The Comic-Con extravaganza kicked off in San Diego with a preview night on Wednesday, during which Fox gave fans their first look at “Fringe,” the sci-fi thriller from J.J. Abrams.

If the report from Entertainment Weekly’s Vanessa Juarez is any indication, J.J. and his pals might be in for a little reality check. Juarez reports that, “after the opening sequence, in which a man on an international flight infects all the passengers with some sort of grisly, flesh-eating plague that leaves behind only their skeletal remains when the plane lands on autopilot at Boston’s Logan Airport, the audience was mostly subdued …” Read the rest of this entry »

“Terminator” stars Summer Glau, Thomas Dekker and Lena Headey at TCA.

Keep it simple, stupid. Or at least simpler.

That seems to be the trend in TV land, where producers of intricate serial dramas are trying to avoid turning off casual viewers. Yesterday, J.J. Abrams, the man who gave us the oh-so-complex “Alias” and “Lost,” went on and on about how he wants his new sci-fi drama, “Fringe,” to be less confusing. And this morning, the producers of the FX legal thriller, “Damages,” insisted their show would be “slightly less complex and easier to grasp” in Season 2.

Now, the makers of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” are jumping on the bandwagon.
They say that when the show returns on Sept. 8, it will feature fewer serialized elements and more self-contained episodes. Read the rest of this entry »

Freaky things are happening on “Fringe.”

One of the most anticipated shows of the fall is Fox’s “Fringe,” a high-concept, pulse-pounding, “X-Files”-like drama from J.J. Abrams, the man who helped bring into the world dense, complex shows such as “Lost” and “Alias.”

But Abrams is promising that, unlike those series, “Fringe” won’t feel like homework. He learned his lesson, he said, after watching an episode of “Alias” at a friend’s house and struggling to keep up with what was going on.

“Literally, it was impenetrable,” he told critics at television’s summer press tour.

He absolutely assures us — and we’ll hold him to it — that “Fringe” will take a stand-alone procedural approach. Not only that, it will follow a clear-cut path to a preordained finish line.

“We believe it is possible to do a show that has an overall story and end game — and this show absolutely does … but also a show that you don’t have to watch Episodes 1, 2 and 3 to watch Episode 4,” he said.

While Abrams insists he loved working on “Alias,” he said he can see how it was “difficult” for a lot of viewers.

“This show is going to have a different paradigm,” he insisted. “We’re trying very diligently to do a show that doesn’t require the kind of insane, absolute dedication to a series that, if you miss an episode, you truly have no idea what’s going on.”