Comic-Con 2011:'Fringe' Executive Producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman(Q&A)

Comic-Con 2011: 'Fringe' Executive Producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman (Q&A)

After a heart-stopping third season finale, the showrunners discuss what awaits them in Season 4, appreciation for “Twin Peaks” and how they’ll answer the probing Peter questions in San Diego.
July 9 2:45 PM 7/9/2011 by Philiana Ng

With hundreds of thousands of people attending San Diego Comic-Con every year and the July 20-24 event quickly approaching, The Hollywood Reporter chatted with the big names in television to discuss their favorite memories and tips for attending the annual event. THR’s Live Feed will talk Comic-Con with actors, writers and producers in the days leading up to the event so check back soon for interviews and the latest news on panels and screenings.

Jeff Pinkner
Geek Cred: Fringe, Lost, Alias, Profiler
J.H. Wyman
Geek Cred: Fringe

Comic-Con Panel: Fringe, Saturday, July 23, 4:30-5:15 p.m., Ballroom 20

The Hollywood Reporter: What stands out from your first Comic-Con experience?Jeff Pinkner: I’ve been there with the show for three years, and I went once prior to that as a fan. After I got off the shuttle bus, three women barely dressed in some version of Xena were standing behind a 300-pound man dressed as Elmo. That was Comic-Con in a nutshell.

THR: What’s the best thing a fan has said to you at Comic-Con?
J.H. Wyman: This will be my third Comic-Con, and a fan once said to me, “I can’t believe you’re really you.” It reinforced that they’re actually near somebody that’s associated with running a show that they’re into and love. I think that was a really sweet way for them to say, “I trekked all the way here to San Diego and I can’t believe we actually standing here having a conversation about Fringe.”

THR: Are you ready for the onslaught of questions, especially regarding Peter, at this year’s panel?
Pinkner: A lot of them will be laden with expletives. It will all become clear; not at Comic-Con, but once [the show] premieres. All the questions that involve the name Peter will probably be hard ones to field.

THR: There will be many questions of “Does Peter exist? Can you tell us?”
Pinkner: We’ll probably be faced with those questions. Our answer will probably be, “Who’s Peter?”

THR: Who would be on your dream panel?
Wyman: Twin Peaks. I’d really like to talk to David Lynch. It’s my favorite show and it was groundbreaking.

WTHR: Were you satisfied with the way Twin Peaks ended?
Wyman: I think the first season was the most impactful. Now running a show and knowing what you’re up against, I do realize that a lot of people plan for failure but they don’t really plan for success. It’s really hard to keep something going. If you go back in that timeline, nobody had ever done anything like that. They were probably feeling it out as well.

To me, Twin Peaks was seminal because it was what it was. I feel that about a lot of filmmakers. It’s their prerogative to take the show where it goes and if I’m really a fan, I’m going to really get off the artistry of the artist that I’m watching. It’s not mine to judge, it’s mine to be involved and see it. Being apart of that it gave me so much pleasure that I don’t think it’s fair to say I wasn’t happy.

THR: Do you have any tips on how to pull off a great presentation?
Wyman: It should always be something outrageous and entertaining as possible. People really give you a lot of leeway for the exceptional.

THR: If you were to dress up in costume for Comic-Con, who would you be?Pinkner: Anything where I could carry a sword or a broad ax.

THR: Seth Gabel is a series regular. How is that dynamic going to change this season?
Pinkner: We just fell in love with him, which is why we wanted to bring him back. Thus far, we’ve spent very little time with one version of him, the Lincoln Lee on their side, so I think that we’ll probably want to explore his character as well.

THR: What’s ahead for Fringe in Season 4?
Wyman: It’s going to involve a couple of newer themes. We’re just taking you down the road a little further on the journey. You’ll be able to see people from the past and you’ll be able to meet new people throughout the season.
Pinkner: Season 3 was about Walter coming to terms with truly coming to terms with the consequences of the damage that he had done when he broke two universes in order to save his son’s life and recognizing that in order to fix that damage, he may have to sacrifice that son, which was the choice he made in 2026. Peter recognizing that based on the trajectory that his universe was on, the love of his life Olivia was going to die in 2026 and he made the heroic choice to overt that outcome and now all of our characters, we find them in a place where we’re dealing with the consequences.
Source:hollywoodreporter.com

New Interview with Anna Torv

Here's a new interview with Anna Torv for a french site. The interview has english audio and french subtitles.

Video Source:  AnnaTorv.com

Fringe - New Interview with John Noble & Jasika Nicole

The french site Allociné.fr has publish a new interview with Jasika Nicole & John Noble where they talk about the show, the support of the fans and about the observers. The interview has subtitles in french.

Fringe - New Interview with Anna Torv

Here's a new interview with Anna Torv where she talks about her character and more.

