Ratings In November 2010, Fox announced that
Fringe was being moved to Friday nights as a part of the network's midseason overhaul, to air after the fourth season of their reality series
Kitchen Nightmares. The move meant that
Fringe would be airing against
Supernatural, a show with a similar
science fiction genre, though this competition did not begin until
Fringes third Friday episode "
Concentrate and Ask Again". Fox's popular reality series
American Idol took
Fringes timeslot, as it was shifted a day later to Wednesdays and Thursdays. The episode was originally going to air on January 28 until it was moved to a week earlier, on January 21 behind the season premiere of
Kitchen Nightmares. "The Firefly" was the first
Fringe episode to broadcast in its Friday slot, and many journalists considered the pending viewership numbers critical for the future of the show. The episode was the most watched show of the night, earning a 1.9/6 share or about 4.88 million viewers in the 18–49 age group. This figure was slightly higher than the average viewership for
Fringe in the first half of the 2010-2011 television season, and 18% higher than the previous episode, "
Marionette". When
time shifted viewership over the following three days is considered, the episode received a 42% ratings increase with a 2.7 rating share, and within 7 days after its airing, reported a total of 6.7 million viewers with 2.8 rating, representing a 37% increase from the live broadcast.
Fringe and its lead-in show,
Kitchen Nightmares, resulted in Fox's highest rated Friday night with entertainment programs since 2008.
Reviews "The Firefly" was well received by critics who considered the episode to be backed by a strong script. Ken Tucker of
Entertainment Weekly considered "The Firefly" as one of the series' "finest episodes", calling on the show's many qualities:
The A.V. Clubs Zack Handlen rated the episode an "A" in considering the "elegance" of the complicated
Rube Goldberg-like plot, and praised the "beautiful, beautiful writing" in the reveal of the connection between Walter's actions and Roscoe's loss.
Times James Poniewozik also enjoyed the elegant plot, calling the episode "an impressive outing for the series to welcome back its fans with"; Poniewozik also appreciated John Noble's performance as he "made Walter's regret, and the toll it has taken, real—while also pulling off an amusing turn as an overawed, elderly rock fanboy". Andrew Hanson of the
Los Angeles Times, though somewhat confused to the cause-and-effect of the Observer's plot, he still found the show enjoyable, and called it "the
Fringe version of the
butterfly effect", a trope often used in other shows to show the impact of small changes in the characters' lives.
IGNs Ramsey Isler gave the episode a rating of 7.5/10, stating that was "an important part of the setup for the second half of the season" with strong character development, but felt the pacing was slow and needed more action.
Television Without Pity graded the episode a "B+".
The A.V. Club staff highlighted the episode in their review of the best television shows of 2011.
Awards and nomination At the
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, John Noble submitted "The Firefly", along with "
Entrada" and "
The Day We Died", for consideration in the
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category, but did not receive a nomination. ==References==