Happy Birthday, JJ Abrams!

The King of All Media turns 43 today, so let's all take a moment and reflect on how little we'll have accomplished in comparison by the time we're that age (or alternatively, how little we had when we did). Here's to at least another four or five decades of stellar entertainment from the mind of JJ Abrams!

UPDATE: Here's JJ at the MTV Movie Awards:

Fringe Starts Shooting Season 2 Today

After not-much-of-a-hiatus for the cast (and a virtually nonexistant one for the writers), Fringe starts shooting its highly-anticipated second season in "Hollywood North" (Vancouver) today, June 24th.

Since production moved across the continent from New York over the summer, much of the on-location crew will be new this season. To welcome all the new blood (no pun intended), JJ Abrams himself sent out the following letter, which we received from our inside source.

Directors Named For Season 2's First Six Eps

Our exclusive source on Fringe just named the upcoming directors for episodes 2.01 through 2.06, including some very high-profile names.

2.01 - Akiva Goldsman
Best-known as the Academy Award-winning screenwriter for A Beautiful Mind, Goldsman's other writing credits include The Da Vinci Code and I Am Legend. On Fringe, he wrote and directed Bad Dreams, as well as contributing to the scripts for The Road Not Taken and There's More Than One of Everything.

2.02 - Brad Anderson

Anderson found industry acclaim in 2004 with The Machinist, starring an emaciated Christian Bale; he directed four episodes of Fringe last season.

2.03 - Bryan Spicer

Spicer's directed eps on all four major networks, including Castle, Bones, 24, CSI, House, Dark Angel, and The X-Files.

2.04 - Joe Chappelle

Chapelle was a longstanding director and producer on The Wire and CSI: Miami.

2.05 - Paul A. Edwards

A Lost vet who directed two Fringe eps last season, along with gigs on Pushing Daisies and Battlestar Galactica.

2.06 - Jon Cassar

Cassar's directed and produced over fifty episodes of 24, as well as fourteen eps of the cult classic La Femme Nikita.

And don't forget, shooting for Season 2 of Fringe starts this Wednesday, June 24 in Vancouver.

Happy Birthday Josh!

Everyone's favorite bad boy Joshua Jackson turns 31 today, though I'm sure the man could pass for 25 if he ever needed to, and that's a compliment. Josh might be the happiest Fringy of all regarding the move to Vancouver on June 24th, since it's where he was born and went to high school.

Happy Birthday Josh!

Did you know...Josh was on the shortlist to play Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins?

What Would You Ask: the Visual FX Guys?

The first season of Fringe set a new benchmark for visual effects on television. Some of my personal favorites include Porcuman, Rufus II, and the razor-winged butterflies in The Dreamscape. Most feature films don't have effects as good as Fringe!

In celebration of their hard work, FringeTelevision will be doing an exclusive interview with a couple members of the Fringe visual effects team. So give me some great questions!

Fringe Blu-ray & DVD release date - Sept 8

The release date for the Fringe Season 1 Blu-Ray and Fringe Season 1 DVD sets have been set to September 8th, a mere nine days before the start of Fringe Season 2.

According to DVDActive.com, both versions will feature "lenticular" covers, that will switch between the two versions shown below.

From the Warner Bros press release:

Featuring a collectible lenticular slipcase, and packed with nearly 6 hours of special features, including featurettes, production diaries, producer and writer commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reel, Blu-Ray exclusive content and much more, this is one release that fans definitely won't want to miss this fall.

DVD Special Features Include:

• Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe featurette - The creators of the show discuss how the series unfolded and the qualities that make it so unique
• Behind the Real Science of Fringe featurette - From teleportation to re-animation, Fringe incorporates recent discoveries in science. Consulting experts and scientists who are the authorities in their field address the areas of science which are the inspiration for the show.
• A Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe (on select episodes) - An in-depth exploration of how select episodes came to be made: from the frozen far reaches of shooting the pilot in Toronto, to the weekly challenges of bringing episodes to air
• The Casting of Fringe - The story, as told by producers and cast, of how Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble and others came to be cast in the series.
• Fringe Visual Effects featurette - Goes deep into the creation of the shared dream state with some of the biggest VFX shots of the show.
• Dissected Files: Unaired Scenes
• Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel
• Deciphering the Scene
• Roberto Orci Production Diary
• Gene the Cow montage
• Three Full-Length Commentaries from writers/producers, including J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtman, J.R. Orci, David Goodman, Bryan Burk, Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner
  

Additional Blu-Ray Bonus Features:

• Fringe Pattern Analysis - Take a closer look at 6 select scenes from Season 1 with experts who dissect each scene with notes, photos, and diagrams.
• BD-Live enabled features include Media Center, My Commentary, and commentary on Season 1 finale episode.

