How is Fringe Doing on Friday Night?

I was worried — like, really worried – when I heard they were moving ‘Fringe’ to Friday night – known in TV circles as “the Friday night death slot, where all good shows go to die.”

But my ratings guru and All the Rage podcast buddy Jason J. Hughes says the ratings held strong for the mid-season premiere last Friday. And after watching the show, my faith in its ability to survive was renewed.

It was a great episode with the always-fantastic John Noble turning in his always-fantastic performance as Walter Bishop, the kindly but scattered mad scientist who loves root beer floats, Red Vines and his stolen-from-the-other-universe son Peter.

Last week’s episode also featured Christopher Lloyd in a cool ‘Back to the Future’ type role involving the son he lost years earlier. The scenes with him and Walter were super, of course. He played an aging rock star whom Walter was a big fan of back in the day.

Here’s a little clip involving tonight’s episode, and it looks like we finally get to see the Doomsday Machine we’ve been hearing about. ‘Fringe’ producers J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner discuss the creation and destruction of the two universes.