Fringe Twitter and GetGlue Campaign for 410, "Forced Perspective"-Wake Up and ObserveItLive!

(many thanks to Arturo Garcia for making the awesome video)

Happy Fringe Friday everyone!

Last Friday's Fringe Twitter and GetGlue campaign was quite successful(see post from 01/20/12).
Fringe trended at #1 on the GetGlue.com site(more on GetGlue below).

Tonight, the Fringedom wants to try to get the hashmark #ObserveItLive to trend on Twitter starting at 7PM Eastern, that's 2 hours before the new episode airs, and then again at 7PM Pacific time.

Why? Because we know that ratings isn't just about Nielsen boxes anymore. TV networks and their contractors pay attention to which TV shows are 'socially-active' and our show Fringe is very socially-active
on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other venues.

Why continue this effort again? Last Friday's event catapaulted Fringe in multiple social media platforms, and we need to keep Fringe visible in these platforms in the weeks ahead.

Please consider joining in tonight at 7PM Eastern and 7PM Pacific to support your favorite show by signing into Twitter and using the #ObserveItLive hashmark.

If you are not familiar with Twitter, you can create an new account rather painlessly at http://www.twitter.com/.

For more information on this week's special Fringe Twitter event click here.

You can also adopt a special icon for this event by clicking here.

Just a reminder. Please do not tweet with the #ObserveItLive hashmark until 7PM Eastern, to increase the likelihood of trending.

Let's invade Twitter tonight, and make our hashmark and our show trend!



***ButWait! There's more!***
Another social network platform that needs our attention tonight is GetGlue.com.

If you are not familiar with getglue.com it is a very clever advertising site married to social networking.
GetGlue merges fans with their interests, and their interests' sponsors.

If you have a GetGlue account you can "check-in" to Fringe. The shows that get the most check-ins are highly visible to the networks and the show's sponsors.
Tonight, use the phrase "Pea Coat" when you check into Fringe via getglue.com.
Let's see if we can get that phrase to trend at #1!
Remember not to use the phrase "Pea Coat" until about 7PM Eastern and Pacific, in an effort to increase the chance of it trending.

You can also look up Fringe's sponsors on GetGlue, check-in to them, ie. Nissan Leaf, Sprint, etc., and thank them for supporting Fringe. Think it doesn't make a difference? Guess again.
Let’s make it a combined effort to not only check-in to the show, but to also check-in to the show’s advertisers and comment, “Thank You for your support of Fringe! @FringeOnFox”

If you don’t have a Getglue account, get one! You can post your check-ins to Twitter or Facebook.

The more activity, the better, as this may also get other Fringies involved in the GetGlue check-ins.
 GetGlue also has convenient mobile phone aps for iphone, Android, and Blackberry.


So please, enjoy the new episode tonight, and support high visibility of your show by tweeting on Twitter with the special hashmark, and checking into Fringe at getglue.com and thanking at least 1 of tonight's many sponsors. Your efforts will not go unrewarded, and may help increase our chances of getting a Season 5.
Go FRINGE!

TV.com Throwdown, the Results Show: Which J.J. Abrams Show is Better, Lost or Fringe?

TV.com Throwdown, the Results Show: Which J.J. Abrams Show is Better, Lost or Fringe?
By Tim Surette
Remind me never to ever make Lost or Fringe the subject of Throwdown again. You guys commented in record numbers for the feature, amassing more than 600 responses. And for the most part, the discussion was remarkably civil and only devolved into fanboy name-calling toward the end. But I don't see that as hostility, I see that as a sign of passion (and maybe a little bit of "daddy didn't love you enough").

It was great to see all the love for Fringe and Lost. The majority of you really liked both shows, and I got a kick out of all the "Don't make me choose!" responses. But think of it as practice for the next time you're in a concentration camp and the German guard says you can only take one of your children (Sophie's Choice, anyone?). Also, a lot of you with Fringe user icons chose Lost, and vice versa. To me, that's a testament to how good both shows are.

But in the end, the winner was... Fringe, by a vote of 219 to 143. There were lots of disclaimers because Fringe hasn't ended, and some people were turned off by Lost's finale. Fringe supporters cited its sci-fi roots, question-answering, and more time spent with a smaller cast. Those who favored Lost noted its ability to change the way we watch television, its spirituality, its social impact, and its abundance of stellar episodes. As for my stance, I'm going to side with the 17 folks who copped out and said "both." Yeah, yeah, I'm a wuss. I know. But when I look at the pros and cons of both shows, I see them as even. I'm a million-percent invested in Fringe and love the way it makes me think, but I'll never forget how I felt about Lost and how it changed me as a television viewer.

