The Hollywood trades are reporting that the Fox Network has picked up the option on a full season order for J.J. Abrams’ science fiction series Fringe.  The order means nine more episodes of the series will be produced and will air during the second half of the current television season.

Fox’s action is in response to the show’s strong performance in the ratings.  After solid ratings for the two-hour pilot, Fringe did extremely well when paired with Fox’s hit series House in an early season debut (see "Fringe Up in Second Week").  Ratings cooled somewhat when the competition got stiffer, but they have shown steady gains in the past two weeks and Fringe is attracting about 10.7 million total viewers and is tops among all the freshmen series in the coveted 18-47 demographic.  Fringe is the second new series to receive a full season pick-up—the CW’s Beverly Hills 90210 was the first.

DC Comics is publishing a comic book series based on the Fringe TV series under its Wildstorm imprint (see “DC to Publish Fringe Comic”), though a recent announcement from the publisher stated that orders for the second, third, and fourth issues have been cancelled though they will all be resolicited.  Fringe #2 is now slated for release in January, and Fox’s decision to opt for a full season pick-up means that the TV series will be airing in 2009 to support the Fringe comic book series.