SciFi Wire Interview: FRINGE Premiere

Sci Fi Wire has an interview with FRINGE creators J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner, at a FRINGE news conference the evening of the premiere, where they discussed the show's genesis in their favorite SF&F series of the past and how the series will deal with "the family you choose."

What were your favorite films, TV shows that led to this?

Orci: The first thing I brought up was Real Genius. Remember the old Val Kilmer movie comedy? It was about a bunch of geniuses at the university, solving scientific problems with science? So that was my sort of weird touch point. ... Alex was a big Twin Peaks fan. So he wanted the sort of surrealistic FBI element to it. And J.J. loves [filmmaker David] Cronenberg. He loves The Fly. He loves those kind of [shows] where medical science or something like that goes just slightly wrong, and it becomes kind of horror, you know? Just kind of those three sensibilities mixed in together.

Abrams: The Twilight Zone, you know, for me was the most impactful show, mostly because it combined characters that were ultimately damaged--and often heartbreaking--with situations that were absolutely terrifying and weird. ... And clearly The X-Files is a huge influence; Altered States is a huge influence; the David Cronenberg films. There were a lot of things that for me were obsessions, and I feel like we get to, you know, play in that arena now.

There are so many shows now with mythology arcs they end getting less interesting the more they end up revealing. How do you make this different from those?

Orci: I don't think the stories that we're generating and will continue to generate are dependent on "the answer." So we can in theory indefinitely continue to do what we're going to do, whether or not we have the answer. The fact that we actually know what we're doing, and have an end point, is kind of a bonus that allows us to have everything sort of make sense retroactively. But I don't think our show is predicated on the notion that we're going to have to be revealing our secret every week.

Pinkner: The mythology of the show is one of the rails of the storytelling, but it is by no means the one that we all think that people are going to come back for. It's really just the cherry on the top of the sundae, and ... it's there already: It's there in the pilot. You won't even know it's there. And, ... unlike show's we've done, we're not asking the audience to be wondering [as in Alias] "Who is Rambaldi? What is Rambaldi about? What does Rambaldi want?" It's much more of an open mystery, and the sense of revelation won't be like "Oh, thank God they finally answered that question. Now I can move on to another." We're approaching it from a different point of view.

Click here to read the full article, or visit SciFi.com.

Fringe Creators Reveal Secrets

J.J. Abrams and his co-creators and producers of Fox's upcoming SF series Fringe talked about the show's genesis in their favorite SF&F series of the past and how the series will deal with "the family you choose."

From J.J. Abrams and his Star Trek writing team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Fringe centers on FBI special agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), who finds herself drawn into an investigation of a mysterious aircraft disaster in Boston. Olivia's desperate search for help to save her gravely injured partner leads to brilliant scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), who has been institutionalized for the last 17 years. And the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson) in to help. The investigation gets weirder and weirder as Olivia discovers that things--and science--are not what they seem.

Abrams and executive producers Orci, Kurtzman, Bryan Burk and Jeff Pinkner spoke in a news conference in New York's meatpacking district on Aug. 26 about the series before attending a premiere party in Manhattan later that evening. SCI FI Wire was there; following are excerpts from the news conference with details of the upcoming series. (Abrams brought a box of cupcakes to apologize for showing up late.) Fringe premieres Sept. 9 and will air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

How did this show come together?

Orci: I call this a planned pregnancy. Which means we literally said, "Let's sit down in a room together and create a show." And the three of us just sat down for weeks on end and just went through the history of our TV loves and our movie loves and just--planned pregnancy. So it was all three of us.

Did you set out to remake The X-Files?

Orci: We did not set out to remake The X-Files. We set out to kind of just blend our three tastes, you know?

What were your favorite films, TV shows that led to this?

Orci: The first thing I brought up was Real Genius. Remember the old Val Kilmer movie comedy? It was about a bunch of geniuses at the university, solving scientific problems with science? So that was my sort of weird touch point. ... Alex was a big Twin Peaks fan. So he wanted the sort of surrealistic FBI element to it. And J.J. loves [filmmaker David] Cronenberg. He loves The Fly. He loves those kind of [shows] where medical science or something like that goes just slightly wrong, and it becomes kind of horror, you know? Just kind of those three sensibilities mixed in together.

You would say this is a science fiction series first and foremost, where X-Files was supernatural?

Orci: Yeah, the title itself refers to fringe science, so I think the idea is to keep it so that it's maybe a couple of minutes in the future, but not weeks in the future, not years. We're trying to do what you can read any of the tech science parts of the newspaper nowadays, and there's just really strange articles in there that 10 years ago would have been, you know, unbelievable, and now it's like "Oh, the Pentagon has an invisibility cloak." It's like "What?" You know?

How far are you into it? In terms of scripts?

Orci: We are six scripts in. [Fox has ordered 13 episodes for the fall.]