Let's take a look at the results in pie-graph form, because that's what Mr. Eko would have wanted us to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which J.J. Abrams Show is Better, Lost or Fringe?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fringe 219 Lost 143 Both 17 Alias 7 Alcatraz 1 Felicity 1

See the entire TV.com article here.

Fans Ask Fringe: Joshua Jackson And The Peacoat

Joshua Jackson answer a fan question in this latest Fans Ask Fringe interview:

"We miss the peacoat a lot. And you. Both Really. Please tell us Peter will be back in the peacoat soon." - Buffyundercover / Larissa

Hijinks Ensue: The Fringe Candidates

Here is a funny cartoon from Hijinks Ensue that combines two of the four things you will find if you Google "Fringe" (the other two are haircuts and art festivals).

On the Hijinks Ensue blog for this strip, they comment further on thier love for Fringe:

Sorry, non-Fringe fans. Not because you don’t get this comic, but because you aren’t enjoying the best show on TV. This will likely be Fringe’s final season (a year sooner than J.J. Abrams would like), due to it being too fantastic to be profitable. This seems to be the fate of all original, thought-provoking, well acted (extremely well acted in the case of John “Please let me curl up in your grandpa cheeks” Noble), well produced sci-fi on television. Any show that refuses to dumb down it’s intensely complicated, yet expertly executed premise in order to reach a wider audience just isn’t commercially viable on TV. More...

 * Thanks to Paul D for sending this in!

Fringe: Michelle Krusiec Talks Her Shapeshifter Role and the Show

Fringe: Michelle Krusiec Talks Her Shapeshifter Role and the Show
Written By Nadine Ramsden
January 26th, 2012 

If you’ve been watching Fringe this season, then you’ll recognize Michelle Krusiec as the actress who played one of the new, human shapeshifters. If you haven’t been watching, maybe Michelle herself can convince you to give it a shot! Michelle took the time to chat with us this week about her experiences on Fringe: covering everything from how the show is like an illicit drug to what it’s like to play a superhuman. Michelle also reveals the previously-unknown “shapeshifter” name of her character. The shapeshifter has been known only as Nadine, who was first introduced in the season premiere, and was seen most recently in last week’s episode “Enemy Of My Enemy”. I will say that I myself am curious as hell about what the shapeshifter name may signify…
And now I’ll let you get on to the good stuff:

TVOvermind: Had you been a fan of Fringe before working on the show?
Michelle Krusiec: I can't honestly call myself a fan prior to working on it, because that would make the real fans pretty upset since they are true fans. I watched the pilot and I was intrigued, but I'm not an avid TV watcher. Mostly because of time and lack of it, nothing to do with the show itself. I remember watching Fringe randomly one night earlier this season and I was totally confused by the two Olivias, but still, I was intrigued, and wondered what in the world the storyline was about!

What was it like to work on the show?
I was really giddy with excitement because it's a J.J. Abrams show and my character was just so awesome. I was told she was a new breed of shapeshifter, but I had no idea what the hell that really meant, in terms of the show's mythology; I got to work and started watching as many episodes as I could. The first episode I was in, I was mostly dead, and since it was raining in Vancouver, I basically watched 36 back-to-back episodes. I felt like some junkie hopped up in my hotel room. My curtains were drawn. I'd watch it in bed, from the bathtub, with room service. I couldn't stop watching it. I was completely hooked, and in complete awe of the storyline.

I'm such a sucker for sci fi because my Dad and I bonded over them growing up. Whenever sci fi is at its best, it makes you examine morality, ethics and the human condition: it really brings to light great questions and theoreticals about mankind and behavior. In the case of Fringe, I was really struck by this notion of how one man's mistakes affect two universes and the people in them. The way the writers explored these questions while still maintaining a procedural show was impressive to me. And then to top it off, the calibre of acting on the show was so striking. I felt like I had won the lottery to be invited onto the show.

What are some of your favorite memories and experiences from working on Fringe?
Some of my favorite moments include getting my face scanned for the digital effects and seeing a 3D version of my face on the computer. And I loved my character's name "Seven" because it's just a badass name.

