Fringe fans craving even a small glimpse into the future that is tomorrow night need not break into Walter Bishop’s Harvard lab and switch on his high-tech AlternaWorld-o-Vision to do so … especially since it wouldn’t work, because it peeks into parallel worlds, not the future. I mean, duh! (Damn how this show inspires me to the most convoluted sentences.) Just look at the photo at right. Walter Bishop and Nina Sharp are reading a note. Context? All I know is what I was told by the bald guy with hot sauce stains on his suit who dropped the photo off at my office: “On a rare visit to the Harvard campus, Nina and Walter take a trip down memory lane and reminisce about the good ol’ days when they let curiosity be their guide. This leads to a discussion about Peter’s ongoing investigation (much to Walter’s dismay) about that doomsday machine …” (My source — usually more of a strong, silent type — was in an uncommonly chatty mood, so I’m very appreciative for his scoop!)

I know, know. Your mind: Buh-lowwwwn. But quick! Scrape your bloody gray matter off the wall and remold it into the high-powered theory-making super-computer it once was because I would like to play a game with you. The piece of paper that Walter is reading: What’s on it? Here are your options. I am told that one of these answers is actually correct. READ FULL STORY »

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 »