It's Official: Fringe Renewed! 22 episodes, Bay-bee! by HKCavalier

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Awesome! Maybe they broke the Friday-night death curse!

There have been a few "clunker" eps this season, but overall I've like it quite a bit. I'm glad they got another season!

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:41 AM

TWO

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Maybe it was time for a strategy change at FOX? For two decades FOX has been slaughtering all its Friday night shows and replacing them with new shows with no better ratings, which are slaughtered in their turn. Fringe's ratings now are as good as it's going to get for FOX. Why not just keep Fringe?

According to FOX Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, nearly half of Fringe's viewership time shifts the show to watch at their convenience, and that "if it does anywhere near what it did on Thursdays, we can glue that show to the schedule because it can be a big win for us." The FOX network created a promotion advertisement for Fringe that lampooned its reputation of the Friday night death slot prior to Fringe's move. http://tinyurl.com/29fmhxe

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 10:33 AM

Yup, I'm a "time shifter". I rarely watch anything in real time anymore. But here's the thing - I *do* watch commercials, if they can grab my attention or amuse me. The silly DirecTV li'l giraffe commercials? I'll pretty much stop what I'm doing (including fast-forwarding) when I see those. The Kia hamster commercials? Same thing. A clever ad *WILL* get watched, whether I have to or not.

So while I'm not their desired customer for Fringe (since I'm a DVR watcher), they're still getting effective advertising, just as long as they come up with effective ads.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 11:59 AM

WHOZIT

Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor:
Hmmm, seems like Fox is trying to atone for something...

Yes "Syndication", this will be a huge money maker in reruns. People who haven't found it yet will find it in reruns at SyFy or some cable network. This is a great "cult" show and will be around for years.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 2:36 PM

TRAVELER

Thanks for passing on the great news.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 3:09 PM

Thanks for passing on the NOT-great news -_-

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 5:22 PM

CHRISISALL

Is this show really good? Like V, or better?

The laughing Chrisisall

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 5:47 PM

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 6:36 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Is this show really good? Like V, or better?

There have been very few shows since Firefly that I have loved. Fringe is one of them, and it gets better with each episode. It's in a whole other league than "V".

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderChat:
No

This is not the thread you are looking for. If you don't like the show, go your own way and find something you do like, or else be a little more specific about your dislike.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 7:41 PM

It is the thread I'm looking for actually. I wasn't actually here to troll/bitch and my opinion is just as valid as anyone else's, why DO you like it? You haven't explained yourself any better than me.

For me it was a really quick decision that I hated all three of the main characters and it never really got any further than that. While I usually enjoy the 'crackpot' characters I found Walter VERY annoying, his accent/voice, his attitude. I saw him during the whole 'son from alternate dimension' bit and just hated it. Which leads into the whole 'parallel dimensions' type deal which I don't think flowed very well, it gave me a vibe similar to 'Lost' where basically any bullshit could happen. Peter wasn't bad as an actual character (even though his necessity for the group seems a bit...vague) but the actor will always be that Paysee dude from Dawson's Creek which I always hated watching and I didn't think much of the girl.

So without connecting to them I wasn't very interested in their dimension hopping, slug tracking crap. Admittedly, the story may be better than I was able to see but because I didn't care, I didn't find past around seven episodes plus the few I've watched after that TRYING to give it a shot. Everything I have gleaned from watching an isolated episode after the first few which failed to suck me in seems to say that the 'fiction' side of it has gone nuts and the 'science' gone awol, it's all way over the top in my opinion.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:00 PM

Better my friend, much better. This good news is awesome, score 1 for the Fringles.

SGG

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Is this show really good? Like V, or better?

There have been very few shows since Firefly that I have loved. Fringe is one of them, and it gets better with each episode. It's in a whole other league than "V".

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderChat:
No

This is not the thread you are looking for. If you don't like the show, go your own way and find something you do like, or else be a little more specific about your dislike.

EC I couldn't have said it better myself, Bravo!

SGG

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderChat:
It is the thread I'm looking for actually. I wasn't actually here to troll/bitch and my opinion is just as valid as anyone else's, why DO you like it? You haven't explained yourself any better than me.

For me it was a really quick decision that I hated all three of the main characters and it never really got any further than that. While I usually enjoy the 'crackpot' characters I found Walter VERY annoying, his accent/voice, his attitude. I saw him during the whole 'son from alternate dimension' bit and just hated it. Which leads into the whole 'parallel dimensions' type deal which I don't think flowed very well, it gave me a vibe similar to 'Lost' where basically any bullshit could happen. Peter wasn't bad as an actual character (even though his necessity for the group seems a bit...vague) but the actor will always be that Paysee dude from Dawson's Creek which I always hated watching and I didn't think much of the girl.

