Fringe: Here Is Peter Bishop (Interviews)

Here is the latest in the Where Is Peter Bishop? video series, featuring interviews with Lance Reddick, Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv, John Noble, and Jasika Nicole.

There's a few new clips in this video, so you may not want to watch if you are avoiding spoilers. Three more days!

Second FOX Promo Vid for Episode 405, "Novation"

This is the second promo video for episode 405, titled "Novation," that will air this Friday, October 28. Please watch it live!

Fringe Repeat: "Neither Here Nor There"

Tonight's episode of Fringe is a repeat of the Fringe season 4 premier episode "Neither Here Nor There".

As we mentioned previously, after this week's baseball/sweeps break, we will have four new Fringe episodes, with the Fringe "Fall Season Finale" on November 18th.

There will not be a "Watch Fringe Live And Win" contest tonight, but the FringeTelevision chat room will be open if you would like to chat about tonight's episode.

You can also continue the discussion on "Neither Here Nor There" in the Fringe episode post.

Fringe Friday Flashback: Science Of Fringe

If you haven't been following Fringe online since the very beginning, there may be a few interesting Fringe stories that you may have missed. Every week on Fringe Friday Flashback, we will look back and some interesting posts from the past that might be worth a second look.



Back in August 2008, even before the first Fringe episode aired, the Fox promotional machine was running at full throttle. "Science Of Fringe" was a short series of videos that explained various fields of Fringe science: Neuroimaging, Telekinesis, Paranormal, and Nanotechnology.

Read more »

Networks Rethink the Ratings Game As DVR Usage Spreads

Networks Rethink the Ratings Game As DVR Usage Spreads
 Oct 20, 2011 09:23 AM ET
 by Michael Schneider

What a difference seven days makes. Many primetime shows are seeing their ratings skyrocket when a week's worth of DVR usage is included — and network execs are scrambling to figure out how to adjust to a time-shifting world.

Now that DVR penetration has reached around 42% of viewers, it's having a real impact on viewership — and making the initial next-day ratings that everyone reports (which includes live viewing, plus only that night's DVR usage) increasingly irrelevant.

For example, when season four of FX's Sons of Anarchy debuted September 6, it attracted 4.9 million viewers, a good number, but not a network record. By the time seven days of DVR usage was counted, that number had climbed to 6.5 million viewers — making it the most-watched program in FX history.

 "The numbers are so far apart that it's not even funny," says FX president John Landgraf.

The fact that nearly half of all TV viewers now own a DVR is making some of TV's top-rated shows even more top-rated when all is said and done. ABC's Modern Family leads the DVR pack, enjoying massive audience boosts once the final time-shifted ratings are in. Thanks to DVRs, the comedy's second episode, which initially aired September 28, eventually added a staggering 4.5 million more viewers to its total.

Where the live-plus-seven ratings have the most impact so far is making a mess of network bragging rights. In the adults 18-49 demographic, NBC's Sunday Night Football was originally the No. 1 show for the week ending October 2, posting a 7.7 rating. But once the DVR numbers came in, Sunday Night Football was virtually unchanged (up 1 percent to 7.8), while CBS' Two and a Half Men (8.9, up 20 percent from 7.4) and ABC's Modern Family (7.9, up 39 percent from 5.7) leapt in front.

 In another example, CBS' Two Broke Girls was the top-rated new sitcom among adults 18-49 prior to the latest DVR data — but now that more extensive live-plus-seven numbers have come in, Fox's New Girl was the bigger beneficiary. As a result, both shows are tied for first.

 "Part of the problem is when you report live-plus-same-day and single airing ratings, you convey the impression that the scale of a show is 'x' when in reality the scale of that show is 'y,'" Landgraf says.

 Meanwhile, the DVR revolution is also giving hope to lower-rated shows, as their so-so numbers wind up looking a lot better once time-shifting is included. ABC's Grey's Anatomy averaged a rather disappointing 3.6 rating among adults 18-49 in week two of the fall TV season. But the show got a hefty 41.7% boost thanks to seven days of DVR usage, bringing its final rating up to a much stronger 5.1.

Read the entire tvguide.com article here.

10 Bubble Shows-Which Will Survive?

Today's News: Our Take 10 Bubble Shows — Which Will Survive?
 Oct 19, 2011 10:01 PM ET
 by Adam Bryant and Denise Martin


  We're mere weeks into the new TV season, and already the freshman class has provided some bona fide hits (hello, girls both New and 2 Broke!) But while some shows started strong, several others faltered out of the gate (RIP, The Playboy Club, Free Agents, How to Be a Gentleman and Charlie's Angels!) Which shows will be next? These 11 are in the most danger, due to low ratings, poor performances among younger viewers and other typical bad signs. Is your favorite show on the list?

