FRINGE on FOX - Page 2

I was somewhat underwhelmed by the premiere. I know the pilot has been making the rounds and others already watched it. But I went into it pretty much cold, having just seen commercials. I had read many mentions of the "two hour pilot" - even in yesterday's newspaper. Not sure if any of the show was trimmed, or if it was just the commercials, to get it into last night's 95 minute timeslot.

Biggest issue I had with the show was the three leads. Didn't feel any chemistry, some bad dialogue and banter. And that really made the middle of the show feel slow to me. After a good opening, it bogged down as we have to suspend disbelief in how these three come to work together. Blackmailing the son to get to the father. Going along with any crazy idea the father has, fulfilling any request he has.

Lots of incompetence and lack of security, a la the CTU to move the story along. Suspect can just sneak out the back door. Suspects can be tortured or killed. We have to believe that this agent can do whatever she wants, and bring the Bishops, two civilians, along for the ride. That the Bishops are privy to everything about the case.

So this premiere did not grab me like Lost. To me it was more like the premieres of Threshold, Surface, Invasion, Jericho. Just okay, good enough to stick around for awhile, but who knows if I'll be on board at the end of the year.

But you can't always judge based on the pilot. And I can say that at the end of the premiere, with just a so-so feeling about Fringe - that when they showed the "this season on Fringe" preview, it did pique my interest. So I'll hope that the show connects with me a little better in the coming weeks. Perhaps just accepting that these three are working together, they'll be involved in some intriguing mysteries, that are fun to watch.

Liked it. Lots of potential. Could be really fun. Or could dwindle into nothing fairly quickly. Just like the other new show I'm watching, Sons of Anarchy. Both are better than True Blood.

Cloverfield was a big success, and many people liked it.

Alias was successful enough to last 5 seasons (3 of which were even good!).

Felicity was a successful show with a lot of fans.

So, I'd say just the opposite - including MI:3, there's not a dud on his directing resume at all, nor on his recent writing resume. I've liked just about everything he's done, and really liked quite a bit of it.

Although I'd be very interesting to find out how much of the final ARMAGEDDON script was his work. That pile of poop sure sticks out on his credits.

Me too. I have a pretty low tolerance for bad shows/films, but I thought FRINGE made Abrams 3-for-his-last-3 on outstanding pilots (someone else will have to grade FELICITY's pilot). The lead reminds me of a young Cate Blanchett, which is definitely a good thing. Giving Lance Reddick from THE WIRE and LOST another job shows good taste. The action was well done, the plot moved along briskly, and they even managed to surprise me once or twice. Bottom line is that at the end, I wanted to see where they go next, which means that it worked for me.

But hey, as long as it does well enough to continue (and not get tinkered-with-to-death like ALIAS), I'd have no problem with it not being a mainstream hit. A lot of the people who bitched and moaned about LOST were people that really never should have been watching in the first place. If FRINGE can skip that phase, great.

Liked it. Loved the Yoyodyne-esque billboard. There does seem to be a chemistry/charisma vaccuum with the cast though. Eh, it remains on the dvr for now.

Ill continue watching it but I thought it was really badly paced and occasionally dull.

Also whats with them doing whatever they want. I particuraly loved it when Jackson started crushing the prisoners hand with a coffe mug. I guess the guards were cool with that.


Also the female lead is a dull static character that was not interesting at all.


Certainly nowhere near the pilot level of Lost or its very similiar cousin X-Files.

There were a lot of holes for sure. Getting this guy out of the loony bin, getting him this lab. The fact that Stieb or Stief or whatever the terrorists name was was not under watch by half of a battalion, etc. Or Pacey getting in and busting fingers. None of it. But I don't think it matters. They needed to get to the point we're at now: team is set and ready to tackle crazy shit every week. It's just television. I'm more forgiving of these pilot antics than in a film. Sure, the great ones, your Sopranos, Mad Men, The Shield, they don't waste opportunities for drama in their pilots. But that's rare.

I'm a sucker for X-Files type shows so I watched this last night. Overall I would give it a 6/10. Very medicore, I was expecting so much more. I thought Noble was fantastic and was by far the highlight of the show. Between his lines and his delivery he really stole the episode. I also thought Jackson was pretty good. He's best when playing the all-knowing dick and he did it well. I also liked his Jack Bauer moment, didn't see it coming and he pulled it off well.

Olivia bothered me. She has no presence or acting ability. Boring, boring, boring. At least she's easy on the eyes or else she'd be a total waste. When she was trying to stand up to Reddick she came across as a total wimp and unbelievable.

But the show has potential. I love the concept of a company cashing in on Fringe science and there being an underlying "wave" of science and technology coming that is close to madness and cannot be stopped/controlled. The previews of future episodes convinced me to watch a few more. We'll see.

Instead of "Sweetheart," Jackson's line should have been "Toots." At least then it would have been a little funny.

Am I the only one who thought the lead was pretty good?

