Tuesday, March 22, 2011

In for Spring: Fringe

It's been a while since anyone here at TV Sluts talked about Fringe (and I can just hear my friend Dorilyn, who is a big fan of the show, responding with a well-timed, "you got that right"). But I have FINALLY caught up with the series and now have some things to say.

First: this shit got good. Back in 2008 I gave the show a favorable review based on the pilot, and managed to stick with it through the first season, but it never really became appointment viewing for me. By the fall of 2009 (when Fringe was entering its second season), I think it conflicted with some other things and I decided to cut it loose and catch up with the DVDs. Well, that never really worked out until this past winter, when I got the second season from Netflix to tide me over the hiatus. And boy, did I get hooked.

The first season was basically spent on random mysteries of the week and establishing relationships between the characters, but after the first season finale, when we learned about the existence of a parallel universe (called Over There), things started chugging along and the show got into a great groove. The mystery of the week were now tied into the overall plot and the introduction of Fauxlivia (i.e., the Other Olivia) finally allowed Anna Torv to demonstrate some personality. We also learned a lot more about Peter and Olivia's past and how both their childhoods were intertwined with the other universe. Fascinating!

After burning through the DVDs in no time, I went to FOX's website to catch up on season 3, and by January, Fringe had moved to Friday and was now firmly on my DVR. While the ratings have not really been stellar on Fridays (EW.com reports they hit an all-time low), it's apparently doing better than what was there before and there's no doubt the show is at a creative high. So I guess it's time to rally the troops for another "Save Our Show" campaign. And this time, I am definitely on board.

Come on FOX! You can't take Joshua Jackson away from me now!

Fringe is currently airing Fridays at 9:00pm on FOX.

Final thought: Several years ago I got into my head that Charlie was evil. Whoops! Although he did briefly become an evil half-android shape-shifter! That counts, right?

2 comments:

Scienter said...

If you follow TV By the Numbers, Fringe is on thin ice. :( It sucks, because it's my favorite show and I want them to get a chance to finish the story!! I love Walter Bishop so much, he's such an awesome character. And any show that involves Leonard Nimoy has to be awesome.

The disgruntled Fox viewer in me thinks it's appalling that dreck like Dollhouse got renewed and that Fringe probably won't get a 4th season to wrap up.

Maggie Cats said...

I am choosing to remain optimistic that Fringe will get renewed. I am pretty sure FOX doesn't really have anything else to put in that Friday timeslot, it's definitely doing well creatively and critically, and a fourth season might be enough to knock them into syndication. In the meantime, write your Congressman, er, FOX studio rep.