unaware the show had been pulled from Nine’s current schedule got a rude shock last night and vented their anger in online messageboards.

They were universally vehement in their displeasure with Nine’s programming.

This site alone now totals 95 posts in one thread alone.

Over on Nine’s own messageboard there were more furious comments:

Fringe Dweller: C’mon channel 9, have some balls and tell the people why Fringe has been pulled! Oh I’m sorry, you don’t care about what people like. Maybe we could lose one of the four hundred different versions of CSI. God Bless ‘Two and a Half man’ where would you be without them. Maybe you can rename yourselves to Channel Two and a Half Men CSI Malibu!!! Why I’m at it, you pulled Fringe and we still have to put up with that The Strip crap.

Derek: How can Fringe be cancelled when there is crap on that station like, The Chopping Block? Biggest Gordon Ramsey rip off there is! The Strip – Crap Australian attempt of a crime show. Why would anyone watch channel nine, when chances are another series will be cancelled. Oh well lets crank up the torrens, Why it just wasn’t moved to another night, were it would have faired better? no brains

Matt: Guys at channel 9 , have you ever wondered how things Grow? Back in the day before our limited forsight was the rule of the day. Things where left to grow and gain an Audience. People didnt have to “hunt” for there favourite shows there where there week in week out and allowed to grow. Please allow Fringe this honor. Till then I like the people below will be boycotting you

Tania J:… I guess after having this happen so many times now Fringe is the final straw for me if they don’t bring it back i swear channel nine will just have to go without me as a viewer not that its a gigantic loss to them but i know i’m not the only one who’s fed up…..

“Captain Feathersword” seemed to sum it up: I don’t think I’ve yet made it through a complete season of anything in this country. Thank God for bittorrent.

Nine’s only clarification on the show is that its fastracked episodes have been interrupted by the US election (it still has one unaired episode), but said The Mentalist would move into the slot, leaving the show in limbo. Since then Nine has announced on November 5th The Mentalist will go unaired due to the election too, replaced by CSI: NY.

Source: ninemsn.com.au

48 Responses

  1. Sephiroth_FF, the US elections is a perfectly good excuse, as FOX will take a few weeks off, however if they let people know about these breaks, people will understand that it is not nine’s fault, which it usually is, and that they will return the show asap. But of course, that is too simple for 9 to understand.

  2. Why do Tv stations in Australia keep canceling good shows. I was actually enjoying US Kath & Kim and it was pulled by channel 7, now after Googleing to find out why , I find my favorite on channel 9 Fringe has been pulled also. Why the hell do Stations keep doing this it sucks and really annoys you. At least give the shows some time before you get rid of them. No wonder people go to pay TV. Thank God for the internet is all I can say. At least I can still watch the programs the stupid TV stations pull. AT least give people some warning you are going to pull something and give us repeat after repeat . Sick and tired of this and disgusted.

    While I am at it why on earth to stations let there stupid dance with the starts and other like programs run over time. People spend good money to buy set top boxes etc that allow you to record a program automatically only to find that they miss the ending of a show because the previous ran over time. Get it together TV stations or you’ll loose at lot more viewers.

  3. The US elections is a pathetic excuse to use, especially considering that it’s not even here yet. And why on earth is Australia making a big deal over the elections anyway? It’s not like we’re getting a new president.

  4. I reckon the tv networks (mostly Nine) are in collusion with some of the dvd producers for these shows because they show some of the season before axing it & then a week or so later the ad for the dvd set is on tv, so anyone not familiar with channel BT is kinda forced to go out & buy the dvds to see the rest of the season. Damages is a good example of this, others are Nip/Tuck & Outrageous Fortune.
    Really wondering what the future of ‘free to air’ tv is with antics like this from networks & the fact that so many people dload tv eps from the net instead, then theres alternates like Foxtel, dvds & gaming to draw people away from FTA. Another factor in why these shows arent rating is surely the insane amount of advertising that makes any shows in peak timeslots not worth watching unless you do time shifting (record it & watch back later) so as to forward through the ads. The only live tv i watch now is after 10.30pm when there is less ads, thats if im not busy catching up on shows recorded earlier or the night before etc

