Fringe - Season One

[Hurmoth]

I was looking at the Toronto Filming Production schedule to see when Saw V was to start filming and noticed J.J. Abrams is directing a new pilot called The Fringe and then found this article from late last year...

Director Set for J.J. Abrams' 'Fringe' Pilot

Alex Graves has come on board to direct the high profile, two-hour pilot for "Fringe," a FOX drama created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

FOX won a bidding war for "Fringe" back in early October, giving a series commitment to the science fiction-inflected thriller and signing on for an ambitious pilot budget in the $10 million range, according to the industry trade papers.

The "X-Files"-esque pilot focuses on an odd trio of paranormal investigators -- A brilliant, eccentric research scientist, his estranged son and a young, female FBI agent.

In addition to "The X-Files," the pilot has been compared to early David Cronenberg films and Paddy Chayefsky's "Altered States."

The past two seasons, Graves has done pilot directing duties for ABC's "The Nine" and NBC's "Journeyman" and then stuck around as executive producer. He previously exec produced and directed on "The West Wing," winning a pair of Emmys as part of that show's creative team.

Graves' commitment to "Journeyman" runs through December (it's unclear if NBC's commitment to the show will last that long), leaving him free to direct the "Fringe" pilot early in the new year.

Anyone else hear about this?

Season One Episode List:

e101 -- Pilot -- 9/9/2008

e102 -- The Same Old Story -- 9/16/2008

e103 -- The Ghost Network -- 9/23/2008

e104 -- The Arrival -- 9/30/2008

Aired Episodes:

Pilot (e101)

Description: When all the passengers on a plane die, FBI agent Olivia Dunham investigates the events and while on the investigation her partner, John Scott, almost dies. A desperate Olivia looks for help and finds Dr. Walter Bishop, but he cannot help her because he has been institutionalized. The only way to even question him is with the help of his son Peter.

Olivia continues her investigations leading her to Nina Sharp, a manipulative executive. Olivia, Peter and Dr. Bishop will begin to discover what really happened on Flight 627 and begin to uncover a larger truth.

The Same Old Story (e102)

Description: Olivia, along with Peter and Walter Bishop, investigates the strange death of a woman who had an even stranger child. The woman was pregnant for only hours, yet the baby she birthed was fully developed - and also aged eighty years in the span of a few minutes. Olivia asks Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic for help.

The Ghost Network (e103)

Description: A man who has visions of the future is introduced. He sees a pattern-related terror attack and the team, led by Dr. Bishop, tries to prevent this event from occurring.

Unaired Episodes:

The Arrival (e104)

Description: TBP

[Rappy Veteran]

I read something about this last night, sounds pretty good but I hope its better then his last TV shot which was Six Degrees which was good but noone watched it. I am nearly through 4 seasons of Alias and adore JJ Abrams stuff.

[episode]

Holy crap, $10m for the pilot? Thats almost as much as the Cloverfield budget.

[draklin]

Anything by Abrams deserves to be watched for the first few episodes.

[Rappy Veteran]

Holy crap, $10m for the pilot? Thats almos as much as the Cloverfield budget.

Yeah thats crazy!

But Abrams seems to bring viewers so they give him a chance to grab the viewers but putting on something amazing, I remember reading during Six Degrees each episode cost $3m or something thats why they ended it.

[Rappy Veteran]

US, January 17, 2008 - Roles are beginning to be cast in J.J. Abrams' new series Fringe. TV Guide reports that Mark Valley (Boston Legal / Keen Eddie), Kirk Acevedo (The Black Donnellys / OZ) and Tomas Arana (The Bourne Supremacy / Gladiator) are all playing notable characters on the upcoming FOX sci-fi series. The show is created by Abrams and Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (Transformers / Mission: Impossible III) and the trio wrote the pilot script together before the WGA strike began.

The show centers around a scientist, his estranged son and a female FBI agent investigating the paranormal together. None of these three main roles have been announced as yet. According to TV Guide, Acevedo and Valley play FBI agents, while Arana is the head of a splinter group of Homeland Security that deals with the paranormal.

The Fringe pilot begins shooting next month.

[Razorwing]

Orci and Kurtzman? hmmm..

[Rappy Veteran]

Australian actress Anna Torv is to take the lead role in JJ Abrams' new sci-fi drama Fringe.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Torv is the filmmaker's latest female discovery, following in the footsteps of Keri Russell (Felicity), Jennifer Garner (Alias) and Evangeline Lilly (Lost).

The Fox show, written by Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, will also star Blair Brown and Jasika Nicole.

Torv will play Olivia Warren, a young FBI agent working with institutionalised scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) to tackle paranormal phenomena.

Filming for the two-hour pilot will begin in Toronto next month. Fox has not yet announced when it will air.

[Rappy Veteran]

Former Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson is returning to TV screens in a new sci-fi series, according to trade journal the Hollywood Reporter.

Jackson will play the lead role in Fringe, a highly anticipated drama from Lost and Alias creator JJ Abrams, the Hollywood Reporter said.

The two-hour $10m (?5.1m) pilot centres on an FBI agent who teams up with Peter Bishop, played by Jackson.

The pair confront the spread of unexplained phenomena.

Pilot filming

The character of Peter Bishop will be a high school drop-out with a high IQ who is trying to clear a gambling debt.

The cast for Fringe's pilot, which has begun filming in Toronto, also includes Blair Brown, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo and Jasika Nicole.

Jackson played Pacey in Dawson's Creek, the successful teen drama series that ended in 2003.

It also spawned film careers for Katie Holmes, now also married to Tom Cruise, and Michelle Williams, who starred in Brokeback Mountain opposite her former partner, the late Heath Ledger.