So without connecting to them I wasn't very interested in their dimension hopping, slug tracking crap. Admittedly, the story may be better than I was able to see but because I didn't care, I didn't find past around seven episodes plus the few I've watched after that TRYING to give it a shot. Everything I have gleaned from watching an isolated episode after the first few which failed to suck me in seems to say that the 'fiction' side of it has gone nuts and the 'science' gone awol, it's all way over the top in my opinion.

Ok, fair enough. You don't like any of the characters, plot or storylines. There must be some reason why you kept watching though, of course after you discovering that this was all crap. Why keep watching something that doesn't "suck you in?"

BTW you're right you are entitled to an opinion. But the question remains, why keep watching a show you don't like?

SGG

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Awesome! Maybe they broke the Friday-night death curse!

There have been a few "clunker" eps this season, but overall I've like it quite a bit. I'm glad they got another season!

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

Clunkers you say! Blasphemy! Get out the wet noodle, this man needs to be noodle whipped!

;-)

SGG

Fringe 4th Season, Yay!

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:15 PM

I have kept watching in an attempt to give the show a chance because there have been shows in the past (and occasionally movies) that kind of come together and end up being enjoyable once they settle down a bit and with limited new sci-fi here in Australia I just check it out as opposed to the reality shows and stuff.

Unfortunately it also leaves me without the knowledge to make a compelling argument because it's simply as you said, I don't like any of it.

I'm pretty easy going too, I've watched 'The Cape' online and found it tolerable but re-runs of older sci-fi shows kick Fringe in the pants as far as I'm concerned.

EDIT: And to tie it back in to the original question, I think V is also better.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Yup, I'm a "time shifter". I rarely watch anything in real time anymore. But here's the thing - I *do* watch commercials, if they can grab my attention or amuse me. The silly DirecTV li'l giraffe commercials? I'll pretty much stop what I'm doing (including fast-forwarding) when I see those. The Kia hamster commercials? Same thing. A clever ad *WILL* get watched, whether I have to or not.

So while I'm not their desired customer for Fringe (since I'm a DVR watcher), they're still getting effective advertising, just as long as they come up with effective ads.

True that, a good commercial is.....well, a good commercial. The DirecTV giraffe commercial gets me everytime, especially the first one.

SGG

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderChat:
I have kept watching in an attempt to give the show a chance because there have been shows in the past (and occasionally movies) that kind of come together and end up being enjoyable once they settle down a bit and with limited new sci-fi here in Australia I just check it out as opposed to the reality shows and stuff.

Unfortunately it also leaves me without the knowledge to make a compelling argument because it's simply as you said, I don't like any of it.

I'm pretty easy going too, I've watched 'The Cape' online and found it tolerable but re-runs of older sci-fi shows kick Fringe in the pants as far as I'm concerned.

EDIT: And to tie it back in to the original question, I think V is also better.

Well, first off, thanks for your honesty, but I guess we agree to disagree. I was not impressed with V, other than Morena and, at the very beginning, Alan, I found it kind of boring and lacking any staying power (what I mean by staying power is having me, the viewer, stay still). I found myself reaching for the remote quite often. The original V kicks the imitation V in the ass. So in that we agree, some old sci-fi shows and series do kick butt, and then some, over some of the lame sci-fi shows today (ahem, SyFy channel, cough, cough).

SGG

"These are not the droids you are looking for"

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by HKCavalier:
The Friday Deathslot is no more!

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/03/24/its-official-fringe-renewe
d/86988

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

Yeah, what everyone has said, thanx for passing on the news. You are indeed Shiny!
You know, more Browncoats should give this show a chance. I'm just saying.

SGG

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:39 PM

Agreeing to disagree is my favorite kind of disagreement :P

I haven't seen the original series of V but I have heard from multiple sources that it's better which truly wouldn't surprise me. I do think V is better than Fringe but I'm still not overly impressed with it. I can see what you mean with staying power, I watch fully once I actually sit down and start it but unlike some other shows I'm not totally excited about watching it.

Ugh, SyFy. But yes, agreement on the older series.
There are a few more modern ones that I like such as The Sarah Connor Chronicles though the whole UFO thing just made me face-palm a little. And I haven't seen it all but I'm 'okay' with The 4400 as well.

Anyway, I truly wasn't attempting to be antagonistic in this thread, I really was trying to be 'that guy' who disagrees so I can hear what everyone actually DOES like about Fringe? It seems to be quite popular and I don't get it.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 10:39 PM

HKCAVALIER

Heya Chris. For me, Fringe is hands down the best show since our beloved FF, but you gotta be in it for the long haul to get the full epic narrative. The characters are beautifully written with mountains of humanitas and badassery to spare.

