Image Credit: Liane Hentscher/FOXThree weeks ago, in anticipation for the season 3 premiere of Fringe, I expressed hope that the sci-fi adventure series produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot team would finally fulfill its potential as TV’s next great cult pop obsession following two intermittently brilliant seasons. At the risk of being too early with a judgment after just three episodes, I’d like to state for the record that Fringe has at last become the show I wanted it to be and is set to become my new “Favorite TV Series Currently On The Air”… right after Mad Men signs off for the year on Sunday. Going into the season, NBC’s The Event seemed poised to fill the hole left behind by Lost. But it has been Fringe that has stepped up to become broadcast television’s premiere capture-the-imagination enterprise. I’ve never been more hooked.
Of course, while I’ve been slow to become all-in on Fringe, others have not. EW’s TV critic Ken Tucker has been a major champion of the show since the beginning, and I’m sure if you’re reading this, you’re probably also reading his recaps of each new episode. I’ve always enjoyed the show as an extremely well-produced next-gen X-Files. At the same time, I’ve always wanted the show to become less defined by its influences and find its own unique entity. Fringe began doing that late last season when the writers decided to plunge deeply into the show’s core mythological conceit: That the world that’s home to heroes Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter Bishop is in hostile conflict with a parallel universe version of the same world, marked by variations in history and people. Fringe has had great creative fun fleshing out this idea, and you can actually feel that fun seeping through. The writers are clearly having a ball in the playground they’ve built for themselves, and it’s clear that the actors are having a blast, too.
Anna Torv, the actress who plays Olivia, deserves special a commendation. READ FULL STORY »
Four years after Jennifer Garner kicked her last enemy-of-the-state ass as Sydney Bristow on Alias, the actress and Victor Garber (who played her elusive father on the ABC series) got together for 
What you see here is the “Before” moment. Bill O’Reilly appeared on The View today to argue against Park51, the Muslim community center slated to be built two blocks from the World Trade Center. First he spoke to Joy Behar like a child: “Hold it, hold it. Listen to me because you’ll learn.” She responded in the only practical way: bunny ears. O’Reilly kept at it, insisting that 70 percent of Americans don’t want this mosque. “Where’s that poll?” Joy wondered. The eruption occurred after O’Reilly blamed Muslims for the WTC attacks: “Muslims didn’t kill us on 9/11? That’s what you’re saying?” O’Reilly wanted to make sure. And Whoopi and Joy stormed off the set! “I don’t want to sit here anymore,” Joy said, to clarify.
