

Congratulations, fans! Dr. Bishop, Olivia Dunham, Peter and the entire crew from two universes will be back for another season.

Fox confirmed it has renewed “Fringe” for a fourth season, despite lower ratings and a move to Friday night. It was a pickup that had been speculated by a number of observers (including a story I wrote for The TV Addict back in February), and finally confirmed Thursday night by executive producer Joel Wyman on Twitter.

Fox later confirmed the news, according to Jace with Televisionary, as well as a 22-episode order.

It’s likely that “Fringe” will remain on Fridays, especially since it’s been Fox’s best-performing show on Friday in years. However, if it wants to see any more seasons, it really needs to build an audience.

“Fringe” is averaging a 2.9 rating/5 share in Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. through the end of February, down 33 percent from the year before. It’s television’s 80th most-watched show, tied with ABC’s now-cancelled “Supernanny.” It’s also the lowest-rated genre show on the Big Four networks, ahead of only “Vampire Diaries,” “Smallville” and “Supernatural” on The CW.

However, it has really been impressive on Fridays for Fox. “Fringe” averaged a 2.4/4 on Fridays, which is low compared to other shows, but almost a full ratings point higher than what Fox averaged in that timeslot the year before. It also was on-par with “Kitchen Nightmares,” which itself has been struggling, losing 44 percent of its audience from the previous year.

“Human Target” did post some halfway decent numbers in a two-hour episode that aired in January, but typically, Fox is competing with The CW on Fridays. With “Fringe,” the competition was more with ABC in its non-news, non-event programming.

“Fringe” airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.