How much of the mythology do you figure out before the show actually starts? Or is it make it up as you go, as you write the show?

Kurtzman: There's a large mythology that we all kind of decided on when we wrote the pilot, and we knew that when we went to series we were going to have to reach a certain end point. That end point's very flexible in terms of when we get there. If they let us run for 12 seasons, you'll see it in season 12. If they take us off the air by nine episodes, you'll see it in episode nine. So, um, there's a lot of room there.

Orci: Yeah, we were lucky to actually figure it out early. Sometimes you don't figure it out early; you kind of find it as you go, and this time we really do have a plan. ... [It's a lesson we learned from] Alias. We learned it from Alias. We learned a lot from Alias. ...

In J.J.'s previous shows that you guys have worked on, as much of a genre show that they are, there's always a central metaphor. Alias is sort of about a girl who's coming into her own. Lost is about this other thing, these characters dealing with their troubled pasts. Is this about that sort of thing as well?

Orci: I mean, for me it's about the family that you choose, you know? We're trying to crash a procedural with kind of the more genre-type stuff that we like. In a classic procedural, the characters are together because they're assigned to be. In this show, they're together because they kind of need each other. And one of them's father, and she needs him, and he can't be there without his son, who doesn't exactly want to be there, either. So it's a tenuous situation that they're in, which is obviously very exciting dramatically, because there's a lot you can milk out of it for that reason.

Kurtzman: And I think literally, Fringe refers both to fringe science and to these characters who are exploring the fringes of their personality. ... The demons that they face in these cases force them to confront their own demons that they haven't ever necessarily wanted to face in their lives. ...

How will you balance the case-of-the-week episodes with the serialized arc of the overarching conspiracy?
Orci: That's one thing that we demanded from the beginning when we all sat down and were going to do this show, that we have to learn our lessons from before, and we studied procedurals specifically to try and merge the two, and it's very against our instincts to do that. But when nine of the top 10 shows on TV are called Law and Order and C.S.I., you have to study them a little bit and figure out what they're doing that's such a satisfying ... stand-alone.

Kurtzman: I think where you can actually play with serialization a little bit more in a show like Fringe is that where we make sure that our episodes are self-contained--have a beginning, a middle and an end--the character stories can be serialized. They don't have to resolve themselves over the course of one show, and that's actually OK, as long as an audience comes in. If they haven't seen two or three shows before, they can still quickly enter the point of view of the characters, I think we're fine. ...

[Abrams comes in, carrying a bag with several boxes of cupcakes. He passes them around the room.]

Before you got in, Bob was talking a bit about the genesis of the show. Can you talk about that, how your love for a particular show, the genre, fed into this?

Abrams: Sure. My guess is my answer should probably be "What Bob said." But I will add, in probably the same spirit but slightly different language, that the fun of this for us was taking the kinds of things that we loved growing up and combining them and sort of playing with them and making them into something ... that's hopefully brand-new while being in the spirit of things that inspired us. So The Twilight Zone, you know, for me was the most impactful show, mostly because it combined characters that were ultimately damaged--and often heartbreaking--with situations that were absolutely terrifying and weird. And that combination, you know, those elements probably both stand on their own anyway, but together, you know, done well, is my favorite lethal combination. So the idea was "Let's come up with a world and characters that feel of that ilk and a situation that would put them constantly into [it]." Because I know you can't do an anthology show, I don't think, in the way Twilight Zone did, now, for a number of reasons. So it really is a way of doing that. And clearly The X-Files is a huge influence; Altered States is a huge influence; the David Cronenberg films. There were a lot of things that for me were obsessions, and I feel like we get to, you know, play in that arena now.

And regarding subtext, Bob said the show for him was about the family that you choose. For you, what is this show about?

Abrams: Bob is a much deeper thinker than I am [laughs]. I tend to feel more "What is cool?" and sort of find stuff in that. My feeling is that ... they're characters that are compelling to me in any situation, and the fact that they are together and they're thrown into these really weird situations--all I know is that it feels like fertile ground for drama and comedy and terror and romance and the unexpected, and that to me is the show I want to watch. ...

I'm curious about the mythology of this. There are so many shows now with mythology arcs they end getting less interesting the more they end up revealing. How do you make this different from those? It all seems like shows like this succeed most in the first season, before you reveal any of the stuff, and then once the reveals start to happen they start to run out of gas.
Orci: I don't think the stories that we're generating and will continue to generate are dependent on "the answer." So we can in theory indefinitely continue to do what we're going to do, whether or not we have the answer. The fact that we actually know what we're doing, and have an end point, is kind of a bonus that allows us to have everything sort of make sense retroactively. But I don't think our show is predicated on the notion that we're going to have to be revealing our secret every week.

