Dear FOX Broadcasting Company, Rupert Murdoch, and producers of Fringe:
I’m wondering if you’ve ever heard of DVRs? You know, the device that nearly 1/3 of people are now using to record content and watch at their leisure?
I’m only asking because last night, Tuesday, April 7, 2009, I decided to record the Fringe episode, Inner Child, but evidently because American Idol ran way over on time, I missed the last part of the episode, even though my DVR records an extra few minutes just for this reason.
Yeah, I know I can go to the FOX website and watch the episode, but you want me to install a goofy player, and it doesn’t even work with Google Chrome. I was, however, happy to see that you support Firefox, but why do I have to install anything in the first place?
I did check iTunes and found that I can purchase individual episodes for $2.99, but I was so frustrated at the end when the episode cutoff, and you have made it all too difficult through your website for me to really care. You see, I’m not much of a TV viewer anymore, especially because I can’t stand all the commercials.
I understand you have to pay the bills and production is expensive, but commercials are so out of date. Which by the way, I hope you are looking for alternative marketing for the future (have you seen what is happening to the newspaper industry?).
But I digress. I realize Fringe is not even in the same viewership galaxy as American Idol, and that brings me to my final thought. The real victim here is not me–I think it’s the writers, producers, and everyone else involved with Fringe.
For me, Fringe was probably the first series I’ve gotten excited about in quite a while. But because American Idol ran long, and you don’t make your content easily accessible without having to jump through hoops, I probably won’t go out of my way to catch another episode of Fringe, and I think that is sad.
I wonder how American Idol fans who tried to DVR last night’s episode feel. Unless they recorded Fringe, they missed the end too.
Sincerely,
Non-Fringe Viewer