Vídeo Source: Corriere.it

Exclusive:John Noble Talks 'Fringe' Season 4 and 'The Lord of the Rings' Extended Edition Blu-ray

Exclusive: John Noble Talks 'Fringe' Season 4 and 'The Lord of the Rings' Extended Edition Blu-ray
Wed., Jun. 29, 2011 6:00 PM PDT , by Joseph McCabe

Monday night I was fortunate enough to attend the kick-off party for the brand new The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition Blu-ray at West LA's Best Buy store. Attendees, many of them in costume, were greeted by a special appearance by Rings and Fringe star John Noble, who signed the new box set for the first one hundred and fifty fans in line. And because I love you guys so much, I made sure to ask Noble about the upcoming fourth season of Fringe – as well as about the interesting similarities between his Rings character Denethor and his character on Fringe, Walter Bishop. Find out what Noble had to tell me after the jump.

Right now it seems there are similarities between Denethor and Walter – they've both lost a son and their sanity is sometimes more than a little shaky. If Walter were to give Denethor some advice, what would it be?"Just chill out, man!" [Laughs.] I don't know… There are similarities in the sense that you've got two very proud and powerful men gutted, and having to respond to being gutted. We saw Denethor respond in a certain way. We'll see how the other fellow responds. This'll be a season for discovery.

Anna Torv mentioned to me the other night that she'd like to see how Olivia functions, at least for a little while, without Peter in her life, and to see how that plays out. Is that something you're also curious about for Walter?Oh yeah. See, the thing that rescued Walter, once they pulled him out, the thing that humanized him, was Peter. Finding this relationship with his son, that brought Walter back into the human race. Now if he doesn't have that, if he doesn't have any love in his life, what's going to happen? He's been in an asylum without love in his life all this time, if he's working without love in his life… I hope they give him Jean at least – Jean the cow! No, I am seriously thinking about that, because I know for a while I'm going to have to work on that loveless Walter. And I'm stewing around in my head already. [Laughs.]

Is it possible the grandchild he might have could fill that void in his life?Well, it depends. If there's no Peter then there's no child. It's an interesting point.

Would you like to see new universes on the show, beyond those we've seen already? We know there are two universes, and we actually know this from science. Science will tell us that there are multiple universes. I think that there's a possibility, probably not this season, but… I know that some of the audience is saying "The thing that will save the two universes now is an external threat. That's what brings people together." I've heard this from fans and I think it's very clever. So if these two universes have to meet, what's gonna make them do it? Suddenly, if there's an external threat… I've got my fingers crossed that that'll happen.
Source:fearnet.com

Read the rest of the article HERE

EXCLUSIVE:Kirk Acevedo on 'Fringe':"They Want Me for a Few Episodes"

EXCLUSIVE: Kirk Acevedo on 'Fringe': "They Want Me for a Few Episodes"
By Lee Hernandez 06/23/2011 - 11:00

It's been over two years since Kirk Acevedo was let go from FOX's hit show, Fringe, but the Puerto Rican actor — whose character Charlie Francis was a fan-favorite on the show — says he might be returning for several episodes in the fall. Acevedo, 39, spoke to Latina.com about his conversation with Fringe's show runners, what he'd like to see happen to Charlie on the show, and which of his Fringe co-stars he's excited to work with again.

Is there any truth to the rumor that you’ll be reprising your role as Agent Charlie Francis on Fringe?Yes. It all depends on my schedule. The only good thing is that I’m going to be in Los Angeles filming Prime Suspect, so it’s closer to Vancouver [where Fringe shoots]. I’ve got no problem [returning] if my schedule allows it.

But they do want you back, right?Yeah. I spoke to the show runners. They do! I know they want me for a few episodes.

If Charlie does return, what would you like to see happen to him?I want him to be kooky — the wilder the better for me personally. I'd rather play something really wacky.

Two years ago, you were upset about being let go from the show. How do you feel about it now?Obviously in the heat of the moment you take it personally, but it's not personal. I tell people all of the time that they would make any show in this business — whether it's Black, White, Hispanic, Jewish, Colombian, Dominican — whatever. They'll make it if it sells. It's a business. It's not personal. So I can't take it personally if people made artistic decisions on the show. My ego took it personal — that's the difference.

Who of your former Fringe co-stars are you excited to work with again?Oh, I love Ana [Torv]. Me and Ana got along well, so she definitely would be one of my favorites!

Do you think Ana might get some Emmy love this year?She should! She busts her ass on that show. And John Noble does, too. John definitely busts his ass on that show. They should both get at least a little something. And you know what, the writers, too. Because think about it — you've got to have imagination to write the dialogue and to come up with the plot line for alternate universes. It's remarkable. I don't know why it hasn't gotten any love yet. Ana should at least get a nomination. A nomination is a win.

