Video - Props from The Set of Fringe

Property master Robert K. Smith gives you a background about some of the items and tools used throughout the season's of Fringe.

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

Happy Birthday, JJ Abrams!

Happy 45th birthday to the man behind the universes, and I don't just mean the two
we know of in 'Fringe.'

JJ Abrams, the creator of Alias, Felicity, Lost, and Fringe is celebrating a birthday today! Without him and his dreams and hard work, NONE of the Fringe characters would exist!

THANK YOU for all of your hard work in making Season 4 of Fringe a reality, JJ.
The staff and fans here at Fringe Television wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Voting Begins In 2011 Airlock Alpha Portal Awards

Voting Begins In 2011 Airlock Alpha Portal Awards
Voting extended by one day because of late start
by MICHAEL HINMAN, Posted Jun-25-2011
Source: Airlock Alpha

On your marks ... get set .... OK, we'll end the cliche right there.

You know what this story is about. You read the headline.

It's time to vote in the 2011 Airlock Alpha Portal Awards. Now in its 12th year, the Portal Awards honors the best in science-fiction that aired on television or in the movie theaters between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011. All you need to vote in the Portal Awards is a valid email address, and you can then do it once per day for 30 days -- pretty much now until July 26.

You can find the ballot right here.

So who are you going to vote for? There are 14 categories waiting for your choice. Once you cast your ballot, let your friends know (post it to Facebook, to LiveJournal, to your Twitter, send a postcard through the regular mail if you remember how) and help get the votes behind your favorites.

Whatever you do, please don't try to game the system. We keep very close tabs on all votes as they come in. Any irregularities are quickly eliminated -- so if you have plans to stuff the voting box, think again. All you will do is have your bad votes thrown out -- along with your original good one. We've been doing this for more than a decade ... we don't like cheaters.

The nominees were chosen from more than 1,000 potentials, including 35 television shows and 63 movies, from an international nominating committee consisting of fans just like you! It was tough to come up with the 70 nominees in front of you now, but they did it. And if you felt someone was left off the list, keep a look out early next year on Airlock Alpha for our call for members to join the Nominating Committee, and you can tell us then why you should be a part of this important committee.

As is our custom, below are all the past Portal Award winners (we didn't have Portal Awards in 2002 because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack). But before we do, here is one last link to this year's ballot.

BEST ACTOR/Television
2010 - David Tennant, "Doctor Who"
2009 - Jensen Ackles, "Supernatural"
2008 - Jensen Ackles, "Supernatural"
2007 - Joe Flanigan, "Stargate: Atlantis"
2006 - Nathan Fillion, "Firefly"
2005 - Ben Browder, "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars"
2004 - David Boreanaz, "Angel"
2003 - Ben Browder, "Farscape"
2001 - Ben Browder, "Farscape"
2000 - Avery Brooks, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"
1999 - Avery Brooks, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"

BEST ACTRESS/Television
2010 - Eve Myles, "Torchwood"
2009 - Catherine Tate, "Doctor Who"
2008 - Mary McDonnell, "Battlestar Galactica"
2007 - Amanda Tapping, "Stargate SG-1"
2006 - Evangeline Lilly, "Lost"
2005 - Claudia Black, "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars"
2004 - Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
2003 - Claudia Black, "Farscape"
2001 - Kate Mulgrew, "Star Trek: Voyager"
2000 - Kate Mulgrew, "Star Trek: Voyager"
1999 - Kate Mulgrew, "Star Trek: Voyager"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/Television
2010 - Bernard Cribbins, "Doctor Who"
2009 - Michael Emerson, "Lost"
2008 - Michael Emerson, "Lost"
2007 - Masi Oka, "Heroes"
2006 - Adam Baldwin, "Firefly"
2005 - Michael Shanks, "Stargate SG-1"
2004 - James Marsters, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
2003 - James Marsters, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
2001 - Robert Picardo, "Star Trek: Voyager"
2000 - Robert Picardo, "Star Trek: Voyager"
1999 - David Hemblen, "Earth: Final Conflict"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS/Television
2010 - Alaina Huffman, "Stargate: Universe"
2009 - Summer Glau, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"
2008 - Allison Mack, "Smallville"
2007 - Ali Larter, "Heroes"
2006 - Amy Acker, "Alias"
2005 - Amy Acker, "Angel"
2004 - Amy Acker, "Angel"
2003 - Gigi Edgley, "Farscape"
2001 - Jeri Ryan, "Star Trek: Voyager"
2000 - Jeri Ryan, "Star Trek: Voyager"
1999 - Jeri Ryan, "Star Trek: Voyager"

