Fringe (FOX TV sci-fi/drama)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Chris R, Sep 9, 2008.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Chris R

    Chris R Forum Fones Thread Starter

    Anybody else catch the 2 hour premier this evening of the new FOX drama/sci-fi show Fringe? I'm a fan of Lance Reddick (Daniels from The Wire) and Kirk Acevedo (Oz, Law & Order: Trial By Jury), so I dialed it up. Thought it was pretty good. Probably check it out again next time. It's in a good time slot for me, Tuesday evenings after House.

    Also, Fringe

    [​IMG]

    Wish all TV shows had short 60 and 90 second commercial breaks like this show did.
     
  2. Well it hasn't played here yet so no. But am going to.
     
  3. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    they've been running promos for this show every 8 seconds on our local channel...I'm sick of it already!

    didn't ring any bells for us.:)
     
  4. Henry the Horse

    Henry the Horse Active Member

    I liked it too.
    I'm with ya on the commercial breaks as well.
     
  5. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The industry trades are calling it a weak imitation of "X-Files plus Lost," and are also saying that the two lead actors don't have a lot of chemistry together.

    Casting on parts like these is really important. If the viewer can't believe these two characters mesh together, it's all over with.

    I'll keep my fingers crossed that Fringe will get better, but I'm already suspicious, since it's all shot in Canada. (But then, I'm an LA pro-union guy.)
     
  6. ducksdeluxe

    ducksdeluxe A voice in the wilderness.

    Location:
    PNW
    It reminded me of THRESHOLD. That's not a good thing. I agree with the criticism of the two leads, but John Noble is always interesting. I will not repeat the mistake of watching it while eating dinner, but I'll give it a second chance.

    I predict cancellation during or after this first season. It's Fox. For every 24 or X-Files there are a dozen Fireflys and Space: Above and Beyonds that got the axe way too soon.
     
  7. Chris R

    Chris R Forum Fones Thread Starter

    I didn't dial up the show to get another X-Files or Lost. In fact, I don't like Lost. Got too confusing during Season 1 and I dropped out.

    Did you have your fingers crossed for the first 6 seasons of the X-Files, all shot up here? ;)

    Figured Fringe was shot here when I recognized Canadian actor Peter Outerbridge playing the doctor in the hospital. (I'm a pro-union guy too. I friends working in film and TV up here. :))
     
  8. Drew

    Drew Senior Member

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    I watched it. Like everything else I've seen by JJ Abrams, I think it takes itself way too seriously and is over-hyped. Also, like everything else by JJ Abrams it will have a long run. I'll probably waste my time with it during the cold dark snowy winter months.
     
  9. chilab17

    chilab17 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Niles, IL
    As a fan of shows that appeal to intellectual factors or offer something unique, I have hopes that this show can be the next "X Files" or something like nothing else on tv at the moment. It is hard to judge it based on one episode although it would be something I would have sought out as a made-for-TV movie.

    I guess since I didn't catch any of the hype - someone I work with told me about it - I didn't have any pre-conceived notions (other than being on a broadcast network rather than a cable or satellite network).

    So J.J. Abrams is behind Lost? I had no idea, but I've never seen that show. Should I seek it out?
     
  10. RDK

    RDK Active Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Meh. Mix of X-FILES and ALIAS (not LOST!). Derivative and underwhelming.
     
  11. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    I see your "Meh" and raise you an "Eh."
     
  12. Drew

    Drew Senior Member

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    I call it a mix of X-FILES and the movie Altered States. As a matter of fact, they should have used Altered States as the pilot.
     
  13. John Egan

    John Egan Active Member

    Location:
    Oakland CA
    Good point. The networks need to come up with new shows but to publicize is just poor form.

    The premise that corporations have higher security clearances than Washington is novel enough for a TV show. The outragous corp. slogans (What do we do? What don't we do!) were funny and our gal looks like a model but doesn't act like one. Our guy is awfully baby-faced to be running around Iraq on his own and all that ragging on his Father is done with. Acevedo and Reddick are good choices as their personas carry far more weight than most of the kidlets cast in these things.

    X-Files lasted as long as it did in part because it had enough balance to keep things from getting bogged down (for a while). I think JJ is smart enough to give us horror and humor and sex and politics in equal doses and we'll see how long he can keep all his balls in the air.
     
  14. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    So, you don't think networks should publicize their new shows?
     
  15. IanL

    IanL Senior Member

    Location:
    Oneonta, NY USA
    The subject matter looks pretty interesting. But it looks poorly cast and poorly written. Sometimes that stuff takes a while to gel. Hopefully that is the case with this series.
     
  16. darkmatter

    darkmatter Gort Astronomer Staff

    Wonder if we will get it in the UK?

    Simon :)
     
  17. IIRC IORR

    IIRC IORR Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheltenham, PA, US
    That about sums up my feelings except I would hold off on the "poorly" for the moment in favor of some weak writing and a cast that has to find better chemistry sooner rather than later ... I'd also add that very few shows get everything nearly perfect right out of the gate so I'm willing to given any sci-fi / mystery / horror / suspense /action show that isn't :realmad: reality/game TV :realmad: the benefit of the doubt for a while to see if they can iron out some of the weaknesses and accentuate the strengths ...
     