Do you have a message for your loyal Fringe fans?That I enjoy Charlie Francis. I love everything about him — I even love his name. There's a lot of times that I hate my character name. I love the name Charlie Francis because I almost named my child Charlie Francis before I even got the show! And the fans are great — everybody's just so cool. I'm a sci-fi geek, too!
Source:latina.com

Matt's Inside Line:Scoop on Damages, Fringe, Glee Leverage, OLTL and More!

Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on Damages, Fringe, Glee, Leverage, OLTL and More!
by Matt Webb Mitovitch

Fringe When it comes to the fallout of the finale, I’m the first to admit I’ve been focused on the Peter puzzle and the fun of now having double the Walters and Olivias in our midst. But what about Broyles? Does he now get two Fringe divisions to lord over, bickering doppelgangers and all? Lance Reddick suspects as much. “I think the challenge for Broyles is going to be balancing his relationship with his own Fringe division and the other one – the whole, ‘Who’s in charge?’ kind of thing,” he tells TVLine. But yes, Reddick also is fixated on He Who Never Existed. “I just want to find out what’s going on with Peter,” he shares. “But I’ll find out when everybody else does!”
Source:tvline.com

Comic-Con 2011:Fringe Coverage and Panel

Comic-Con 2011: Fringe Coverage and Panel
The fate of the world will be determined in the fourth season of Fox's awesome midbender of an acid trip Fringe. What secrets will we learn at the San Diego Comic-Con 2011 panel? Check back often for all our Fringe Comic-Con coverage.

By Kevin Fitzpatrick June 24, 2011

When Fox renewed Fringe for a fourth season, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief...but that sense of security was all but obliterated after we watched the season three finale "The Day We Died." WTF are Walter and Olivia going to do save the world and rescue Peter...again?

But what does John Noble himself have to say to UGO on the presence of Joshua Jackson's Peter Bishop at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 or the series' fourth season? Check it out!

"John Noble: I wish I knew the answer, because I contacted—Josh is my mate—and I said “what’s going on mate? Tell me what’s happening here.” I haven’t heard back from him yet. I saw it in the press release, which came out in the Hollywood Reporter [Joshua Jackson not being listed at Comic-Con] and I thought “everyone’s here but Josh.” And I can’t get an answer, so whether someone’s playing tricks or...what I heard last for sure is Josh obviously is contracted to come back; he’s the lead actor in the show. I don’t know what’s going on, and no one will tell me!

I’ve been trying to pin down the show-running staff, I saw them the other night and I said “I’ve gotta talk to you”; I ran into them Wednesday and I said “I’ve got to talk to you,” and they said “yeah...”; yesterday they stood me up twice, and they’re not talking to me! Then I saw them again last night, and my wife said to them, “you’re upsetting John, he wants to talk to you.” And they laughed. Today apparently they’re going to talk to me. Bad Robot loves to play all of this sort of viral stuff that goes on, which they do so brilliantly. And they know that we’re blabbermouths, so they don’t tell us too much."

Hopefully we'll get some answers at the Fringe panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year. But who's going to be there to give them, when the panel teleports into Ballroom 20 on Saturday, July 23rd at 4:15 - 5:00pm? See for yourself!

•Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham)
•Lance Reddick (Philip Broyles)
•Blair Brown (Nina Sharpe)
•Jasika Nicole (Astrid Farnsworth)
•John Noble (Walter Bishop)
•Jeff Pinkner (Executive Producer)
•J.H. Wyman (Executive Producer)

What?! No Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop)? Is Joshua off filming The Mighty Ducks reboot, or are Fringe fans in for one hell of a special reappearance given what happened to Peter at the end of "The Day We Died?!" Check back often for updates on Fringe at Comic-Con 2011!

Source:ugo.com

Exclusive:Anna Torv on the Possible Universe of 'Fringe' Season 4

Exclusive: Anna Torv on the Possible Universe of 'Fringe' Season 4
Today 9:01 AM PDT , by Joseph McCabe

It's oddly fitting as the star of one of the most mysterious shows on television, Anna Torv doesn't know too much about what producers have in store for her on the upcoming fourth season of Fringe. But when I caught up with Torv (who's one of the sweetest, most consistenly gracious actors I've ever interviewed) at last night's Saturn Awards ceremony (where she won Best Actress for the second year in a row) I did my best to get any info I could, and to find out where she'd like to see things go this season. Read on to learn about at least one possible universe for Agent Olivia Dunham.

How can you even begin to bring back Peter when your character has no recollection of him?I don't know! That's a question for the other guys who have way more information at this point in time. I'm interested in what is going to happen, and who the characters will become. If you take a person out of existence, and all those tiny things that happened because that person was around... I think it will be interesting to see who these people are. I'm quite excited about it, actually. I want to see how much of Olivia's turmoil and sadness is connected to Peter, or things that have happened with him around -- are those things gone? Is there room, perhaps, for her to unbutton her coat a little bit?

Do you think they might introduce another universe into the mix?
Oh, I would love that! I don't know if that is what the producers are thinking, but I would be an advocate for that. I love the whole idea of that. But I do think we could have heaps [of universes], and just keep going and going. We could switch it out every season, or when we get bored - just add a new color.

Do you have an idea of what your ideal universe would be to bring Olivia into?
Maybe a desert where Olivia rides horses. We could go back to Australia to shoot! [Laughs.]

Have you received any hints that the Observers may take a more active role this season? No, but I love the Observers. I don't know if I necessarily need them to take more of an active role. What I love about them is that they are just these mysterious, fantastically drawn characters. We don't understand them yet, and as much as I would love to know what they are there for, I love watching them. The fact that they are so... spread out makes it very tantalizing.

Where would you like to see Olivia go this season?
I am interested to see what parts of her personality are connected to the things that have happened over the last few years, specifically with Peter. If he isn't there, is there room for a different take on her? Not an alternate version of Olivia, just a different take. Is she softer or is she harder? I am hopeful that she won't be as tormented. I think she needs a break.

She's definitely earned one. [Laughs.] Thank you very much.
My pleasure!

Source:fearnet.com

Exclusive:Producer Jeff Pinkner Teases 'Fringe' Season 4

Exclusive: Producer Jeff Pinkner Teases 'Fringe' Season 4Today 5:10 PM PDT , by Joseph McCabe

With the fourth season of Fringe still months away, we are eagerly awaiting word on what is going to happen. Peter - and all memory of him - no longer exists. The two universes have to work together to save themselves. Brad Dourif was brought in for the season finale - but only on screen for 56 seconds. Where will all this lead come fall? I snagged Fringe producer Jeff Pinkner at the 2011 Saturn Awards last night in the hopes of dragging some answers out of him.

How do you bring back a character no one has any recollection of?

The question, I think, is, "Do we bring him back? What are the consequences?" Peter made this heroic choice. He recognized that, in the future, if things continue the way things are going, the love of his life, Olivia, would die. Understanding the consequences, he decided to bring these two universes together in order to save her. As a consequence, he doesn't exist anymore! So really, the question is, "What does their life look like in his absence?"

The idea of multiple universes is really tantalizing. Could we see even more new universes this season?

I think - as we have said - there is so much story, and this is where our characters live. I do think we will be presenting a new version [of our universe]. One of the things that is awesome about Fringe is that every season, we take the same show, the same story, the same characters, and look at them from a different point of view. This season, we will certainly be doing that.

Might we see the Observers take a more active role this season?

For sure. We love the Observers. It's hard to answer without giving too much away, but for sure.

Brad Dourif's character only appeared on screen for a minute in the season finale before he was "killed" off. With an actor of his caliber, on a show like Fringe, will we see much more of his character next season?

I don't want to reveal anything, and we haven't talked to him, and his story existed in the year 2026, and our story is going to pretty much return to 2011. But. In the Fringe universe, things have a way of coming back around.

So if we do se him again, it probably would not be in the season's first episode.

Probably not.

Was it a little frightening when the show was renewed? You had a pretty good ending there, that could have worked well as a series finale.

We had a perfect ending, but it would have been understandably frustrating if that had been the series finale. Certainly one of the themes of our three main characters - Walter, Peter, and Olivia - is that they are sort of a family. They are all fringe human beings themselves, who have found a familial bond. And with Peter and Olivia, a romantic bond. It would have been slightly frustrating if that had been the series finale. We have a different series finale in mind.

Did you notice or learn anything from last season that you want to incorporate in the upcoming season?

What we learned right away, and really strongly, was how intelligent, engaged, and supportive our fans are. They really embolden us to take risks, to tell stories in another universe for entire episodes, with only some of our regular characters. To tell animated episodes. The unbelievable response we have gotten from fans has really allowed us to engage our crazy.

So a Fringe musical could come some day?

Oh for sure.
Source:fearnet

(Move over Rocky Horror Picture Show!)

'Fringe' Friday:Chatting with Saturn Award winner Anna Torv

‘Fringe’ Friday: Chatting with Saturn Award winner Anna Torv
June 24, 2011 1:46 pm

“Was I rude there?”

I didn’t know what to expect when I sat down to speak with Anna Torv. Would she be cool and serious, like Olivia? Or bold and cavalier like Fauxlivia? For all I knew, the actress’ personality could have been closer to Olivia possessed by William Bell. I didn’t expect her to be so chipper and enthusiastic. And overly concerned about our waitress.

We met in the restaurant of her hotel on a Wednesday afternoon. Torv and costar John Noble (Walter Bishop) were in Los Angeles for a pair of award shows. Monday, they walked the red carpet of the Critics Choice awards, where Torv was a nominee for best actress in a television series and Noble took the award for best supporting actor. “The fact that John won is still kind of thrilling,” Torv said. “He’s so damn brave. And just the joy he puts into it."

Then Thursday they were off to the Saturn Awards, where Torv repeated her win last year for the top female actor award. Deservedly so.

In Season 3, Torv truly shone. Which is saying a lot in a show where she plays opposite powerhouses like John Noble, Lance Reddick and Blair Brown on a weekly basis. Not to mention the guest stars they bring in: Christopher Lloyd, Peter Weller, Leonard Nimoy. Still, Torv really made this year her own, playing two uniquely different versions of the same character, dealing with heartbreak and deception from both sides of the story. It's a big change from Season 1, when many criticized Torv and her character Olivia Dunham of being cold and distant.

“That was clearly a conscious choice on the part of the writers and on my part,” Torv explained. “I’ve been playing her so long, I get defensive of her. People forget the first time we met her, she was glowing. She was giggly and glowing and happy, and life was sweet.”

An excellent point that I myself had forgotten. We were first introduced to Olivia Dunham three years ago when she was in bed with her FBI partner/lover John Scott, but he was pulled away by her first case involving fringe science. By the end, not only is Scott killed, but Olivia finds out that he’s been a double agent the entire time. “She was dead for a long time. I don’t think she’s still right yet. Poor Liv.”

Olivia became the emotional punching bag of the first season. “I honestly had been giggling and teasing them. I wanted Olivia to lighten up, but every time she did, something would happen.”

The writers gave glimpses into the life of Olivia Dunham. “They wrote this scene, and it was at the beginning of the episode. It didn’t have anything to do with the story. She’s putting her dress on, putting her shoe on, she’s on the phone saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll meet you in a sec.’ Then the phone rings. It’s Broyles, and she wipes the lipstick off, puts on a coat, and goes out. That’s it. You’re on call. She breaks my heart.”

Then in Season 2, the parallel universe, or “other side” of the "Fringe" universe, came to the forefront of the story. We got hints of the alternate versions of the characters we’d grown to love, and by Season 3, they had their own episodes. “There’s a tendency to throw an idea out there and tease at it,” Torv told me. “Then no one’s going to commit because no one thinks it’s going to last. So who cares? But they [the writers] went hardcore into it. Every second episode for the first 10 episodes of the third season we’re over there.”

“I love my job, but you do it every day, so the fact that you get to jump back and forth between these two different perspectives.... From the other side. Or the perspective of what you do like when you don’t get to see it for a week.”

Torv’s eyes light up as she discusses the joy of fleshing out the Fauxlivia character in season three. “When they finally gave me this character, I was so hands-on. 'Let’s do this properly. Let’s give her a swagger. Let’s give her long red hair. Let’s make her kinda sexy and cooler.' And they let me.”
Source:latimes.com

Read the rest of the article HERE

'Mad Men' Jared Harris 'wants Fringe return'

Friday, June 24, 2011
'Mad Men' Jared Harris 'wants Fringe return'
Friday, June 24 2011, 10:21am EDT
By Morgan Jeffery, TV Reporter

Mad Men star Jared Harris has admitted that he is keen to reappear on Fox's Fringe.

Harris played deranged scientist David Robert Jones in the sci-fi drama, but the character was killed off in the first season finale.

"I don't know about [returning to Fringe] yet," he told I Am Rogue. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I love the show and I am a fan of it."

Harris added that he has continued to watch Fringe following his own character's demise.

"I've watched every single episode that they've made and I'm fascinated by what they are doing with the show," he said. "I mean Leonard Nimoy['s character William Bell] possessing Olivia Dunham's body was absolutely genius. It was f**king great!"

He continued: "I love that show so yes, I'd be up for doing it again."

Harris currently stars as Lane Pryce on AMC's Mad Men and will also play Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes sequel A Game of Shadows.

Fringe will return to Fridays at 9/8c in the fall on Fox.
Source:digitalspy.com

(Oh please, please Jeff and Joel, please make it so!)

EMMYS:'Fringe's Jeff Pinkner & Joel Wyman

EMMYS: 'Fringe's Jeff Pinkner & Joel Wyman
By THE DEADLINE TEAM Thursday June 23, 2011 @ 9:30pm PDT

Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman are more than just co-showrunners of the Fox science fiction hour Fringe. They’re also the gatekeepers of its genre-expanding premise that’s been described as a hybrid of The X-Files, Altered States, and The Twilight Zone. Despite being a critical darling through much of its first 3 seasons, however, the series has come up short with the TV Academy, generating only Emmy nominations in 2009 for special effects and 2010 for sound editing. Its stars Anna Torv, Josh Jackson and John Noble remain otherwise unrecognized from Emmy (though Noble just this week won a Critics' Choice Television Award). Pinkner and Wyman spoke with Deadline TV Contributor Ray Richmond about the show’s distinct sensibility and its third season:

DEADLINE: How was the decision made to introduce to Fringe the premise of having the action alternate between parallel universes this past season?
JEFF PINKNER: One of the things we’d said to our studio and network partners from the beginning is, this is very much a series that has to move forward and keep changing in order to be successful. It’s an unfolding story as opposed to a condition. It isn’t about a hospital where bodies come through or a police precinct with suspects. We knew early on that the series and saga involved two universes. But it was important
to let it unfold relatively slowly, to have it open up to characters and viewers over time as opposed to the middle of season one. Because we knew it was a pretty heady concept.
JOEL WYMAN: In Jurassic Park, by the time you see the dinosaurs, you already were introduced to the idea of a fly stuck in amber. The table is set long before to you get to that place of wonder, so when you finally reach it you’ve accepted it as being real. We felt that was important to establish for Fringe as well, to first set up the desires and intentions of the characters and let the wonder of this world unfold in front of them before going full-on to that alternate universe.