Pinkner: The mythology of the show is one of the rails of the storytelling, but it is by no means the one that we all think that people are going to come back for. It's really just the cherry on the top of the sundae, and ... it's there already: It's there in the pilot. You won't even know it's there. And, ... unlike show's we've done, we're not asking the audience to be wondering [as in Alias] "Who is Rambaldi? What is Rambaldi about? What does Rambaldi want?" It's much more of an open mystery, and the sense of revelation won't be like "Oh, thank God they finally answered that question. Now I can move on to another." We're approaching it from a different point of view.

Can you talk about the casting of Joshua Jacskon?

Abrams: Well, I think he's finally going to leave the Creek after this season. Really, all I love to do is make Pacey jokes. ... Um, sorry. ... Literally one of the things he says [in] one of the very first episodes ... is he's like a babysitter. He's like, "What the hell am I doing here?" ... There is something that happens fairly early on that compels him to stay. And one of the fun things about his character, as you'll see as the series plays out, is ... he's been this odd sort of nomad, sort of journeyman guy, who has sort of had every job. ... He ends up having an important point of view. He's like sort of the third, you know, leg of the table. He's necessary to be there for the stability of the show. So part of it is about deciphering what the hell Walter [Noble] is talking about. Part of it is you know, sort of being a sort of bridge between Olivia and Walter. Part of it is that he's actually, despite himself, [he's found a purpose]. One of my favorite things about it is, he's this guy's son, and he's never really found a purpose. And the odd thing is, in his life, despite his screwed-up relationship with his father, despite really not wanting to be there and really not being good at staying in one place, this guy finds his purpose in this unlikely situation. So I think that his good qualities and the aspects of character that he brings to the group, beyond just sort of being critical for the solution of the mysteries, is also there's a compelling emotional reason understated.

J.J., how involved are you going to be in the show, given your career in feature films directing Star Trek and your other shows?

Pinkner: Have you met the other J.J. Abrams?

Abrams: I don't know. All I can tell you is my involvement in the show right now is about as involved as you could get. We are all talking far too often and to each other, and the truth is, because it's something we all care about, and we want to see be as sort of functional and as successful in the storytelling as possible, ... you can't walk away from something that matters like that. In a case of something like Lost, where I went off to do Mission Impossible III and [co-creator- Damon [Lindelof] really took over that show, day to day, it was so ... easy, because he simply ran with it and did just such an extraordinary job. And it wasn't like I was needed to do this or that. In fact it quickly became clear that I wasn't, necessarily, to have that show be what it's become. On Fringe, we [writers] have such a shorthand--we know each other so well--my gut is that we will be as involved as the show needs us to be, and that’s really going to be an evolution. --Patrick Lee, News Editor

Fringe Press Kit: FBI Envelope

It's a little daunting to receive a large envelope from the FBI, until you take a closer look and realize that things are not what they seem, and this FBI is from Olivia Dunham's world in FRINGE (seen here with Phillip Broyles).

The first clue is the Frog glyph stamp, which is obviously not real and is postmarked FRINGE ON FOX 09 SEP 2008 TUE 9/10 C - the FRINGE premiere date. Another interesting detail is the braille at the bottom of the envelope, which translates to the Fibonacci numbers: 8 13 21 34 55

As previously reported, the envelope contains a letter, a digital voice recorder, "evidence" of The Pattern, and a DVD of the pilot episode. Here are some better photos of the contents:

Fringe Premiere Party In NYC

The Fringe premier party was tonight in NYC, at The Xchange on West 28th Street. USA Today spoke with some of the stars, as they made their way down the "red carpet". The party included Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole, Jason Butler Harner (plus his twin); show creators J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Bryan Burk, Jeff Pinkner; plus Fox president Kevin Reilly.

• "Frankly, Fringe is more to my taste than something like Dawson's Creek. I didn't grow up watching 90210; I grew up watching the X-Files." - Joshua Jackson
  
  
• "I think part of the message is 'Be careful playing God.' There's definitely that aspect to it, but other than that, I don't know. I'll have to wait and see. What I'm not smart enough to do yet is piece together the through line." - Joshua Jackson
  
  
• "Question everything. Question and doubt," - Blair Brown
  
  
• "Basically, the way I approach it is I take it (his role) at face value as far as I've gotten and just play it like that." - Lance Reddick
  

Click here to read the full story

Stars get at the fabric of 'Fringe' at premiere party

By James Endrst, Special for USA TODAY

NEW YORK — The vibe was out there Monday night at the premiere party for Fox's Fringe, the hotly anticipated new series from Lost creator J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the team behind Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III and Alias).

The paranoid, procedural drama, filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens, works the twilight zone between science fact and science fiction much like The X-Files.

At The Xchange on West 28th Street, Fringe stars made their way down the carpet. Among them: John Noble (The Lord of the Rings), who plays mad scientist Walter Bishop, and Joshua Jackson (Dawson's Creek), who is cast as Bishop's estranged and troubled son, Peter.