 4. Fringe (Fox) Fridays at 9/8c The Good News: Well...on Fridays, the bar is still very low! In its most recent outing, Fringe delivered a 1.2 rating/4 share in the demo, which isn't that far from Friday-night leader CSI: NY (1.7/5). And Fox President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly is a fan. "It was one of the great victories for us last season," Reilly said in August. "We were cheering the Friday night victory for Fringe... I don't expect explosive growth [this fall]..." The Bad News: Hmm, what's the opposite of explosive growth? Because that's what seems instead to have happened to Fringe. Viewership has dropped significantly between the Season 3 finale (5.83 million) — which ended on a mind-boggling, Peter-"killing" cliffhanger! -- and the most recent Season 4 numbers (3.16 million). Was the latest twist too much for even Fringe's most die-hard fans?

 Read the entire tvguide.com article here.

Fringe: Witness The Return (Of Peter!)

Here is the Ari Margolis produced trailer for the next Fringe episode "Novation", which airs NEXT Friday, October 28 at 9:00PM on FOX.

Check out FringeFiles.com for screenshots of this video - there are lots of interesting things at the end!

Beyond The Fringe Comic #2: Chapter A

DC Comics has released the third chapter in the "Beyond The Fringe" direct-to-digital comic series.

Beyond The Fringe #2: Chapter A was written by Joshua Jackson, is available now for $0.99 via Comixology.com.

Here is the official description:

Peter And The Machine: Chapter 2

Peter's desperate time-traveling adventure continues! From the lythical land of Hy-Brasil, to the rolling hills of Mohawk Valley, and on to Tibet - Peter moves through space and time in search of the machine's pieces in his heroic attempt to save the world.

Order "Beyond The Fringe" here

Anna Torv Interview at the Scream Awards

Anna Torv comments on being nominated for a Spike TV "Scream Award" at last night's ceremony.

DVR ratings: 'Fringe' increases its audience by 66%

Matt Carter

TV Examiner

October 17, 2011

 

Now, we really understand how crazy the dilemma must be for Fox when it comes to whether or not to keep "Fringe" -- the show does succeed in the ratings to an extent for a Friday show, but very few people actually bother to watch it live.

For the second week of the season, the drama (which airs in the TV dungeon that is Friday night) brought in a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic -- up a whopping 66% from the 1.2 it registered during the live viewing. This increase of 66% is far and away the best percentage on TV -- and it's not even close. Another show airing in the same timeslot -- "Supernatural" -- is in second place with a 57% gain up to a 1.1 rating.
Will this be enough to actually save the show? That's where it gets difficult, since the people who DVR the show are not actually helping the advertisers in any way. It's really once again an issue of the timeslot, and Fox wanting to keep the show around to please sci-fi fans.
Do you watch "Fringe" live, or do you prefer to DVR it?

Check this examiner.com article out here.

Fringe Observiews 4.04 Subject 9

Welcome to the Observiews for Season 4 of Fringe. I call them Observiews because they are more visual observations than deep thinking reviews.

All screen caps are taken from fringefiles.com.

All observations are mine and therefore could be totally off the wall and/or wrong. I have not read or looked at any recaps or reviews.

3.10 The Firefly

PETER: “Oh, no, I’m still asleep upstairs in my bed. You are just talking to an astral projection of me.”

Read more »

Fringe 404: Subject 9 Review

“I never meant to harm you.”

Whereas last week’s episode left me—but not everyone—rather cold, this ostensible case-of-the-week was absolutely delightful. The difference? Although Olivia and Walter thought they were on the trail of a traditional fringy unsub, they were really pursuing their own destiny. That makes for good television, doesn’t it?

Read more »

Vote For Your Favorite Fringe Actors in The People's Choice Awards

It's pre-nomination time again for The People's Choice Awards program that will air in January of 2012.
Click on the link below to vote for Joshua Jackson as a nominee for Favorite TV Drama Actor.
By clicking on the bottom box you can add in Anna Torv, and John Noble also.
Please vote today and show your favorite actors your support!

Then return on November 8th to vote in the official Nominee Ballot.

Please vote for Josh, Anna, and John here.

Anna Torv Talks 'Fringe' Ratings, Peter's Return

This is a new video from the Associated Press on YouTube, in which Anna Torv talks about Peter's return, and her thoughts on the Nielsen ratings.

Fringe Sneak Peek 405 "Novation"

Here's the first sneak peek for episode 405 Novation. On air Friday Oct. 28.

5 Things to Know Now That Peter Has Returned

Today's News: Our Take Fringe Scoop: 5 Things to Know Now That Peter Has Returned
Oct 14, 2011 11:26 PM ET
by Natalie Abrams

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Friday's episode of Fringe.]

Fringe's Peter has returned!

After Olivia (Anna Torv) and Walter (John Noble) both realized they were having visions of the same strange man, they set out to discover his identity. Considering that Peter (Joshua Jackson) took the form of a bright blue blob of energy -- a side effect of trying to cross into the timeline -- he found them first. After observing The Energy Blob absorbing all things metal, they mistakenly assumed that it was actually a rogue cortexiphan patient Olivia had previously encountered who had the ability to project himself . Although they hunted down the subject in question, turns out he wasn't responsible for The Blob, but could destroy it.

