RENEWAL ALERT: Fringe

In a somewhat surprising development, FOX has renewed the cult favorite but low rated Fringe for next season, which will be the show's fourth. Fringe had a very loyal but small audience on Thursday night for the fall and as a result, was moved to Fridays. Though the ratings went down, it has been an improvement over recent FOX Friday entries. However, the most recent episode fell to a season low in the demo. But it has a very vocal grassroots movement and FOX has to be thinking it will continue on Friday. Through 17 episodes, it has averaged 4.6 million viewers and a 1.7 in the demo.

Fringe joins Glee, Raising Hope, Hell's Kitchen, and all of their animated lineup except Bob's Burgers as early renewals. This renewal does not help the chances of FOX's other bubble dramas as FOX has many spots filled on its schedule including new series X-Factor and Terra Nova as well as sure bets House and Bones. In big jeopardy now are Lie to Me, The Chicago Code, and Human Target. Traffic Light is as good as gone, Bob's Burgers is on shaky ground, while Million Dollar Money Drop could be back and Kitchen Nightmares probably will be back in some capacity.