TV-Reviewed

When the networks do their upfronts each year, there is always a show or two that catches my eye, either because it sounds like something I’ll like or it’s something I know has no chance of being successful. Along with Dollhouse, Fringe caught my eye this year. (I’m sure there were a few others, but those are the two that come to mind.) It promised to be a science-fiction thriller.

The science-fiction genre has a little bit of everything in it, but quite often, aliens, outer-space, and space travel all tend to come to mind when thinking about science fiction, and this sort of bugs me. There’s more to sci-fi than aliens and space. Most of the sci-fi shows that are on aren’t something I’m watching, for one reason or another. The last great sci-fi series I watched from beginning to end was The X-Files. Incredibly successful, The X-Files had a wide-array of episodes, dealing with everything from government conspiracies and aliens to monsters-of-the-week.

I recently had the opportunity to view a screener for the new J.J. Abrams series, Fringe, and I am completely psyched about this show now. The ONLY show that came to mind when watching this was Chris Carter’s The X-Files. Instead of aliens and outer-space, Fringe looks to focus on the large field of fringe science, which is where the show derives its name.

I’m not going to go into every detail of what the screener showed, but I will give you a little overview. The series begins with an airliner full of passengers arriving in the U.S. and all of the people onboard are found dead. Their skin has melted off, more or less, and the FBI, CIA, and CDC are called in to investigate.

Much of the focus is on two FBI agents, played by Anna Torv and Mark Valley. Despite department policies restricting them from having a relationship, they are seeing one another outside of work. Torv’s character, Olivia Dunham, is really the main character in the series; she drives the story. Though controlling, she’s very likable.

Once one of the FBI agents gets infected with whatever substance made the passengers sick, the feds track down every lead imaginable, going to insane lengths to get information on the person responsible. They even bring an institutionalized doctor in from the cold, along with his son. The son, played by Joshua Jackson, was an impressive character. I initially thought he’d be just a con-artist with no knowledge about science, but I was pleasantly surprised when he seemed to be able to help his genius father with his work. Though the constant sarcastic wise-cracks he made got old after a while.

There is also a vast conspiracy at work. This is one of the reasons I bring up The X-Files, which had its share of conspiracy moments. I haven’t seen a show quite like this in a long time. There is a great deal of potential with this series. With J.J. Abrams serving as creator and executive producer, I hope he learns from one of his other hits, Lost, and sets and end-date to this show. The X-Files dragged on for too long, and Lost would have too, but the smartest thing the producers did was set an end-date. They should do the same for Fringe. It looks like it’s going to have the same sort of success that The X-Files did, but it does have a lifespan. Let’s face it, some shows are very open ended, but others, like Lost or Fringe, have a particular story to tell, and that story should be carefully crafted and laid out. It shouldn’t go on and on until the show is no longer profitable like some shows do.

All that being said, I haven’t been this excited about seeing a show in quite a while. Burn Notice was close, but here, I see Fringe being on a network station and having a huge appeal, not just hardcore science fiction fans. We’ll be covering this series when it begins airing on September 9th.