I'm pretty neutral. She did the job, and didn't stand out, in one way or the other.

I liked her. Pretty hard to judge based on a pilot, I want to see how she progresses as the season goes on, but she was alright.

I thought she was an attractive blandoid, similar to the entire cast of CLOVERFIELD. Not bad, not interesting, not really anything at all.

When she pulled up to the security gate at the crash site and said, "Dunham, F.B.I.", I chuckled. Not a good sign.

What did people like about her? She seemed like the ultimate amalgam of Styrofoam FBI character cliches.

The premiere got a rather disappointing (read: pretty bad) 9m viewers (compared to Lost's 18.65m). Not exactly a flying start, but it will have House as its lead in next week.

If it doesn't hold on House's lead-in numbers after 2 weeks, it's dead. Fox just doesn't have the patience for a show to build an audience.

Unless a pilot grabs me by the shirt collar and insists on being totally awesome from the very first opening (like the BSG pilot), I usually reserve my own personal enthusiasm until the show proves its legs. This was pretty good, with some great parts, and the concept works. The chopped-up teaser at the end of the episode made the rest of the season look like greatness.

I just realized that the agent named Charlie was Joe Toye from "Band of Brothers," so they get some points for that, too.

I'm going to have to second the guy from the first page who said the lost suspense music really took me out of the show. That might be why i'm kinda 'meh' about it.

Originally Posted By: Farsight
No I understand the guy is a money maker but so is Brett Ratner and Michael Bay. Now don't get me wrong I don't think he is nearly as bad as either of there two im just saying that I really only watched this show because they did the whole "from the creator of Lost" campaign in front of it. But looking back over it I realized that the guy has been working quite a while now and the only thing thats actualy been good was Lost.

Yeah Alias had it's couple seasons......then went into major free fall.

Yes Cloverfield made money but I do feel there was a bit of a back lash against it. I mean yes it was shot from the perspective of the person on the street.......then what?

Felicity I might like more if I was 14. And apparently 14 year olds are very sensitive because at some point the girl cuts her hair and people stopped watching.

Now MI3 wasn't horrible but it wasn't that great and it dind't gross much(although that can be blamed on Tom Cruise)

Wow I just rewatched the Fringe trailer on Youtube and I just noticed that it was written by the writers of Transformers...........how did I miss that?! Well that explains alot.

And he was Alvarez in OZ!

I thought the pilot was decent enough to check out another episode or two. I didn't really care for how willing the lady agent was to do whatever Crazy Scientist told her to do. Unless they were trying to set her up as a maverick or something (which didn't seem to be the case, otherwise), it didn't make sense.

The pilot was decent enough to make me give it a few more weeks to see if it pans out but I agree with Snaieke, the Lost style music shouldn't have been added.

Also, they Bishop tells Olivia you can even talk to dead people for six hours and right when her boyfriend died I immediately thought she should just tap into his head to figure out the meaning of his cryptic remarks. I mean hell, she somehow got everything else she asked for before that point, why couldn't she borrow a body for a few hours?

I watched it again, wanted to see the (non)differences from the pre-air. I don't think it's as good as I initially thought. Probably due to new pilot syndrome, where excitement overrides logic.

Still thought it was great fun, but the niggles were a little more niggly this time round. Dunham's acting was a little more off. Bishop Jr.'s quips were a little more annoying. Bishop Sr.'s transition was a little more jarring. The plot leaps a little harder to swallow.

I loved Fringe and I am curious in the previews what the pregnant broad will be giving birth to an alien or some kinda mutant freak? Love the show. Can't wait til Tuesday gets here!

I don't like you.

Finally got around to watching it tonight...it pushes the right buttons for me, plot-wise, so I'll stick around for 4 or 5 episodes, at least. But like others, I found Dunham kind of bland. Surprising, as a strong female lead is kind of one of the the hallmarks of an Abrams TV production.

Oh, and I hope they cut Paddy Chayefsky's estate a check for the heavy Altered States homage.

They even used Blair Brown fer chrissake!

This reminded me most of all those mediocre Lost inspired scifi shows that came out a few years back like Threshold, Surface and Invasion.

What I found most amusing was in the mind reading scene when the line "You'll be put naked into a rusty tank of water" was repeated a few times. As if being naked was the scary part of the plan. And then she goes into the tank and she's not naked.

a) To my knowledge it wasn't repeated at all.
b) When Charlie is talking to Dunham, Bishop Sr. clearly says "you can keep your underwear on" (paraphrasing).
c) Bishop Jr. constantly quips and snarks at the dangers of the plan, far more than any nude references. Whether it be the home baked LSD or the whatever.

Conclusion: people who go into something really not interested in enjoying it on any level will find anything to hate at.

Being a Lost fan i'm going to watch this. Just downloaded the pilot so i'll maybe watch it in the next few days.

I thought it was ok. I didn't mind Olivia, and i liked Noble quite a lot. Jackson needs to die though. And i'm not talking about the character.

