Fringe debuted before an audience of 9 million. That’s a lot of people, but considering that LOST premiered to nearly three times that number, and considering the time, effort and resources FOX sank into promoting JJ Abrams’ latest offering, detractors had a field day.
What they weren’t talking about, of course, is that 9 million might not be 20 million, sure, but Fringe actually picked up viewers each half hour in its 90-minute pilot instead of losing viewers — always a promising sign. The critical acclaim is still high.
And then there was last night’s first stand-alone episode, which followed House’s Season 5 opener. Fringe retained 91% of House’s audience. So yeah, having a juggernaut lead-in like House was a great thing, but Fringe still had to perform and hold the attention of said audience.
It did.
I couldn’t be happier. I really, really like this show. I know I said its pilot was reminiscent of The X-Files meets Alias, and I still feel that way — but it’s like the cooler, hipper version of both shows. It’s a show where you just sit back and allow yourself to be bathed in pure entertainment. The nitpicky analyst is going to hate it, but seriously, how do you nitpick a show where its entire premise is already unrealistic and impossible?
Corpses can still be communicated with up to six minutes after death? Babies can go from zygotes to 90-year-olds in less than 10 minutes? Communication can be achieved with coma patients by injecting willing subjects with a cocktail of Special K and who knows what else and sticking a probe in the back of their heads while submerging them in water? Really?
Of course it’s fantasy. It’s fun. It’s entertainment. It’s not to be taken seriously.
And Fringe delivers in spades.
Everyone should check it out. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like LOST. Fringe is not LOST. It’s not Felicity. It’s not Alias. It’s not Cloverfield. It has elements of all — okay, maybe not Felicity — but it has its own premise, its own mythology.
Which leads me to the not-so-good news.
Apparently the first two episodes of Sarah Connor were less than stellar, with Monday night’s episode performing worse than its premiere. For a show that possesses such a hefty price tag, that is just…not a good sign. I’m hoping that even if the ratings don’t take off, FOX will still give it its entire run — due to culminate in December, to make way for Dollhouse in January.
But if they do have to pull the plug, at least this time, it isn’t the network’s fault. Yeah, they screwed Firefly and Wonderfalls over pretty handily, but they’ve given Sarah Connor, which they were justified in not even renewing for a second season, every chance to perform.
Posted by SteveB on September 22, 2008 at 1:53 pm
We just caught up on this show this past weekend. I really enjoyed it. It’s SUCH an homage to the X-Files, it’s not even funny. Fortunately, I think that JJ is a better story-crafter than CC. (I think that CC never realized how popular his show would be or that continuity would be desirable…)
The only problem is that I keep thinking of the Lord of the Rings, because Olivia reminds me of a young Cate Blanchette and Denethor is the crazy-not-crazy old scientist.
Good fun — and I don’t think it’s fair to compare the numbers between it and LOST — ABC heavily promoted LOST before it began which made its opening an “event”.