Midseason rounds out with a rise and fall

FlashForward has shed more of its audience with the broadcast of its midseason finale, while Fringe has enjoyed some of its best numbers all year.

As most television series close up shop for the season, some returning in January and others after the major networks complete their coverage of the Winter Olympics, some of the last to go have had mixed news, according to analysis from The Hollywood Reporter.

FlashForward, which will now be returning at the beginning of March, continued its steady decline in the ratings, losing 8% of its audience with a figure of 7.2 million. The show will still resume broadcast before its fellow ABC series V, however, which returns at the end of the month.

Fringe, on the other hand, enjoyed a large uptick in its viewership, pulling in 6.9 million – the largest number since its season premiere. The show has been consistently beleaguered by poor ratings in its second season, leading many to suggest that it faced cancellation in the sweeps. As it is sponsored and produced by JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the trio largely responsible for the Star Trek revival (as well as, in parts, Transformers, Lost and other properties) however, the normal rules don’t seem to apply.

Whether FlashForward will benefit from the large gap, giving audiences a breather and allowing time for anticipation to build again, or if it will simply lose more by the thousands, remains to be seen.