The opening was fantastic. And the little bits and pieces of bigger conspiracies were good. It's filled with plot holes and really bad dialogue. But there is potential.

I really loved the bionic arm and transparent Valley. I'll keep watching for now.

I'm getting a really strong 'Strange World' vibe from this show. If the pregnant woman in the second episode is pregnant with a cloned organ, then I'm done.

I liked it a lot. My reaction was similar to Kirby's, in that there were a lot of standard pilot shenanagins but they at least set up an interesting show. I like the idea of fringe/pseudoscience more than the monsters and aliens stuff of "The X-Files," so I was digging this throughout. Obviously, the reason to watch the show is the banter between Noble and Jackson (who I've liked for a while and I'm glad he got to have a decent "adult" role, although his performance was kind of Clooney-esque. Early Clooney. ER Clooney.), but the blonde agent didn't grate on me as much as I'd heard.

I thought it wasn't as good as the Lost pilot, but it was better than Alias and Felicity. However, those first two shows lost my interest midway through the first season, so we'll see how this develops.

But for now, I'll keep watching.

It was okay, and it set up an interesting enough premise that I'll keep watching for at least a few more episodes. I hadn't read this thread before watching it this weekend, and most of the things that bothered me are already outlined here so there's no reason to keep hammering those home. But after it was done my wife and I looked at each other and said "that was all right" and both decided we should keep it on our record list and watch a few more.

I watched it a second time on Sunday (I'd only seen the pre-air pilot with LOST's music and a couple less scenes). I love that the whole point of the pilot was to save the villain.

I also really liked the female lead. She's understated, but you could see her becoming more and more erratic and desperate as the show goes along. She also did an excellent job of conveying childlike wonder when she first popped into the shared dreamstate. Plus, she's quite pretty, without making it seem like the FBI hires from a modelling agency. I'm surprised at the negative reaction to her.

I was trying to explain this to a friend, but he'd never heard of Altered States. The best I could give him was that the end of the 'Take on Me' music video was a sort of homage.

I only watched Fringe because my friend with a working washer and drier wanted to watch it. I wasn't hugely impressed, but the scope seems interesting and the production values are impressive. I also liked the pilot's jaw falling off at the beginning. I know nothing of Lost, and am only a passing X-Files watcher, so my opinion should be taken as a layman's.

You can get the internet in a cave?

I know! It's great! I've even got cable down here!

I'm really enjoying this show so far. No reservations. The "Is that you, son?" at the end was actually kinda suprisingly touching. I hope there's an overarching plan for the thing.

Well still haven't found it, so I will say it again: they really need a hyperlinked site.

Joshua Jackson's character was way less grating this week. Decent second ep.

Noble is really fantastic. If the show slips in quality (I doubt it) I could watch just for him.

So what was that at the end? I saw something like 3 guys in hospital beds? Also we get a mystery surrounding Jackson. Is he a clone or spam made sentient? Tune in next week to find out.

I thought it was 3 more of pituitary guy. I loved the blase way Noble asked if Jackson had any cocaine when the girl was arresting.

I still find Noble's mad scientist act annoying, Jackson miscast, Reddick underutilized, and Olivia to be a nothing of a character. The cases have felt generic and there's been no kick or thrill from the pseudo-scientifiic methods used to solve them. A mediocre beginning that already feels like it's an auto-pilot.

I enjoyed the show (just watched the pilot and second ep off DVR). The overall crazy science vibe won me over, and the little hints at the bigger picture are intriguing. Not sure of the hate for any of the leads, as I thought they were all adequate (at worst), and Noble was fantastic.

Just finished watching the first two episodes, and I am liking this quite a bit. The wacky science stuff is pretty fascinating (if a tad unbelievable, but it's a sci-fi show, so I'll suspend disbelief). I'm also loving the banter between Jackson and Noble- I could watch a whole show of just them arguing over the most mundane things. That opening scene with the accelerated birth sequence? FREAKY.

Lance Reddick continues to be great (as usual), and Anna Torv makes an adequate lead. The gradual unfolding of the inner machinations of Massive Dynamic intrigues me, as well as the possibility of Pacey being a clone?

Definitely sticking with this for now. It has great potential- I pray they don't screw it up.

Jackson's suckness is balanced nicely by Noble's amusingness. At this point, what Fringe has going for it is tons of potential, and it's not a bad diversion while it gets it's footing. They could really turn this into something cool, or they could flounder along until it gets cancelled within the next 18 months or so. I'm in for a while, that's for sure.

I enjoyed it. The writing staff is great so I expect the show to get even better as it goes along.

I don't understand how anyone could have a problem with the lead actors.

This show is really kicking ass with its teasers. Face melting and stomach wriggling, glorious.

Enjoyed it, not firing on all cylinders yet, but infinitely better than the crap sci-fi it keeps getting compared to (Surface, Invasion, etc).

I really hope Darin Morgan gets bored of being a consultant and writes an episode.

Agreed.