With a long rerun-and-reality-packed summer behind us, the new TV season is finally here. And as always, Entertainment Weekly’s Fall TV Preview – on stands this week – has all the crucial info you need to navigate your remote control as television roars back. Amongst the early reviews, interviews, insight, and plot hints for shows both new and returning, our double issue takes a deep dive into the gory, witty world of Fox’s Fringe with Jeff “Doc” Jensen.
Last year’s most heavily hyped new drama, Fringe was engineered by creators J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci to be a high-impact hybrid of The X-Files and CSI – a serious yet accessible sci-fi series. Though the highly anticipated thriller started shakily, making geeks wonder if Abrams and his reliably mind-bending production company had finally let them down, Fringe ended its first year with a finale filled with insane, chat-room-exploding twists that won over a skeptical fan base. Now Fringe will try to maintain its momentum in TV’s most competitive time slot, Thursdays at 9, against CSI and Grey’s Anatomy. But if Fringe is to thrive, Abrams’ team will have to apply the lessons learned from its rocky first season. Says Abrams: “It’s going to sound weird, but a show starts talking to you and telling you what it wants to be. It took us a while to hear it.”
As the series approached midseason last year, and some elements began to jell (fan-favorite villains and a feet-first immersion into an alternate-reality mythology), buzz began to grow. Says co-star Joshua Jackson, “This has been the total opposite of my Dawson’s Creek experience.” Unlike the teen soap that was an instant hit when it debuted in 1998, “Fringe has taken a while for the show to percolate in the pop culture. I would never complain about being on a show with the words ‘J.J. Abrams’ above the title, but the expectations were impossibly high.”
The show’s most crucial story line in season 2 belongs to Jackson’s Peter Bishop. “Eventually, he’s going to learn where he really comes from, and everything is going to blow up,” says Jackson. The Sept. 17 season premiere also hints at romantic potential between Peter and lead investigator Olivia (Anna Torv), even though both Torv and Jackson hope it’s not the case. “I see Peter and Olivia more as a brother and sister with a truly bizarre father figure – three broken people, coming together as a dysfunctional family,” says Jackson. Adds Torv, “I hope they don’t put us together. That would be so conventional. What’s interesting about this show is that in many ways, Olivia has the masculine role, and the two guys are the women. She carries the gun, they sit around and talk. I think that’s pretty cool.”
For much more on Fringe, as well as looks at 85 other fall shows, both new and old favorites, check out the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Sept. 11.
Comments (1-30) of 68 Add your comment
I agree about NOT wanting them to get together… I like the “family” as it is
SO happy to see Fringe get the attention it deserves! Even HAPPIER to know it will get the Doc Jensen treatment. Any chance it can be the weekly obsession once LOST is over??
Thanks goodness it’s moving away from following IDOL – that way I don’t have to TIVO the news in order not to miss any FRinGE.
But then that means that we can’t get a good laugh at spotting “The Observer” sitting right behind Simon in the audience.
I don’t know if I want them together or not. Maybe they should get together in the final episode.
Don’t forget Supernatural is also on Thursdays at 9. Why can’t the show get any love?
Eewwww. It would be so typical for them to be together or have a “fling”. Let’s step away from convention and stick to the dysfunctional family aspect.
I am so looking forward for the premiere. My DVR is ready since I’m teaching that nite
I would like Peter and Olivia to get together eventually, but no rush. The Mulder/Scully “slow burn” would be more ideal for them. And this show really has found its stride and become a whole lot of fun.
agreed
I think Fringe competes more with Supernatural than Grey’s and CSI. I love the both. Thank god Tivo can record two things at once!
awesome cover, love her dress, I want! amazing color….dont forget Supernatural and Allison Mack of Smallville could use some love!
I love the cover dress as well… BUT, did you guys see the Tweet-peat last week? Didn’t one of the writers tweet: “Pinstripe suit ALWAYS equal bad guy”? — Can we please blow this out of proportion?! lol
Fringe will be the show to watch this season…..so intriguing on last season’s finale from the Twin Towers?