Fortunately, realizing it was literally the man of her dreams, Olivia stopped the patient in time, though he still seemingly provided enough juice for Peter to reappear in corporeal form at Reiden Lake, the site of over-there Peter's death when he was a boy.

So, Peter is back — but no one remembers him, as showcased when Olivia said, "Who are you?" Who is he indeed? Since this is the convoluted world of Fringe, we need to get acquainted with this new Peter, so we've compiled the five things to know about him and the reality he's facing now that he's returned:

1. Peter 2.0 is definitely an upgrade: Peter is technically the same man we've come to know and love, but he isn't the man we first met. "Because the guy that we met in the beginning of Fringe had no desire to be there, and slowly but surely got warped into this, as John and I described it, fanboy," Jackson previously told us. "In the course of doing that, he kind of went from being the impetuous teenager of the show to kind of sulking in the corner, to actually being a man. And the guy who would come back to the show after having sacrificed himself for the love of his family is a different man. I think he's grown up a lot. I think a different guy comes back than the guy that left."

2. There will be trust issues: They may not know him, but Peter still retains all of his memories of them, which will cause the Fringe Division to put him on lockdown. "When he shows up claiming all these things and knowing all these things, it's really freaky," Lance Reddick says. "Broyles' attitude is that it's possible what he's saying is true, but the last place I'm going to do is to believe him... at least at first. It has to reach a point where there's so much validity to the information that he has and the way that he helps, that over time, he's given more and more trust and more and more freedom to operate, work and help."

Read the entire TV Guide article here.

New Interviews with John Noble & Anna Torv

Here are two new interviews, one with John Noble and the other with Anna Torv.

Fringe Season 4 Arrives In Amazon Instant Video

Fringe Season 4 episodes are now available to purchase on iTunes!

HD episodes are $2.99 each ($2.84 with a TV Pass) and SD episodes are $1.99 each ($1.89 with a TV Pass).

Fringe Season 4 episodes are also available on iTunes for about the same price.

Fringe Season 4 Episode 4 Review - 'Subject 9'

Effect before Cause

The story telling thrust of the season narrative could be palpably felt shifting into the next gear in, 'Subject 9.' Gone are the hand holding moments from the previous episodes for new viewers.

The net result?

A most excellent episode filled with several WOW(Wonderful Olivia & Walter) moments as Walter is driven to prove his worth by stepping out of the lab for the first time in three years.  This subplot was designed for character moments; all journey versus destination, its true intent never about being a source of story tension. Olivia's decision going for or against Walter was never in question.

A WOW Moment - Walter Teaching Olivia How To Properly Drink A Root Beer Float

Read more »

'Fringe' report:The beauty of the new season's storytelling, and what it means for the future

Oct 14, 2011
11:10 PM ET

'Fringe' report: The beauty of the new season's storytelling, and what it means for the future
by Ken Tucker

The frequently heart-breaking, beautifully romantic yet action-packed season of Fringe continues, with the series moving along on great swells of emotion, as though trying to reach the peaks of the Mozart that Walter was listening to in “One Night in October.” This week, the hour titled “Subject 9″ returned to the series’ most potent, everlasting element of its mythology: the Cortexiphan experiments conducted more than two decades ago on “37 innocent children,” including Olivia (“Olive”) Dunham. Oh, and in part because we saw the writing credits — showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman plus Akiva Goldsman — we knew we probably were in for some fundamental shifts in the season’s main plot line, the search for Peter Bishop, and we sure got ‘em.
I’m going to leave the close reading of “Subject 9″ to Jeff Jensen and his recap. (Have fun, comrade, with double-gloved Nina!) Here, I’d like to write more broadly about this episode and the season thus far. The apparitions of Peter that both Walter and Olivia had been experiencing this week manifested themselves as a blue charge of amorphous energy. Walter has a theory that it relates to astral projection, which reminds him of experiments he did with William Bell 25 years ago during the Cortexiphan trials. In this Fringe universe, Olivia recalls having set fire to the Florida building but seems less psychically damaged by what she went through — unlike Cameron James, subject number nine in the trials, whose life has been cursed. When anxious, he “sends metal flying,” he tells Olivia and Walter when they visit him, and he’s bitter and depressed about the lonely life he’s led.

That’s just one level of the story-telling. An equally important one is the follow-up on last week’s psychiatric evaluation of Walter. Discovering that St. Claire’s Hospital is seeking Olivia’s opinion as to whether Walter should be re-admitted for further evaluation, Walter is moved to leave his lab for the first time in three years. This placed him in the midst of the action and face-to-face with Cameron James, and the old guilt stole over the older man. He’s still not without guile — he tries to mollify Olivia’s questions about her youth by assuring her, “You were always the strongest; you were always the favorite.” But we are also told that Olivia ran away from Bishop and Bell’s house of pharmaceutical horrors. This is an Olivia who’s suppressed a great deal. With immense yet discreet skill, “Subject 9″ returned us to Fringe’s richest subjects: Children lost (both literally and psychologically), children loved too little and too much.

Read Ken Tucker's entire Entertainment Weekly article here.