Fringe Charity Auction

Clothes Off Our Back and Water Partners International are holding a "Gift Bags for Good" online charity auction. There are dozens of TV and celebrity auctions, including this "Fringe" Launch Event Drawstring Backpack gift bag.

The gift bag includes various Fringe promotional items including: a SONY IC Voice Recorder (with a prerecorded message from Bryoles), a "Fringe" lenticular notepad, two "Fringe" t-shirts size XL and the "Fringe" preview comic book!

The auction starts at $75, and runs until June 3rd.

For other auctions, check out the Gift Bags for Good Annual Online Auction site.

Fringe Comic #5 - It Runs In The Family / Hard Copy

The new Fringe #5 comic book will be available tomorrow. It contains two Fringe stories as usual: A "Bell and Bishop" story titled "It Runs In The Family", and a stand alone "From The Fringe" story titled "Hard Copy".

To get your own copy of Fringe #5, head out to your local comic shop.

The final issue - Fringe #6 - comes out June 24, 2009

Here is a sneak peak at the "It Runs In The Family":

Fringe FAIL: Kirk Acevedo not FIRED, was "let go"

After the backlash from fans yesterday, CO-showrunner Jeff Pinkner did a little bit of damage control, and issued a statement to TV Guide regarding the status of Kirk Acevedo on Fringe:

“Like all things on Fringe, there is more to this story than meets the eye.” In fact Pinkner not only confirms to TV Guide Magazine that Acevedo “was not fired,” he hints that we’ll see more Agent Francis in season 2. Literally.

“We have already seen two of him on the show,” teases Pinkner. “We have already met the second Charlie. He had a scar on his face.”

Notice Pinkner doesn't actually say we'll see Charlie next season, he just "hints" at it (at least according to TV Guide). In fact, as of yesterday, I hear there were discussions on how Charlie could be written out of the story.

What's the real story? Pinkner is right about one thing, there is more to this story than meets the eye.

I contacted Fox and WB, and as per usual SOP, they declined to comment. However, my inside source did verify that Kirk's Facebook page was legitimate, and had this to say:

Kirk wasn't 100% happy with the way he was used on the show and was somewhat vocal about it.

Lee Hernandez of Latina.com was able to contact Kirk directly, and got a little clarification on his original statement:

"It’s called not picking up my option. But at the end of the day, you got fired!"

So technically, he wasn't fired - he was "let go" (or "made redundant" for our UK fans :). You say potato and I say potahto - the bottom line is that he won't be a regular on the show anymore.

A lot of this has to do with saving money. Kirk had a prety minor role on the show, but from what I hear, he was makin getting paid more that Anna Torv! So while I am a huge fan of Kirk (we even share the same last name!), if they needed to cut the cast budget (maybe to accommodate Nimoy), I can understand why this happened.

The good news, if we read between the lines (and maybe because of all this coverage), is that there's a good chance that we'll see Charlie again - if everyone can kiss and makeup.

Fringe Season 2 Starts September 17th

Fringe Season 2 will start Thursday, September 17th at 9:00 PM, following the Season 5 premiere of Bones.

Also, The first casting call has been released for Fringe Season 2. For more details, check out the Fringe Spoilers section.

* Thanks to The Futon Critic for the exclusive breaking news!

Fringe FAIL: Kirk Acevedo Fired!

Kirk Acevedo announced on his facebook page today that he was "fired" from Fringe:

WELL BOYS AND GIRLS THEY DONE DID YER BOY WRONG! THEY FIRED ME OFF OF FRINGE, AND I'VE NEVER BEEN FIRED IN MY LIFE!!!!

While this is not "officially" official, I have confirmed this with an inside source. Details are scarce at this point, but Kirk is likely another victim of the WB's cost-cutting measures. The move to Canada has caused quite a shake up on the show, with numerous behind-the-scenes people leaving as well. More info to come...

* Thanks to TheODI for the screenshot

Fringe Moving To Thursday Nights This Fall

Fox announced their Fall 2009/ Spring 2010 schedule at yesterday's "upfront", and Fringe will be moving to Thursday nights, following Bones.

The good news is that it moves Fringe out of American Idol's wake, meaning no more cut off endings. The bad news of course, is that it won't get the ratings boost from AI (although Bones is no slouch), and it will step into the heavyweight ring, and could potentially be up against Grey's Anatomy, CSI, The Office, and/or 30 Rock.