  18. OK finally watched "Fringe". It's a diluted "X-Files" clone better than most of those type of clones. My problem is that like all of J.J. Abrams stuff it's all about the concept with little in the way of substance to back it up. The twist at the end was quite clever though although given that most sci-fi shows use similar type of conventions to bring back characters not all that original.

    Then again, the first episode of "The X-Files" although good didn't say it would last more than a year on Fox. What Chris Carter did that was really smart was write episodes that focused more on the creepiness factor (until he discovered his story "arc" for the bulk of the Mythology shows) and take what worked so well on Mark Frost and David Lynch's "Twin Peaks", magnify it and later it into more of a genre show and find leads that had great chemistry.

    Once again Abrams is raiding his inspirations without much originality--Phil K. Dick, "Twin Peaks", Paddy Chayefsky and Ken Russell's "Altered States" (novel and film),"The Invaders", "The Night Stalker" mixed in with the 70's paranoid thrillers like "The Parallex View", "The Conversation", etc.

    Or to put it briefly (and paraphrase Gertrude Stein there's no there there when it comes to Abrams creations)/.

    He's yet to create something truly original although his stuff is entertaining ("Lost" borrows so much from Dick's novel UBIK conceptually that I'm surprised that the Dick estate didn't sue).


    We'll see how it does with time and the work of other writers to flesh out his ideas.
     
  19. kevin5brown

    kevin5brown Analog or bust.

    Poor man's X-Files. Too many plot holes I thought. Maybe it will get better.
     
  20. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    I thought it was kinda boring. I'll give it a chance though. The lead actress sure has a beautiful face for close-ups though. I've neevr seen an episode of X-Files before either.
     
  21. The second episode was a huge improvement over the pilot episode. THe writing was sharper, chemistry seemed to be improved and the direction was sharper as well.

    What's with the large 3-d lettering to tell us where we are each time?
     
  22. jmrife

    jmrife Wife. Kids. Grandkids. Dog. Music.

    Location:
    Wheat Ridge, CO
    Well, that is certainly a matter of opinion.

    I watched the pilot, counted at least 5 lifts from earlier shows/movies -- including Blair Brown who was actually in Altered States.

    Then last night, when the mad scientist, aka Hannibal Lector, started talking about the possibility of photographic recovery of the last image the victim saw at the moment of death (an idea lifted right out of an old Lugosi/Karloff thriller from the late 30s) -- plus the vista cruiser that started and ran Ok after being in storage for 20 years -- tires and battery OK, oil and gas OK, let's go! -- I hit the delete button.

    The first two eps were an insult to my intelligence. I won't bother with the third.
     
  23. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I tried to like this show, but it's a no go for me...
     
  24. Ouch.

    Well of course it is. I stated mine. You stated yours.

    I didn't say that the show was the BEST at the moment...I stated that I saw an improvement.

    It was more dramatically sound than the first episode, flowed much better and the chemistry among the cast appears to be working. Was it perfect? No.

    As for "borrowing" stuff--Chris Carter borrowed hook line and sinker from other shows and admitted as such that he was inspired by "The Invaders", "Kolchak: The Night Stalker", "The Thing" (in fact one episode borrowed big time from "The Thing" and an episode of "Night Gallery" that was based on a classic short story), "Twin Peaks" (down to casting DD in his show AFTER he appeared in "Twin Peaks", etc.

    Everybody steals from everybody else and tries to make it their own. That's why they are called influences.

    The eye bit has been used in other forms throughout the years...it was a medical "myth" long before Karloff and Lugosi's flick.

    I'm not here to defend J.J. Abrams because I do feel that he has a tendancy to take old stuff and put it in a shiny new package...but he admitted that they borrowed from "Altered States" and cast Blair Brown for precisely that reason. It's called a hommage.

    There isn't a plot device that hasn't been lifted--there are 36 dramatic situations and the Greeks thought of them all (or at least documented them)so you could argue that everybody has been lifting from them for years...

    If you want reality...watch a reality series I guess. It's entertainment.

    I'm always reminded of the crop dusting scene in "North by Northwest". Does it make any sense? No but it works within the context of the film and is dramatically intense.

    Every TV series needs to be given a bit of time to establish itself. "The X-Files" wasn't the most original show in its first three episodes (and one of the first three was among the worst written in the entire run of the show)but you have to give the people cranking it out time to find what works for the show.

    Some shows come completely formed and ready for the audience while others go through revisions much like a play or film does as the director/writer/cast finds what works and doesn't.

    It's too bad you won't give it another chance but I understand. I will continue to tune in and give it the benefit of the doubt and see which road they are going to take before dumping the show.
     
  25. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I like the 3D lettering myself.

    Wow, a tough crowd. I liked the one with the eyes, I haven't seen any other shows. I'm hoping for the best, you can only watch so many CSI/L&O/Medical shows, I'm game for a little time on "The Fringe" of life.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine