Almost Human premieres this Sunday and Monday

The new FOX Sc-fi drama Almost Human begins its two-night series premiere this Sunday and Monday (11/17 & 11/18) at 8:00 pm (7:00 pm central).

The show, brought to you by the creators of Fringe - J.J. Abrams, J.H. Wyman, Brad Anderson, et. al - is a mix of Fringe, Robocop, and Blade Runner. You can read the official description after the break.

I've seen the Pilot episode, and really liked it. It will feel very familiar to Fringe fans, almost what we would have gotten if Fringe had stayed in the future.

While we won't be blogging about Almost Human here, please check out out Almost Human Wiki at AlmostHumanWiki.com.

Also, if you have any suggestions for a good Almost Human blog, please leave them in the comments!

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TV Guide: JH Wyman on Fringe Finale and Almost Human

TV Guide has an interview with Fringe executive producer J.H. Wyman, which was done before the Almost Human panel at Comic-Con. Wyman discusses Walter's ultimate fate on Fringe and the White Tulip that Peter receives in the series finale:

In the series finale, Walter (John Noble) sacrificed himself by traveling to the future with September's son so that the Observers would never invade the past. In the closing moments, we saw the series flash-back to the day in the park when The Observers originally invaded, but this time, they don't show up. Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv) and young Etta are able to go home as a family.

Though a touching swan song, Fringe fans still lamented the fact that Walter didn't get to be part of the happy family. "I'll make you not sad," Wyman tells TVGuide.com. "Walter is only happy when his brain is being challenged. Walter went to the future, and how do you know he didn't find a way back once again?"

Wyman notes that he meant for Peter's expression when he received the "white tulip" letter from Walter to be ambiguous. Did he recognize it or not? "Maybe someday there will be a Fringe movie and I'll explain some of the things that I want to explain, but I also wanted to let people make their own opinion. I wanted it to be as special to each person individually and let them make their own assumptions and live with it. I have a lot of story I can tell still and I love those characters so much."

Check out the rest of the interview for his comments on his new show Almost Human.

BTW, I have seen the pilot for Almost Human, and it has a very Fringe vibe, and it looks like it could be one of my new favorite shows!

Fringe Stars Will Appear on "Almost Human"

IGN has a interview with Fringe executive producer Joel Wyman about his new show "Almost Human". Wyman promises that Fringe actors will appear on the new J.J. Abrams show:

I can guarantee you that we’re going to see Fringe actors. I miss all of them so much, and we’ve been keeping in touch. Anything I can do -- it’s just got to be worthy of them, because they’re all in my heart. I want to write them great stuff and make sure they come out with a big bang.

For the rest of the interview, visit IGN.com

Are you planning on watching "Almost Human"?

Marisa Hoffman: J.H. Wyman Teases Final Fringe Season Character Odysseys

Marisa Hoffman from the Give Me My Remote - GMMR - website has written up a conference telephone call, Fringe showrunner Joel Wyman did today.

You can read the full article here:

J.H. Wyman Teases the Odysseys He Wants the Characters to Go On in the Final Season

Highlight quote from Joel for me:

“The only place to wind up is what would move me and what would I want as a closer?” he explained. “If I invested four years of my life in these characters that I’ve grown to love and be interested in and dedicated so much effort into paying attention and following, what would I want?"

For more excellent Fringe coverage, recommend you follow Marisa over at GMMR or on Twitter at:

Follow Marisa on Twitter @MarisaRoffman 

Fringe Boss Teases Three-Part Series Finale

Matt Mittovitch over at TVLine has posted a report noting how involved Joel Wyman is with the upcoming final season of Fringe.

The airing schedule of Season 5 still seems to be in flux. According to the report an uninterrupted run is not in the cards:

The fifth and final season, premiering Sept. 28, will have “two little breaks,” Wyman suggested to TVLine during our fall preview interview.

 Even the previously reported Feb 1 Finale date seems up in the air.

“Four [episodes], and then two… and the rest is a[n uninterrupted] run-on” — landing the finale in mid-January, at least

Read the full article here - Fringe Boss Teases Three-Part Series Finale — But When Will It Air?

Collider Interview with JH Wyman - The Final Season Of Fringe

Steven Weintraub of the Collider website has posted an excellent video interview from the recent Saturn awards with Joel Wyman, the Season 5 Fringe showrunner.

Lots of great info here, some highlights of which are:

• Season 5 will end with a 3 part finale.
• Joel is committed to tying up the major series's questions in this season
• things from previous seasons that seemed to have been dropped, and Joel deems important, will be answered 

Enjoy!

Fringe - J.H. Wyman - Comic-Con 2012

The post-SDCC videos keep coming in.
Here's a very nice interview with executive producer, Joel Wyman, posted on YouTube by IGN.

'Fringe' Producers Talk Olivia and Peter's New Connection, David Robert Jones and What's Next (Q&A)

FEB 23, 2012 9:00 AM PST  by Philiana Ng


'Fringe' Producers Talk Olivia and Peter's New Connection, David Robert Jones and What's Next (Q&A)

Executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman say episode 15 "is a culmination of all emotional roads" and tease that Olivia's (possible) death is "a major part" of where the season is going.

"Fringe"

[Warning: Some spoilers.]
[fringeobsessed note:even though it says "some spoilers" there's nothing here a Fringie who saw last week's "A Better Human Being" couldn't deduce. So if you saw episode 413, feel free to read on!]

Last week's Fringe ended with a surprising reveal, but in true fashion, only introduced more questions.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunners Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman revisited last week's game-changing episode, "A Better Human Being"; previewed Friday's pivotal hour; and answered (more like clarified) a few burning inquiries -- addressing the fates of Olivia, Peter and David Robert Jones' big move.

The Hollywood Reporter: There are some viewers who believed at the beginning that Fringe was in a completely new timeline, but in recent weeks, that theory has been debunked. Fair to say?
Jeff Pinkner: It's funny because we said that in the beginning. We said that we declared the truth both onscreen and in every interview but people were sort of unwilling to. It's a fascinating study in psychology in how people receive stories. They're just sort of unwilling to accept the answer on its face, partly because emotionally they didn't want to accept it and partly because they're trying to guess what the reversal is.
Joel Wyman: We're both such huge fans of television, we said never in a million years would we do the old, "Oh my gosh, i woke up and everything was a dream." Man, I would throw my remote at the TV screen too. So we would never do that.

THR: Now that we know there are two Nina Sharps in our midst. Will the "how" be uncovered?
Pinkner: Without answering it directly, if it were a shape shifter, someone would have to die. So you can't have two Ninas if one of them is a shape shifter. It's part of the mystery, but at the same time, we've established that David Robert Jones can pretty much cross over pretty much at will now.

THR: Since Peter is certain this Olivia is his Olivia -- and then she disappeared -- what does this mean for the two of them?
Wyman: Another thing we've said is that no good decent life story is worth telling without a lot of different twists and turns in the road. Jeff and I are both romantics; we both believe in the notion of love and the strength of love. We've been saying since that since the beginning that we both believe Olivia and Peter are destined for each other. Episode 4x15 [airing March 23] is a culmination of all emotional roads and I think it'll be very satisfying for people who have been with the show since the beginning.

Read Philiana Ng's entire Hollywood Reporter article here.

FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman Tease the ‘Mind-Bending’ ‘Welcome to Westfield,’ Olivia’s Fate, the Lincoln-Olivia-Peter Triangle, Their Fans and More

FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman Tease the ‘Mind-Bending’ ‘Welcome to Westfield,’ Olivia’s Fate, the Lincoln-Olivia-Peter Triangle, Their Fans and More

February 9, 2012 by Marisa Roffman

It’s hard to talk about Friday’s brand new episode of FRINGE, “Welcome to Westfield,” without spoiling too much, but at risk of over-hyping the hour, it’s safe to say it’s good. As in, canIhavethenextepisoderightnowplease?, good.

But again, at the risk of spoiling too much, I probably shouldn’t say much more.

Thankfully, FRINGE executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman were willing to tease a little bit about what viewers can expect from the hour, as well as just how dire September’s prediction for Olivia really was, Peter-Olivia-Lincoln, their awesome fans, and more…

The description for “Welcome to Westfield” — Peter, Olivia, and Walter get trapped together — is very interesting. Is it a bottle episode of sorts?
J.H. Wyman: No, no bottle episodes, but I think that one is going to go over really well. I really believe people are going to love that one.

Is there anything you can tease about it, specifically?
JW: It’s a fantastic episode, really mind-bending in the best FRINGE-ian kind of way. It’s going to answer a lot of mythological questions. It’s going to answer one very large mythological question, which we believe is of paramount importance, the answer to that question. It’s a big one as far as stakes are concerned.

Very interesting. You guys teased that answers are going to be coming in waves over the next few episodes. Is that going to come partially in the return of September?
Jeff Pinkner: September’s a piece of the puzzle, for sure.

Are we going to be finding out a little bit more about how he got shot and whether it was due to his actions in the season premiere?
JP: Without spoiling it, obviously the questions that are on your mind are the questions on everyone’s minds and we’re going to answer those questions and others and pose new ones. Hopefully like we always do.

Well, we did have his warning to Olivia that she had to die. Now, that sounds dire –
JP: It is!

But if you really think about it, everybody has to die eventually. Are we reading too much into this where he wants her to live forever, or is this a morbid thing where the message is, “You’re going to die soon.”
JW: The Observers, don’t forget, they’ve already experienced the future. It’s not an issue of him wanting her to live forever; he knows…there’s something tragic in the mail for her.
JP: It’s not like he’s saying, “Hey, you’ve got to age.”

That’s true. She just does not have the best luck. Everyone keeps wanting her dead or thinking she’s going to die.
JP: She’s a hero.

Yeah. Poor girl.
JW: She said as much [in last season's "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide"]: ” I saw the man who is going to kill me.” So these things might be connected.

Would those two things still be connected in the new timeline?
JW: That’s what’s really interesting — fate and destiny and things like that, they cross timelines, they cross who knows, right?

Okay, then I have a super-nerdy question: If this man is destined to kill her, why did Walternate kill her in the future Peter saw?
JW: That’s another time.
JP: That future will never happen. What Peter did at the end of last season –
JW: Altered the course of it.
JP: — altered the course of events. Peter’s sacrifice, getting into the machine and ultimately disappearing from the timeline, was specifically to avoid that future.
JW: Don’t forget, there’s many different possibilities of the future, many different versions. So one of them, maybe Walternate kills her, in another one, maybe the guy from the Zeppelin kills her, in another one, she can get hit by a car, and in another one, she can miss that car, in other, she can pull a gun and shoot Walternate — there’s all kinds of different versions. It’s precarious.

Speaking of precarious, there’s this weird triangle forming with Peter, Olivia, and Lincoln. How is the triangle going to play out in the next batch of episodes?
JW: The struggle is being around someone that [looks like the person you love]…Peter knows what he’s destined for, and it’s not [this Olivia], and that’s difficult for him. She’s there and she’s serving as a painful reminder every time he sees her of what he’s missing and what’s waiting for him. Biologically and chemistry-wise, she’s the same girl, really, so it’s very difficult.

Him watching another person dealing with her on another level that might be construed as romantic is also hard. So, it’s there for a reason. You’re going to see — that’s what it’s designed for — to show us that, “Wow, I really want to be with her.” And ultimately, you just want him to get his Olivia back. And that’s the whole key. You will watch some painful moments and some beautiful moments and hopefully you’ll be down there with him with his struggle.

Read Marisa Roffman's entire GiveMeMyRemote article here.

Fringe Producers Talk Tonight's Return, Peter's Mission and How It Could All End!

Fringe Producers Talk Tonight's Return, Peter's Mission and How It Could All End!

Jan 13, 2012 09:49 AM ET
by Damian Holbrook

Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John NobleFringe fires up new episodes tonight (Fox, 9/8c) with a high-adrenaline hour mostly set in the alt-verse that features a slew of first-time meetings between characters, as well as a reveal of shapeshifting proportions. On the heels of some less-than-encouraging comments by Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena last week about the show's future, producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman opened up in a frank, and frankly exciting, discussion with TV Guide Magazine about what tonight's episode sets in motion, and why fans should count on them to do right by them should this be the final season.


TV Guide Magazine: It's been quite a week...
Pinkner: In the Fringe world?


TV Guide Magazine: In the Fox world.
Pinker: You mean the Kevin Reilly, TCA stuff?


TV Guide Magazine: Yeah.
Pinkner: You wanna know how we took that information? None of it came as a surprise to us. We know our job is to keep the show as creatively exciting as we can make it for them. And as Kevin acknowledged in that panel, creatively, they still love the show. We know what the rest of our season has in store, as do they, and they are very excited about that. Then it comes down to business decisions. Hopefully, it will all work out.
Wyman: When Kevin Reilly says something is gone, he doesn't mince words. So you should take that for what it is.


TV Guide Magazine: Going back to you knowing how the rest of the season will shake out, you're gonna share that with me, too, right?
Wyman: No. [Laughs]
Pinker: Ha ha ha ha!
Wyman: We'll tease some of it for you!


TV Guide Magazine: OK, that works. In November you left us with a pretty disturbing image of Nina drugging Olivia...
Pinker: Yes. But that will not really be attended to in a big way in this week's episode. The next two episodes, really, are about Peter. Having been turned away by Walter, who refuses to help him find his way home, Peter realizes there is a man who is equally smart who can help him, that being Walternate. So Peter convinces Olivia — who has her own agenda — to allow him and Lincoln to go to the alternate universe to convince Walternate to help him get back to his own timeline. Of course, everybody has their doubts about what kind of guy Walternate is, and certainly his possible participation in the shapeshifters.


TV Guide Magazine: And how does their first meeting go?
Pinkner: Peter comes to find that his expectations of Walternate are not met. It's a really kind of fun episode that introduces the bad guy of the year. We'll learn a lot about the shapeshifters, who is behind them, and what the Hell is going on. The first seven episodes where like the first act of the season. Now we really start pursuing this over the next several episodes.


TV Guide Magazine: Do you guys have an idea for another reset timeline should Peter be able to remedy all of this? Or would he return to the timeline he already knows?
Wyman: We don't want to spoil anything, but as we always say on Fringe, nothing is really as it seems. There's always a way to handle a problem that may escape normal logic. It may [clue you in] to the possibility of something that you don't even know you didn't know.
Pinkner: The show is not going to get more complex. We recognize that we are throwing a lot at our fans — who are brilliant and attentive viewers — to track and pay attention to. We have no intention to make it any more complicated. We're not trying to let intellect overtake the emotion of the show.
Wyman: When we decided to do what we did last season, some people loved it, some people were like, "Oh my God, what does that mean?" But even after Jeff and I both said several times that Peter was still a huge part of the program, people were still like "Wait, is Peter coming back?" What we're excited about is that our plan for where we are going with that is coming into effect now. I think people will have a moment of "Ohhhh...I get it." It will become clear why we did what we did.


TV Guide Magazine: Would you say this next round of episodes are Josh Jackson-heavy?
Pinkner: Not really. They're sort of team-heavy. They're not Peter-at-the-expense-of-anyone. He is now in this timeline, interacting with our characters, so it's very much team-oriented.


TV Guide Magazine: You mentioned the emotion of the show, and in the last episode, there were clearly seeds of an Olivia-Lincoln situation being planted.
Wyman: That's true. That was our intention. Don't forget, Peter has his Olivia. So this Olivia is an incredible lure, but also a painful memory of what he's lost. Lincoln and Olivia are both available, and there is a relationship there that could be possible...but you have to keep watching. We're glad you picked up on that.


TV Guide Magazine: Well I just imagine the pain it will cause Peter to see something like that develop, knowing his Olivia is somewhere without him.
Wyman: That's it, right! Then he starts to wonder, "Am I ever going to get home?"


TV Guide Magazine: What kind of cases have you lined up for the second half of the year? Surely Peter can't be their only concern.
Pinkner: I think, without giving anything away — and again, sorry, sometimes we may hold things too close to the vest — there are absolutely a lot of stand-alone cases. Peter is the "Fringe event" of the moment, but the cases are not all about him. A lot of them are sort of the things we enjoy and do the best. Cases that touch on or refract the themes we're exploring this season, populated by some of the coolest Fringe victims and bad guys and monsters we've done all season.


TV Guide Magazine: With the arrival of tonight's bad guy, would you say the action is going to be increased?
Wyman: Oh yeah. The action is increased a lot. There's a lot of what Jeff and I like to call a cascade of reveals coming up. There are going to be some really interesting turns that you won't see coming, and a lot of that is footed in action. You are going to understand what the rest of the season is going to look like. It will render itself for you as you watch this next batch of episodes.
Pinkner: One of the things we're having fun with, and we have said this before, is that Season 4 is designed as a love letter to our characters and our show. The idea of having a different timeline? It's the same world, it's the same blend, it's the same Earth as Seasons 1 through 3, it's just a different timeline and one of the fun things for us is to look at how some familiar faces and cases may be different.


TV Guide Magazine: Like tiny edits. This season is like a second draft.
Wyman: Exactly! [Laughs]
Pinker: Yeah! You get to revisit.


TV Guide Magazine: Should this be your final run, you do have an end game in place, right?
Wyman: Yep.


Read Damian Holbrook's entire TV Guide article here.

Fringe: The Shape Of Things To Come

Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman talk about the new and improved Shapeshifter 2.0.

Fringe: Here Is Peter Bishop (Producer Interviews)

Here is the latest in the Where Is Peter Bishop? video series, featuring interviews with fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman.

There's a few new clips in this video, so you may not want to watch if you are avoiding spoilers. One more day (hopefully)!

Fringe Tweet-Along Tonight With Pinkner & Wyman

Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner (@JeffPinkner) and Joel Wyman (@JWFringe) will be tweeting during the west-coast airing of Fringe "Subject 9", starting at 9:00 PM PT / 12:00 AM ET.

Executive Producers Joel Wyman & Jeff Pinkner LIVE Tweeting During Tomorrow's West Coast Airing

Twitter is reporting tonight that executive producers Joel Wyman and Jeff Pinkner will be Tweeting LIVE during tomorrow night's WEST COAST AIRING ONLY starting at 9PM Pacific Time.
So jump on Twitter and say hello to the best showrunners around!

Joel Wyman @JWFRINGE

Jeff Pinkner @JPFRINGE

Joel Wyman & Jeff Pinkner:Top 50 Power Showrunners 2011

Top 50 Power Showrunners 2011
by The Holloywood Reporter Staff
12:49 PM PDT 10/12/2011

by Philiana Ng
Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman
Fringe (Fox)

When Fringe moved from Thursdays to Fridays in the middle of its third season, viewership tumbled from 5.1 million to fewer than 4 million. This is why it was so meaningful -- and shocking, really -- that Fox renewed the cult favorite for a fourth season in March. It was a sign, say Pinkner and Wyman, that ratings are no longer the most valuable unit of measurement by network execs. Buzz can be all powerful. "We keep a lot of plot secrets because we find it's better that way," says Wyman. "If nobody knows what you're doing, then nobody can tell." Created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Fringe took a creative gamble last season when it erased the existence of one main character and added a new series regular. But Pinkner, 45, a former producer on Abrams' Alias and Lost, and the Montreal-bred Wyman, 44, who was a writer on Canadian period series Wind at My Back and created Keen Eddie, are hardly ready to close up shop. "The only show we've done that said, 'Hey, this is going to be our end date and we're marching toward it,' was Lost," Pinkner says. "We hope it's a long time before that happens for Fringe."

Read the entire article and judging methodology here.

Fringe: The Bridge

Fringe executive producers Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman, and Fringe stars Jasika Nicole, John Noble, and Anna Torv discuss the "bridge" that connects the two universes.

FRINGE:Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman on 'One Night in October' and What's to Come

FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman on ‘One Night in October’ and What’s to Come
October 1, 2011 by Marisa Roffman


So, um, that happened on FRINGE.

Now that both coasts have seen “One Night in October,” there is much to discuss — including, but not limited to, how we’re going to survive the next few days until we get our next episode.

Seriously, though, given the last scene of the hour, I had many burning questions about what the heck we just saw/heard. And thankfully, FRINGE executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman were willing to answer a few of them…

You can read the rest of the article at GiveMeMyRemote.com

'Fringe' star Joshua Jackson relegated to sidelines while costar Anna Torv takes center stage

'Fringe' star Joshua Jackson relegated to sidelines while costar Anna Torv takes center stage
BY Ethan Sacks
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, September 30th 2011, 4:00 AM


Despite all the creepy enigmas that surround Fox's sci-fi drama "Fringe," it's no great mystery as to what the secret is behind the show's appeal.

It's the chemistry among FBI agent Oliva Dunham (Anna Torv), her love interest Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and his eccentric scientist father, Walter (John Noble).

So what on Earth - this or any alternate one - were the show's brain-trust thinking when they wrote one of the show's main characters, Peter, out as he sacrificed himself to save this world and an alternate universe from destroying each other at the end of last season's finale?

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FRINGE:Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman on the Season Premiere and What's to Come

FRINGE: Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman on the Season Premiere and What’s to Come
September 24, 2011 by Marisa Roffman

Now that both coasts have seen the FRINGE season premiere, what did you guys think?

There was some major groundwork laid for what could be coming up this season, an act of rebellion, a new enemy and some pretty new credits for the show.

As you may have suspected, I had a few questions after I viewed the episode, so I grilled FRINGE executive producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman to see what they were willing to share…

The Observer makes the choice to once again go against what he’s been told to do in regards to the Bishops. How will that play out and what will the consequences be for him going forward?
Jeff Pinkner: Well obviously we can’t tell you that!

You could tease…
JP: You picked the [right] word. As [J.H. Wyman] alluded earlier, a lot of our storytelling lives in consequences, so there certainly will be some.

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Fringe Season 4 Conference Call with Joel Wyman and Jeff Pinkner

Fringe S4 Conference Call w/ Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman by FringeTelevision

I had the unique and awesome opportunity to be included on today's conference call with executive producers Joel Wyman and Jeff Pinkner that took place at 2PM Eastern today.

Joel and Jeff were in great spirits. First, they reassured everyone that Joshua Jackson's character was not permanently gone. "We would never do that."

They also said "Peter's part of the DNA of the show," and "the previous three years did indeed happen." Joel and Jeff said they would be frustrated if a show they watched did that, and it's not part of their storytelling method to let that happen.

Then out of the blue, Jeff Pinkner started talking about the incredible "Where Is Peter Bishop" fanvid and how much they appreciated it.

Read more »