DEADLINE: It’s always a big risk to change up your creative game when you’re already an established show. You were asking the audience to in essence accept utterly different personas for the same character.
WYMAN: We’re thrilled with how our fans have responded to it. But we were careful at the same time not to abandon any of our main characters. At the same time, we thought that if we were going to ask people to invest in these doppelganger characters, we’d best do it full-out as well, so viewers got to know them and spent enough time understanding their dilemmas.

DEADLINE: But your ratings numbers did slip from Season 2 to Season 3, going from a 2.8 with adults 18-49 to a 2.2. Of course, Fox also moved from Thursday to Friday nights midway through the season, which may have had something to do with it.
PINKNER: The numbers were of course a concern. The network and studio need to make money in order to keep us on the air. We get that. At the same time, we’ve never tried to design stories just to appeal to a larger audience. And the kind of storytelling we’re doing isn’t going to appeal to everyone no matter what we do?

DEADLINE: What kind of storytelling is that?
PINKNER: Well, basically humanistic science fiction. What we’ve discovered is, not everyone likes licorice but the ones who do really, really like it. That’s how our fans are, too. They followed us from Thursday to Friday night without a lot of drop-off, both live and on DVR.
WYMAN: But we understand we’re fighting very hard against the science fiction moniker. There’s a group of people who just say, ‘We’re not interested in that.’ We’re trying to work in metaphors and deliver a little bit of a movie each week, as well as finding deeper thematic elements than network TV normally tries to tackle.

DEADLINE: But was there any point during the past season when you had legitimate reason to worry that Fox might not renew?
PINKNER: You know, maybe out of naïvete, we weren’t that concerned that this would be the end of the journey for us. We did have an ending in place just in case. But we’re very fortunate to have legitimate fans at the network and the studio who are really upfront with us. They knew the story we were telling this past season and celebrated how bold we were trying to be on network television.

DEADLINE: How much does it bother you to always see the cable dramas getting awards hype while most network series don't?
WYMAN: The truth is that we watch those shows, too. We find the work that’s going on in cable to be astounding. If the acclaim and promotion they’re getting makes us feel anything, it’s motivation to maybe pave some new ground for network television. And it’s tough to pull off. Network TV, in a lot of ways, doesn’t have the ability to tell the same kind of story as they do on cable. You’re fighting to draw in an audience whose life is often too busy to schedule any appoint TV. We’re just hoping that people say, ‘Hey, Fringe is doing something different and going deeper than network TV usually tries to go.’
PINKNER: If there’s any frustration at all, it’s that there’s clearly a different expectation when you try to tell a story over 22 episodes than when you’re doing 10, 11 or 13 episodes.

DEADLINE: And, again, there’s the whole stigma of the science fiction label that you consistently need to overcome.
WYMAN: And the frustration is that we feel like we’re so much more than science fiction. We’re doing things through the eye of Fringe that are altogether new. Rarely do you get to tell a story about a three-way love triangle where two of the three people are the same person, as we did this past season.

DEADLINE: In terms of next season, will you be keeping the parallel universes conceit going? And what’s going to become of Josh Jackson’s character Peter?
PINKNER: Well, Peter no longer exists. All we’ll say is that in Season 4, we’ll very much see the consequences of what happened in Seasons 1, 2 and 3. What happens to Peter remains a very big question. But a new chapter will unfold next season. As it does every year on this show.

Source:deadline.com

Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman tease where 'Fringe' will go upon its S4 return

Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman tease where ‘Fringe’ will go upon its S4 return
June 21, 2011 8:55 am PT
Danielle Turchiano LA TV Insider Examiner

Diehard Fringe fans were certainly in for a surprise at the end of the season three finale, but perhaps the most surprising thing of all is that the show’s writers and executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel H. Wyman are still able to pull things out that garner such strong reactions from the fandom at all. After all, after three years of alternate universes, mysterious cases of the week, and mind-bending science, we really should know that just about anything can happen. Expect the unexpected, as these guys like to say! But that doesn't mean we didn't want to try to get a little something out of them about what we could expect for Fringe in season four!