The two, along with Anna Torv, who plays FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, are at the heart of Fringe, charged with tracking reality-bending events and left wondering: "Is there a message, and, if so, who is sending it?"

"I think part of the message is 'Be careful playing God.' There's definitely that aspect to it," Jackson said. "But other than that, I don't know. I'll have to wait and see. What I'm not smart enough to do yet is piece together the through line."

"Question everything. Question and doubt," said Blair Brown, who plays corporate bigwig Nina Sharp.

Series good guys Lance Reddick (The Wire), Kirk Acevedo (Oz) and Jasika Nicole also attended the party.

Reddick, who appeared on Abrams' Lost, tries not to think about a message. "Basically, the way I approach it is I take it (his role) at face value as far as I've gotten and just play it like that."

Fringe will make its debut Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

To see more pictures, visit GettyImages.com

Fox to Fill Fringe's Gap with "Hole"

One of the unique features of the premiere season of FRINGE is the so-called "remote-free TV", which promises half of the normal commercials of a regular show (typically 20 minutes per hour).

However, we have wondered how an one hour and 22 minute show could fill a two-hour premiere slot and have less commercials.

To fill the gap, Fox will debut "Hole in the Wall" immediately after the FRINGE season premiere, "letting viewers sample two of its highest-profile new shows at once."

"Hole" is Japanese style game-show that is already a hit around the world, and on YouTube where is goes by the nickname "Human Tetris".

After the premiere, "The Wall" will move back to it's regular time slot on Thursdays, and FRINGE will continue the rest of the season with 50 minutes episodes and 10 minutes of commercials.

Click here to read the full article, or visit TVWeek.com

Fox's 'Hole' to Ride 'Fringe' Coattails

By Josef Adalian

Fox is hoping the creator of "Lost" can help its new reality show "Hole in the Wall" get found by viewers.

The network has quietly scheduled a 25-minute sneak preview of "Hole" behind the Tuesday, Sept. 9 premiere of "Fringe," the new drama from J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. "Hole" will air from 9:35 p.m. until 10 p.m.

Among the most highly anticipated new shows of the fall, "Fringe" was designed to air as a two-hour pilot. But in May, after the pilot was filmed, Fox announced that the show would air with a reduced commercial load, allowing advertisers to hawk their wares in a less-crowded environment.

Weekly episodes of "Fringe" will run about 50 minutes, with producers cramming in extra content. But with the show's pilot built to fit into a normal two-hours-with-commericals slot, Fox needed to find something to fill the programming hole.

Enter "Hole."

Fox executives considered several possibilities to fill the gap, including a fall preview special. Ultimately, the network decided to turn the night into an event, letting viewers sample two of its highest-profile new shows at once.

"Hole" is still scheduled to settle into its regular Thursday night slot on Sept. 11. The pilot for "Fringe" will be repeated on Sunday, Sept. 14. Fox is still finalizing plans for how to fill the 25-minute gap left by the Sunday encore

Fringe Pattern: Case 0091 - Evidence 0007

The FRINGE viral website PHI (also the Imagine The Impossibilities site) has been updated with a new piece of evidence.

Case 0091 - Evidence 0007, dated 8-25-08 12:03 PM, is an image of braille letters, which translates to PARKERSBURG. Parkersburg is a town in Iowa (see map), most notably known for a F5 tornado that stuck there on May 25, 2008.

UPDATE: If you click the dot which I highlighted in red, it will take you to the "weather" page, where you can download two actual Parkersburg tornado videos, titled "Bank" and "House".

BTW, the videos are hosted on WeatherMatrix.net, a large online weather community, which means these are actual videos from the Parkersburg tornado.

Fox Will Stream FRINGE Premiere To Colleges

Fox will be simulcast-streaming the season premieres of FRINGE (and TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES) through a special college portal which will be accessible only to .EDU domains. The "simul-streams" will be complemented with pre- and post-shows featuring behind-the-scenes footage and music videos, as well as cast and producer interviews. FRINGE will simulcast Tuesday, Sept. 9 (8:00-9:35 PM ET/PT) on FOX and on college campuses online at www.fox.com/fringe/college.

Click here to read the full press release

"FRINGE" AND "TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES" GO TO COLLEGE WITH INNOVATIVE SEASON PREMIERE SIMUL-STREAMS ONLINE AT FOX.COM
Released by FOX
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

"FRINGE" AND "TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES" GO TO COLLEGE WITH INNOVATIVE SEASON PREMIERE SIMUL-STREAMS ONLINE AT FOX.COM

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Premieres Sept. 8; FRINGE Premieres Sept. 9

In an unprecedented event, FOX will stream the premieres of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES and FRINGE exclusively for on-campus college students at www.fox.com. Only students on college campuses accessing through a college internet domain (.edu) will have the opportunity to watch the episodes online simultaneously with their primetime premieres.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES will premiere both on FOX and on college campuses online at www.fox.com/terminator/college on Monday, Sept. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), and FRINGE will simulcast Tuesday, Sept. 9 (8:00-9:35 PM ET/PT) on FOX and on college campuses online at www.fox.com/fringe/college. The "simul-streams" will be complemented with pre- and post-shows featuring behind-the-scenes footage and music videos, as well as cast and producer interviews.