Imagine Firefly only different--not the plot at all, but the characters and the relationships--

1.) Mal and River are the same person, or rather, River starts out thinking she's Mal (but not funny Mal; dark, brooding Mal) and over the course of two seasons discovers that she's secretly been River all along.

2.) Book has lost part of his mind (literally) and channels Wash on a regular basis. Over the course of two seasons, he discovers that before he lost his mind he was basically Niska, and then he tries to undo all the atrocities he committed when he was Niska.

2.) Practically everyone is, or was once, or will become, or has a counterpart in an alternate universe who is/was/will become--a total badass.

3.) Hard science fiction in prime time! Whoohoo! And the entire series is a meditation on science and responsibility that would make Mary Shelley proud.

4.) The pilot, on the badass scale is kinda on the lowest rung (think Shindig or something like that). It felt kinda long and did all that "setting things up" stuff that folks are obsessed with doing in the pilot. It gets awesome immediately thereafter. The season 2 episode "White Tulip" guest starring Buckaroo Banzai himself (!!!!) rates up there with Out of Gas and Ariel for me. As good as tv sci fi gets.

5.) All this set in the present day, with oodles of naturalism and dark conspiracies that actually get explained (not like Lost at all) during the course of the show so they can move on to new storylines! Whoohoo again!

6.) WARNING: It will effectively ruin the X-files for you. After Fringe, X-files looks veerrrrrry dated indeed.

And I gotta concur with my esteemed colleague from the Lone Star State, there have been a couple clunky episodes this (third) season, but all of season 2 is pretty much gold.

Well, whataya know? I'm entitled to my opinion too!

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Saturday, March 26, 2011 11:43 PM

Really? How long does it take the characters and indeed the story to develop into that? I fell in love with the Firefly characters immediately while I was repelled by the characters in Fringe. I mean, sure, they could be similar but you can probably draw parallels like that anywhere and I didn't see them at all. Who do you see as Mal? Peter? Olivia? :O

Oh yes! That's another thing, I actually really like sci-fi set in the real world with normal stuff going on alongside all the fantastical stuff so that was one plus. Afterall, V, 4400 and TSCC got points for that so Fringe does too.
Firefly is basically my only REALLY loved show set in space and even that is much closer to reality than a lot of others.

I think the X-files beats the hell out of Fringe :P How do you mean dated? In what way/s is Fringe superior?

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 2:20 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by whozit:
Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor:
Hmmm, seems like Fox is trying to atone for something...
Yes "Syndication", this will be a huge money maker in reruns. People who haven't found it yet will find it in reruns at SyFy or some cable network. This is a great "cult" show and will be around for years.

I have to wonder, though - why is it that five seasons is the magic number for syndication? That seems to be the accepted number these days, and it confuses me, because I'd bet money that most of the people here who saw Star Trek (the original series) *DIDN'T* see it when it was on first-run broadcast TV in the 60s, but saw it in syndication, many much, much later. And that show only went THREE seasons.

Not taking you to task personally here, just wondering where and when five seasons became the accepted standard for syndication, especially given that most stations only re-air their "favorite" 20 eps or so, over and over and over and over.

But yes, it would be great to see "Fringe" on SyFy or elsewhere in reruns.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 2:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Is this show really good? Like V, or better?

The laughing Chrisisall

FAR better, in my humble opinion.

Have you not seen it, Chris?

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 5:07 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I'll admit I wasn't in love with the characters from the start, but the plot and potential for future plots kept me watching. I had read very positive things about Anna Torv beforehand, but I wasn't impressed with her for quite some time, but she's doing remarkable work now, not only as the two Olivias but also channeling Leonard Nimoy!

John Noble's Walter Bishop is one of the best TV characters ever, up there with Malcolm Reynolds, Fox Mulder and Lucas Buck in my opinion. Brilliant and arrogant while also fragile and vulnerable, harboring so much guilt from the realizations of what he did before. He is overdue for an Emmy nomination.

We are all entitled to our opinions, and it continues to amaze me how those who are Browncoats (so obviously they have good taste in some things) can disagree about so many other shows. "V" is very weak tea compared to Fringe, and isn't even as good as the original show although I didn't care for that one past the first two mini-series.

I watched Firefly from the beginning on FOX and was devastated when it was canceled. I don't think I would have been as upset if Fringe had not gone past the first season, but now towards the end of the third is another story. I think we only have four more episodes to go this year, and there is no way they could wrap up all the story lines by that time, so I am doing the happy dance now!

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 5:17 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
I have to wonder, though - why is it that five seasons is the magic number for syndication?