I loved playing with the guns. I took that very seriously. I felt that a shapeshifter would move differently than humans and I wanted to be completely collected when I was operating firearms. I practiced rolling around on the floor and shooting, which I never did in the show, and the firearms expert even told me while I was doing it, “they probably won’t ask you to do that,” but I’d just keep on rolling around on the floor. Basically, any time I got to kick ass, I was giddy with excitement because Seven has superhuman abilities and you just don't get a chance to play characters like that very often. I was a little jealous whenever I had to shapeshift into another human being though, because another actor played that part. But it was also really awesome to see how they lined up my face with the other actress Lori Triolo's face so they could shift our faces together. It was odd how our features were actually very similar on camera. Who would have guessed I'd have Italian features?

Doing the shapeshifting in and out of characters was more challenging than I expected because it had to be subtle and it’s mostly digital effects so your face is like a canvas. The first time I did it, I just went crazy and after my first take the director Joe Chapelle just said, "Uh, make it smaller." That made me laugh, because I think I may have gone a little overboard with it. All the other shapeshifters made it look so painful, so I thought I was doing exactly what I'd seen on the show, but I was mistaken. There's a great scene where Seven is injecting herself with the formula to correct her genetic mutation that's preventing her from shapeshifting on command. I loved shooting in that bathroom because it was a small little space and any kind of transformation scene like that for an actor is really fun to do.

I also loved seeing Gene the cow. I wish I had taken a photo with her now… Can you tell that I had a blast shooting this show?

Read Michelle's entire TVOvermind interview here.

fo note:And the coolest thing about this article? Michelle herself tweeted the link on Twitter.

Fringe FBI Podcast Season 4 Episode 9

Frea, Jan, Lou, & Maximus get together after each Fringe episode in this temporarily constructed shared reality known as a podcast to discuss the Fourth Season of Fringe.

'Enemy of My Enemy'

 AKA
 

The Peter Bishop Power Hour

Agenda:

1) Intros

2) Episode Easter Eggs  

3) Quick Thoughts 

4) RoundTable 

5) Ep Rating - out of 10 Genes

 

Intro Music: 'Lunatic Fringe' - Tom Cochrane

Exit Music: 'Peter Gunn Theme' - Henry Mancini

Leave us feedback here or on Twitter:

Frea - @Frea_O

Jan - @happydayz3

Lou - @olddarth

Maximus - @mxpw999

Jan's Fringe Recaps can be found at NiceGirlsTV

FBI Inc Podcast graphics designed by Frea_O

On the run all the time? A commuter? Listen to our portable version
via iTunes - Alternate Reality Version.

Fringe Observiews 4.09 Enemy Of My Enemy

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

Screen caps from this episode are taken from fringefiles.com and DVD. Dialog is from fringepedia.net/transcripts.

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. I could also have missed a few things, oh well…

3.14 6B

OLIVIA: “I know that it's a lot to take in.”
ALICE: “I'm not sure I'll ever really understand what happened. And I'm not sure it would make any difference if I did. You know...”

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J.J. Abrams Talks ALCATRAZ, Serialized Storytelling, the Final Season of FRINGE, and Upcoming TV Projects

J.J. Abrams Talks ALCATRAZ, Serialized Storytelling, the Final Season of FRINGE, and Upcoming TV Projects

by Christina Radish
Posted:January 23rd, 2012 at 3:14 pm

The new Fox drama series Alcatraz follows a unique trio investigating the mystifying reappearance of 302 the most notorious prisoners and guards, 50 years after they vanished. As San Francisco Police Department Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Alcatraz expert and comic book enthusiast Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) help government agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) and his associate, Lucy Banerjee (Parminder Nagra), piece together the inexplicable sequence of events, they ultimately discover a much larger, more sinister present-day threat.

While at the TCA Winter Press Tour, executive producer J.J. Abrams talked about what intrigued him about the premise of this series, the changes they decided to make to the original pilot, why serialization has become a dirty word for TV, and that this was designed as episodic with an over-arcing large story and mythology stories that they’ll get to, over time. He also talked about how hopeful he is that Fringe will get renewed for at least one more season, said that Eric Kripke (Supernatural) is doing a great job developing the Revolution pilot that he will be producing, and that he is excited to be working with One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn on a show in the vein of Felicity. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

.
What’s your sense about the likelihood of Fringe getting another season?
ABRAMS: I don’t know. For some sick reason, I’m hopeful. There is some stuff coming up that is so great. They’re doing such amazing work. Maybe it’s just that dumb optimism of hoping that, when good work is done, it gets rewarded. Some of the work that Jeff [Pinkner] and Joel [Wyman] are working on now is so good that I’m just crossing my fingers it gets to continue. And, if not on Fox, maybe somewhere else.