In the second season premiere of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, viewers will catch up with the Connors in the aftermath of Cameron's (Summer Glau) jeep explosion. As they try to pick up the pieces, Sarah (Lena Headey) and John Connor (Thomas Dekker) are forced to confront the reality of John following his destiny. Meanwhile, Agent Ellison's (Richard T. Jones) faith is challenged and he's forced to confront the Feds in the aftermath of Cromartie's (Garret Dillahunt) massacre; and, Shirley Manson joins the cast as Catherine Weaver, the CEO of a high-tech corporation.

From J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the team behind "Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible III" and "Alias," FRINGE is a new procedural thriller that explores the blurring line between the possible and the unimaginable. In the series premiere, an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport carrying crew and passengers decimated by a mysterious virus. The event brings together an unlikely trio FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his scheming, reluctant son Peter (Josh Jackson) who uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events that may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern.

Produced by Bartleby Company and The Halcyon Company in association with Warner Bros. Television, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is executive-produced by Josh Friedman, John Wirth and James Middleton. Toni Graphia and Natalie Chaidez serve as co-executive producers.

The FRINGE pilot is directed by Emmy Award-winning Alex Graves ("The West Wing"), and the series is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Bad Robot Productions. J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner and Bryan Burk serve as executive producers.

* Thanks to TheFutonCritic for this press release.

NY Times Interview: J.J. Abrams on FRINGE

The New York Times has an interview with J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Bryan Burk on FRINGE, where they discuss the FRINGE formula, and the lessons learned on Lost, Alias, and Felicity on how to make a TV show complex, without making it confusing.

Click here to read full article

Complexity Without Commitment
By DAVE ITZKOFF

IF you’ve ever been utterly baffled by a television show that J. J. Abrams had a hand in creating — too confused to follow the serpentine plot twists of “Lost” or “Alias” or, heck, even “Felicity” — know that Mr. Abrams, the prolific writer, producer and director, has been annoyed too. With you.

“I just got tired of hearing people say to me, over and over, ‘Yeah, I was watching it, but I missed one, I got really confused, and I stopped watching it,’ ” he said in a recent phone interview.

If viewers find this kind of show frustrating, it’s his own fault: he practically invented it. Over the past decade Mr. Abrams, 42, has helped pioneer a storytelling style that demands total commitment from audience members, requiring that they keep up not only with complicated single-episode plotlines (can a time-traveling castaway alter past events to help himself in the present?) but also with fiendishly intricate narratives (how did the Oceanic Six get off their mysterious island, and how might they get back?) that can take an entire season — or seasons, plural — to play out.

It is a strategy that has built cult followings for Mr. Abrams’s series and won him praise for his braininess. Yet even he recognizes that when it comes to recruiting new viewers, it’s about as effective as proposing to go steady on a first date.

“If you start going out with someone and immediately they’re like, ‘Look, we have to see each other every week,’ you run from that person,” Mr. Abrams said. “It’s like, ‘Can’t we just see how it goes?’ ”

Mr. Abrams is especially mindful of the television-series-as-relationship metaphor as he prepares “Fringe,” which will have its premiere on Fox on Sept. 9. Created with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the screenwriters of “Transformers” and Mr. Abrams’s forthcoming “Star Trek” film, “Fringe” is an hourlong drama about an investigative team whose explorations lead to a shadowy world of science fiction and the seemingly supernatural.

It is also Mr. Abrams’s attempt to rectify the narrative (and viewer attention span) problems he faced on previous shows and to synthesize the many lessons he has learned from them into a series that is both complex and accessible, and that is capable of arriving at a determined conclusion over an undecided number of episodes.

“The evolution from your ideas and expectations and intent to what actually occurs in the series is a massive gulf,” Mr. Abrams said. “It’s a best-effort scenario. But I think that’s what a series is anyway.”

His newest show was born from pragmatism. In 2007 he was preparing to direct “Star Trek” for Paramount, but he also owed a television series to Warner Brothers, the studio that produces “Fringe,” and he turned to Mr. Kurtzman and Mr. Orci for help. They traded ideas about beloved fantasy films and television series — “The X-Files,” “Altered States,” the early movies of David Cronenberg — but also looked carefully at procedural crime dramas dominating the networks. “When 6 of the Top 10 shows are ‘Law & Order’ and ‘C.S.I.,’ ” Mr. Orci said, “you have to be a fool not to go study what it is that they’re doing.”

