How Disappointed Are You In S4?

**jdwpi28** · 11-12-2011, 12:02 PM

First of all, let's get one thing out of the way. I can complain about the show. There are so many people here who lament 'fair weather fans' who don't like everything the show does. Hey folks, the show has sucked for a while now. And it's been so bad, whoever in charge of this debacle knew the only way to attempt to save the patient was to completely throw out the old story line because so much of it didn't make sense. Unfortunately S4 has been more of the same in my opinion.

First of all, we are six episodes into S4. Six! Can anybody tell me something that has added to the plot of S3? The answer is no, you cannot. I liked Walter because of his personality and interaction with Peter. Gone. Same for Olivia. The Peter story line of him being "missing" went on far too long, everybody knew Josh Jackson was still with the show, why are you getting rid of a star character for several shows. Makes no sense.

And my opinion is clearly a wide-held one, because the ratings of this show are tragic. A 1.1? Laughable. There's just no bottom, either. The fanboys and girls here (The same ones who say you can't criticize the show) said the floor was 2.0. Then 1.5. Then 1.2. What is it now? It's 0. We are approaching zero viewers. The question is, is there a number where it becomes laughable for Fox to run the show. To me, under 1.0 is a mental crushing for Fox. That is in CW territory. But we are so close! One of these weeks, we are going to see 0.9, and it's going to be sooner rather than later.

My only hope is somehow this entire new timeline is thrown away. Why are we still doing yet ANOTHER MOTW ep? This is 4/6 this season with virtually zero central plot development after what I thought was the strongest showing last week. Why are we going through this? Nobody wants CSI v3.0, after S2 that became obvious. You can do so much in 22 episodes to have made this show have a good ending, but yet again, the producers are going to throw away 16-18 episodes and have to cram in the last 4-6. Happens every year it seems.

So my question is, how disappointed are you in S4? Or do you love that the writers threw everything you knew to be true out the window to cover their mistakes? Do you feel like you're waiting for things to go back to how they used to be? To me, they must return to the old timeline. I just seriously hope that's done before ep 20 so we can have some sort of mental conclusion to this debacle....

**ShogunOrta** · 11-12-2011, 12:25 PM

Eh, personally, I feel that the show attempted a bold move with a very Very complex story arc. But sometimes the story can become so complex that it becomes as draining for the television audience as it is for the characters on the show. So is it good that the audience is so ardently feeling the frustration and mental confusion that the characters are themselves? Eh, in a purely existential way, yes. But when it is presented in the form of, here is this hour long weekly program we want you to watch, but if you're going to eake out any relevance from it, then you have to solve (or wrap your head around) the show's mystery plot (which will be a task as tough for you as it is the characters on the show) - then yeah, I could see a lot of people bailing from Fringe if it keeps going this far down the Rabbit Hole. The only people left aren't even die hard fans but merely jokers who want their weekly fix of hour-long-mind-frack! So yeah, in a way I'm not disappointed in this season. This show was made for the college professor, or physics student, or primarily intellectual type. So happens I fit in at least two of those roles, so I'm on board till the wheels fall off! But yeah, in a previous post I had wished that they wrapped this whole new plot up within the first 6 shows and stop rehashing some ideas.

Just remember, introducing the Fibbonicci sequence as a plot device is cool up till the point that you realize it means rehashing old plot devices and slightly tweaking them...

And finally, how many households is 1.1 rating anyway? Does anyone know what the show's rating was at its best?

**ShogunOrta** · 11-12-2011, 12:27 PM

I mean, seriously, I think JJ and the writers, producers, of this show knew what they were getting into when they called the show "Fringe".

**RETLAW** · 11-12-2011, 12:29 PM

I long for the build up and character development of Season 2.
I really felt we had something special going there.

And finally, how many households is 1.1 rating anyway? Does anyone know what the show's rating was at its best?

It used to get as high as 10 million viewers in Season 1. Season 4's premiere got 3.48 million viewers, and that was 1.5.

Edit: Just over 3 million viewers (last column)

9:00	CBS	CSI: NY	1.7/5	10.16
	NBC	Grimm	1.5/5	5.19
	ABC	Extreme Makeover Home Edition	1.1/3	5.58
	FOX	Fringe	1.1/3	3.07
	CW	Supernatural	0.8/2	1.79

**tricked** · 11-12-2011, 12:35 PM

I flat don't like the way Peter is handling his situation. I don't understand why he isn't going over every single detail that is now different. He's just taking it in stride like a moron. He should be going over case files, getting up to speed on the new history, seeing what matches up and what doesn't. I can understand his discretion, but his complete lack of interest in trying to understand how the two sides are now formed is beyond me and I think dumbs down the mythos. Too much belief to suspend. It's becoming more and more SyFy level quality. Imho.

**Mancha** · 11-12-2011, 12:54 PM

Well in my opinion, I'm not disappointed in season 4 at all. The pacing is just right for me. *Feel free to shred me on this. My feelings won't be squashed;*

~Mancha~

**ShogunOrta** · 11-12-2011, 01:02 PM

Well, I suppose Peter couldn't do all that when they had him locked up, Tricked.

**dolemite** · 11-12-2011, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by tricked

I flat don't like the way Peter is handling his situation. I don't understand why he isn't going over every single detail that is now different. He's just taking it in stride like a moron. He should be going over case files, getting up to speed on the new history, seeing what matches up and what doesn't. I can understand his discretion, but his complete lack of interest in trying to understand how the two sides are now formed is beyond me and I think dumbs down the mythos. Too much belief to suspend. It's becoming more and more SyFy level quality. Imho.

i think he just needs Walters help. so as soon as Walter gets over his silent treatment phase then maybe Peter can figure everything out

i cant be too critical of s4, because really i had no idea what to expect after s3 finale

i'm just gonna watch and enjoy... the ******** is still interesting to me and i cant find anything else that holds my interest on tv currently

this is not a new show, the writers sat down in a room and plotted out the whole season and knows what will happen, we only have a piece of it ...so much of the stuff we see wont make sense because we dont know the big picture

**Ironheart** · 11-12-2011, 01:06 PM

How disappointed am I in Season 4? Not very at all, really. I'm enjoying the ride still, and I can always appreciate the magnificent acting from all the main characters in the show. I never tire of watching John Noble absolutely mastering the complex and confusing emotions of Walter, and I have a brand new appreciation for Joshua Jackson. The story has been consistently good throughout the entire series as well. The writers have always been able to draw parallels between the main characters and the fringe events, they've been able to humanize enemies and demonize friends in simple, elegant strokes. There have been bumps along the way, and there have been plot devices that haven't panned out the way the writers have planned, but that's the beauty of television. Writers get to scrap a story line and work on something different if they want, they're not stuck to one path like they are in a movie.

The goal of this show is to entertain me for an hour every week. The show has met that, and then some with way I find myself thinking of what's coming next.