'Fringe' Returns in New Friday Night Timeslot - Will It Be the End of the Series?

Fox’s “Fringe” returns to the air January 21st, with the first of six new episodes in a brand-new Friday 9 p.m. timeslot. Starring Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson, the J.J. Abrams series follows the work of a fictional FBI “Fringe Division,” which explores unusual crimes (many of which originate from a parallel universe) using fringe science and convoluted code-breaking methodologies.

Part “The X-Files,” part “Lost,” part “Quantum Leap,” "Fringe" is a huge cult hit with fans largely because of signature Abrams moves like including clues for hard-core fans to follow. Abrams told indie culture site Suicide Girls in 2009 that the glyphs displayed before commercial breaks, for example, contain clues for those motivated enough to look for them.

Despite driving a devoted following, Fringe has been a bit of a moving target for fans. In its first season, the showed aired Tuesdays at 9 p.m., before being moved over to a Thursday 9 p.m. timeslot.

The constant time shifting is not lost on Abrams, who apparently named the new episode "Firefly" with a wink-and-a-nod to the blink-and-it's-gone Joss Whedon sci-fi show with the same name.

"The people who get the joke will get the joke,” Abrams told NY Mag.

“It’s hard to celebrate a show’s move to Friday night. And yet when I look at what they’re doing … I believe it deserves an audience. And I think it will get one.”

Will the new timeslot stick or is the constant movement an indicator that the series is on its last legs?

If Yidio fans have anything to say about it, the show will stay on the air. While the show has never really caught on with network ratings, the show is currently the second most watched show on Yidio, behind “Jersey Shore.”

Potential Spoiler Alert: New Episode Entitled “Firefly”

According to Fox, in the new episode, “an Observer makes contact with the Fringe Team to help rectify a mistake. Meanwhile, Walter befriends Roscoe Joyce, keyboardist for Walter's favorite 1970s band, ‘Violet Sedan Chair.’ Walter will learn the real reason the band broke up, and realize that the lives of these two men, who have never met before, overlap in strange and unexpected ways.”