[Ash]

See... I like Abrahms BUT I dislike how he operates.

He had Alias, then started work on Lost and Alias suffered bug time in the last couple seasons because of the lack of his attention.

Lost's First season was beyond awesome... but when season 2 rolled around he was off doing Mission Impossible 3 and Lost suffered big time in the 2nd season and from what I hear the beginning part of season 3.

He makes great shows but moves to other stuff too quickly making the current projects decline in quality... I just hope this doesn't happen with this show.

[ThePitt]

he is busy making money Ash. Dont blame him. Blame the money :p

[Rappy Veteran]

The fact the pilot is ?5m thats just crazy and if it fails then what a waste of money!

[=Priest]

I just remembered the other day that the pilot for lost was around 12 million..so i guess this isnt new for him.

But with the lost pilot you can really see where all the money went, the island, the plane, the effects and all the actors. It just doesnt seem like this show could be as big..physically as lost was.

[Rappy Veteran]

With the end now in sight for Lost, J.J. Abrams is already working hard on a new series to take up the mantle. In the second of our previews of next season's most anticipated shows, we take a look at what to expect from "sci-fi thriller" Fringe.

What's it all about?

The show follows Olivia Warren, a "tough, young FBI agent who is forced to confront the spread of unexplained phenomena" with the help of former research scientist Walter Bishop - now living in a mental institution - and his estranged son.

What is Fringe?

The name for a special division of Homeland Security that handles these "terrorist / paranormal events".

What sort of events are we talking about here? Polar bears in jungles?

Well, let's look at the pilot, which begins with a scene set on a turbulence-stricken plane. One of the passengers - known, apparently, as "Troubled" - injects himself with an unknown drug, then seconds later his body begins to liquify, a process that soon spreads to the rest of the passengers and cabin crew. The plane lands safely but when our female lead shows up to investigate, there is no sign of life on board and the windows are covered with blood. And thus the intrigue is born!

Is this part of some overall mythology?

It wouldn't be a JJ production without some overarching plot, cleverly designed to pose an infinite number of questions and gradually send you insane. According to the man himself, there will be some self-contained episodes (the "mystery of the week") but there will be an ongoing storyline that plays out over time.

It sounds a bit X-Files.

Indeed it does. Abrams also lists The Twilight Zone and Ken Russell's sci-fi movie Altered States as influences. "It does the stuff my favourite TV shows and movies do, which is to combine genres that shouldn't fit together," he told Variety. "It's definitely meant to scare the hell out of you, but it's also meant to make you laugh. It pushes all the buttons of things we loved from our childhood."

Who's in it?

Perhaps the most recognisable name on the cast is Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson's Creek) who plays the role of Peter Bishop, the genius son who has just dropped out of high school - he's now 27! -and is desperately trying to clear a gambling debt. Mad, larger-than-life scientist Walter Bishop is played by John Noble (24, Lord of the Rings) and Aussie actress Anna Torv (Mistresses) is our female lead.

Ok, sign me up! When and where?

Filming on a very expensive, two-hour pilot has begun in Toronto. Fox has already given Abrams a 13-episode order and plans to air the series in the US from September.

[Rappy Veteran]

Fox has picked up J.J. Abrams' FRIDGE after checking out a two-hour pilot penned by frequent Abrams' collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and helmed by Alex Graves. FRINGE is a TV series about a young femme FBI agent who tackle cases involving unexplained medical and scientific phenomena. The cast includes Anna Torv, Mark Valley and Joshua Jackson.

[Pajter]

J.J. Abrams is a busy man. :laugh:

I'll definitely give this one a chance. If it's anything like his previous work, it should be good.

[Rappy Veteran]

J.J. Abrams is a busy man. :laugh:

I'll definitely give this one a chance. If it's anything like his previous work, it should be good.

Yeah anything like Alias and its gonna be awesome!

[Guest]

Alias meets Lost, with a hint of Cloverfield? :laugh:

[Rappy Veteran]

FRINGE (Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT): From J.J. Abrams ("Lost"), Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind "Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible III" and "Alias," comes a new drama that will thrill, terrify and explore the blurring line between science fiction and reality. When an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (newcomer Anna Torv) is called in to investigate. After her partner, Special Agent JOHN SCOTT (Mark Valley, "Boston Legal"), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to DR. WALTER BISHOP (John Noble, "Lord of the Rings"), our generation's Einstein. There's only one catch: he's been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son PETER (Joshua Jackson, "Dawson's Creek") in to help. When Olivia's investigation leads her to manipulative corporate executive NINA SHARP (Blair Brown, "Altered States"), our unlikely trio along with fellow FBI Agents PHILLIP BROYLES (Lance Reddick, "The Wire"), CHARLIE FRANCIS (Kirk Acevedo, "Oz") and ASTRID FARNSWORTH (Jasika Nicole, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent") will discover that what happened on Flight 627 is only a small piece of a larger, more shocking truth.

[Rappy Veteran]

First Trailer

Abaddon!!!

[Hurmoth]

Abaddon!!!

:o Man he's in everything now. Heroes, Lost, The Fringe. What's next?

[Pajter]

Yeah anything like Alias and its gonna be awesome!

I actually never saw Alias. Don't even know if it's aired here in the Netherlands.

I'm a huge Lost fan though, so if Alias is just as high up there, I should really look into it.

[spacer]

So...it's basically an X-Files reboot. No thanks.

[Rappy Veteran]

:o Man he's in everything now. Heroes, Lost, The Fringe. What's next?

I saw him in a film the other day "The Siege" he's everywhere!

[Rappy Veteran]

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