I've heard that the magic number is 100 episodes so it can have a fairly long weekly (or even daily) run with out seeming too repetitive. But I think you are right about some stations repeating favorite eps over and over, it certainly seemed that way with Seinfeld.

However, in today's cable environment syndication can come long before that milestone. House started repeats on USA after just three seasons, and the local CW affiliate has repeats of Stargate: Universe, Dead Like Me and Legend of the Seeker, and none of those went past two seasons. But I don't think Fringe is a viable syndication show, similar to Lost, since it is too serialized. There have been stand-alone eps, but for the most part the story-lines have been weaving in and out of the two universes for three years, most people would be lost if they didn't watch it regularly.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 6:31 AM

HKCAVALIER

Quote:
Originally posted by InvaderChat:
Really? How long does it take the characters and indeed the story to develop into that? I fell in love with the Firefly characters immediately while I was repelled by the characters in Fringe. I mean, sure, they could be similar but you can probably draw parallels like that anywhere and I didn't see them at all. Who do you see as Mal? Peter? Olivia? :O

I've read that a lot of folk take a long time to warm up to Olivia, but I ain't one of them. I'm fairly familiar with the results of PTSD and severe childhood trauma, so I had her pegged thataway pretty early on. And, as I think of it, I'm also fairly familiar with the schizophrenic spectrum of mental disorder and John Noble did a masterful job of capturing what it's like. The writers also deserve a great deal of credit for focusing on the real circumstances in which the mentally ill find themselves in this culture. So, I was extremely interested in those two right off. All that leaves is Peter, and he's a brilliant autodidact with a shady past--what's not to like? Then if you've seen The Wire, boom, there's Lance Reddick staring you down as only Lance Reddick can.

And as I fancifully stated above, Olivia partakes both of Mal's brooding bloodymindedness and River's I can kill you with my brain, mysterious powers. Peter takes care of Mal's constant biting comedic commentary. But I never meant my breakdown as a one for one correlation, or even particularly insightful. Just a way to get Chrisisall to check it out.

Quote:
Oh yes! That's another thing, I actually really like sci-fi set in the real world with normal stuff going on alongside all the fantastical stuff so that was one plus. Afterall, V, 4400 and TSCC got points for that so Fringe does too.

I couldn't get through one episode of V, sadly. The thing seemed so trumped up and the acting soooooo hit and miss. It was really heavy on the "people are stupid" theme and that's a flavor I can't tolerate.

Quote:
I think the X-files beats the hell out of Fringe :P How do you mean dated? In what way/s is Fringe superior?

I had the peculiar opportunity to rewatch the X-files as I was watching Fringe for the first time (Lady Cavalier had never seen the X-files and was catching up on Netflix at the time). Fringe deals with many of the same phenomena, even going so far as to refer to the X-files a time or two. Strike one: neither Mulder nor Scully have the least clue of how to hold a gun, and yet Scully's supposed to be some manner of sharpshooter. (Anna Torv and the rest have done their homework--and tv has just gotten better at depicting police and military procedure.) Strike two: aliens, aliens, aliens that are completely fabricated by the writers, having precious little (outside of physical characteristics) to do with actual UFO lore. (Every episode of Fringe at least touches on real scientific anomalies and its fanciful chemistry all derive from common fringe scientific theories.) Strike three: the long-form story arc went exactly nowhere--and everywhere, ending in pure silly chaos. (Though Fringe has abandoned some interesting narrative threads along the way, the core story arc has never been abandoned or retconned out of existence--though a couple eps in this latest season scared me, they seem to be back on track now.)

I know, it's mind-blowing how completely at odds two people's experience of the same thing can be, ain't it?

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 7:21 AM

WHOZIT

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Quote:
Originally posted by whozit:
Quote:
Originally posted by Suasor:
Hmmm, seems like Fox is trying to atone for something...
Yes "Syndication", this will be a huge money maker in reruns. People who haven't found it yet will find it in reruns at SyFy or some cable network. This is a great "cult" show and will be around for years.

I have to wonder, though - why is it that five seasons is the magic number for syndication? That seems to be the accepted number these days, and it confuses me, because I'd bet money that most of the people here who saw Star Trek (the original series) *DIDN'T* see it when it was on first-run broadcast TV in the 60s, but saw it in syndication, many much, much later. And that show only went THREE seasons.

Not taking you to task personally here, just wondering where and when five seasons became the accepted standard for syndication, especially given that most stations only re-air their "favorite" 20 eps or so, over and over and over and over.

But yes, it would be great to see "Fringe" on SyFy or elsewhere in reruns.

This may answer your question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_syndication#Off-network_Syndica
tion

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Sunday, March 27, 2011 2:45 PM