“We always look at it as a new chapter every season. It’s like you get the book and so you can expect something you did not expect. We like to say that. It’s not as easy as ‘Oh, it’s a jump forward’; we always try to go a little deeper than that,” Wyman teased LA TV Insider Examiner when we caught up with him and Pinkner at the Critics Choice Awards.

“Josh’s character, Peter, made a heroic choice, and Walter recognizes he might have to sacrifice to save his son, and now we’re fighting the consequences of that,” Pinker followed up, reminding us.

Click here to read the rest of the article at Examiner.com

Eye on Emmy:How Fringe's Anna Torv Finds the Reality Amid the Unreal

Eye on Emmy: How Fringe's Anna Torv Finds the Reality Amid the Unreal
by Matt Webb Mitovich

As FBI agent Olivia Dunham, Fringe’s Anna Torv this past season loved and lost a man, endured a difficult pregnancy, and cheated death all but one time. Complementing the spectacular conceits of dual universes, duplicate selves, accelerated gestation periods and time-jumps, the drama quotient remained high as well, with this formidable female often feeling – literally — the weight of our world on her shoulders. Perhaps it’s time for Emmy voters to see past the Fox series’ fantasy elements and give props to the Aussie actress who delivers the fantastic week after week.

TVLINE This season, you played Olivia, “Bolivia,” Bolivia-as-Olivia, and Olivia as… Leonard Nimoy. How did that work out for you?
This season was my favorite so far. You do a show, and there are things you do every episode – like, we always have a crime scene – so to all of a sudden throw it in the air and be given the chance to play a whole lot of different stuff is fun.

TVLINE Could you have imagined three years ago you’d be juggling all this?
I didn’t know what to imagine even after we finished the pilot. But this [third] season exceeded my expectations, and I think everybody had a ball, actually. Season 1, [which was filmed] in New York, was awesome, and Season 2 we were feeling things out in a new town [Vancouver] with a completely different crew. So this past year essentially [felt like only] the second season – and everybody says that’s the best one, because you’re relaxed.

TVLINE Are you worried about what the writers might throw at you next?
I don’t know what they’re thinking, especially with the way we ended this season.

TVLINE I have to imagine you’ll now be playing Olivia and Bolivia concurrently in the same space…
I’m thinking so, which will be tough on the hair department but fun for me. [Laughs] The only scene they had together was at the end of Season 2, when they had to fight in the apartment. I don’t know how much of that they’re going to do because that took a damn long time to shoot.

TVLINE How do you go about making Bolivia not simply “the evil twin”?
I didn’t know where [the writers] were going to go with her, so I tended to just play it scene-for-scene or episode-for-episode. There were a couple where I thought, “Oh, she kind of is going bad,” but then you get to see her in other situations and she becomes a person. Going back to the other side and getting to play a bunch of stuff where she’s in her own world I think did great things for the character, because then you went, “She’s just fighting for her cause.”

TVLINE Talk about how you worked with John Noble to nail down what was basically an impersonation of an in absentia Leonard Nimoy.
I was not excited when that script came out. I was fearful. So what do you do? You call the people that are much better than you and say, “Help!” [Laughs] John had worked with Leonard, plus I was so, so nervous, I wanted to make sure that when I went to set to do it for the first time there was at least one person that I could look at who I had done it with before and trusted. It offered an element of comfort.

TVLINE Did you ever get a note from Mr. Nimoy?
I did! I got an email saying, “I’ve been hearing good things about your impersonation of me.” I wrote back, “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. Why they didn’t give it to Josh [Jackson] or John, I don’t know.” He was so darling, he wrote back, “It wouldn’t have been as charming.”
Source:tvline.com
Read the rest of Anna's interview HERE!

'Fringe' series finale 'has been written'

'Fringe' series finale 'has been written'
Tuesday, June 14 2011, 10:10am EDT
By Morgan Jeffery, TV Reporter

Fringe star Anna Torv has insisted that the show's writers know how the series will end.

The actress told TV & Satellite Week that the sci-fi drama's final episode "has been written".

"I've been told the ultimate final episode has been written," she said. "[The writers] know where they want us to go, but they don't know yet when we will get there."

However, Torv added that plans for the show's series finale "could still change", noting that the writing team have only sketched out a "skeleton" premise.

"It's more of a dance between the audience, the creators and the cast about what works and what doesn't," she explained. "It's nice that although the skeleton of what is going to happen is there, it's still a dance."

Torv, who plays Olivia Dunham, also admitted that she personally has no idea how Fringe will come to an end.

"Initially, I wanted to know [what's going to happen], now I'm happy not to," she said. "There's something great about working on a film or a play where you know where you're going, but on television it's more open and that's good too."

The executive producers of Fringe previously revealed that they have a seven-year plan for the show, while series star Blair Brown (Nina Sharp) claimed that the plan runs to eight seasons.

Fringe was officially renewed for a fourth season in March. The show will return to Fridays at 8/9c on Fox in the fall.
Source:digitalspy.com

New Interview with Anna Torv.

