Yeah, Fringe got pushed to the Friday night "death slot" here, so I think a significant number of people watch online after it airs, and may not make ratings. I'm guilty of that too, I guess-- I don't have a TV at college, and Hulu/Fox.com no longer put it up within the week, so I'm left to my own devices.
I think that's a good point about Bones... it was never about the humor for me, so when they decided to change the tone to be more humorous (somewhere around the end of season 4, although it was gradual), I mourned the loss of suspense and character depth a lot more than I appreciated the additional jokes and slapstick. I love humor in shows, but even for comedies I enjoy I never really care about the characters because they strike me as caricatures. Now I feel like I'm watching a comedy for which I formed the empathetic character bonds that I would normally only form for drama, meaning that when a character does something embarrassing (which is constant in Bones, since that's the type of comedy it is) I become viscerally embarrassed myself.
No more 2:30am LJ for me when I'm agitated
I think that's a good point about Bones... it was never about the humor for me, so when they decided to change the tone to be more humorous (somewhere around the end of season 4, although it was gradual), I mourned the loss of suspense and character depth a lot more than I appreciated the additional jokes and slapstick. I love humor in shows, but even for comedies I enjoy I never really care about the characters because they strike me as caricatures. Now I feel like I'm watching a comedy for which I formed the empathetic character bonds that I would normally only form for drama, meaning that when a character does something embarrassing (which is constant in Bones, since that's the type of comedy it is) I become viscerally embarrassed myself.