Hoping to see a great storyline for Season 2…bring it on!!!!
Nice. This is always one of my favorite issues of the year.
I see Peter and Astrid as a more likely romance than Peter and Olivia. I get the family vibe from them too.
definitely want them to get together but at an organic pace
LOVE THIS SHOW!
a perfect time to put NCIS on the cover and you guys blow it..where’s the luv EW??
Let’s all just hush and be thankful they didn’t put The Vampire Diaries on the cover.
EW rarely gives the Fall Preview cover to new shows (I don’t think they ever have). The Vampire Diaries will probably get next year’s cover if it’s still around. I’m surprised 90210 didn’t get the cover, glad it didn’t though.
ha. amen brotha.
I’m so excited for Fringe to return! And it getting the Doc Jensen treatment is icing on the cake. Anna and Josh are gorgeous on that cover. As to whether Peter and Liv get together…I can deal either way. I personally think they’re cute together, but I can see the family vibe too. But hey NO RUSH. Long live Fringe!
Thanks so much for putting Fringe on the cover. I hope season two is as great as season one.
Yeah I agree with everyone else.. I don’t think theres alot of chemistry between Peter and Olivia(at least not in the romance dept) so don’t push it J.J. Abrams. But Im super excited for the show to come back
Total freak out for me. The three shows I love on Thurs night are on at the same time and I don’t own a TIVO. What shall I do? I need my Supernatural fix but Fringe and Grey’s Anatomy had great season finales! I hate when the networks do this. Tues and Wed are free. Move Fringe back to Tuesday.
Long live Fringe! I can’t wait for the season premiere!
I’m with the idea of a Mulder/Scully type relationship-slow, steady, and promising. I don’t like the brother/sister aspect. It would be creepy at this point with the chemistry that has already been “set-up”. They have great chemistry and I want to see where it goes.
Fun Fact: Jackson was also on the Fall Preview cover this week in 1998!
I love the show and can’t wait for the next season but…….the photo looks like a prom pic with the guy in dad’s suit.
wow i’m shocked fringe made the cover, ew thanks for putting something new on the cover for once, of course ew is owned by time warner and the show is produced by wb, but i’m ok with that
OH MAN, wrong time slot….as usual the networks get so much wrong. I will have to decide if I will continue watching Supernatural. I absolutely love Fringe, can wait to see the premier because it left off so “COOL” and it really is fantastic, just like was created to be a cross between CSI & Xfiles, like I thought it was….mentioned here. Afraid the other shows may have a larger fan base, and if I have to watch another great show being canceled I may finally turn off my TV. Whatever happened to Moonlight? Canceled! I’m sick of hospital and cop shows, and I really dislike reality shows. Give us some new stuff, like Fringe and True Blood any day! It’s the ssshhite y’all!
I love Fringe and i’m so happy its back and getting the recognition it deserves and its on the same night as Bones! I do hope that Olivia and Peter do hook up but let it also be a slow burn… let the relationship grow and evolve. No rush!
Why can’t there be something worth watching on any other night than just Thursday…….sux. I wish the networks did not compete for attention because there will be losers, making a lot of people mad when their show is dumped. Makes no sense at all to me. I want to watch 4 shows and 3 are on the same night at the same time. There is nothing on any other time, so why not move some things around? Would the networks not “win” by letting us see each good show on different nights? I think so. Just my opinion.
I love Fringe but the timeslot change spells disaster. I predict at some point during the season Fox will realize what a dumb move it was to pit Fringe against two of the biggest shows on tv.
I love “Fringe”! Great cover!
Fringe was the best new show last year! I can’t wait to see what happens this year! I would love to see Peter and Liv together but let the sexual tension and anticipation build like it has on Bones with Booth and Brennan
Fringe is awesome!!!! I almost didn’t even recognize Anna Torv,WOW!!!
I LOVE THIS SHOW! i am so happy to see anything and everything on it
i wish it would get its own little “show” on EW!! there are enough mythology and double meanings to get a show !