Fringe!

C

c.g._eads

Veteran
Terrible!

I mean, I don't know what I expected from the writers who brought us the genius scene in Transformers where a bunch of 50 ton robots hide in a boy's backyard while he tries to distract his parents in a bedroom.

I really wanted to like this show. It plays with some ideas that have a lot of potential. But come on. Pacey!!?? You know it's bad when you're looking forward to Hole In The Wall.

I'll give it a few more tries but this is not looking good.
 
I don't know that I'd go so far as to say "terrible," but I wasn't real impressed, either. I agree that the ideas have potential, but they're going to have to do something about those boring frickin' characters to keep me watching...
 
Interesting.

I only watched the opening and then the team get to the airplane crime scene because I had to catch some ZzzZZzzZ's (DVRed it), but what I saw I was blown away by.
 
Captain Pierce said:
I don't know that I'd go so far as to say "terrible," but I wasn't real impressed, either. I agree that the ideas have potential, but they're going to have to do something about those boring frickin' characters to keep me watching...
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I'm with you on that one so far. Not a terrible show, but it's pretty much X-files without the chemistry. Hope they clue in to that soon, cause it could have a lot going for it.

And I kind of wish they would lay off on the Lost music cues.
 
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the weakest part of the show for me is Agent Dunham. The actress that plays her is terrible. expressionless face. dead pan voice, horrible actress.

i think they need to recast her or kill her off and replace her with a different character. she's so horrible that it almost makes me want to stop watching the show, but the rest of the performances are good enough to keep watching.

for now.
 
Definitely JJ Abrams weakest debut so far. Both Alias and Lost had amazing pilot episodes. They felt like fully realized shows from the start. Interesting to note he personally directed those two pilots and not this one. It was still watchable for its pulp elements and hints of a deeper mythology, but the characters need serious work. Only the crazy professor was interesting. By the end of the show I wanted to punch Josh Jackson every time he opened his mouth with a snarky comment. He was just obnoxious. The girl, she's pretty, and that's about it. No character. I'll give it a few more episodes, but it could be this year's Bionic Woman.
 
Batutta said:
Definitely JJ Abrams weakest debut so far. Both Alias and Lost had amazing pilot episodes. They felt like fully realized shows from the start. Interesting to note he personally directed those two pilots and not this one. It was still watchable for its pulp elements and hints of a deeper mythology, but the characters need serious work. Only the crazy professor was interesting. By the end of the show I wanted to punch Josh Jackson every time he opened his mouth with a snarky comment. He was just obnoxious. The girl, she's pretty, and that's about it. No character. I'll give it a few more episodes, but it could be this year's Bionic Woman.
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Well how involved is he with this really? Or has he reached the Apatow point of just putting his name on stuff to give it a boost?

The pilot says he was one of the writers, but that thought struck me while watching.
 
Batutta said:
it could be this year's Bionic Woman.
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Whoa, let's not get crazy! :) It's already roughly 180 times better than Bionic Woman, since I made it through the whole Fringe pilot and only about 30 seconds of Bionic Woman. :D

Personally, I found the crazy professor to be the most annoying character, followed closely by the Homeland Security guy (at least in the first half, when he kept calling Dunham "Liason" and just generally being a pr1ck) and Jackson (who goes from just generally being a pr1ck and calling Dunham "Sweetheart" to all of a sudden being genius junior).

Abrams is listed on IMDB as one of the writers of the second episode (IMDB only has the first two listed so far).
 
Network Television is about as bad as it gets for me. I was into ER and X FILES for awhile but switched the tube off long ago.

I've strayed away from it and either watch films or HBO/Showtime series. I need more adultness in my entertainment and less White Bread America, which is what network television caters too.

I've been enjoying Californication lately.
 
OK, less than halfway into tonite's episode, two things they need to stop:

1. The CG titles that get reflected in puddles and shot through from different angles and all that crap.

2. Grossing me the **** out before the opening credits every episode. (OK, I know we're only two episodes in, but the gross-out factor is batting a thousand.)

That said, tonite the character interaction did seem to be vastly improved, so they may be dialing in on things from that respect.
 
Captain Pierce said:
OK, less than halfway into tonite's episode, two things they need to stop:

1. The CG titles that get reflected in puddles and shot through from different angles and all that crap.

2. Grossing me the poo poo out before the opening credits every episode. (OK, I know we're only two episodes in, but the gross-out factor is batting a thousand.)

That said, tonite the character interaction did seem to be vastly improved, so they may be dialing in on things from that respect.
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I agree on the title thing. Getting old fast!
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Network Television is about as bad as it gets for me. I was into ER and X FILES for awhile but switched the tube off long ago.

I've strayed away from it and either watch films or HBO/Showtime series. I need more adultness in my entertainment and less White Bread America, which is what network television caters too.

I've been enjoying Californication lately.
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I watch one show. Lost. don't have time to watch anything else. I have 2 babies so it's mostly cartoons in our house. And that is fine with me.
 
I just watched the pilot online a few today, and I liked it, it kept me entertained which is pretty much all I watch for.
 
Captain Pierce said:
OK, less than halfway into tonight's episode, two things they need to stop:

1. The CG titles that get reflected in puddles and shot through from different angles and all that crap.

2. Grossing me the poo poo out before the opening credits every episode. (OK, I know we're only two episodes in, but the gross-out factor is batting a thousand.)

That said, tonight the character interaction did seem to be vastly improved, so they may be dialing in on things from that respect.
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Agree on the title thing ... so dumb and only impressive to anyone not remotely connected to film, video, or post in anyway - like my GF who really likes them.

But you have this really out there world - why remind the audience they're watching a TV show? Why make it harder for them to suspend their disbelief than it already is? Would make much more sense to just have the standard white text in the lower corner, which would make it feel more like actual events, etc. since that white text we're used to doesn't read as anything but a neutral way of communicating information and is also used in docs etc.

This is the mark of a baby filmmaker to me - going for the cool thing just because it's cool and not because it helps tell the story - in this case it would help tell the story to give us as much access into it as possible, make it as real as possible, not push us out of it to admire arbitrary production value. I suspect this may have more to do with the business end of TV, thinking that production value will hook people and they may be right. But again, I see this with young filmmakers all the time, the cool for cool's sake phenomenon.

Now on the 2nd point, could not agree less. Love LOVE the openings. So far this show really knows how to do an opening. Got my pulse pounding, adrenaline going, and really hooked me for the show in both episodes. Really think the openings are spot on so far.
 
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