BEST ACTOR/Movie
2010 - Robert Downey Jr., "Iron Man"
2009 - Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
2008 - Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd"
2007 - Gerard Butler, "300"
2006 - Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
2005 - Will Smith, "I Robot"
2004 - Johnny Depp, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl"
2003 - Viggo Mortensen, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"
2001 - Patrick Stewart, "X-Men"
2000 - Tom Hanks, "The Green Mile"
1999 - Patrick Stewart, "Star Trek: Insurrection"

BEST ACTRESS/Movie
2010 - Sigourney Weaver, "Avatar"
2009 - Gillian Anderson, "The X-Files: I Want To Believe"
2008 - Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
2007 - Lena Headey, "300"
2006 - Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
2005 - Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
2004 - Liv Tyler, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2003 - Liv Tyler, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"
2001 - Anna Paquin, "X-Men"
2000 - Sigourney Weaver, "Galaxy Quest"
1999 - Donna Murphy, "Star Trek: Insurrection"

BEST YOUNG ACTOR
2010 - Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
2009 - Thomas Dekker, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"
2008 - Hayden Panettiere, "Heroes"
2007 - Hayden Panettiere, "Heroes"
2006 - Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
2005 - Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
2004 - Elijah Wood, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2003 - Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
2001 - Manu Intiraymi, "Star Trek: Voyager"
2000 - Scarlett Pomers, "Star Trek: Voyager"
1999 - Scarlett Pomers, "Star Trek: Voyager"

BEST SPECIAL GUEST/Television
2010 - Alex Kingston, "Time of Angels," Doctor Who
2009 - Alan Tudyk, "Omega," Dollhouse
2008 - James Marsters, "Exit Wounds," Torchwood
2007 - Richard Dean Anderson, "200," Stargate SG-1
2006 - Christina Hendricks, "Trash," Firefly
2005 - Claudia Black, "Prometheus Unbound," Stargate SG-1
2004 - Charisma Carpenter, "You're Welcome," Angel
2003 - Juliet Landau, "Lies My Parents Told Me," Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2001 - Susanna Thompson, "Unimatrix Zero," Star Trek: Voyager
2000 - Marina Sirtis, "Pathfinder," Star Trek: Voyager
1999 - Bill Mumy, "The Siege of AR-558," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

BEST EPISODE/Television
2010 - "End of Time," Doctor Who
2009 - "Monster at the End of the Book," Supernatural
2008 - "Blink," Doctor Who
2007 - "Parting of the Ways," Doctor Who
2006 - "Trash," Firefly
2005 - "Prometheus Unbound," Stargate SG-1
2004 - "A Hole in the World," Angel
2003 - "Conversations With Dead People," Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2001 - "The Body," Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2000 - "What You Leave Behind," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
1999 - "Dark Frontier," Star Trek: Voyager

BEST WEB PRODUCTION (started 2007, Suspended 2011)
2010 - Stargate: Universe - Kino
2009 - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
2008 - Star Trek: Of Gods and Men
2007 - "Episode 1," Sanctuary

BEST WEB SITE (started 2006)
2010 - SciFi Wire
2009 - Supernatural.tv
2008 - Supernatural.tv
2007 - GateWorld
2006 - Whedonesque

BEST SERIES/Television
2010 - "Doctor Who"
2009 - "Supernatural"
2008 - "Supernatural"
2007 - "Battlestar Galactica"
2006 - "Firefly"
2005 - "Stargate SG-1"
2004 - "Angel"
2003 - "Farscape"
2001 - "Star Trek: Voyager"
2000 - "Star Trek: Voyager"
1999 - "The X-Files"

BEST MOVIE
2010 - "Avatar"
2009 - "Star Trek"
2008 - "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
2007 - "300"
2006 - "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
2005 - "The Incredibles"
2004 - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2003 - "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"
2001 - "X-Men"
2000 - "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace"
1999 - "The Matrix"

GENE RODDENBERRY AWARD
2010 - Russell T. Davies
2009 - James Cameron
2008 - J.K. Rowling
2007 - James Doohan
2006 - Stan Lee
2005 - Steven Spielberg
2004 - Joss Whedon
2003 - J.R.R. Tolkien
2001 - Leonard Nimoy
2000 - George Lucas
1999 - Gene Roddenberry

ROD SERLING AWARD (started 2010)
2010 - "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
CHARTER - "Twilight Zone" (original)
CHARTER - "Star Trek" (original)
CHARTER - "Doctor Who" (original)
Read the article HERE
View the ballot and VOTE HERE