Here's a new interview with Anna Torv for Sky1 HD.

Fringe - Fans Ask: 'Lance Reddick'

Lance takes on your questions.

Anna Torv:'I'd love to work in the UK again'

Anna Torv: 'I'd love to work in the UK again'
Jun 13, 2011

As the third series of Fringe reaches its climax (Sky1, Wednesday June 15), TV&Satellite Week magazine caught up with actress Anna Torv, aka ice cool FBI agent Olivia Dunham, to find out what’s in store for the cult sci-fi drama...

So, we hear there’s a major shock in the final episode of this series of Fringe...“I can’t tell you want happens. All I can tell you is that I read the script and thought: ‘I don’t know where that leaves us to go with the show’. I know we are going to start filming a new season next month, but the way it’s now left means everything is going to have to be re-set massively. It’s really exciting.”

Did what happens shock you? “Yes, all of us. When the scripts arrived at first you could hear the whispers. Then as people went through it, we were all saying 'What?’ Really? How would that work?' There were lots of discussions and conversations. Much like the audience, we pick up clues as to what’s going to happen as we go along, but we only get the scripts two days before we start shooting – and with the final episode of this season the ending actually changed after we got the script. I don’t know if they did that on purpose to keep everything under wraps.”

We know there’s going to be at least one other series – do the writers know what the eventual ending is going to be? “Yes. They were told in advance that the show was going to go for another series so they didn’t have to wrap things up in a in a final episode this time, but I’ve been told the ultimate final episode has been written. They know where they want us to go, but they don’t know yet when we will get there.”

Do you now what the ending is? “No. Initially, I wanted to know, now I’m happy not to. There’s something great about working on a film or a play where you know where you’re going, but on television it’s more open and that’s good, too. So it’s more of a dance between the audience, the creators and the cast about what works and what doesn’t. It’s nice that although the skeleton of what is going to happen is there, it’s still a dance. It could still change yet.”

With all the tangled plots going on in Fringe, it’s sometime shard to keep up with what’s going on. Do you always understand what’s happening? “Yes. Fringe is my life at the moment. Every day for a lot of hours a day for 10 months of the year I’m steeped in it. So I can understand it. I’m confident I can keep up with whatever happens and I think I’ll understand the ending.”

What about the science behind what’s going on? “Ah, no. The science is something else. I don’t research any of that stuff. It’s not my job to understand why things happen. But John Noble, who plays Walter Bishop, really does understand the reasons why things happen as they do. He’s completely across it. I just feel lucky I don’t get all those big scientific words in my bit of the script.”

In the final episode of this series you play a version of Olivia from the future, as well as the real Olivia and the alternate Olivia from the parallel universe. What do you see as the major differences between them? “Well, the future Olivia is not that much older than our Olivia. So it’s not as if I’m playing an Olivia who has completely changed her life. She’s just the same Olivia, although maybe a little more comfortable in her skin. With the alternate Olivia, the differences between her and Olivia are subtle. They’ve ended up in the exactly the same job, with exactly the same partners, doing the same things in their respective worlds. Our Olivia has always been so earnest and so focused on being the best at what she does and on doing the right thing. But the alternate Olivia is a little more competitive, she wants to win, she’s more of a go-getter. I love them both.”

What clues can you give away about the next series? “None. I don’t have any. I haven’t spoken to the writers yet, I’m hoping to pick their brains in the next couple of weeks to see what they have planned.”

What would you like to see happen to Olivia? More alternate universes with more Olivias in them perhaps? “I think it would be hysterical if there were more parallel universes and there were more Olivias in each of them and they keep getting further and further away from the true one. I’d like to play one 20 universes away from ours. She’d be like a Southern belle who just reads tea leaves or something.”

Sci-fi has not been going through the best of periods on American TV. Why do you think Fringe has managed to survive? “I think with sci-fi, the further out there you go, the more you have to ground your characters and their relationships in reality. From the start of Fringe, the heart of the show has been a father and son trying to come to grips with each other. Providing you have something like that, you can take the show anywhere. Of course it’s a genre show, but it goes beyond that. Women who don’t want to watch monsters and ghosts are happy to sit and watch the relationships.”

Would you do another sci-fi show ever? Would you for example come over here and do Doctor Who? “I haven’t seen the new Doctor Who yet. I’m too committed to Fringe at the moment to do anything else. But I’d certainly do more sci-fi. Sci-fi has been good to me.”

We first saw you on screen here in Mistresses. Do you have any plans to come back and work here again in the UK?“Absolutely. I love British TV. I’m an Australian, who is sitting here in London talking to you about an American show that’s shot in Canada. The world is becoming a much easier place to navigate. You don’t have to confine yourself to just one country for work any more. I hope my life continues to offer me the opportunities to play different characters in different parts of the world.”

Source:whatsontv.co.uk

Fringe - Fans Ask: Jasika Nicole

Jasika Nicole has your answers.