Cross-pollinating these genres, they came up with three characters — a neophyte F.B.I. agent (played by Anna Torv), a brilliant but mad scientist (John Noble) and his wayward son (Joshua Jackson) — who solve a single mystery each week. (For starters: Who unleashed a flesh-melting virus on an airplane, killing all its passengers?) The initial goal, Mr. Abrams said, was to create a show that suggested complexity but was comprehensible in any given episode — a goal he felt eluded him on “Alias.” On that series, a spy thriller that appeared on ABC from 2001 to 2006, the internecine warfare between the C.I.A. and a rival agency called SD-6 became so bewildering that, Mr. Abrams said, no casual viewer could keep up.

“You’re trying to track this show,” he said, “in which these bad guys are acting like good guys, the good guys are acting like bad guys, and the good guys are letting the bad guys exist. I can completely understand tuning in to Episode 3 and being like, ‘Huh?’ ”

In the second season of “Alias” ABC asked Mr. Abrams to conclude the C.I.A./SD-6 story line, an abrupt move that he said hurt the show. “There was this inherent joy that the series took in its Byzantine DNA,” he said. “Once we destroyed that convolution, the show was a little aimless in some ways.” But not all of Mr. Abrams’s colleagues agree. “I was often taking the side of the studio and the network,” said Mr. Orci, who produced “Alias” with Mr. Kurtzman. The lesson of “Alias,” Mr. Orci said, is that “you can slow down, and you can tell stand-alone episodes with the same scale of story and mystery.”

As the “Fringe” creators further developed the show, they decided it should have an overarching narrative — that its many paranormal phenomena and mysteries would turn out be part of a larger pattern, referred to simply as the Pattern — to tie its individual episodes together.

Such storytelling devices, Mr. Kurtzman argued, were practically mandatory for a science-fiction-theme show in an era when Internet spoilers are a perpetual hazard. “When we were kids, you had to wait three years between ‘Luke, I am your father’ and Luke showing up at Jabba’s palace,” Mr. Kurtzman said, referring to the original “Star Wars” movies. “You want new information, you’re going to have to wait for the sequel. Obviously that’s not an option anymore.”

Yet the strategy of the multiepisode (or multiseason) story arc — of soap-opera-like story elements that are revealed, drip by drip, over the life of an entire series — is one that Mr. Abrams has introduced to his other series, often spontaneously.

When “Lost” began (with an idea from Lloyd Braun, who was then the ABC Entertainment chairman, for a series about survivors of a plane crash), Mr. Abrams and his collaborator, Damon Lindelof, quickly composed an outline that introduced major characters but lacked the arcane story components that became synonymous with the show: no Dharma Initiative, no Hanso Foundation, no enigmatic Others. Once this outline was approved, Mr. Abrams gathered the founding creative team of “Lost” to figure out what the show would actually be. In this meeting he began to concoct some of its more fantastical elements, including the use of flashbacks to reveal who characters were before they arrived on the island.

“Immediately we were like, yes!” recalled Bryan Burk, Mr. Abrams’s longtime producing partner. “And then J. J. was like, ‘And there’s a hatch!’ ” — a mysterious underground bunker, introduced halfway through the first season of “Lost,” whose full significance has not yet been revealed.

The hatch, Mr. Burk said, posed a problem: “Do you discover the hatch in Episode 2? Or do you discover it in Episode 10? And upon discovering it, do you go in it in Episode 11? Or Episode 12?”

The solution to such narrative puzzles, Mr. Abrams and his colleagues said, is to have a game plan with clearly defined goalposts that can be moved around as a season and a series unfold. Know the ending to your series when you begin it; hope your show continues in perpetuity but always be prepared to wrap it up. (In this spirit the producers of “Lost” announced last year that the series would conclude at the end of its sixth season, in 2010.)

In the case of “Fringe” its creators say they have figured out a finale — naturally, they declined to describe it — that could be deployed at any point in the series. “If we’re canceled at Episode 13,” Mr. Orci said, “we’ll tell you at Episode 13, and if we go on, you could literally find this out in seven years.”

Recollections differ as to how much of the increasingly complicated “Fringe” story line was pitched to executives at Warner Brothers and at Fox when the series was ordered. “You always have to be on the up and up with your studio and your network,” Mr. Burk said. “There’s too much at stake, and they’re taking the biggest gamble.”

But Mr. Abrams cautioned against too much candor. “There are certain details that are hugely important,” he said with some mirth, “that I believe, if shared, will destroy any chance of actually getting on the air. These are the kinds of things that scare people away.”