Has Fox given you any indication that they would give you a heads up before canceling the show, so that you can make sure things get wrapped up?
ABRAMS: I would think that, if the show was going to end, they’ve been so wonderful and incredibly supportive and really aware of the audience that they have and don’t have, I’m sure they would be courteous enough to do that.

What can fans expect from Fringe, for the remainder of this season?
ABRAMS: I don’t want to talk about anything specific that’s coming. But Joel Wyman, one of the showrunners, directed an episode that is incredibly romantic and powerful and emotional, and has my favorite combination of weird and sweet, sci-fi and romance.

Are you planning an endgame, story wise?
ABRAMS: Not in the immediate future. My dream would be that the next year would be the great ending for the show, to have one more season, but of course, any producer would say that.

Read the entire collider.com article here.

Fringe Sneak Peek 410 "Forced Perspective"

Up until now we haven't called them anything.

'Fringe' Star Joshua Jackson: Cancelation 'Might Not Be Death'

It's times like these that having Observers in our world would be really handy. One way or the other, looking into the future would put a lot of fans' fears at ease, now that "Fringe" faces the very serious threat of cancellation following its currently airing fourth season.

At the Television Critics Association press tour earlier this month, Fox president Kevin Reilly confessed that the network loses "a lot of money on the show," and that Fox is "not in the business of losing money." Worrying comments indeed, so much so that members of the show's cast — including Joshua Jackson, who plays Peter Bishop — are preparing for the inevitable end.

"My gut says that the head of Fox doesn't go on national television and says 'I'm not in the business of losing money' as a joke," Jackson laughed while speaking with MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival.

Jackson, who's in Park City for his new movie "Lay the Favorite," believes that "Fringe" is just as strong quality-wise as it's ever been. But with the series in the midst of its all-time lowest ratings, the actor admitted that "Fringe" is now "in that awkward place of being on the bubble — or under the bubble, as the case might be."

But all hope is not lost, according to Jackson.

"I think there's a possibility that if people just watched the show on the day and date, and if the numbers came back, [renewal] is a possibility," he said. "They've talked about maybe going off network with it, too. The TV landscape is a different place than it used to be, so [cancelation on Fox] might not be death."

Jackson added that whether or not "Fringe" gets canceled, the only thing that matters to him — "beyond the selfishness of not wanting to lose my job" — is ensuring that there's enough time to finish the story.

"The only thing that would piss me off about being canceled is if we brought people along for all these years — and they've been so dedicated and really stuck with the show — and we didn't finish it up," he said.

To that end, Jackson said that there's still plenty of time to wrap up "Fringe" in this current season, given that they're only up to hour 16 of the fourth season's 22-episode order.

"I don't know how many hours it would take to implement the [writers' end game], but we have plenty of hours left," he said. "I think if we found out [about the show's future] in the next several weeks, there would be no problem getting to what the ending is supposed to be."

Source: MTVMoviesBlog

"There's Always Hope, Right?": Season 5 Discussions Underway, J.J. Abrams 'Hopeful' Show Will Be Back

by Michael Ausiello

When Fox president Kevin Reilly told journalists earlier this month that he’s essentially losing money on Fringe, he wasn’t just putting the show’s rabid fans on notice that a fifth season is far from a slam dunk, he was sending the following message to Warner Bros. Television: The ball’s in your court.

Basically, in order for Fox to justify renewing the low-rated cult fave, Warner Bros. would have to agree to drastically reduce the show’s license fee (i.e. the amount the studio charges the network for each episode).

But what’s that magic number? Sources confirm that both sides are currently trying to hash that out. “We remain hopeful that Fringe will be able to continue,” co-creator J.J. Abrams tells TVLine.

Warner Bros. no doubt remains even more hopeful. A fifth season would put Fringe at or very close to 100 episodes, a milestone that would enhance the show’s syndication prospects. (A studio rep declined to comment.)

The clock is ticking, but not as quickly as one might think. If this does turn out to be Fringe‘s final season, it wouldn’t actually impact producers’ Season 4 end game.

“Worst case scenario, if this were the last aired season of Fringe… we know what the end of this season is going to be,” EP Jeff Pinkner recently told TVLine, ”and it can function as a series finale.”

Fringe Review: Enemy of My Enemy

“You don’t know me, or what I’m capable of.”

Peter has finally succeeded at what he intended to do: bridging the gap between Over Here and Over There. At the end of Season Three, Peter put everything on the line to broker a peace between the two universes—and we all know how that turned out. Now, Peter’s wildcard status has brought both sides together to fight a common foe. As the saying goes, the enemy of my…oh.

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