  5. The way I see it the real problems for FTA are really biting. Having this pulled didnt bother me..why. When I saw the ads, realised it was scifi and wouldnt appeal to the ch7 55+ viewers I new it wouldnt last. I didnt even bother, they wont grow an audience let alone service a niche, even a big one. This show looked ok so I will wait for Fox to pick it up (this is what I do with Prison Break & 24 – why anyone bothers to deal with ch7 on these two is beyond me) or get a dvd of the season when it comes out. I really dont care that much about ‘fasttracking” – within reason, I just need to know it will actually be shown and not be insulted with time changes and my absolute favourite ‘a non rating period rest’ – like they should be able to dictate when I want to watch things.

  6. @ Cameron

    Blame the viewers? Oh that’s rich. Channel nine is well regarded as the worst station when it comes to yanking shows off the air, and not caring for the viewer at all. People just don’t trust them, and with these types of shows, they require viewers to watch nearly every episode to follow, and if this cannot be guaranteed due to them taking the show off without a moment of notice, then why would they bother? The loyalty to the network, and the others, is getting slimmer, and if they don’t repair this, they can only expect their shows to get less and less ratings for every new one they try.

  8. This show was alright and I was not shocked by it getting the bone. It lasted 5 episodes unlike the 1 or 2 that usually air before getting yanked off. The show never managed 1 million viewers and 671,000 viewers for an 8:30pm slot on commercial television is too few to keep the show on air. Any tv network executive would take off a poor rating show and I would of done the same thing even if Fringe was a favourite.

    If there is anyone to blame in all this, blame the viewers for not watching, if they were, Fringe would have had 1.4 million+ instead of 671,000. At least The Mentalist had an extra 300k. The networks are only replacing and swapping shows due to a lack off viewers. Maybe the networks and viewers need to meet in the middle. Watch the show and not get taken off. For Fringe it was not watch and get taken off.

    I thought Fringe had a lot of promotion and being on for 5 weeks was enough to gain an audience especially a strong one but to go down to 671,000 shows that it did not build an audience. What is the point of airing a show that has so few viewers when another show can do better. The Mentalist is a better fit for the timeslot and is a great show too. It seem like Fringe was a failure in Australia.

    At least Fringe is another show saved for summer which is just over a month away.

  9. After changing the timeslot from Sunday night to Wednesday, Mentalist lost almost half a million (!) viewers. Do the math, Nine. Put Fringe instead of Mentalist on Sunday nights, and it’ll get well over a million viewers. For heavens’ sakes, look at the numbers the dull Midsomer Murders on ABC used to gather at 8:30 on Sundays!

  11. Agree with everything being said and more! I would also like to say Channel Nine, this is thing called BitTorrent that’s stealing your advertiser appealing under 40’s demo, is payback for the treatment of West Wing and Six Feet Under for so many years.

    Also, what all major networks need to understand moving forward, is that, because of the way modern media works, with a raft of ideas for every fan base out there, if something doesn’t interest us viewers on TV at 7.30pm, we will switch off. We will find another source of entertainment. We will find a reliable, ready now program that we can view on our terms. So what if it’s part of Generation Now, that’s the advertiser’s pay dirt demos and that’s what the programmers need to realise.

    So I completely agree with those people who suggest running late night comedy, late night drama, late night sci-fi blocks or utlising the HD channels. As a long serving Buffy fan, we will stay up for the shows if you keep them in place and you can, Advertising Departments, be assured of some very attractive, target specific demos to sell your ad space in. Sure, the figures won’t top the million mark, but would you rather target specific, intelligent A-B demos to speak to or 1.2m repeat CSI Miami watchers?

  12. David’s comment “Nine says Fringe is not back until summer.” if true, is apt.

    Nine will have that much shelved programme in their warehouse to run over summer – only problem is ‘we have cricket, so shows will be on ONE week then off the next…

    Anyway as I have said before, IF there is choice between all networks at same time and I am undecided NINE loses out because THEY do not value my loyalty.