Mr. Abrams has learned the hard way that a network gets what it wants, and that it’s not always detrimental to his shows. In 2002, when he was producing the final season of “Felicity,” his college soap opera on WB, the network told him that it was ordering five additional episodes of the show — just as he was preparing to shoot the graduation episode intended as the series finale. He and his staff quickly devised a five-episode epilogue styled after “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in which the title character revisits crucial moments from her past. “It was the craziest idea,” Mr. Abrams said, “but as soon as Felicity went back, she was the most interesting character she’d been in years.”

If “Fringe” is a hit, such decisions about what plot devices to employ and when to employ them will fall less and less to the show’s creators — who are busily preparing films like “Star Trek” and a “Transformers” sequel — and more to a writing staff led by Jeff Pinkner, a former “Lost” producer.

At this early stage in the show’s progress, Mr. Abrams acknowledged, it can be hard to let go of the reins. “We’ve been thinking about this story for a year, and our staff has been thinking about it just for a couple of months,” he said. “Right now it’s all hands on deck, to micromanage every decision.”

But on that day, some months or years away, when he is no longer fully immersed in the making of “Fringe,” when his writing staff produces plot points that take him by surprise, Mr. Abrams said, he will know the show is a success. “It takes discipline to be able to be gracious and go: ‘I had nothing to do with it. They really ran with it. This is their ball now.’ ”

Fringe Music Video: Kerli - Walking On Air

Here is a special FRINGE version of Estonian musician Kerli's "Walking on Air" music video.

Fringe Promotional Photos: Episode 1.01 - Pilot

Fox released these "episodic photos" from the Pilot episode of FRINGE, which premiers Tuesday, Sept. 9 (8:00-9:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

* Thanks to SpoilerTV. Photo credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/FOX

TV Addict Interview: Lance Reddick

The TV Addict has an exclusive interview with Lance Reddick, who plays Department of Homeland Security special agent Phillip Broyles in FRINGE, but is better know for playing Matthew Abaddon on LOST, and Cedric Daniels in the HBO series The Wire.

Lance talks about working on FRINGE, LOST, and The Wire, but is very careful not to reveal any secrets.


Click here to read the full article, or visit TheTVAddict.com

Exclusive Interview: FRINGE Star Lance Reddick

Let me start of by saying that you play TV’s most mysterious characters. From LOST to FRINGE I have absolutely no idea what you are up to! Do you?
Lance Reddick: In LOST I can definitely say I have no idea!

Do you get that type of reaction a lot?
A fair amount. I have to admit that not that many people have stopped me about LOST, especially after coming off the last and biggest season of THE WIRE. I get stopped for that a lot more.

Thanks to the critical acclaim of THE WIRE and your guest spot on LOST did you even have to audition for your role on FRINGE? That was the funny thing about FRINGE. I didn’t have to audition for LOST, but with FRINGE I actually auditioned for a different role.

Which role?
Actually when I first read the script the role I thought I was most right for was Broyles. But when I went to audition they had me read for Charlie. So I didn’t hear anything and a month later I got a call to come back and audition for Broyles. And a week later I as in Toronto.

Which coincidentally enough is my hometown! What did you think of the city.
I love Toronto, I’ve actually shot a couple of films up there. But now we’re shooting in show in New York.

Do you think it’s going to be a challenge arranging your schedule so that you can make it back to Hawaii ? When can fans expect you to return to LOST?
As with all things on LOST, I don’t know. I only know that I am going back. But I don’t know when or for how many episodes.

As an actor do you have a preference between working on a gritty realistic show like THE WIRE versus shows with more of a Sci-Fi bent like LOST and FRINGE?
My preference had always been to do gritty realism. But I’ve done so much of it in my career that I find myself now ready to have fun. With both LOST and FRINGE it’s like reading an Alexander Dumas Novel. I’m just ready for the action, adventure and fun.

As is the case with most of J.J. Abrams shows, the motivations of your FRINGE character Agent Phillip Broyles aren’t exactly clear. Do you know where your character is heading this season?
No.

Is Broyles good or bad and as an actor does it make a difference?
It’s a little harder for me on LOST. But as far as FRINGE goes, I’m not saying that the creators have told me I’m good. But I’m fairly confident that I’m a good guy.

That’s what I love about all of JJ’s shows. The line between good and evil is pretty murky.
Exactly. Let me put it this way, there is always more than one dimension.

Do you ever worry that you’re going to accidently spill a massive secret to a member of the press [TV Addict note: Fingers crossed!]. Or have you gotten pretty good, as the British say, at keeping ‘mum’?
Especially on this show, because I know a little more than I do with LOST, I tend to generally be on pins and needles that I’m going to say the wrong thing.

I imagine it wouldn’t be too good a feeling to wake up to a phone call from J.J. saying, “Lance, You ruined the season I can’t believe you gave away….”
By the same token. I only know as much as I have seen in the latest sript.