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

Fringe, True Blood, The Walking Dead Among Saturn Winners

The 37th Saturn Awards were held on Thursday night and several of TV's most popular science fiction, fantasy, and horror shows picked up hardware. Fringe was the big winner with 3 awards, one for Best Network Series, a repeat win for Anna Torv in Best Actress in Television, and one for John Noble in Best Supporting Actor in Television. Noble recently picked up the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Fringe wasn't the only show to take home honors at the Saturn Awards, though. Stephen Moyer from True Blood received his first Saturn Award for his role as Bill Compton, while his co-star Joe Manganiello won Best Guest Starring Role on Television for portraying protective werewolf Alcide on the hugely successful HBO drama. Ahead of its July 17th season 4 premiere, Breaking Bad walked off with the award for Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series, its second win in a row in this category. Other TV winners included Lucy Lawless (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) for Best Supporting Actress in Television, AMC's The Walking Dead for Best Television Presentation, and sci-fi classic The Twilight Zone for Best DVD Television Release (Seasons 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray).

The Saturn Awards were originally created by Dr. Ronald A. Reed to recognize films in the areas of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, which would often go unnoticed by more traditional Hollywood award shows. Eventually they started recognizing home video and television. If you want to view the full results of the 2011 Saturn Awards, head over to their website.

Check out the nominees below (with winners bolded). What do you think about the results? Who do you think deserved their trophy? Who do you think should have won?

Best Network Series
Fringe ***WINNER***
Lost
Smallville
Supernatural
V
The Vampire Diaries

Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
Breaking Bad ***WINNER***
The Closer
Dexter
Eureka
Leverage
Spartacus: Blood and Sand
True Blood

Best Television Presentation
A Christmas Carol"
Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special
The Pillars of the Earth
Sherlock
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena
The Walking Dead ***WINNER***

Best Actor in Television
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Matthew Fox, Lost
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Timothy Hutton, Leverage
Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead
Stephen Moyer, True Blood ***WINNER***

Best Actress in Television
Sarah Wayne Callies, The Walking Dead
Erica Durance, Smallville
Elizabeth Mitchell, V
Anna Paquin, True Blood
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Anna Torv, Fringe ***WINNER***

Best Supporting Actor in Television
Michael Emerson, Lost
John Noble, Fringe***WINNER***

Dean Norris, Breaking Bad
Terry O'Quinn, Lost
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Lance Reddick, Fringe
Steven Yeun,The Walking Dead


Best Supporting Actress in Television
Morena Baccarin, V
Gina Bellman, Leverage
Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter
Laurie Holden, The Walking Dead
Lucy Lawless, Spartacus: Blood and Sand ***WINNER***
Beth Riesgraf, Leverage

Best Guest Starring Role in Television
Richard Dreyfuss, Weeds
Noah Emmerich, The Walking Dead
Giancarlo Esposito, Breaking Bad
Joe Manganiello, True Blood ***WINNER***
John Terry, Lost
Seth Gabel, Fringe

Best DVD Television Release
Lost: The Sixth and Final Season
The Six Million Dollar Man (The Complete Collection)
Space 1999: The Complete Season One (Blu-Ray)
Thriller: The Complete Series
The Twilight Zone (Seasons 1 & 2) (Blu-Ray) ***WINNER***
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Season 4, Volume 2)

Source:tvovermind.zap2it.com

Will Emmy voters slap 'Fringe' star John Noble again?

The LA Times has a small piece about John Noble's chances for Emmy nomination:

For three years, television critics and sci-fi fans have been championing John Noble for his impressively creepy work as a mad scientist on "Fringe," which recently received a fourth-season pick-up from Fox. But why hasn't he even been nominated for TV's highest honor -- Emmy?

The answer may be Emmys' long-standing bias against fantasy fare, but other stars have surmounted that in the past. Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson, for instance, have each recently claimed the same Emmy category of supporting drama actor for "Lost."
Now there are hopeful signs that Noble may be taken more seriously as an Emmy candidate this year.

He's received more than 7,700 votes in a Facebook Emmy campaign and he just won the Critics' Choice Television Award. He claimed that prize Monday, which was roughly two-thirds of the way into the Emmy voting period, which ends on Friday at 5 p.m. PDT.

 You can read the rest of the piece at the LA Times Awards Tracker Blog

Fringe Wins Three Saturn Awards!

The awards keep rolling in for Fringe.

The winners for the 37th annual Saturn Awards were announced today, with Fringe taking home wins in three of the four categories they were nominated for:

• Fringe won "Best Network Series", beating out Lost, Smallville, Supernatural, V, and The Vampire Diaries.
  
• John Noble picked up another award in the "Best Supporting Actor in Television" category, beating out fellow Fringe actor Lance Reddick.
  
• Anna Torv was finally recognized with an award for "Best Actress in Television".

Congratulations to everyone! Next stop: The Emmy Awards...