    10 years ago , Nine was The One.
    By this time next year, it might be a nonentity as ‘2 and half men , ramsay and csi been done to death…

    Chances are Seven,Ten and ABC licking licks and rolling out new product next yearand people will give Nine the flick.

  13. I agree that networks should definitely take advantage of the late-night timeslots. Channel 7 built up a huge late-night following a few years back when they had Buffy, Angel and Felicity Mon-Wed at 10.30pm. I’m surprised they arent trying to do this now.

    Ch 7 could do late-night comedy line ups (30 Rock and Scrubs would fit well together and the audience is already used to these being on late), or former ‘high fliers’ Prison Break, Heroes and Lost so that they remain on the air. Ch 9 could air ER (remember ER channel 9, it used to be #1), Fringe, and plenty of other shows that they have cut. Ch 10 could squeeze in 90210, Burn Notice, etc.

    It could be the new ‘primetime’ for loyal viewers. Im currently o/s and the high rating shows are screened at 10pm rather than 8.30pm.

    I presonally think one network should cut their 7pm weeknight program and start airing their hour-long programs earlier (they could potentially win ratings with four programs back-to-back – 7pm, 8pm, 9pm and 10pm). What would I know, though?

  15. Put Fringe on at 10.30 for crying out loud! it makes no sense, take off a big American drama and screen absolute s*** like how to have sex after marriage, i dunno wats goin on with these networks but somethings should be done really, u buy a show, promote the hell out of it and leave it on for a whole season, its not like it had no viewers.

  17. The good old “it’ll be back in the summer” line.

    Problem is, “summer” in TV terms is not only not long enough to show a whole season – guaranteeing the show will be pulled mid-season again – but this traditional “non ratings period” is just as prone to random axings and schedule shuffling as the rest of the year these days (e.g. Big Bang Theory, which started airing in summer, made it to 4 episodes and has never been seen on Nine again).

    I’m downloading episode 4 of season TWO of Pushing Daisies – in 720p high definition that’ll look better than what Nine calls “HD” anyway – right as I type this. Nine plans to show the strike-shortened season 1 “in the summer”. A waste of yet another high quality US show that is really, really worth the download bandwidth for those yet to see it.

  18. What a bunch of idiots.

    They show enough episodes for people to get interested, then can it.

    By the time they show it again, people will have downloaded the whole series off the net and passed around to all there family and friends.

    Everyone will have seen the whole series already and not worry about watching it.

    Epic fail nine.

  19. Australian free-to-air television really seems to die after the 9.30 slot. What ever happened to the days of the graveyard timeslot? Surely the networks can start to cultivate the post-9.30 timeslot into something more than How To Have Sex After Marriage or a Just Shoot Me repeat and start to screen shows like Fringe or Sarah Conner Chronicles at 10.30 or 11.30. Seven are not bad with this post-9.30 timeslot, but really, Ten and Nine need to pull up their socks. Otherwise, put shows on HD, that’s what it’s there for. If they are going to wait and show it during the non-rating Summer period, then what difference does it make to put it on the non-rating HD channels?

  20. There’s plenty of info on torrents out there on sites, messageboards etc. and while I’m happy for torrents to be discussed in general (because that’s news) I don’t republish specific links etc. As I’m sure you appreciate I maintain working relationships with all networks which would be jeopardised by becoming a facilitator of what it still seen to be illegal. It’s a balancing act, really…

  21. perhaps its time tv tonight bit the bullet & made a info guide on how to use torrents , or send em to sites, were all over shows gettin cut all the time , the networks need to grow up , hopefully they will go broke.
    if they like it or not bittorrent is here to stay & its much easier than most people think . time to do a bit of searching people & theres a whole world of tv shows & stuff we dont even get here out there , so make bittorrent your new tv guide & never worry bout networks , adverts & shows being cancelled again

  22. Just give up on FTA channels being able to screen an entire season of any new show. Get shows off the Internet or wait for the DVD, that’s the only real viewing option, rather than get screwed over as viewers again and again and again. Enough is enough.

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