Don’t miss the series premiere of FRINGE on September 9th at 8PM on FOX

TV Guide Interview: JJ Abrams on Fringe

TV Guide has an interview with JJ Abrams, where he discusses FRINGE, his love of airplanes, Mad Men, and the upcoming Star Trek movie.

Click here to read the full article

J.J.'s Next Missions

Lost's J.J. Abrams explores strange new worlds with Fringe and "Star Trek"

BY SHAWNA MALCOM

Your sci-fi series Fringe is the most buzzed-about new show of the fall. Are you feeling the pressure?

I feel the pressure every time. I felt it on Felicity, on Alias, on Lost, and I feel it on Fringe. It goes with the territory. But I'm far more excited about people seeing it than I am nervous that they may not like it.

What can you tell us about it?

I don't want to give away too much.

What a shock!

(Laughs) I know, right?

OK. So the show revolves around a female FBI agent who investigates bizarre cases with the help of a formerly institutionalized scientist and his equally brilliant but estranged son. Will the story line be ongoing, like Lost's?

For the most part, you'll be able to tune in whenever you want and get it. You'll have a beginning, middle and an end. But if you want to track the big bad guy and the big overarching story, you can do that, too.

The first episode opens with a troubled flight. Was it an intentional nod to Lost?

It's almost embarrassing, but I wasn't even thinking about that. The idea for that sequence came to me, and then I thought, "Oh, Lord." [Laughs] Then I was like, "Do we change it?" But the Story could not be less like Lost. To me, there's just something about airplanes. I was obsessed with the "Airport" movies when I was a kid. I saw all of them, including "The Concorde-Airport '79." So it's a place that's kind of a go-to for me. But I'm guessing I can't really do another airplane thing for a while.

You've become known for writing strong female characters: Alias' Sydney, Lost's Kate and now Fringe's Olivia. Is this another go-to place for you?

It's funny because I don't consciously write strong women. I just hopefully write strong characters who may happen to be women. If Olivia were a guy, I don't know that you'd be saying, "Oh, it's a strong male." But what I love about Olivia is she's got a lot going on that's just barely alluded to in the pilot. And Anna [Torv] is so good because she's clearly the prettiest person in the room, but she's not inaccessible. She's not phony pretty. When I saw her audition, I had the same undeniable feeling I had when I saw Jennifer Garner or Evangeline Lilly.

In the last few years, you've primarily focused on film-directing "Mission: Impossible III" and the upcoming "Star Trek," and producing "Cloverfield." Did you miss TV?

I did. It's a lot of work, but every time I get to do television, I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

Are there any shows you watch now and think, "Man, I wish I would've come up with that"?

There's only one that I am in awe and envious of: Mad Men. My dad wasn't an adman, but he sold advertising time for CBS in the '60s and early '70s, and he lived that world. Mad Men doesn't just take place in that world - which is incredibly rich and funny and ironic and oddly heartbreaking - but it does so beautifully. It's just an incredible thing to behold.

You always have a million different ideas and projects bubbling at once. Does J.J. Abrams ever suffer a creative block?

Every day. I'm not kidding. You literally just described my status quo.

How do you overcome it - candy, alcohol, a baseball bat?

Part of the way I dig out of the hole is being reminded of the people I'm getting to work with.

On "Trek," one of the people you worked with was Leonard freakin' Nimoy!

I know! But it's funny, because it wasn't until very recently that it really hit me how cool that was. There was so much work to do during the shoot and there were so many fires that needed putting out that there wasn't much time to sit and acknowledge the reality of working with him. Then the other day I was watching the movie, and there he was. There was Spock! And it hit me like, "Holy s---!" [Laughs] It was kind of like a huge delay.

There are still nearly nine months until "Trek"'s release. What can you tell us?

All I can say is that I think this movie is going to be worth the wait. It's blessed 'with a wonderful optimism and an incredibly alive and invested cast. While the visual effects are gonna be unbelievable, the movie is working right now with only 50 of our 1,OOO-plus visual effects finished. It's funny, it's scary, it's dramatic, emotional and entertaining - all without having the stuff you'd think a movie called "Star Trek" would require. That to me is exciting.

FRINGE Series premiere: Tuesday 9/9, 8/7c, FOX

* Thanks to Susan via SpoilerTV for the scans.

Fringe Podcast: Fringe Dwellers

The first(!?) Fringe podcast is the Fringe Dwellers Podcast, brought to you by Jen from the Lost-related Hydra Cooler podcast, and Adele from the Three Chicks and a Mic podcast. Just like Anna Torv and John Noble, Adele is from Australia (although she doesn't fake an American accent.)



The podcast is spoiler-free, and talks about the general layout of the show, the cast, etc.

If you have a comment or question for Jen & Adele, you can email them at fringedwellers@gmail.com.

You can also download the episode at FringeDwellersPodcast.blogspot.com, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.